GUY FAWKES By Terry and Vikrum WHO IS

GUY FAWKES By Terry and Vikrum

WHO IS THIS GUY? • Guy Fawkes, also called Guido Fawkes, was a member of a group of provincial English Catholics. • This group planned the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 • He later travelled to Spain to support a Catholic rebellion but didn’t succeed but did meet Thomas Wintour • Wintour introduced Fawkes to Robert Catesby, who was planning to assassinate King James 1 • Fawkes was put in charge of the Gun Powder • From a letter, the cops searched the Westminster Palace and found Fawkes • He was questioned and tortured and he finally gave in • Fawkes was hung on January 31, 1606 Westminster, London, England • The failure of the Gunpowder Plot has become a holiday in England • On November 5 th people burn on a bonfire and later there are firework shows

CHILDHOOD • Guy Fawkes was born in Stonegate, York, 1570. • He was the second of four children • Fawkes father died when he was only 8 and his mother remairred • His dad, Edward Fawkes was a proctor and an advocate of the consistory court at York. • His Grandmother was the daughter of a prominent merchant • - Fawkes was baptised at • the church of • St. Michael le Belfrey

GUNPOWDER PLOT • In 1604, Fawkes became part of a small group of English Catholics who were planning to Assassinate the Protestant King James so he could be replaced his sister. • The group was led by Robert Catesby, there were 13 total conspirators. • Fawkes was “a man highly skilled in matters of war”. • The conspirators attempted to dig a tunnel from beneath Whynniad’s house to Parliament. • They had bought the lease to the room and had thought it was a ideal hiding place for the 20 barrels of gunpowder • Although the plan failed, it would have been one for the history books

EXECUTION • The trail for 8 of the plotters started on Monday 27, January 1606. • They were kept in the Star Chamber before the trail. • They were all found guilty of high treason. • They were to be “put to death halfway between heaven and earth as unworthy of both”. • On January 31 st, 1606, Fawkes and 3 others were dragged from the Tower on wattled hurdles to the Old Palace Yard at Westrminister. • The other plotters were hanged. • Fawkes was the last to stand on the scaffold. • Fawkes jumped from the gallows and broke his neck and avoided the agony of the latter part of his execution. • His body parts were put on display to “the four corners of the kingdom” to show a sign to other traitors.

LEGACY • On November 5 th 1605, the people celebrated the king’s escape from assassination. • The people celebrated by lighting bonfire, “always provided that this testemonye of joy be carefull done without any danger or disorder”. • An act of Parliament designated that every November be a day of thanksgiving for “the joyful day of deliverance”. • Fawkes became an “acceptable fictional character”, he also appeared as “essentially an action hero” in children’s books and in also “The boyhood Days of Guy Fawkes” and “The Conspirators of Old London”. • Lewis Call was very interested in Fawkes, so he wrote a image of Fawkes’s face to become “a potentially powerful instrument for the articulation of postmodern anarchism”. • He also created the V for Vendetta comic book series, in which Fawkes fights against a fictional fascist English state.