Gunpowder Plot and the New Bible

The Catholics of England were particularly disappointed by James' stand on religious issues. The king was in no hurry to overturn Elizabeth's practical compromise on faith: people could believe whatever they wanted as long as they did not worship publicly and they went through the motions of supporting the State-sponsored church. A group of desperate extremists decided to strike a blow for their Catholicism by destroying the ruling elite of England. In 1605 they filled the basement of the Houses of Parliament with gunpowder and planned to detonate it when the Houses of Commons and the Lords met jointly to be addressed by the king. At the last moment King James uncovered the plot and saved the day. As a result England was confirmed in its opposition to the Church of Rome and particularly the Jesuits who they believed had been behind the Gunpowder plot itself. The Gunpowder Plot was a crisis that transformed English society in some ways. However the plot being uncovered did not diminish the tensions between competing religious groups. Shakespeare's play Macbeth contains a number of references to the plot and its participants, whom we see being executed here.

One of James' responses to the opposition he encountered was to arrange for a standardized translation of the Bible, instead of the many competing translations, such as the Geneva Bible shown here!. It was in hopes of resolving disagreements about biblical texts that the king authorized a new translation of the Bible, the King James' version. The work ranks as one of the king's greatest achievements, and the strength of its language helps explain why it continues to be the standard version of the Bible for many different Protestant churches. Despite some ingenious efforts by those who believe that Shakespeare had a hand in translating the Bible, there is no real evidence to support that assertion.