2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5.
6. 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]
7. 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]