GUY FAWKES

Δέσποινα & Εφραίμ Τακτάς

What he was….

Guy Fawkes (13 April 1570 – 31 January 1606), also known as Guido Fawkes, the name he adopted while fighting for the Spanish, was a member of a group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605.

His Childhood(part1)• Guy Fawkes was born in 1570 in Stonegate, York. He was the second of

four children born to Edward Fawkes, a proctor and an advocate of the consistory court at York,[a] and his wife, Edith. Guy's parents were regular communicants of the Church of England, as were his paternal grandparents; his grandmother, born Ellen Harrington, was the daughter of a prominent merchant, who served as Lord Mayor of York in 1536. However, Guy's mother's family were recusant Catholics, and his cousin, Richard Cowling, became a Jesuit priest. Guy was an uncommon name in England, but may have been popular in York on account of a local notable, Sir Guy Fairfax of Steeton.

• The date of Fawkes's birth is unknown, but he was baptised in the church of St. Michael le Belfrey on 16 April. As the customary gap between birth and baptism was three days, he was probably born about 13 April. In 1568, Edith had given birth to a daughter named Anne, but the child died aged about seven weeks, in November that year. She bore two more children after Guy: Anne (b. 1572), and Elizabeth (b. 1575). Both were married, in 1599 and 1594 respectively.

His Childhood(part2)• In 1579, when Guy was eight years old, his father died. His mother remarried

several years later, to the Catholic Dionis Baynbrigge (or Denis Bainbridge) of Scotton, Harrogate. Fawkes may have become a Catholic through the Baynbrigge family's recusant tendencies, and also the Catholic branches of the Pulleyn and Percy families of Scotton, but also from his time at St. Peter's School in York. A governor of the school had spent about 20 years in prison for recusancy, and its headmaster, John Pulleyn, came from a family of noted Yorkshire recusants, the Pulleyns of Blubberhouses. In her 1915 work The Pulleynes of Yorkshire, author Catharine Pullein suggested that Fawkes's Catholic education came from his Harrington relatives, who were known for harbouring priests, one of whom later accompanied Fawkes to Flanders in 1592–1593. Fawkes's fellow students included John Wright and his brother Christopher (both later involved with Fawkes in the Gunpowder plot) and Oswald Tesimond, Edward Oldcorne and Robert Middleton, who became priests (the latter executed in 1601).

• After leaving school Fawkes entered the service of Anthony Browne, 1st Viscount Montagu. The Viscount took a dislike to Fawkes and after a short time dismissed him; he was subsequently employed by Anthony-Maria Browne, 2nd Viscount Montagu, who succeeded his grandfather at the age of 18. At least one source claims that Fawkes married and had a son, but no known contemporary accounts confirm this.

The Discovery…..• A few of the conspirators were concerned about fellow Catholics who

would be present at Parliament during the opening.[32] On the evening of 26 October, Lord Monteagle received an anonymous letter warning him to stay away, and to "retyre youre self into yowre contee whence yow maye expect the event in safti for ... they shall receyve a terrible blowe this parleament".[33] Despite quickly becoming aware of the letter – informed by one of Monteagle's servants – the conspirators resolved to continue with their plans, as it appeared that it "was clearly thought to be a hoax".[34] Fawkes checked the undercroft on 30 October, and reported that nothing had been disturbed.[35] Monteagle's suspicions had been aroused, however, and the letter was shown to King James. The King ordered Sir Thomas Knyvet to conduct a search of the cellars underneath Parliament, which he did in the early hours of 5 November. Fawkes had taken up his station late on the previous night, armed with a slow match and a watch given to him by Percy "becaus he should knowe howe the time went away".[3] He was found leaving the cellar, shortly after midnight, and arrested. Inside, the barrels of gunpowder were discovered hidden under piles of firewood and coal.[36]

Legacy…………• On 5 November 1605 Londoners were encouraged to celebrate the King's escape from assassination by

lighting bonfires, "always provided that 'this testemonye of joy be carefull done without any danger or disorder'".[3] An Act of Parliament designated each 5 November as a day of thanksgiving for "the joyful day of deliverance", and remained in force until 1859.[60] Although he was only one of 13 conspirators, Fawkes is today the individual most associated with the failed Plot.

• In Britain, 5 November has variously been called Guy Fawkes Night, Guy Fawkes Day, Plot Night[62] and Bonfire Night; the latter can be traced directly back to the original celebration of 5 November 1605.[63] Bonfires were accompanied by fireworks from the 1650s onwards, and it became the custom to burn an effigy (usually the pope) after 1673, when the heir presumptive, James, Duke of York, made his conversion to Catholicism public.[3] Effigies of other notable figures who have become targets for the public's ire, such as Paul Kruger and Margaret Thatcher, have also found their way onto the bonfires,[64] although most modern effigies are of Fawkes. The "guy" is normally created by children, from old clothes, newspapers, and a mask.[60] During the 19th century, "guy" came to mean an oddly dressed person, but in American English it lost any pejorative connotation, and was used to refer to any male person.

• Children preparing for Guy Fawkes night celebrations (1954)• William Harrison Ainsworth's 1841 historical romance Guy Fawkes; or, The Gunpowder Treason portrays

Fawkes in a generally sympathetic light,[66] and transformed him in the public perception into an "acceptable fictional character". Fawkes subsequently appeared as "essentially an action hero" in children's books and penny dreadfuls such as The Boyhood Days of Guy Fawkes; or, The Conspirators of Old London, published in about 1905.[67] Historian Lewis Call has observed that Fawkes is now "a major icon in modern political culture". He went on to write that the image of Fawkes's face became "a potentially powerful instrument for the articulation of postmodern anarchism"[h] during the late 20th century, exemplified by the mask worn by V in the comic book series V for Vendetta, who fights against a fictional fascist English state.[68]

Guy Fawkes is sometimes toasted as "the last man to enter Parliament with honest intentions".[69]

Children preparing for Guy Fawkes night celebrations (1954)

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• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKvvOFIHs4k