On November 5, 1605, King James I of England learns that a
plot to blow-up Parliament has been foiled. Only hours before he was scheduled
to attend a general parliamentary session. At about midnight on the night of
November 4-5, Guy Fawkes was found lurking in a cellar under the Parliament
building and after a search of the building 20 barrels of gunpowder was located.
Fawkes was taken into custody and after being tortured revealed
that he was a participant in an English Catholic conspiracy to annihilate
England's Protestant government and replace it with Catholic leadership. What
became known as the Gunpowder Plot was organized by Robert Catesby, an English
Catholic whose father had been persecuted by Queen Elizabeth I for refusing to
conform to the Church of England. Guy Fawkes had converted to Catholicism, and
his religious zeal led him to fight in the Spanish army in the Netherlands.
Catesby and the handful of other plotters rented a cellar that extended under
Parliament, and Fawkes planted the gunpowder there, hiding the barrels under
coal and wood. By torturing Fawkes, King James' government learned of the
identities of his co-conspirators. During the next few weeks, English
authorities killed or captured all of the plotters and put the survivors on
trial. Guy Fawkes was sentenced, along with the other surviving chief
conspirators, to be hanged, drawn, and quartered in London. Moments before the
start of his gruesome execution, on January 31, 1606, he jumped from a ladder
while climbing to the hanging platform, breaking his neck and dying instantly. In
1606, Parliament established November 5th as a day of public thanksgiving.
Today, Guy Fawkes Day is celebrated across Great Britain in remembrance of the
Gunpowder Plot.
Michael Thomas Barry is a
columnist for CrimeMagazine.com and is the author of Murder and Mayhem 52 Crimes that
Shocked Early California
1849-1949. The book can be purchased from Amazon through the
following link:
No comments:
Post a Comment