Information AboutGuy Fawkes |
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Guy Fawkes ( April 13 , 1570 — 31 January , 1606 ) was an English Soldier and a member of a group of Roman Catholic conspirators who attempted to carry out the so-called Gunpowder Plot in 1605 , which was prevented by his arrest on 5 November. The plot was an attempt to Assassinate King James I Of England (James VI of Scotland) and the members of both houses of the Parliament of England . To do this, Westminster Palace was to be blown up during the formal opening session of the 1605 Parliament, in which the king would address a joint assembly of both the House Of Lords and the House Of Commons . Guy Fawkes was in large part responsible for the later stages of the plan's execution. His activities were detected, however, before the plan's completion. Following a severe interrogation involving the use of Torture , Fawkes and his co-conspirators were executed for Treason and Attempted Murder . Guy Fawkes is remembered with Guy Fawkes Night on November 5 . It was said that Fawkes was "the only man to ever enter parliament with honourable intentions." (This phrase may have originated in a nineteenth-century Pantomime , and was commonly seen on Anarchist posters during the early twentieth century. The Scottish Socialist Party became embroiled in controversy when they resurrected the poster with humorous intent in 2003 .) EARLY LIFE Guy de Faglio Fawkes (whose surname is sometimes also given as "Faukes") was born in Stonegate in York , where he was baptised in the church of St. Michael Le Belfrey on the 16th of April 1570. He attended St. Peter's School . He was the only son of Edward Fawkes (d.1579) of York and his wife Edith Jackson. Edward Fawkes was proctor of the consistory court in York and later advocate. He is believed to have been strongly Protestant, and it is certain that Fawkes did not get his Catholic leanings from his father. Fawkes converted to Catholicism around the age of 16, according to his admission of Recusancy at his preliminary Interrogation following his capture. Edward Fawkes died in 1579 and his widow remarried in 1582 to Denis Bainbridge of Scotton in the West Riding of Yorkshire. The family were known to be recusants and it highly probable that Guy became a Catholic due to their influence. In 1592 Guy sold the estate he had inherited from his father and went to serve under the Catholic armies of Spain against the protestant Dutch in the Netherlands. He served for many years as a Soldier , gaining considerable expertise with explosives, which is the most likely reason that coconspirators Winter and Catesby recruited him. In 1593, after briefly serving as a footman for Anthony-Maria Browne, 2nd Viscount Montague , he enlisted in the army of Archduke Albert Of Austria in the Netherlands , fighting against the Protestant United Provinces in the Eighty Years' War for the armies of Catholic Spain. The Netherlands was then nominally in possession of Philip II of Spain, who was Duke of Burgundy, but suffered from being thought of as a Castillian. The Dutch also associated Spain and Philip's rule with the Catholic inquistion that he had tried to impose on his territories in the low countries. Guy arrived at a time when the death of the Duke Of Parma , commander of the Spanish armies, and mutinies by Spanish mercenaries had left the military force in the Netherlands paralysed by inaction. Maurice of Nassau (1584-1635) the stadholder in five provinces, son of William of Orange (or William ‘the silent’) had also led successful campaigns against Spanish positions. In 1596 Guy was present at the siege and capture of Calais . By 1602, however, he still had not risen higher than the rank of Ensign . While serving in the Spanish Army in the Netherlands he adopted the name Guido, the Spanish form of Guy (which was probably pronounced "gwee" at the time). There is some evidence that Guy was in considerable poverty around this time. He may have visited Spain in the early 1600s to sue for Spanish help in returning England to Catholicism. GUNPOWDER PLOT See Also: Gunpowder Plot Guy Fawkes is most famous for his involvement in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, which he was placed in charge of executing due to his military and explosives experience. The plot, masterminded by Robert Catesby , was a failed attempt by a group of provincial English Roman Catholic conspirators to kill King James I of England and VI of Scotland, his family, and most of the Protestant aristocracy in one swoop by blowing up the Houses Of Parliament during its State Opening . Guy Fawkes may have been introduced to Robert