Today the United Kingdom is celebrating Guy Fawkes Night, also know as Bonfire Night. In North America, you may hear people reciting the rhyming lines above and talking about how they're going home to watch V for Vendetta.*
However, Guy Fawkes Night isn't celebrated because of a comic book. It's celebrated because Guy Fawkes, along with 12 other men, attempted to blow up the House of Lords and kill King James I.
Their plan was dubbed the Gunpowder Plot, and Guy Fawkes Night is actually celebrating the plot's failure.
A group of English Catholics - led by a man named Robert Catesby, and also including Fawkes - began meeting in 1604 to devise this plan. They decided to assassinate King James I on November 5, 1605, as that was the date when the State Opening of Parliament was to take place. (The State Opening of Parliament is a yearly event that marks the commencement of a session of Parliament and includes a Throne speech.)
The main reason for wanting to kill James I was simply because he was a Protestant king. England, much like the majority of Europe during this period, was dealing with the repercussions of religious reformations. As a result, there were extremely high tensions between people of different faiths, and violence was not uncommon. While James I was tolerant of Catholics within his country, many were still wary of his Protestant faith, and preferred to see a Catholic sit on the throne.
While the main goal was to kill James I, other notables of the royal family and parliament were also expected to be present and therefore killed, which made November 5 the most ideal date for their plan to unfold. After killing James I the Catholics planned on making his daughter, Princess Elizabeth, a Catholic, queen.
All of the conspirators took an oath of secrecy so that their plot would not be discovered, and they began planning almost a year in advance.
Fawkes, who had many years of military experience, was elected to take charge of the gunpowder. He began storing it in a cellar underneath the House of Lords, which was easy to do because the parliament buildings were usually full of merchants and workers who hauled around food and various other supplies.
It was decided that Fawkes would be the one to light the gunpowder, and then quickly escape before getting caught. The explosives were wired to continue going off throughout the designated area. At the same time, a revolt in the Midlands was to begin to ensure that Princess Elizabeth was captured and could be put on the throne afterwards.
However, an anonymous letter was sent to some men close to the king, and soon enough, James I discovered that there was a plot against him. It was decided that the Parliament buildings had to be searched in order to ensure safety, and this was when Fawkes was caught.
The piles of gunpowder were also discovered when Fawkes was arrested, which confirmed the details of the anonymous letter. On November 5, Fawkes was taken before the king and court. He had immediately used an alias, John Johnson, and upon questioning insisted that he had devised the plan himself and was working alone the entire time.
However, James I suspected that this was a lie, and ordered for Fawkes to be taken to the Tower of London and tortured. He was subjected to torture on both November 6 and 7, and, according to records, by the end of November 7 had cracked and confessed everything. During these events, other members of the group were also being arrested and brought in for questioning.
After the accused were revealed to the public, they were branded as Catholic heretics, charged with high treason, and sentenced to death. Fawkes, along with three others, were sentenced to be hanged as well as drawn and quartered. Their bodies, after being put in a noose, were quickly cut down before dying so they would still experience the physical pain of being quartered. However, many accounts state that Fawkes jumped off the scaffold in order to snap his neck and die immediately so he would not experience any further suffering.
It was one year later, on November 5, 1606, that the "Observance of the 5th of November" was passed, allowing for official celebrations commemorating the failure of the Gunpowder Plot. This tradition has carried on to today, and is now more commonly referred to as Bonfire Night, or Guy Fawkes Night. It is also common for effigies of Fawkes to be burned on the fires as a form of protest against him and the Gunpowder Plot as a whole.
Lighting fires and setting off fireworks on November 5 is rooted in celebrating the failure of the Gunpowder Plot, Robert Catesby, Guy Fawkes and the rest of the group; the celebrations are for the survival of King James I and a Protestant rule over England. So if you plan on celebrating today, please give some thought towards the history of this date, and don't just give in to the popular culture and practices that are far removed from the traditions.
* V for Vendetta, by Alan Moore, is only very loosely tied to the story of Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot. Without giving too much of this fantastic plot away, the main character, V, who dawns a Guy Fawkes mask, is basically planning on overthrowing the repressive, totalitarian government that has developed in a futuristic, dystopian Britain.
SO FABULOUS AND ACCURATE THANK YOU
ReplyDelete