Changes

The underlying conspiracy, organized by the Catholic gentry of the Midland counties, was to effect a coup d'etat. They  were largely reacting in frustration to the breakdown of James I's Catholic toleration policy.  The first step in the plan was intended to be the assassination of the King James I and his ministers by the explosion of barrels of gunpowder. They would then supervise the new queen, Elizabeth, and make her a Catholic.

The underlying conspiracy, organized by the Catholic gentry of the Midland counties, was to effect a coup d'etat. They  were largely reacting in frustration to the breakdown of James I's Catholic toleration policy.  The first step in the plan was intended to be the assassination of the King James I and his ministers by the explosion of barrels of gunpowder. They would then supervise the new queen, Elizabeth, and make her a Catholic.

A minority interpetation is that the Protestant statesman Robert Cecil (who helped install James I to the throne) “manufactured the plot” to affect public opinion.<ref>''Oxford Dictionary of World History,'' (2001) p. 262 </ref>  

A minority interpetation put forward by Fr. John Gerard, SJ, a Jesuit historian, in 1897; he argued that the Protestant Earl of Salisbury (Robert Cecil) manufactured the plot to affect public opinion against Catholics.<ref>Gerard was refuted in 1897 and his theory is not now accepted by scholars. See  Ron Christenson, ''Political trials: Gordian knots in the law‎'' (1999) [http://books.google.com/books?id=nV2a3E-S6LAC&pg=PA20&dq=cecil+gunpowder+plot&lr=&as_drrb_is=b&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=1990&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=2009&num=30&as_brr=0&as_pt=ALLTYPES  pp 20ff online] </ref>

==Image and memory==

==Image and memory==