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Plot

Silken Thomas

St Mary's Abbey, Dublin

A young lord threw down the sword of state and rose against Henry VIII.

In 1534, hearing a false rumour that his father had been executed in London, Thomas FitzGerald, known as 'Silken Thomas' for the silk on his followers' helmets, strode into St Mary's Abbey and flung down the sword of state, renouncing the king. His rebellion failed.

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When
1534
Where
53.3470, -6.2690
Group
Plots

Visiting

The Chapter House of St Mary's Abbey survives off Capel Street.

Cover of Guy Fawkes: Traitor or Faithful? by Cale Mills
Read the full story in the book

Guy Fawkes: Traitor or Faithful?

This book asks one question and keeps asking it: was Guy Fawkes faithful, or a traitor? Most people think they already know. The answer has been handed down for four hundred years, with a bonfire and a rhyme, and it is rarely examined. From the boy from Stonegate in York to the cellar, the Tower and Westminster Hall, every chapter ends with a ledger of what it adds in his favour and what it adds against him. By the last page you may find that the answer you arrived with is not the one you leave with.

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