Remember, remember...

Happy Guy Fawkes Day

(in homage to my British cousins)

Much has been bruted about in recent years about the mysterious GUY FAWKES, the munitions expert for a failed plot against parliment during the reign of James I of England. Fawkes was the iconic representation of the lead character in the recent kinescope, V FOR VENDETTA, and is represented in popular cultural references both in the United Kingdom and abroad. The name "Guy Fawkes" and "Gunpowder Plot" do get mentioned from time to time, but what is actually known about the lead actor in the play? Given that today is the anniversary of "Guy Fawkes Day" in the UK, and there has been much muttering on the Caledon State Channel of late about hanging royals and blowing up the Guv's palace and whatnot, I was intruiged enough to consult the great book of Wiki with some other consultations to seers of Google. They have yielded up a surprising compendium of knowledge about Fawkes, the real man, some of which is summarized below.

Guy Fawkes was born 13th April, 1570 in Stonegate, York, to parents Edward and Edith Fawkes. His father was proctor of the ecclessiastical courts and advocate of the consistory court of the Archbishop of York. In 1579 his father died and his mother Edith married again into a Catholic family. Little is known about his early life. His mother re-married and the family moved to Scotton. There is evidence, though questioned by some chroniclers, that Fawkes married Anne Pullyn in 1592 and had a son, Thomas, the following year.

Early in his youth, Fawkes went to the Netherlands where he enlisted in the Spanish army under Archduke Albert of Austria. Fawkes held a post of command when the Spaniards took Calais in 1596 under the orders of King Philip II of Spain (although it is likely he never rose above Ensign). Later he travelled to Spain in an attempt to persuade the king to send Catholic troops to invade England. His mission was an abject failure, but his sympathies were indisputedly in the camp of a Catholic England.

1603 When Elizabeth I died without issue, Mary Queen of Scot's son, James, was next in line to the throne. As James was a Protestant, Parliament was also in favor of him becoming king. The Roman Catholics in England were now fearful of the prospect of another Protestant monarch. They also became incensed when James passed a law that imposed heavy fines on people who did not attend Protestant church services.

In May, 1604, Robert Catesby devised the Gunpowder Plot, a scheme to kill James and as many Members of Parliament as possible. At a meeting at the Duck and Drake Inn Catesby explained his plan to Guy Fawkes, Thomas Percy, John Wright and Thomas Wintour. All the men agreed under oath to join the conspiracy. Over the next few months Francis Tresham, Everard Digby, Robert Wintour, Thomas Bates and Christopher Wright also agreed to take part in the overthrow of the king.

After the death of James in the explosion, Robert Catesby planned to make the king's young daughter, Elizabeth, queen. In time, Catesby hoped to arrange Elizabeth's marriage to a Catholic nobleman. It was Everard Digby's task to kidnap Princess Elizabeth from Coombe Abbey.

Catesby's plan involved blowing up the Houses of Parliament on 5th November. This date was chosen because the king was due to open Parliament on that day. At first the group tried to tunnel under Parliament. This plan changed when Thomas Percy was able to hire a cellar under the House of Lords. The plotters then filled the cellar with barrels of gunpowder. Fawkes, because of his munitions experience in the Netherlands, was given the task of creating the explosion.

The Plot was discovered when the cellars were searched the night before the opening. Fawkes was caught red-handed and although his fellow conspirators fled, they were cornered and either died resisting arrest or were captured and executed.

Fawkes died on the 31st of January the following year. He was executed in the Garden of St. Paul's Cathedral / Old Palace Yard, Westminster. Rumor has it he escaped the worst of his severe punishment (drawing and quartering) by leaping off the gallows with the noose on his neck, breaking his neck and killing him instantly.

Postscript: King James I adapted an existing custom of celebrating the accession of a monarch with nationwide bonfires by passing a law making the festivities an annual event on November 5th. Although the law was repealed in 1859 the tradition remains. The character of Guy Fawkes is inseparable from November 5th which is today known variously as Guy Fawkes Day, Bonfire Night or Fireworks Night.

So, perhaps, Fawkes was a patsy for Catesby and company, or more likely a willing accomplice brought into the conspiracy for his technical knowledge. Certainly, his reputation has grown in the telling as the years past, and he is now something of a folk or anti-hero in places (certainly in Yorkshire, where he hails from!). The movie V for Vendetta paints a rather rosey portrait of Fawkes' image (as seen through the eyes of V), which has not hurt his legend one whit.

There is even, they say, an avatar of a certain representation of Fawkes in Second Life. I, er.. wouldn't know a thing about it. Honestly.