As Bonfire Night approaches, the National Archives has taken into its collections parliamentary records that include a flat vellum page bearing the 1605 Thanksgiving Act in ornate calligraphy — a document tied to the origin of the UK’s November 5 commemorations.
Historical origins
The Thanksgiving Act was enacted after the failure of the Gunpowder Plot, the attempt by Guy Fawkes and others to blow up King James I, the Lords and the Commons at the opening of parliament in 1605. The anniversary of that failed plot has long been marked in Britain by bonfires and fireworks, traditions that trace their origins to the parliamentary response captured in the 1605 legislation.
Material and context
The transferred item is described as a single flat vellum sheet, inscribed in careful calligraphy. It sits among other parliamentary records now on the shelves of the National Archives’ repository — a collection that also contains, according to the documentation accompanying the transfer, what is recorded as the longest act in the archive holdings.
Significance of the transfer
The movement of these materials from parliamentary custody to the National Archives places them within the institution responsible for the custodianship of the nation’s historical records. The inclusion of the 1605 Act highlights the archival connection between the legal and parliamentary response to the Gunpowder Plot and the popular commemorations that developed in its wake.
Public memory and legal history
Together, the documents underline how a moment of political crisis in the early 17th century produced legislation and rituals that have endured in British public memory. The items now held at the National Archives form part of the documentary record that links parliamentary action, legal history and cultural tradition around Bonfire Night.