Catesby by a man named Hugh Owen who was responsible for intelligence on England at the court in Brussels. Sir William Stanley is also believed to have recommended him and Guy Fawkes named him in his interrogation, leading him to be arrested in Brussels and imprisoned for a year before being released, after the discovery of the plot. It was Stanley who first presented Fawkes to Thomas Winter in 1603 when Winter was in Europe. Stanley was the commander of the British in Flanders at the time and the man who had handed Deventer and the most part of his garrison back to the Spanish in 1587 nearly wiping out the gains that Leicester had made in the Low Countries. Leicester’s expedition was widely regarded as a disaster for this reason. Stanley was a known Catholic sympathiser. The plot itself may have been occasioned by the realisation that Spain was in far too much debt and was fighting too many wars to help out English Roman Catholics. The plotters realised that no outside help would be forth-coming unless they took action. Fawkes and the other conspirators were able to rent a cellar beneath the House of Lords. They had first tried to dig a mine under parliament but this would have been hard going, as they had to store the dirt and debris and carry it away in barrels. They were much relieved to find a cellar for rent. By March 1605, they had hidden eighteen hundred pounds of Gunpowder in the cellar, with the intent of detonating it during the State Opening of Parliament with the King and Lords in attendance. The plotters then wished to abduct the Prince Charles . Several of the conspirators were concerned, however, about fellow Catholics who would have been present at parliament during the opening. One of the conspirators had written a letter of warning to Lord Monteagle, who received it on October 26 . The conspirators became aware of the letter the following day, but they resolved to continue the plot after Fawkes had confirmed that nothing had been touched in the cellar. Lord Monteagle had been suspicious, however, and the letter was sent to the secretary of state who initiated a search of the vaults beneath the House of Lords. Fawkes was discovered and arrested during a raid on the cellar in the early morning of 5th November . He was tortured over the next few days, after special permission to do so had been granted by the King. Eventually, he revealed the names of his co-conspirators (who were either already dead or whose names were known to the authorities). On 31st January , Fawkes, Wintour, and a number of others implicated in the Conspiracy were taken to Old Palace Yard in Westminster , where they were Hanged, Drawn, And Quartered . LEGACY The significance of the Gunpowder Plot, with Guy Fawkes being its central figure, has meant that his name remains well-recognised. The complete story, his motivations, and the role of his co-conspirators are often simplified or ignored, however. Language In an example of Semantic Progression , Guy Fawkes' name is also the origin of the word " Guy " in the English Language , particularly in American Spoken English . The burning on 5th November of an effigy of Fawkes, known as a "guy", led to the use of the word "guy" as a term for "a person of grotesque appearance," according to the Oxford English Dictionary . Over time, the word evolved to become a general reference for a man, as in "some guy called for you." In the 20th century, under the influence of American Popular Culture , "guy" gradually replaced "fellow," "bloke," "chap" and other such words in many English-speaking countries. In some dialects "you guys" has become the second person plural. Literature of Guy Fawkes, being paraded by the Cliffe Bonfire Society as part of the Bonfire Night celebrations in Lewes , Sussex.]] Many popular contemporary verses were written in condemnation of Guy Fawkes aside from the most famous and still well known verse asking us to 'remember remember'. John Rhodes produced a popular narrative in verse describing the events of the plot and condemning Fawkes. :Fawkes at midnight, and by torchlight there was found :With long matches and devices, underground The full verse was published as ''A brief Summe of the Treason intended against King & State, when they should have been assembled in Parliament, November 5. 