Page 47 - Jan2023

Keep in mind that during this period of English history religious debates were
A painting of the real Guy
Fawkes pictured in front of the
Palace at Westminster, shows
clearly its influence on the
modern mask favored by
protestors who wish to remain
anonymous.
not merely arguments between believers, they were frequently precursors to
treason and to death. Fawkes was born in 1570 to a prominent Yorkshire
Protestant father and a mother whose family members were secret Catholics.
Upon the death of his father, his mother married again, this time to a man who
was a public Catholic.
The young Guy took to his stepfather's faith and became a zealous believer in
the Roman Catholic Church with all that such membership entailed. In 1593,
when he was 23, his religioiius zeal led him to leave England and to join the
Catholic Spanish Army in the Netherlands. Known there as Guido, he was
respected for his courage and his determination while serving.
The actual ringleader of what would become the Gunpowder Plot, a man
whose name is now lost to all but historians, was Robert Catesby, an English
Catholic. He had gathered a small band of Catholics around him; they all
agreed that they needed someone with a military background, someone that
would not be so easily recognized in England as they would be, to carry out
their assassination attempt. Fawkes' time away in the Netherlands, combined
with his active service as a soldier, made him the ideal candidate.
In 1604 Catesby sent a man to the Netherlands to recruit Fawkes. He joined
Catesby's plotters without actually knowing the details of what they intended. to
do. He returned to England and signed on to assist the group in blowing up the
House of Lords , planning to kill James I in the explosion. Because none of the
other conspirators were that familiar with gunpowder, Fawkes was
commisioned to hide in the cellar the group had rented beneath the building, ,
hide the powder, set the fuses, and light the match.
Fawkes was arrested on the night of November 4th-5th of 1605. The other
plotters escaped to the Midlands. During his initial interrogation, although
Fawkes first gave a false name, he did not shrink from admitting his intent.
He told officials that his intent was to blow up the House of Lords and he
regretted that he had failed to do so. During the interrogation, history records
that when he was asked why he was in possession of so much gunpowder he
replied, " to blow you Scotch beggars back to your native mountains."
A;lthough James I was impressed by what he described as Fawkes steadfast"
Roman resolution", admiration did not keep the King from authorizing on
November 6th torture until Fawkes revealed his own name and the the names
of his fellow plotters. A letter was found on his person addressed to Guy Fawkes
and Fawkes, revealing his true identity on November 7th, told his interogator
that he did what he did " for the advancement of the Catholic Faith and the
saving of his own soul." He also said that the plotters had intended to put
Princess Elizabeth on the throne. Sent to the Tower, It is believed he did not
reveal the names of the other plotters until after he had been put to the rack.
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