aBurntShip

                                            NEW AND IMPROVED SECOND EDITION 2025   Pity for the Guy ( Peter Owen publishers Ltd.)    first appeared in 2010. The revised edition is now available on kindle, but a paperback edition will be available soon, The author , John Paul Davis, is a historian and a successful writer of historical thrillers.  Although there was some interest in the Gunpowder Treason with the 1605-2005 anniversary, biographies of Guy Fawkes were in short supply for such a renowned figure. Pity for the Guy was a welcome addition to Gunpowder Treason studies, being well researched from the perspective of a historian but lively enough for the reader who knows little about the subject. This era is full of conspiracies, spies, intrigue,codes, with a large cast of historical figures. Another Guy Fawkes biography has appeared Nick Holland's The Re...

                                  The missing trial of John Wintour  By Unknown (printed for P. Brooksby, I. Deacon, I. Blare, I. Back.) - http://ebba.english.ucsb.edu/ballad/20990/citation, Public Domain, In a previous post published on 1st October 2021,   The Third Wintour Brother I looked at  the participation of John Wintour,  younger half brother to the leading conspirators Thomas Wintour and Robert Wintour. in the Gunpowder Treason,  All three brothers were executed for treason in 1606, facing the full penalty. Surprisingly little has been written about John Wintour.  In fact a mystery surrounds where his trial took place. To recap, John Wintour born either 1586 or 1587, was not connected to the planned attack on Westminster, but was convicted for treason due to taking part in the doomed West Midlands  rebellion organised by some of the key Gunpowder Treaso...

                      John Wintour , executed Redhill, April 1606 As we are now entering the Gunpowder Treason Season, thought that would share some of my (inconclusive) research of the life of John Wintour, the younger half brother of Thomas Wintour and Robert Wintour, who were both executed for their involvement in the Gunpowder Plot .I have used the spelling 'Wintour ',  though 'Winter' or 'Wynter' are sometimes used for the family name. For this piece, have broadly taken the official 'King's Book' version of what happened at face value, though quite understand why others choose not to.        The Scene at the Execution of the Gunpowder Plotters. Date: 1606   Nikolaus Visscher  (1597–1651) Following the 400th anniversary of the Plot in 2005,  a new wave of books documentaries, TV dramas have emerged, The downfall of the two elder Wintour brothers was well portrayed and sometimes embel...

                        William Harrison Ainsworth  (1805-1882)  William Harrison Ainsworth  by Daniel Maclise ( died 1870) donated to the National Portrait Gallery in 1949 : In public domain, courtesy of Wikipedia.  William Harrison Ainsworth  1805-1882 was the son of a Manchester solicitor and moved to London in 1824 to study law. As well as being a poet , magazine editor and journalist,  Ainsworth belonged to a crop of Victorian novelists who were widely read during during the middle of the 19th century but fell from favour, being  largely neglected by the end of his life. 'Guy Fawkes or The Gunpowder Treason -An Historical Romance'  appeared by installments, included in 'Bentley's Miscellania'  magazine from January 1840- November 1841 The historical novel was quite a new genre , arguably starting with Sir Walter's Scott's  'Waverley' from 1814. Ainsworth contributed  a...

                      In Search of Poetry Relating to the Gunpowder Plot    This piece is the start of a longer study that I am working on, looking at the Gunpowder Plot and its place in Apocalypse culture of the 17th century and beyond. Links between  drama and the Gunpowder Plot continue to be made. Macbeth  is the most obvious play that allegedly draws on the Gunpowder Treason of 1605 . James Shapiro has also tried to connect King Lear to the Plot ( SHAPIRO ) . Contemporary plays which used the event for dramatic effect  included John Martson's Sophonisba, Thomas Dekker's The Whore of Babylon,  and Barnabe Barnes' The Devils Charter ( WILLS ) . From the 17th century until well into the 19th century regular sermons and an annual Church of England service of deliverance reminded the congregations of  the failure of the 'Plot .  Of course the most important commemoration takes place on Bonfir...