- For other uses, see Guy Fawkes (disambiguation) or Guido Fawkes (disambiguation).
Guy Fawkes (13 April 1570 – 31 January 1606), also known as Guido Fawkes, the name he adopted while fighting for the Spanish in the Low Countries,[1][2] belonged to a group of Catholic restorationists from England who planned the Gunpowder Plot of 1605.[3] Their aim was to displace Protestant rule by blowing up the Houses of Parliament while King James I and the entire Protestant, and even most of the Catholic, aristocracy and nobility were inside. The conspirators saw this as a necessary reaction to the systematic discrimination against English Catholics.[4]
The Gunpowder Plot was led by Robert Catesby, but Fawkes was put in charge of its execution. He was arrested a few hours before the planned explosion, during a search of the cellars underneath Parliament in the early hours of 5 November prompted by the receipt of an anonymous warning letter.
Guy Fawkes Night (or "bonfire night"), held on 5 November in the United Kingdom and some parts of the Commonwealth, is a commemoration of the plot, during which an effigy of Fawkes is burned, often accompanied by a fireworks display. The word "guy", meaning "man" or "person", is derived from his name.[5]
Early life
Childhood
St. Michael le Belfrey, where Fawkes was baptised
Born on 13 April 1570 at High Petergate in York, Yorkshire, Fawkes was the only son of Edward Fawkes and Edith Blake. His mother had given birth to a daughter named Anne a few years earlier, but the child died at the age of seven weeks on 11 November 1568. Guy was baptised in the church of St. Michael le Belfrey on 16 April 1570 as a three-day-old baby.[6] In the five years following Fawkes's birth, his mother bore two more daughters: Anne (named in honour of the earlier deceased child) and Elizabeth.[7]
He attended St. Peter's School in York, where his schoolfellows may have included John and Christopher Wright, both of whom would be among the conspirators of the Gunpowder Plot, and Thomas Morton, who became Bishop of Durham.[6] At St. Peter's, Fawkes was taught by John Pulleyn, kinsman to the Pulleyns of Scotton and a suspected Catholic who, according to some sources, may have had an early effect on the impressionable Fawkes.[6]
Fawkes's father was either a notary or proctor of the ecclesiastical courts and later an advocate of the consistory court of the Archbishop of York. Edward's wife, Edith Blake, was descended from prominent merchants and aldermen of the city. Edward Fawkes died in 1579, and his widow remarried in 1582, to a Catholic, Denis Bainbridge of Scotton. The family were known to be recusants, resisters of the authority of the Church of England, and it is probable that his stepfather's influence contributed to Guy's affiliation to Catholicism; Fawkes finally converted to Catholicism around the age of 16.[8] In the same year that Fawkes converted to Catholicism (1586), he would be made brutally aware of the repression the English Parliament enacted on local Catholics. Margaret Clitherow, later known as the "Pearl of York", was executed in her hometown that year by being crushed to death. She had originally been arrested for harbouring Catholic priests in her home.[9]
Occupation as a soldier
After leaving school at a young age, Fawkes became a footman for Anthony Browne, 1st Viscount Montagu. Browne was one of the leading statesmen during the time of Catholic monarch of Scotland Mary and was also allegedly implicated in the Ridolfi plot. Browne took a dislike to Fawkes and fired him after a short time.[10] However, his grandson Anthony-Maria Browne, 2nd Viscount Montagu re-employed Fawkes as a table waiter.[11] In 1591, Fawkes inherited his father's estates. After renting them out for a while as a way to earn money, he sold his stakes in them to Anne Skipsey.[11]
Theatrical drawing of Fawkes holding a pistol
In Continental Europe there had been a series of Wars of Religion stemming from a Protestant-Catholic issue in relation to the presumption of the French throne. England was divided, the English Protestant crown supported Navarre, while the Catholics of England supported the Catholic League and Pope Sixtus V, through the Duke of Guise.[11] Sir William Stanley had raised an army in Ireland to fight in the Spanish Netherlands. Fawkes, along with his Jesuit cousin Richard Collinge went over to Flanders to join him against the Dutch Revolt.[11] Fawkes spent ten years fighting for the Spanish Catholic cause as a soldier. It was while fighting with the Spaniards that he adopted the name Guido, and he gained considerable expertise with explosives.[1]
The Netherlands were then possessions of King Philip II of Spain, Duke of Burgundy. The Dutch associated Spain and Philip's rule with the Catholic Inquisition, which he had tried to impose on his territories in the Low Countries. Fawkes arrived at a time when the death of the Duke of Parma and mutinies by Spanish mercenaries had left the Catholic military force in the Netherlands paralysed, and Maurice of Nassau, the stadtholder in five provinces from 1584 till 1625, son of William of Orange, had led successful campaigns against Spanish positions. He was also present when Calais was taken by the Spanish in 1596. For his gallantry in the siege of Calais, Stanley even gave Fawkes command of a company of soldiers.[11] .
