Historical engraving of eight of the thirteen conspirators, by Crispijn van de Passe. Left to right, Thomas Bates, Robert Wintour, John Wright, Thomas Percy, Guy Fawkes, Robert Catesby and Thomas Wintour. The Gunpowder Plot of 1605 was a failed assassination attempt against King James I of England and VI of Scotland by a group of provincial English Catholics led by Robert Catesby. The plan was to blow up the House of Lords during the State Opening of England's Parliament on November 5th, 1605, as the prelude to a popular revolt in the Midlands during which James's nine-year-old daughter, Princess Elizabeth, was to be installed as the Catholic head of state. One of his fellow plotters, Guy Fawkes, was given charge of the explosives.