Mention Guy Fawkes Night and ask anyone why we celebrate a man through the frequently catastrophic launching of fireworks and over-the-top displays, and you’ll get the same answer.
“He’s the bloke who tied to blow up the Houses of Parliament, isn’t he?”
Sure, they’d be right, but you could really spoil the party by asking them why he tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament in the first place.
Let’s go back a few years to set the scene, to the time of Henry VIII, yes the fat bloke with loads of wives.
He was responsible, under the English Reformation, for basically outlawing Catholicism and making the Crown the supreme head of the Church of England.
The Church of England was the Protestant arm of the Catholic Church, and Henry VIII wanted to take power away from the Pope.
As you can imagine, this move was not popular with devout Catholics.
Unfortunately, continuing to follow the Catholic church would lead to hefty fines, and even being accused of treason, which was punishable by death, usually being hung, drawn and quartered.
When Elizabeth I acceded to the throne in 1558 things got no better for the Catholics.
When her son, James the Sixth of Scotland, inherited the English Throne, simultaneously becoming James the First of England, the Catholics hoped for a reversal in their fortunes.
They were disappointed. Catholic priests continued to find themselves hiding in priest holes in fear of their lives, while those attending mass continued to be fined.
By law, you had to attend the Church of England, and if you didn’t, you’d get fined £20.00 a month.
That wasn’t exactly fair as in those days the average wage was just £2.00 a year!
And so to Guy Fawkes.
The intention was to blow up the Houses of Parliament on November the fifth, 1605 and assassinate James the First, or Sixth, depending on whether you are English or Scottish, when Parliament was assembled.
After that, the hope was to see a Catholic head of state take over the ruling of the country.
However, this wasn’t Guy Fawkes’ plan, it was the plan of Robert Catesby, aided and abetted by John and Christopher Wright, Robert and Thomas Wintour, Thomas Percy, Robert Keyes, Thomas Bates, John Grant, Ambrose Rookwood, Sir Everard Digby, Francis Tresham and, of course, Guy Fawkes.
They acquired a property adjacent to the Houses of Parliament which had a cellar which ran underneath.
Having spent ten years in the army, Fawkes was chosen to be in charge of the gunpowder and, ultimately, the destructive explosion.
A history tells, the plotters were betrayed when an anonymous letter describing the details of the plot was sent to William Parker, 4th Baron Monteagle, who was due to attend the opening of Parliament, and Guy Fawkes was then discovered in the cellar, together with 35 barrels of gunpowder, which would have undoubtedly done their job, if they had exploded.
Ultimately, Guy Fawkes and several of his fellow conspirators were executed.
On hearing of the failed plot, King James – we’ll leave out the numbers to save confusion – also decided that there should be an official day each year with bonfires to be lit to celebrate the success of uncovering the plot.
Some people chose to also burn effigies of Catholics on these bonfires, while, over time, young kids began to take their own effigies of Guy Fawkes round houses, asking: “Penny for the guy”, which would then be burned on top of the bonfires.
Fireworks were then added to the celebrations to represent the blowing up of the Houses of Parliament.
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