Gunpowder Plot
Main article:
Gunpowder PlotFawkes is notorious for his involvement in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. He was probably placed in charge of executing the plot because of his military and explosives experience. The plot, masterminded by Robert Catesby, was an attempt by a group of religious conspirators to kill King James I of England, his family, and most of the aristocracy, by blowing up the House of Lords in the Palace of Westminster during the State Opening of Parliament.
The plot itself may have been occasioned by the realisation by Protestant authorities and Catholic recusants that the Kingdom of Spain was in far too much debt and fighting too many wars to assist Catholics in Britain. Any possibility of toleration by Great Britain was removed at the Hampton Court conference in 1604 when King James I attacked both extreme Puritans and Catholics. The plotters realised that no outside help would be forthcoming. Fawkes and the other conspirators rented a cellar beneath the House of Lords after having failed in their attempt to dig a tunnel under the building. By March 1605, they had hidden 1,800 pounds (36 barrels, or 800 kg) of gunpowder in the cellar.
A contemporary engraving of the conspirators (
detail). By the Dutch artist,
Crispijn van de Passe the Elder.
[12] He probably never met any of the conspirators, but the print has become well-known nonetheless.
A few of the conspirators were concerned about fellow Catholics who would have been present at Parliament during the opening.[13] On the evening of 26 October Lord Monteagle, received an anonymous letter warning him to stay away, and to "retyre youre self into yowre contee whence yow maye expect the event in safti for ... they shall receyve a terrible blowe this parleament".[14] Despite quickly becoming aware of the letter—informed by one of Monteagle's servants—they resolved to continue with their plans, as it appeared that it "was clearly thought to be a hoax".[15] Monteagle had been made suspicious, however, and the letter was shown to King James. The king ordered Sir Thomas Knyvet to conduct a search of the cellars underneath Parliament, which he did in the early hours of 5 November. Shortly after midnight, Fawkes was found leaving the cellar the conspirators had rented and was arrested. Inside, the barrels of gunpowder were discovered hidden under piles of firewood and coal.[16]
Fawkes gave his name as John Johnson, and was tortured over the next few days in an effort to extract from him the names of his co-conspirators. King James directed that the torture be light at first, but more severe if necessary. Sir William Wade, Lieutenant of the Tower of London at this time, supervised the torture and obtained Fawkes's confession. For three or four days Fawkes said nothing, nor divulged the names of his co-conspirators. Only when he found out that they had proclaimed themselves by appearing in arms did he succumb. The torture only revealed the names of those conspirators who were already dead or whose names were known to the authorities. On 31 January, Fawkes and a number of others implicated in the conspiracy were tried in Westminster Hall. After being found guilty, they were taken to Old Palace Yard in Westminster and St Paul's Yard, where they were to be hanged, drawn and quartered. Fawkes, weakened by his torture, was the last to climb the ladder to the gallows, from which he jumped, breaking his neck in the fall and thus avoiding the latter part of his execution.[17]
Fawkes's signature immediately after torture (as 'Guido Fawkes')
Reaction
On 5 November 1605, the day the plot was discovered, Londoners were encouraged to celebrate the King's escape from assassination by lighting bonfires in the city, "always provided that ‘this testemonye of joy be careful done without any danger or disorder'", beginning a tradition that has persisted across the UK ever since.[18] The Lord Mayor and aldermen of the City of London commemorated the conspiracy on 5 November for years after with a sermon in St Paul's Cathedral. Popular accounts of the plot supplemented these sermons, some of which were published and have survived. Many in the city left money in their wills to pay for a minister to preach a sermon annually in their own parish.
Many popular contemporary verses were written in condemnation of Fawkes. The most well-known verse begins:
- Remember, remember the fifth of November,
- The gunpowder treason and plot,
- I see no reason
- Why the gunpowder treason
- Should ever be forgot.
And then:
- Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes,
- 'Twas his intent
- to blow up the King and Parliament.
- Three score barrles of powder below
- Poor old England to overthrow.
- By God's providence he was catch'd
- With dark cantern and burning match.
- Holla boys, holla boys!
- Let the bells ring!
- Holla boys, holla boys!
- God save the King.
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 Summary of the Treason intended against King & State, when they should have been assembled in Parliament, 5 November. 1605. Fit for to instruct the simple and ignorant herein: that they not be seduced any longer by Papists. Other popular verses were of a more religious tone and celebrated the fact that England had been saved from the Guy Fawkes conspiracy. John Wilson published, in 1612, a short song on the "powder plot" with the words:
- O England praise the name of God
- That kept thee from this heavy rod!
- But though this demon e'er be gone,
- his evil now be ours upon!
