Treasure hunt begins in England

Chapter 596 Meaning
The gunpowder conspiracy can be said to be a very important point in the history of British religion. At the end of the 16th century, the Catholic power in England was in danger of extinction.

Under Elizabeth I, England took a series of measures in an attempt to destroy any perceived influence of the Roman Catholic Church:
The law stipulates that persuading anyone to join Catholicism is a crime that can be executed, and the act of simply believing in Catholicism is also extremely expensive because of the taxes and other responsibilities that will be borne, and may even bring disaster.

When James I came to the throne in 1603, Catholics hoped that things would improve, but their hopes were quickly dashed.

James I, at the prompting of his chief counselor, Robert Cecil, maximized those punitive laws.

Therefore, the implementers of the gunpowder conspiracy first targeted the two of them, and then expanded their targets to the entire Protestant rulers of England at that time, but what they did not expect was that their attacks were not kept secret from the beginning.

Although there is no evidence left.But many people in the history circle basically believe that the target Robert Cecil, who was also the most well-informed politician in England at the time, was not as ignorant as the official history.

According to modern analysis.It was no accident that Cecil was finally able to break the conspiracy. He probably knew the existence of the underground passage, and even knew every inch of its progress.

It's just that he was a fanatical opponent of Catholicism - especially the Jesuits - so he knew about the plans of these conspirators, but he did nothing to stop them.

So Cecil will naturally choose the one to wait until he can get the most political benefits from it before starting.It is even very possible that the whole thing is very likely to be under his control.

If this were not the case, it is difficult to explain why the conspirators were able to rent the basement of the Houses of Parliament and dispose of all the earth dug out of the tunnels, and still obtain so much gunpowder.

You know, since gunpowder was invented, it has been a controlled product, and England at that time was no exception.At that time, even the supply of legal gunpowder was strictly limited, and it was definitely not easy to get tons of gunpowder.

What's more interesting is that Guy Fawkes' "confession" did not mention anything about the Jesuits during the subsequent interrogation, which made Secia furious.

After a few days of torment, although information about the involvement of the Jesuits in this conspiracy was obtained from Thomas Bates, it is strange that the confession has disappeared, making it doubtful whether it ever existed.

What is even more incredible is that on November 1605, 11, Trethem, who was thought to be an informer, died in prison, and he was buried quickly after his death. Let him be killed.

Based on these circumstances, it has even been suggested that James I was actually behind the gunpowder plot, because the attempted assassination made the already strict laws even stricter:

Since then the English have banned Catholics from living near London and from practicing law and medicine.Threatening wealthy Catholics to convert to Protestantism or confiscate 2/3 of their property.

What's more, the miscarriage of the conspiracy had a hugely negative impact on English Catholicism.It brought Catholic emancipation to a standstill: Catholics had to wait another 200 years for nearly equal rights to Protestants.

The ultimate beneficiaries of all this were James I and his chief adviser, Robert Cecil, and by this means they weakened the power of the Holy See and Spain in Britain and expanded their own power.

Also because of this fact, many people judged from the perspective of who benefited the most and who was most suspected that this act was probably operated behind the scenes by James I and Robert Cecil.

In this way, all the information released from them has been doubted, and many historians feel that the Jesuits and even the Pope mentioned repeatedly in the other party's materials are not necessarily true.

But judging from the previous anecdotes and the things dug out of this cellar, some things may not be purely fabricated by Cecil, such as the matter about the intervention of the Jesuits.

Considering that the backstage supporters of the Jesuits at that time were Spain and Portugal, and its biggest competitor at sea was Britain, it was logical for the Jesuits to support the rebellion in Britain.

Judging from what we have collected now, the Jesuits probably brought more gunpowder than the 36 barrels of gunpowder in the basement under the British Parliament Building. However, the anonymous letter of informant interrupted the attack plan, so that not all the gunpowder was delivered.

As for the silver coins and badges, they are likely to be used to organize a rebel army after the explosion is successful. They can allow the rebels to obtain a unified badge and enough military pay to organize an army.

"There is no doubt that this is a great discovery." After sorting out all the doubts, Nelson said excitedly, and then changed the subject with a regretful expression.

"It's a pity that we only found these relatively indirect evidence. As for the direct evidence, we haven't found anything like letters. It's really a pity."

From an archaeological point of view, what Liang En and the others found is enough to prove that the Jesuits were involved in the gunpowder conspiracy, and indirectly proved that James I was at most fishing for law enforcement, and did not personally arrange this conspiracy.

But no matter how reasonable the conjecture is, it is just a conjecture. At least until there is no evidence that can be directly proved, this event cannot be said to be [-]% certain.

"It's indeed a pity, but it's very reasonable when you think about it." Looking at the baskets of silver coins in the temporary tent at the entrance of the cellar, Liang En said with a sigh.

"You know, this group of people planned to send the British king, the king's heir, and all the members of the parliament to heaven, so it is necessary to leave no trace as much as possible for such a big thing to be approved."

"These silver coins and gunpowder may have been dealt with in an emergency and with luck, but it is not too difficult to destroy important paper documents, so naturally there will not be too many documents left."

"As for the cipher letter we found before, it may be hidden in other places, and these people are sure that no one can decipher their cipher, so it was handed down. But I don't know why this thing will be copied so many copies. "

"I guess it may have something to do with the habits of the church." Professor Alexander pushed his glasses on the bridge of his nose and said. "The church has a habit of copying documents by hand, so it is very likely that this document was copied many times by the church as a template for copying exercises."

"After all, this document is just a bunch of messy letters in the eyes of people who don't know how to do it. It is more helpful for beginners to practice recording or even sketching."

"As for why they were dispersed to so many countries, it may have something to do with the situation at that time. As the situation worsened, many Catholic clergy chose to leave the UK for the European continent.

"And when I left, I couldn't leave with a lot of wealth because I was under surveillance, so I took away those handwritten documents with the idea of ​​taking what I could take away."

(End of this chapter)