This highly illustrated online article is a very good introduction to the Gunpowder Plot. It introduces the men involved and offers a useful overview of their plans, the night of Fawkes’s arrest and the outcomes. It also explains the background to the bonfire and fireworks tradition that continues to this day as well as the modern use of the Guy Fawkes mask as a symbol of rebellion. Combined with the two books listed here, the article will help students to understand the reasons behind the great interest in Guy Fawkes and his fellow plotters.

This is the perfect starting point for students to understand the underlying issues that ultimately created the Gunpowder Plot. Childs explores the ways in which Catholics were persecuted during Elizabeth I’s reign, and how they were perceived as traitors because of their religion. While this approach needs to be pondered alongside those taken by other sources, it is important to understand the Catholics’ struggles during Elizabeth’s reign – and, later, James I’s reign. Combined with the following source, this book can spark some great discussions about religious intolerance in Elizabethan and Stuart England.

 A great companion to Childs’s book, this title further explores the links between what happened during Elizabeth I’s reign and the Gunpowder Plot itself. Hogge’s approach is different to that of Childs: the book tackles a country at war with its own subjects and explains how Catholics were seen as terrorists, assassins, potential traitors and the enemies of Protestant England. It is also the story of the men behind the Gunpowder Plot, who risked their lives for their faith and the freedom to practise their religion. Alongside the two other sources, this book can be used to spark discussions and debates regarding freedom and religion and how it still relates to modern Britain.

This clip explores the intense dislike the English felt towards the Scottish King, James I, and how this was one of the underlying reasons which led to the Gunpowder Plot.