Remember, remember (continued)

So James is on the throne, and in general English Catholics are pleased.  The hope was that he would - if not actually break his promise - at least sympathise with their cause.  And at least initially it seemed that was how it was going to be.  Early Catholic plotters were pardoned and exiled rather than executed.  But James (who remember was also King of Scotland) became more involved with the possibility of a union between the two countries and less concerned with purely English politics.  It wasn't long before Catholics were once again being persecuted as badly - if not worse - than before. What was to become the Gunpowder Plot had its origins in a meeting at Robert Catesby's house in London in February 1604 (James had been on the throne for less than 12 months at this time) where the possibility of blowing up the House of Lords during the State Opening of Parliament was discussed. At what point it developed from discussion into intent is not clear but three months later at a further meeting at a London pub, the conspirators swore a sacred oath and started making plans. The idea was that if James and the majority of the Lords were killed, the conspirators could put James's 9-year-old daughter Elizabeth on the throne and effectively reign as her regents.  They amassed a large quantity of gunpowder which they stockpiled in a room they had rented which was right underneath the House of Lords and engaged Guy Fawkes (who, despite being known as Guido, was in fact English) to do the deed.  What could possibly go wrong?  That's for part 3.