Guy Fawkes
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A painting of Fawkes with Parliament in the background. |
Guy Fawkes (
April 13 1570 –
January 31 1606) also known as
Guido Fawkes born in
York, was an
English soldier and a member of a group of
Roman Catholic conspirators who attempted to carry out the
Gunpowder Plot on November 5, 1605.
The plot was an attempt to
assassinate King James I of England (James VI of Scotland) and the members of both houses of the
Parliament of England. To do this,
Westminster Palace was to be blown up during the formal opening session of the 1605 Parliament, in which the king would address a joint assembly of both the
House of Lords and the
House of Commons. Guy Fawkes was in large part responsible for the later stages of the plan's execution. His activities were detected, however, before the plan's completion. Following a severe interrogation involving the use of
torture, and a trial in
Westminster Hall, Fawkes and his conspirators were executed for
treason and
attempted murder. Guy Fawkes's failure is remembered with
Bonfire Night on
November 5.
Fawkes was born in Stonegate York where he was baptised in the church of
St. Michael le Belfrey on the 16th of April 1570. He attended
St. Peter's School. He was the only son of
Edward Fawkes (d.1579) of York and his wife Edith Jackson. Edward Fawkes was proctor of the consistory court in York and later advocate. He is believed to have been strongly Protestant, and it is certain that Fawkes did not get his Catholic leanings from his father. Fawkes converted to
Catholicism around the age of 16, according to his admission of
recusancy at his preliminary
interrogation following his capture. Edward Fawkes died in 1579 and his widow remarried in 1582 to Denis Bainbridge of Scotton in the West Riding of Yorkshire. The family were known to be
recusants and it is highly probable that Guy became a Catholic owing to their influence.
In 1592 Guy sold the estate he had inherited from his father and went to serve under the Catholic armies of Spain against the protestant Dutch in the Netherlands. He served for many years as a
soldier, gaining considerable expertise with explosives, which is the most likely reason that conspirators Winter and Catesby recruited him. In 1593, after briefly serving as a footman for
Anthony-Maria Browne, 2nd Viscount Montague, he enlisted in the army of
Archduke Albert of Austria in the
Netherlands, fighting against the
Protestant United Provinces in the
Eighty Years' War for the armies of Catholic Spain. The Netherlands was then nominally in possession of Philip II of Spain, who was Duke of Burgundy, but suffered from being thought of as a Castillian and thus a foreigner by the Dutch. The Dutch also associated Spain and Philip's rule with the Catholic inquisition that he had tried to impose on his territories in the low countries. Guy arrived at a time when the death of the
Duke of Parma, commander of the Spanish armies, and mutinies by Spanish mercenaries had left the military force in the Netherlands paralysed by inaction. Maurice of Nassau (1584-1635) the stadholder in five provinces, son of
William of Orange (or William ‘the silent') had also led successful campaigns against Spanish positions. In 1596 Guy was present at the siege and capture of
Calais. By 1602, however, he still had not risen higher than the rank of
ensign. While serving in the Spanish Army in the Netherlands he adopted the name Guido, the Spanish form of Guy. There is some evidence that Guy was in considerable poverty around this time. He may have visited Spain in the early 1600s to sue for Spanish help in returning England to Catholicism.
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The Gunpowder Conspirators are discovered and Guy Fawkes is caught in the cellar of the Houses of Parliament with the explosives. |
Guy Fawkes is most famous for his involvement in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, which he was placed in charge of executing because of his military and explosives experience. The plot, masterminded by
Robert Catesby, was a failed attempt by a group of English Roman Catholic conspirators to kill King James I of England (VI of Scotland), his family, and most of the aristocracy in one swoop by blowing up the (now demolished) House of Lords building in the
Houses of Parliament during its
State Opening. Guy Fawkes may have been introduced to Robert Catesby by a man named
Hugh Owen, a Catholic who was in the pay of the Spanish Netherlands. Sir William Stanley is also believed to have recommended him and Guy Fawkes named him in his torture, leading him to be arrested and imprisoned for a year after the discovery of the plot. It was Stanley who first presented Fawkes to Thomas Winter in 1603 when Winter was in Europe. Stanley was the commander of the English in Flanders at the time. Stanley had handed Deventer and much of its garrison back to the Spanish in 1587, nearly wiping out the gains that Leicester had made in the Low Countries. Leicester's expedition was widely regarded as a disaster for this reason among others. Stanley was a known Catholic sympathiser.
