Back to the Seventeenth Century Quiz

Answer: Shot while resisting arrest

Although Guy Fawkes is most widely associated with the scheme to blow up the House of Lords, and King James I at the same time, Catesby was the organiser of the plot.

The group of conspirators were protesting at the continued ill treatment of Catholics. Fawkes was captured and, after being tortured, revealed the names of his associates. Catesby, and others, fled to Staffordshire, vowing to fight to the death. Catesby died after being shot, so escaped the fate of being hanged, drawn and quartered, which would have awaited him. His body was dug up, though, so he could be beheaded.

Answer: Inigo Jones

The house was completed in only three years and still stands in the early twenty-first century, although the facade was covered by stone in the nineteenth century. The previous building on the site had been destroyed following a fire, and Jones was employed to design the replacement. Having studied Italian design, he incorporated his knowledge of Renaissance architecture into the building, which was the first in England to be built in what became known as neo-classical style. In 1649, the Banqueting House was the site of the execution of King Charles I.

The other architects, while well known, are of later eras. Wren lived from 1632 to 1723, Brown from 1716 to 1783 and Vanbrugh from 1664 until 1726.

Answer: France

Henrietta Maria was a Princess of France, as her father was King Henry IV of that country. As England was officially a Protestant country, the new Queen's Catholic religion meant she was not popular, and also prevented her from being officially crowned.

After the execution of her husband, Henrietta Maria lived in Paris, returning to England after her son, Charles II, was restored to the throne in 1660. Her name lives on, as the state of Maryland in the USA was named for her.

Answer: Archbishop of Canterbury

Laud had established his presence at the court of King James I, but his rise was completed when Charles I came to the throne in 1625, with Laud officiating at the coronation. As Archbishop of Canterbury Laud was rigid in his rulings on conformity in the Anglican church, which caused him to come into conflict with the Puritans, who accused him of being a secret Catholic. By 1641, Laud's enemies had gathered enough power for his impeachment.

Although this failed, he was condemned by a special decree and beheaded in January 1645.

Answer: Warwickshire

Parliament, representing the people, and King Charles I had been at loggerheads over the system of government for many years. Charles had ruled from 1629 until 1640 without calling a Parliament, believing in his absolute right to rule, as given by God. The Battle of Edge Hill (or Edgehill) was the first meeting of the two armies, with the Royalists led by Charles himself and Prince Rupert of the Rhine, and the Parliamentarians by the Earl of Essex. The battle was inconclusive, but the war led eventually to the execution of the monarch and the country's brief flirtation with non-royal rule from 1649 until 1660.

Edge Hill is located in the southern part of Warwickshire. The other major battles of the First English Civil War were in Newbury, Berkshire, in 1643 and 1644, Marston Moor, 1644, in North Yorkshire and Naseby, Northamptonshire, in 1645.

Answer: Thomas Hobbes

The full title is 'Leviathan or The Matter, Forme and Power of a Common Wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil', which doesn't trip off the tongue too easily. The book covered the principles of government, and argued that a strong government was necessary to guard against civil war. Hobbes took his title from the sea monster mentioned in the Bible, and also wrote about the history of the English Civil War under the title of 'Behemoth' (again, this is the short name), which was another Biblical sea monster.

Of the options listed, Dee lived from 1527 until 1689, Locke from 1632 until 1704, and Bentham was much later, living from 1748-1832.

Answer: Royal Society

The society was set up in 1660 and can claim to be one of the oldest scientific societies in the world - maybe even the oldest. Its full title is the Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, and it received Royal support and patronage from its inception. Early members included Robert Hooke and Robert Boyle. Hooke's interests included astronomy and architecture, as well as science, and his name is remembered in Hooke's Law, relating to the forces of springs. Boyle's work with gases is still remembered in Boyle's Law, regarding the pressure of gas.

Answer: Titus Oates

The plot, apparently an attempt by Catholics to kill King Charles II, was a complete fabrication by Oates. His inventions and lies led to many men being executed, including Oliver Plunkett, Archbishop of Amargh, who was hanged, drawn and quartered in 1681, making him the recognised last Catholic martyr to die in England. Oates was himself arrested and imprisoned, after being unmasked for his lies, but was granted a pardon in 1689 after the accession of William of Orange and Queen Mary. He died in obscurity.

Wat Tyler was one of the leaders of the Peasants' Revolt in 1381. Both Perkin Warbeck and Lambert Simnel were challengers to King Henry VII, Warbeck in 1490 and Simnel in 1487.

Answer: Oxford

Elias Ashmole had built up a large collection of curios, books and manuscripts which he gifted to Oxford University in 1677. A condition of the donation was that the collection should be open to the public in an accessible building. A purpose built building was begun in 1678 and finished in five years.

The museum's collection was moved to other premises in 1894, but the original building was still in use in the twentieth century, under the name of the Old Ashmolean Building, and housed the Museum of the History of Science.

The four cities named are the locations of some of England's longest established universities.

Answer: Fish

The market had been established during the sixteenth century at Billingsgate Wharf where the river Thames formed an inlet, allowing boats to dock and sell their catch. The Act of Parliament recognised the status quo and legalised the situation. The market continued to expand, with new buildings being provided in the nineteenth century, before being moved, in 1982, to the Isle of Dogs.

It continued under its original name, and remained one of the largest fish markets in the UK into the twenty first century. Fruit, vegetables and flowers were sold at Covent Garden and the meat market was named Smithfields.