Remember, Remember, the 5th of November

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Remember, Remember, the 5th of November
By Louise (LlamaLlamaDuck)

In most parts of the world, November 5th is no different from any other day. In the UK, however, it is a night celebrated with parties, bonfires, and fireworks. It is much like the 4th of July in America but on a smaller scale. Known as Bonfire Night, Fireworks Night, or Guy Fawkes Night, it is commemorated across the UK every year.

It all began courtesy to the man known as Guy Fawkes. Originally from York in England, Guy fought in the seige of Calais in 1596 and was recommended for captaincy within the English army in 1603. In 1604, he returned to the UK after fighting in the eighty years war against the Dutch Republic on behalf of the Catholic side of Spain. Shortly afterwards, he joined a group of English Catholics who were making plans to assassinate King James, who was a protestant and have his daughter, Princess Elizabeth rule England instead. They planned to murder the King, and his government, by blowing up Parliament while they were all inside. They anticipated that by killing the King (and hopefully the Prince of Wales and their parliament members as well), the country could be ruled by someone who was more sympathetic to the Catholics in the country. King James made things very difficult for the Catholics and was despised by many of them. Guy Fawkes and his group were what we'd call terrorists or religious extremists nowadays. They were prepared to commit the most awful of acts for the sake of their religion.

In June of 1604, one of the members of the group was promoted and gained access to the house of a prominent man in London where he worked as a caretaker. Legend has it that a tunnel was then dug from this house to the basement of Parliament House, although no evidence of this has ever been found. In December of 1604, they purchased the lease to a filthy and unkempt room that was positioned directly below the House of Lords. It was the perfect hiding place for a group of rebels, and their murder weapon of choice: gunpowder. 20 barrels of gunpowder were smuggled into this basement room, soon followed by another 16, in preparation for the opening of Parliament. It was on July 28th of 1605 that the opening was pushed back to November 5th, due to the impending threat of the plague. At the end of August, Guy Fawkes returned to the basement room to find the gunpowder had decayed and would be less effective. More barrels were brought down and hidden behind piles of firewood.

It quickly became clear that a lot of innocent people would be killed, or at least seriously injured, if this plot was to go ahead. Some members of the group became concerned about their fellow Catholics in Parliament. On October 26th 1605, Lord Monteagle received an anonymous letter warning him to stay away from Parliament on November the 5th. The conspirators were aware of this letter but decided to go ahead with the plot as the letter was considered to be a hoax so there was no danger of discovery before the planned explosion. Nevertheless, Guy Fawkes checked the underground basement just to be sure. He found nothing had been disturbed. Their secret was safe.

Unbeknownst to anyone, Lord Monteagle had become worried by the letter and approached King James, the main target of the Gunpowder Plot. As a precaution, in the early hours of November 5th, he had the cellars under Parliament searched. Guy Fawkes was found trying to leave the cellar. He was promptly arrested and the barrels of gunpowder were found in the room he was trying to escape from.

At first, Guy told the authorities his name was John Johnson, as this was a name he had gone by for some time in England. Later, he admitted to King James his plan to blow up Parliament and expressed regret that the plan had not been successful. King James was impressed by his honesty and determination, but not impressed enough to prevent him from ordering that Guy Fawkes be tortured until he revealed the names of the others involved in the plot. It started off gentle, chaining him up and asking him questions. But as time went on and he refused to answer, some believe King James authorised his men to use the rack. This was a device in which the victim’s ankles and wrists were chained at either end and pulled, stretching the body and causing a lot of pain as the muscles and ligaments were torn, and the joints dislocated. It wasn’t until November 7th Guy Fawkes finally gave in to the torture and revealed who he really was. Over the next two days he gave the names of the others involved, as well as admitting the plan to murder King James and put his daughter, Elizabeth, on the throne in the hope that she would be more sympathetic to the Catholics in the country.

It is unknown whether Guy Fawkes was tortured on the rack or not, but the signature at the bottom of his confession was nothing more than a weak scribble, which speaks volumes for his physical and mental state at the time.

On the 27th of January 1606, Fawkes and the others he had named were put on trial at Westminster Hall. There was never any doubt over the outcome of the trial. Despite the fact he was caught leaving a room full of gunpowder, and had admitted his plan from the beginning, Fawkes pleaded not guilty to the charges read out to him. Regardless of this, he and eight others were found guilty of high treason and sentenced to death in a gruesome manner well known at the time as being “Hanged, drawn, and quartered.”

Guy Fawkes’ story was never forgotten in British history, and he remains an important figure in our history. Not because he planned to blow up the houses of Parliament, but because he was caught before he could. No one knows what our country may be like today if he had succeeded and our entire government was destroyed in a single act of revenge.

Remember, remember, the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why the fifth of November
Should ever be forgot.