The plot itself may have been occasioned by the realisation by English Protestant authorities and Roman Catholic "recusants" that Spain was in far too much debt and was fighting too many wars to help out English Roman Catholics. Any possibility of toleration by the State was removed at the Hampton Court conference in 1604 when James I attacked both extreme Puritans and Catholics. The plotters realised that no outside help would be forthcoming unless they took action. Fawkes and the other conspirators were able to rent a cellar beneath the House of Lords. They were much relieved to find a cellar for rent, as they had first tried to dig a mine under the building. This would have been difficult, as they had to store the dirt and debris and carry it away in barrels. By March 1605, they had hidden eighteen hundred pounds of
gunpowder in the cellar, with the intent of detonating it during the State Opening of Parliament with the King and Lords in attendance. The plotters then wished to abduct Princess Elizabeth (later
Elizabeth of Bohemia, the "Winter Queen"). A few of the conspirators were concerned, however, about fellow Catholics who would have been present at parliament during the opening. One of the conspirators wrote a letter of warning to Lord Monteagle, who received it on
October 26. The conspirators became aware of the letter the following day, but they resolved to continue the plot after Fawkes had confirmed that nothing had been touched in the cellar.
Lord Monteagle had been suspicious, however, and the letter was sent to the secretary of state who initiated a search of the vaults beneath the House of Lords. Fawkes was discovered and arrested during a raid on the cellar in the early morning of
5 November. He was tortured over the next few days, after special permission to do so had been granted by the King. Eventually, he revealed the names of his conspirators (who were either already dead or whose names were known to the authorities). Some had fled to Warwickshire where they were either killed or captured. On
31 January, Fawkes, Winter, and a number of others implicated in the
conspiracy were tried in
Westminster Hall, and after being found guilty, were taken to
Old Palace Yard in
Westminster and St. Paul's Yard, where they were
hanged, drawn, and quartered. Fawkes cheated this fate in a way: though weakened by torture, he jumped from the gallows and snapped his neck rather than being hanged until almost dead.
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Guy Fawkes' signature immediately after torture (only 'Guido') and eight days later. |
The significance of the Gunpowder Plot, with Guy Fawkes being its central figure, has meant that his name remains well-recognised. The complete story, his motivations, and the role of his conspirators are often simplified or ignored, however.
In an example of
semantic progression, Guy Fawkes' name is also the origin of the word "
guy" in the
English language, particularly in
American spoken English. The burning on 5th November of an effigy of Fawkes, known as a "guy", led to the use of the word "guy" as a term for "a person of grotesque appearance," according to the
Oxford English Dictionary. Over time, the word evolved to become a general reference for a man, as in "some guy called for you." In the 20th century, under the influence of
American popular culture, "guy" gradually replaced "fellow," "bloke," "chap" and other such words in many English-speaking countries. In some dialects "you guys" has become the second person plural.
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Effigy of Guy Fawkes, being paraded by the Cliffe Bonfire Society as part of the Bonfire Night celebrations in Lewes, Sussex. |
Many popular contemporary verses were written in condemnation of Guy Fawkes aside from the most famous and still well known verse asking us to 'remember remember'. 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 Summe of the Treason intended against King & State, when they should have been assembled in Parliament, November 5. 1605. Fit for to instruct the simple and ignorant heerein: that they not be seduced any longer by Papists. Other popular verses were altogether more ‘godly' and in celebration of the fact that England had been saved from the Guy Fawkes conspiracy. John Wilson published, in 1625, a short song on the ‘powder plot' with the words: ‘ O England praise the name of God/ That kept thee from this heavy rod'.
Shakespeare's Tragedy of
Macbeth was finished in 1606 after the plot. It is believed that Shakespeare wrote it as an effort to please King James, who could trace his family back through the Scottish Kings to
Banquo's line. Shakespeare's name may have been drawn as one of the conspirators. In 1606 his daughter Susannah was listed as one of the residents of Stratford refusing to take Holy Communion suggesting that the family certainly had Catholic sympathies. It is likely that Shakespeare wrote this play to demonstrate his loyalty in the suspicious climate after the plot.
The plot was commemorated by the Lord Mayor and aldermen of the City of London on November the 5th for years after by a sermon at
St. Paul's Cathedral. The popular accounts of the plot supplemented these sermons some of which were published and survive to this day. Many in the city left money in their wills so they might pay for a minister to preach a sermon annually in their own parish.
In 1842,
William Harrison Ainsworth wrote an historical novel called "Guy Fawkes", which portrayed Fawkes, and Catholic recusancy in general, in a sympathetic light.
In
Enid Blyton's
Secret Seven series, "Guy Fawkes" is the 'password' the seven children use to authenticate their entry to any of their several meetings. The reason for their choice arises from the bonfires that they arrange frequently.
