What would have happened if King James I of England had been killed in the Gunpowder Plot?

What would have happened if King James I had been killed in Parliament?

  • Greater clampdown on the Catholics

    Votes: 20 64.5%
  • Catholic takeover of the country

    Votes: 2 6.5%
  • A long and bloody civil war

    Votes: 16 51.6%
  • A move to more tolerant policies

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    31
Even if Guy Fawkes had been successful and destroyed Parliament House in London it is doubtful Catholic dissidents would have taken over the country. Their leader Robert Catesby and the majority of his fellow conspirators would still have been hunted down and killed in the English Midlands.

There would have been a power vacuum with the King, his two sons Princes Henry and Charles and many of the government officials and Lords who'd led the crackdown on Catholics in England dead.

A religion fueled civil war between Protestants and Catholics, as happened across much of the rest of Europe in the 17th Century, could have occurred.

Alternately the surviving Lords may have realised change was needed. Perhaps they would have advised the young Queen Elizabeth II to make England into a much more tolerant nation where people could worship at a church of their choosing. Forward thinkers and scientists persecuted by the Roman Inquisition may have fled to the country. Scientific advances may have been made much more easily and quickly.

If all this happened how would it have affected the future of Ireland, the colonization of North America and the future of the British Empire?
 
Interesting - not seen that one before - many thanks! It's an area I've been looking into a lot for my novels which are based around a counter factual version of these events and times. The parallels with the modern day are fascinating - religious tensions, terrorists, government surveillance and England / Britain concerned about Europe.

Sorry, I posted the wrong link. Here's the one I meant to post: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/civil_war_revolution/gunpowder_hutton_01.shtml

Hope this helps.
 
Sorry, I posted the wrong link. Here's the one I meant to post: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/civil_war_revolution/gunpowder_hutton_01.shtml

Hope this helps.
That's even more interesting. My understanding though was that both princes Henry and Charles may have been at Parliament with their father and so the older of the two Princesses Elizabeth would have become Queen. Either way the implications for England, Wales, Scotland and especially Ireland and then the rest of Europe and eventually the world would have been significant as Prof Hutton argues in this article.
 
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