1605. Fit for to instruct the simple and ignorant heerein: that they not be seduced any longer by Papists.'' Other popular verses were altogether more ‘godly’ and in celebration of the fact that England had been saved from the Guy Fawkes conspiracy. John Wilson published, in 1625, a short song on the ‘powder plot’ with the words: ‘ O England praise the name of God/ That kept thee from this heavy rod’. Shakespeare 's Tragedy of Macbeth was finished in 1606 after the plot. It is believed that Shakespeare wrote it as an effort to please King James, who could trace his family back through the Scottish Kings to Banquo 's line. Shakespeare’s name may have been drawn as one of the conspirators. In 1606 his daughter Susannah was listed as one of the residents of Stratford refusing to take Holy Communion suggesting that the family certainly had Catholic sympathies. It is likely that Shakespeare wrote this play to demonstrate his loyalty in the suspicious climate after the plot. The plot was commemorated by the Lord Mayor and aldermen of the City of London on November the 5th for years after by a sermon at St. Paul's Cathedral . The popular accounts of the plot supplemented these sermons some of which were published and survive to this day. Many in the city left money in their wills so they might pay for a minister to preach a sermon annually in their own parish. In 1842, William Harrison Ainsworth wrote an historical novel called "Guy Fawkes", which portrayed Fawkes, and Catholic recusancy in general, in a sympathetic light. In Enid Blyton's THE SECRET SEVEN Series, "Guy Fawkes" is the 'password' the seven children assign that authenticates their entry to any of their several meetings. The reason for their choice arises from the bonfires that they arrange frequently. Fawkes was later celebrated in poetry. The Latin verse ''In Quintum Novembris'' was written c.1626. Also Milton’s Satan, in book six of ''Paradise Lost'' is very Fawksian in inspiration. The Devil invents gunpowder to try to match God's thunderbolts. Post reformation and anti-Roman Catholic literature often personified Guy Fawkes as the Devil in this way. Puritan polemics to popular literature all sought to associate Guy Fawkes with the demonic. The story of Guy Fawkes inspired Alan Moore 's 1982 post-nuclear Dystopia n Science Fiction Graphic Novel of a fascist Britain, '' V For Vendetta '' (which was adapted into a 2006 Film Version ). The story revolves around the main character, V, who in the words of the book's artist David Lloyd is portrayed as "a resurrected Guy Fawkes." and wears a Guy Fawkes mask. In the story, V plans to blow up the abandoned parliament buildings on a future 5th November as his first move to bring down the nation's Fascist Tyranny .
Popular culture , portrayed by Hugo Weaving , wears a Guy Fawkes mask in V For Vendetta ]] Guy Fawkes appears in the 2002 list of " 100 Greatest Britons ", sponsored by the BBC and voted for by the public. The list ranks him alongside others such as David Cameron , Aleister Crowley , Winston Churchill and Johnny Rotten . He was also included in a list of the 50 greatest people from Yorkshire. Guy Fawkes is documented in many film newsreels (see the archives of British Pathe and Movie Tone). The discovery of the plot, the celebration, and Guy Fawkes are also mentioned in many popular songs and ballads. Notably, in The Smiths album '' The Queen Is Dead '' vinyl version, the text "Guy Fawkes was a genius" is carved near the centre of the record. A popular British rhyme is often quoted on Guy Fawkes Night , in memory of the Gunpowder Plot : "Remember, remember, the 5th of November The Gunpowder Treason and plot; I know of no reason why Gunpowder Treason Should ever be forgot. Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, 'Twas his intent. To blow up the King and the Parliament. Three score barrels of powder below. Poor old England to overthrow. By God's providence he was catch'd, With a dark lantern and burning match Holloa boys, Holloa boys, let the bells ring Holloa boys, Holloa boys, God save the King! Hip hip Hoorah! Hip hip Hoorah! A penny loaf to feed ol'Pope, A farthing cheese to choke him. A pint of beer to rinse it down, A faggot of sticks to burn him. Burn him in a tub of tar, Burn him like a blazing star. Burn his body from his head, Then we'll say: ol'Pope is dead. Hip hip Hoorah! Hip hip Hoorah!" On John Lennon 's solo album Plastic Ono Band , Lennon sings "Remember, remember, the 5th of November" on the song "Remember." The lyrics are followed by the sound of an explosion. In the popular Harry Potter series, Professor Dumbledore 's pet Phoenix is named Fawkes , presumably due to the Phoenix's tendency to catch fire. In the graphic novel V For Vendetta and its Film Adaptation , V wears a Guy Fawkes mask, and blows up several buildings, including Parliament, as Fawkes attempted. Fawkes is referred to as the "Great Citizen" throughout the comic and film. SEE ALSO
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