Fawkes was later celebrated in poetry. The Latin verse
In Quintum Novembris was written c.1626. Also Milton's Satan, in book six of
Paradise Lost is very Fawksian in inspiration. The Devil invents gunpowder to try to match God's thunderbolts. Post reformation and anti-Roman Catholic literature often personified Guy Fawkes as the Devil in this way. Puritan polemics to popular literature all sought to associate Guy Fawkes with the demonic.
The story of Guy Fawkes inspired
Alan Moore's 1982 post-nuclear
dystopian
graphic novel of a fascist Britain,
V for Vendetta (which was adapted into a 2006
film version). The story revolves around the main character, V, who wears a Guy Fawkes mask. In the story, V plans to blow up the abandoned parliament buildings on a future 5th November as his first move to bring down the nation's
fascist tyranny.
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Charles Dickens also referred to Fawkes quite often, particularly in his history of England, but also with references in his novels.
*The poet
T. S. Eliot also mentions Guy Fawkes in the epigraph for his poem
The Hollow Men, "A penny for the old guy".
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Fawkes, the
phoenix that appears in the
Harry Potter books, is named after Guy Fawkes. A parallel has been drawn between Fawkes' owner
Albus Dumbledore's
Order of the Phoenix and the conspirators of the
Gunpowder Plot. It has also been said that the naming of Fawkes arises from the phoenix's tendency to catch fire.
*In the story "Witch Week" of the
Chrestomanci series, an alternate universe is created when Fawkes succeeds in destroying Parliament.
*In Charlotte Brontë's
Jane Eyre, Jane believes Ms. Abbot thinks of her as an "infantile Guy Fawkes"--always watching everyone and scheming.
*In the Lucasarts video game Armed and Dangerous there is a weapon known as the Guy Fawkes Traitor Bomb, which causes all victims caught in the blast to turn upon their allies.
Guy Fawkes appears in the Film V for Vendetta.Guy Fawkes appears in the 2002 list of "100 Greatest Britons", sponsored by the BBC and voted for by the public. The list ranks him alongside others such as
John Lennon,
David Beckham,
Aleister Crowley,
Winston Churchill and
Johnny Rotten. He was also included in a list of the 50 greatest people from Yorkshire.
Guy Fawkes is documented in many film newsreels (see the archives of British Pathé and Movie Tone). The discovery of the plot, the celebration, and Guy Fawkes are also mentioned in many popular songs and ballads. Notably, on the vinyl version of
The Smiths' album
Strangeways, Here We Come, the words "Guy Fawkes was a genius" are carved near the centre of the record.
A popular British rhyme is often quoted on Guy Fawkes Night, in memory of the Gunpowder Plot:
Remember, remember, the 5th of November:The Gunpowder Treason and plot ;:I know of no reason why Gunpowder Treason:Should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes,:'Twas his intent.:To blow up the King and the Parliament.:Three score barrels of powder below.:Poor old England to overthrow.:By God's providence he was catch'd,:With a dark lantern and burning match
Holloa boys, Holloa boys, let the bells ring:Holloa boys, Holloa boys, God save the King!
Hip hip Hoorah !:Hip hip Hoorah !
A penny loaf to feed ol'Pope,:A farthing cheese to choke him.:A pint of beer to rinse it down,:A faggot of sticks to burn him.:Burn him in a tub of tar,':Burn him like a blazing star.:Burn his body from his head,:Then we'll say: ol'Pope is dead.
On
John Lennon's
1970 solo album
John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, Lennon sings "Remember, remember, the 5th of November" on the song "Remember". The lyrics are followed by the sound of an explosion.
The song "V" by
antifa demon
punk band
The Trepanators from
2006's
Drill Whitey EP is essentially a modified version of the above poem.
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Bridgwater Guy Fawkes Carnival*
Dunchurch*
Guy Fawkes Night*
Juan de Jáuregui, a Spanish merchant that unsuccessfully tried to assassinate
William I of Orange in 1582.
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Lewes Bonfire*
UK topics*
Guy Fawkes*
A biography on Guy Fawkes from the Gunpowder Plot Society*
Guy Fawkes and Bonfire Night*
Guy Fawkes Day Sayings and Chants - An extensive set of rhymes, often known as Bonfire "prayers" or "chants", which vary by community and location.
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Guy Fawkes and the Theatre*
Site of the Center for Fawkesian Pursuits*
British parliament's Web site to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the plot*
Parliament (Official Site) FAQ on Gunpowder Plot*
Britannia on Fawkes*
York in the time of Guy Fawkes â€" A walking trail exploring the Gunpowder Plot and its historical context
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Ideas for Catholics to commemorate Guy Fawkes Day--with fireworks*
Tories fire rocket at SSP for backing Guy Fawkes - The 2003 poster controversy
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History, Activities and Greeting Cards for the dayCategories
