James I and Gunpowder Treason Day
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8958627 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Paul Williamson (0000-0002-5243-4324, Durham University, corresponding author), Natalie Mears (0000-0002-5442-834X, Durham University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 64 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 185-210 |
| Publication date | 2020-11-04 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Historical Journal (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0018-246X • E-ISSN: 1469-5103 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0018246x20000497 |
| OpenAlex | W3097238689 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 18 |
The assumed source of the annual early modern English commemoration of Gunpowder treason day on 5 November – and its modern legacy, ‘Guy Fawkes day’ or ‘Bonfire night’ – has been an act of parliament in 1606. This article reveals the existence of earlier orders, explains how these orders alter understandings of the origin and initial purposes of the anniversary, and provides edited transcriptions of their texts. The first order revises the accepted date for the earliest publication of the special church services used for the occasion. The second order establishes that the anniversary thanksgiving was initiated not by parliament, but by King James I; it also shows that, in a striking innovation, he issued instructions for regular mid-week commemorations throughout England and Wales, expecting the bishops to change the Church of England's preaching practices. The annual thanksgivings were not just English, but ordered also in Scotland and observed in Protestant churches in Ireland. The motives for these religious thanksgivings are placed in a Stuart dynastic context, with Scottish antecedents and a British scope, rather than in the English ‘national’ setting assigned to the anniversary by English preachers and writers and by recent historians. The parliamentary act is best explained as an outcome of tensions between the king and the House of Commons
Archaeology · Art history · Bishops · Buckingham · Commons · Context (archaeology · English Reformation · Gunpowder · House of Commons · Order (exchange · Parliament · Political science · Politics · Protestantism · Classics · Historical Studies of British Isles · History · Irish and British Studies · Law · Scottish History and National Identity
Bonfires and bells
Providence in Early Modern England
Sermons at Court
The Union of England and Scotland 1603-1608
The Culture of Protestantism in Early Modern Scotland
The Making of the Jacobean Regime
Poets, Players, and Preachers
Why Was There So Little Government Reaction to Gunpowder Plot
Remembering the 1605 Gunpowder Plot in Ireland, 1605–1920
The Ecclesiastical Policy of King James I
The ‘Holy Days’ of Queen Elizabeth I
The English Accession of James VI
The Reconstruction of the English Church
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |