In This Feature
Guy Fawkes
by
findingDulcinea Staff
He was a Catholic conspirator fed up with the oppressive rule of the Anglican-controlled government. On November 5, 1605, he and several other scheming friends attempted to blow up London Parliament with 36 barrels of gunpowder...
Centuries Back
But this motley group of fireworks enthusiasts, attempting to revive Catholicism, didn't succeed in their plan. They were sent to trial, hanged, drawn, and quartered, and ever since, the 5th of November has been celebrated in Britain with fireworks, bonfires, and general glee at the memory of the foiled “Gunpowder Plot.”
For a history of the Gunpowder Plot and Fawkes, head to Brittania, a resource on British history, for an article explaining the background to the conspiracy, the plot itself, the political and religious figures involved, and many lesser-known facts.
Source: Brittania
The home page of the U.K. Parliament also has an FAQ explaining the events from a governmental point of view.
Source: U.K. Parliament
Moratorium on the Memento Mori
Guy Fawkes (whose birth name was Guido) was born in York in 1570. He left York for school and shortly thereafter “fell into bad company,” as the BBC explains in a recent video, which reports on a new ban on bonfires in Fawkes’s own hometown. Other areas in England have also banned them on the basis of the environmental hazard. They have always been safety risks, though, because they tend to be piled up very high, and topped with “guys,” straw dummies symbolizing Fawkes himself.
Source: BBC
You can watch the video by heading to this page and clicking on the video on the top right (the video launches in a pop-up).
Verbal Ancestry
According to the Urban Dictionary, the origin of the term “guy” is actually derived from Guy Fawkes and his straw effigies. Our modern meaning of the term was first used in the mid-17th century, after the establishment of the Guy Fawkes holiday.
Source: Urban Dictionary
Etched in Time
Fawkes was executed at Westminster shortly after the foiled plot, and the entirety of the trial’s transcript can be found online at Armitstead, a collection of remarkable and strange documents past and present.
Source: Armitstead
Bonefires.org (bonfires were called “bonefires” in the 17th century) has a good explanation of just who Fawkes and his cohorts were. According to this site, Fawkes was not actually the ringleader; that role belonged to the “charismatic” Robert Catesby. (Another fact: all of the men but one were middle-class; the exception was Robert Catesby’s servant).
The site also includes a woodcut illustration of the criminals.
The site also includes a woodcut illustration of the criminals.
Source: Bonefires
Kind of Death?
While the official deaths of the criminals are still speculated, Parliament suspects that the men were “probably subjected to extensive torture, which formed part of the punishment for treason at the time.” Read more here.
Head to the Parliament’s interactive feature on the Plot for a multimedia-based education on the surrounding events.
Head to the Parliament’s interactive feature on the Plot for a multimedia-based education on the surrounding events.
Modern Plot Twist
Lending a little modern meaning to 400-year-old lore, the film V for Vendetta, produced by the Wachowski brothers of The Matrix fame, is about a martyr in an apocalyptic England who fashions himself after Guy Fawkes. Read about the movie at the All Movie Guide, or watch the trailer at Apple Trailers.
© 2012 Dulcinea Media, Inc.
