Gunpowder, Treason and Plot: James VI & I, Survivor King

Schedule

Wed Nov 05 2025 at 05:30 pm to 06:30 pm

UTC+00:00

Location

National Library of Scotland | Edinburgh, SC

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Steven Veerapen discusses 1605’s Gunpowder Plot, exploring the official narrative that James VI and I was the hero who saved Parliament.
About this Event

This Bonfire Night, Steven Veerapen discusses 1605's Gunpowder Plot. He will discuss the discovery of Guy Fawkes to the spreading of an official narrative which identified King James himself as the hero of the hour.

Veerapen will outline James’s use of the press and pulpit to spread word of his miraculous escape as one of a series of close-shave stories. Escapes from a witch-powered plot and the Gowrie conspiracy show how the canny king shaped his religious and monarchical identity as a divinely protected hero-king.

What will be revealed is a new James: a monarch who enthusiastically embraced the press to cast himself as Great Britain’s most magnificent escapologist.



About the speaker

Steven Veerapen teaches creative writing and early modern English at Strathclyde University. He writes fiction and nonfiction, all of it based in his favourite period – the always entertaining, frequently bloody early modern period. His most recent book is "Witches: A King's Obsession" and he is working on a biographical study of Henry VIII (with a focus on that king's British imperialism).




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Where is it happening?

National Library of Scotland, George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Event Location & Nearby Stays:

Tickets

GBP 0.00

National Library of Scotland

Host or Publisher National Library of Scotland

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