|
 Fireworks
can be seen all over France every July 14th as the nation celebrates
Bastille Day. Across the USA some ten days earlier on the 4th
July, Americans celebrate their Independence Day. In Britain
the words of a children's nursery rhyme "Remember, Remember the
5th of November, Gunpowder, Treason and Plot" are chanted as
fireworks fly and bonfires gradually consume a human effigy
known as the 'Guy'. So
who was this Guy? And why is he remembered so fondly 400 years after
his death? It
could be said that the story started when the Catholic Pope of the
day failed to recognise England's King
Henry VIII's novel ideas on separation and divorce. Henry,
annoyed at this, severed ties with Rome and appointed himself head
of the Protestant Church of England. Protestant rule in England was
maintained and strengthened through the long and glorious reign of
his daughter Queen
Elizabeth I. When Elizabeth died without children in 1603,
her cousin James VI of Scotland became King
James I of England. James
had not been long on the throne before he started to upset the
Catholics within his kingdom. They appear to have been
unimpressed with his failure to implement religious tolerance
measures, getting a little more annoyed when he ordered all Catholic
priests to leave the country. A group of Roman Catholic nobles and
gentlemen led by Robert Catesby conspired to essentially end
Protestant rule with perhaps the biggest 'bang' in history.
Their plan was to blow up the King, Queen, church leaders, assorted
nobles and both Houses of Parliament with 36 barrels of gunpowder
strategically placed in the cellars beneath the Palace of
Westminster.
 The
plot was apparently revealed when the Catholic Lord Monteagle was
sent a message warning him to stay away from Parliament as he would
be in danger, the letter being presented to Robert Cecil, James I's
Chief Minister. Some historians believe that Cecil had known about
the plot for some time and had allowed the plot to 'thicken' to both
ensure that all the conspirators were caught and to promote Catholic
hatred throughout the country. And
the Guy? Guy Fawkes was born in Yorkshire in 1570. A convert
to the Catholic faith, Fawkes had been a soldier who had spent
several years fighting in Italy. It was during this period
that he adopted the name Guido (Italian for Guy) perhaps to impress
the ladies! What we do know is that Guido was arrested in the
early hours of the morning of November 5th 1605, in a cellar under
the House of Lords, next to the 36 kegs of gunpowder, with a box of
matches in his pocket and a guilty expression on his face! Under
torture Guy Fawkes identified the names of his
co-conspirators. Many of these were the relations of a
Catholic gentleman, Thomas Percy. Catesby and three others
were killed by soldiers while attempting to escape. The remaining
eight were imprisoned in the Tower of London before being tried and
executed for High Treason. They experienced that quaint British
method of execution, first experienced almost 300 years earlier by
William 'Braveheart' Wallace: they too were hanged, drawn and
quartered. © HUK. |