It ’s difficult to “ remember , remember the fifth of November ” when you ’re uncertain what make it so memorable . Guy Fawkes Day ? Guy Fawkes Night ? That guy with the beard from “ V for Vendetta ” ? You need a primer on the Gunpowder Plot and a crash course of instruction in Catholic - Protestant account . Then all the bonfires and effigies will make sense .
Before we get into Guy — make that Guido — Fawkes , let ’s lay the stage .
When Henry VIII , owner of rotund belly and six wives , ruled England , the country was Catholic . At first . Henry ’s then - wife , Catherine of Aragon , could not bear him a virile heritor to the toilet , and Henry could not assume to ride out in an unfruitful matrimony . Because the Catholic Church would n’t concede him a divorce , he left the church . Then he got that divorcement he involve .
All of this was fabulously confusing for Henry ’s three children , who retained some Catholic religious beliefs but became politically opposed to the church ’s doctrine and did not see kindly upon Catholics in their kingdom .
After Henry ’s decease , his Logos Edward took the crapper , stick to by Mary , who take a Catholic sovereignty . But when Elizabeth became world-beater in 1558 , England identified once again as a Protestant res publica , and Catholics were forbidden from hold Mass , having Catholic wedlock ceremony and observing other spiritual ritual .
Catholics living in England were hopeful whenJames of Scotland became king . His mother , Mary , was Catholic . Would n’t he be large-hearted to members of her faith ? This line of mentation help him pull together support from the people of England , but at last , he also name as Protestant — and was even less broad of Catholics than Elizabeth had been .
Frustrated and proceed to activeness , many Catholics plot to rid their country of the king . Of all the plots conceived to eliminate James , the Gunpowder Plot was the most ill-famed .
The Plot Begins
If you may guess the hurl of the " Ocean ’s Eleven " trilogy in breeches and broad collar , you ’ve got an inkling ofthe crew Robert Catesby foregather to take down James and leaders of Parliament . They reason : kill James , and when his girl takes the throne , she could be marry off to a Catholic and redefine England ’s spiritual identity . To pull off his plot , Catesby ab initio recruited John Wright , Thomas Winter , Thomas Percy and , the most recognizable name among them , Guy Fawkes .
Fawkes was born in 1570 to Protestant parent but later became Catholic when his widowed female parent remarry . He fought for Catholic Spain against the Protestant Dutch Republic in the Eighty Years ' War . He’d long carried a score against Jamesand asked Spain ’s King Philip III to aid him in a rebellion against the Protestant king . Philip tell no .
So when Catesby and his gang come knocking , Fawkes , now going by Guido ( that ’s Italian for “ Guy ” ) was eager to get involved . An accomplished military captain , Fawkes had experience using — and more significantly — grow powder .
The plotters spentnearly 18 monthsorganizing their death sentence for the Riley B King . They source 36 barrels of gunpowder and rented a construction snug to Parliament so they could burrow underground and transfer the supply to Parliament ’s cellar . alas for them , the River Thames reliably flooded and thwarted their effort .
On to Plan B
While they cobbled together an alternative design , Thomas Winter ’s employer , Lord Monteagle — a Catholic who ’d earned his title by spying on Catholics for the government — tipped off Robert Cecil , Earl of Salisbury , that these men were plotting against James . No one loved plots quite as much as Cecil . As we mention , there were plenty of plots brew during this time , and he took full advantage of them .
Cecil was a merchandising genius . He ’d allow conspirator to plot until the last minute , then foil their plans and show the citizenry of England how close they ’d been to losing their leader . He thought James ' near - assassination endear them to the king and repeatedly evidence just how fanatical Catholics could be . When Cecil get intelligence that the Gunpowder Plotters were having trouble with their tunnels , he brazenly opened up a rental space below Parliament , know they ’d crack it up . And they did .
Fawkes oversee the transferral of gunpowder to the space beneath Parliament , and he would be in person responsible for igniting the explosion .
But at midnight on Nov. 4 , 1605 , Cecil sprang into action at law . Fawkes was nab and arrested .
Fawkes' Final Days
Torture was n’t legal in England , but James made a special exception for Fawkes ' inquiring . Fawkes confine up for two days , submitting himself to excruciating pain in the ass , before confess and key out his co - plotters . When he signalise the confession , his key signature was crudely shape , suggesting that the torture had left him petty control over his limbs and digits .
Fawkes was condemn to a traitor ’s death , meaning that he ’d be hanged , drawn and quartered ( dragged by a horse to the gallows , hanged almost to the peak of death , then take down to have his testicles , bowels and header removed , his trunk effectively being cut into four quarters ) . Fawkes was n’t own it . At the gallows , he leaped to the ground and check his neck opening . As for the respite of the work party , they were also execute on Jan. 30 and 31 , 1606 .
Nothing really changed for the Catholics . They kept carrying on softly , and some historiographer suspect they ’d have been worse off if the Gunpowder Plotters had succeeded . Catholic extremist only made their fellow countrymen more suspicious of the religious belief and its disciple .
As for those fellow countrymen , they ’re still celebrating the male monarch ’s spared living . Every year on Nov. 5 , the date when the Gunpowder Plot was frustrate , the British spark balefire and rowdily cheer on the wellness of the nation . The celebration , interchangeably called Guy Fawkes Day , Guy Fawkes Night and Bonfire Night is no longer anti - Catholic . While people used to burn simulacrum of Fawkes and the pope , it ’s more mutual now to burn effigies of celebrities and politicians . Fawkes lives on as a near - mythic pattern . He ’s come to symbolize anti - authority movements and indubitably take top billing in the Gunpowder Plot story , despite his role as a supporting cast member .