The Fawkes story continued to be celebrated in poetry. The Latin verse In Quintum Novembris was written c. 1626. John Milton’s Satan in book six of Paradise Lost was inspired by Fawkes—the Devil invents gunpowder to try to match God's thunderbolts. Post-Reformation and anti–Catholic literature often personified Fawkes as the Devil in this way. From Puritan polemics to popular literature, all sought to associate Fawkes with the demonic. However, his reputation has since undergone a rehabilitation, and today he is often toasted as, "The last man to enter Parliament with honourable intentions." William Harrison Ainsworth's 1841 historical romance Guy Fawkes; or, The Gunpowder Treason, portrays Fawkes, and Catholic recusancy in general, in a sympathetic light and was one of the first accounts to challenge the official depiction of the plot.[19]
Legacy
Anarchist poster from the mid-20th century
In 18th-century England, it became a tradition for children to display a grotesque effigy of Fawkes, termed a "guy", as part of the Bonfire Night celebration.[20] As part of the tradition, they would often stand on streetcorners begging for "a penny for the guy".[21] The "guy" would be burned on a bonfire at the end of the evening. As a consequence, "guy" came to mean a man of odd appearance. Subsequently, in American English, "guy" lost any pejorative connotation, becoming a simple reference for any man.[5]
Fawkes was ranked 30th in the 2002 list of the 100 Greatest Britons, sponsored by the BBC and voted for by the public.[22] He was also included in a list of the 50 greatest people from Yorkshire.[23] The Guy Fawkes River and thus Guy Fawkes River National Park in northern New South Wales, Australia were named after Fawkes by explorer John Oxley, who, like Fawkes, was from North Yorkshire. In the Galápagos Islands a collection of two crescent-shaped islands and two small rocks northwest of Santa Cruz Island, are called Isla Guy Fawkes.[24]
Guy Fawkes is shown in the opening scenes of the movie V for Vendetta, and the film revolves around the character V who is always seen in a Guy Fawkes mask.
References
- Notes
- ^ a b "Who was the real Guy Fawkes?". BBC. http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/york/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_8333000/8333906.stm. Retrieved 21 October 2009.
- ^ Cooper, C. P. (1832), ed (6 November 1605). "Examination of Guido Fawkes, on Interrogatories prepared by King James I.". The Most Important Public Records of Great Britain. Two. London: Baldwin and Craddock. pp. 386.
- ^ "Transplanted Englishman brings country's Guy Fawkes party tradition to Burnsville". ThisWeek-Online.com. 24 October 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20051215081802/http://www.thisweek-online.com/2005/September/30bonfire.html.
- ^ "Guy Fawkes". Brtiannica.com. 24 October 2007. http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9033856/Guy-Fawkes.
- ^ a b Merriam-Webster (1991). The Merriam-Webster new book of word histories. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster. p. 208. ISBN 0877796033. http://books.google.com/books?id=IrcZEZ1bOJsC&pg=PA208. , entry "guy"
- ^ a b c "Guy Fawkes – Old Peterite". St-Peters.york.sch.uk. 24 October 2007. http://www.st-peters.york.sch.uk/history/guyfawkes.htm.
- ^ "Guy Fawkes: A Biography". Britannia.com. 11 November 2007. http://www.britannia.com/history/g-fawkes.html.
- ^ "A man for all treason". North East History. 24 October 2007. http://www.northeasthistory.co.uk/the_north_east/history/features/205/051105.html.
- ^ "On the trail of the Gunpowder Plotters" (PDF). HistoryofYork.co.uk. 11 November 2007. http://www.historyofyork.co.uk/tpl/uploads/1GuyFawkestrail.pdf.
- ^ Fraser, Antonia (1996). Faith And Treason. Nan A. Talese. ISBN 978-0385471893.
- ^ a b c d e "Guy Fawkes: From York to the Battlefields of Flanders". Gunpowder-Plot.org. 24 October 2007. http://www.gunpowder-plot.org/york-flanders.asp.
- ^ Crispiijn van de Passe, National Portrait Gallery, accessed 8 July 2009
- ^ Northcote Parkinson 1976, pp. 62–63
- ^ Northcote Parkinson 1976, pp. 68–69
- ^ Northcote Parkinson 1976, p. 72
- ^ Northcote Parkinson 1976, p. 73
- ^ Northcote Parkinson 1976, pp. 91–92
- ^ Nicholls, Mark (2004). "Fawkes, Guy (bap. 1570, d. 1606)" (subscription required). Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/9230. Retrieved 2009-06-19.
- ^ Harrison Ainsworth, William (1841). Guy Fawkes; or, The Gunpowder Treason. Nottingham Society. http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=YvcOOnJWc3gC&dq=william+harrison+ainsworth+fawkes&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=eDgfrpTV3h&sig=Wvzti1wdj7OSYbKLCi08P83pAQ0.
- ^ Online Etymology Dictionary
- ^ Penny for the Guy Cnn Travel guide
- ^ "Top 100 Greatest Britons". BiographyOnline.net. 24 October 2007. http://www.biographyonline.net/british/greatest-britons.html.
- ^ "The 50 greatest Yorkshire people?". Guardian Unlimited. 24 October 2007. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1590701,00.html.
- ^ "Topography and Landforms of Ecuador" (PDF). Geology.er.usgs.gov. 24 October 2007. http://geology.er.usgs.gov/eespteam/terrainmodeling/images/large/ecuador_srtm_low.pdf.
- Bibliography
- Northcote Parkinson, C. (1976). Gunpowder Treason and Plot. Weidenfeld and Nicolson. ISBN 0-297-77224-4.
External links
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