Guy Fawkes

Guy Fawkes origin

Guy Fawkes was born in 1570 to a Protestant father and a mother whose original religion was questionable, as there were some Catholics in her family. He had two brothers, Christopher and John. He began his education in Yorkshire, and when he was eight years old his father died, which prompted his mother to marry a Catholic, who greatly influenced Guy Fawkes, so he converted to Catholicism when he was 21 years old.

Converting to Catholicism at that time was a very dangerous matter, because there were many conspiracies led by Catholics against Queen Elizabeth I, which made Guy Fawkes, with his great enthusiasm, leave England for Catholic Spain, to participate in their war against the Protestant Dutch, which was known as the Eighty Years' War.

Guy Fawkes was also called Guido, and was known at that time for his piety and religiousness, and for performing religious rituals at its time. He was also described as moderate, loving friends, cheerful, and handsome, and he was also known for not liking conflicts.

turning point

When Guido was in Spain, he met an Englishman named Thomas Wintour. This man was looking for Catholics to convince them to join them as a group of conspirators in England, led by his cousin Robert Catesby. He actually succeeded in recruiting Guido to them, so they returned to England in the year 1604. At that time, James I had ascended the throne of England, and he was not tolerant, and there was religious persecution in his era, so many Catholics were hoping for his end and the end of this persecution with him.

Most of the conspirators were wealthy, but their motive was religious freedom, so they planned to blow up Parliament on November 5, 1605, the day Parliament was officially opened in the presence of James I, his wife, and his heir.

This plot was known at the time as the Gunpowder Plot, and the plan was to blow up 36 barrels containing gunpowder, which were located in the cellars below the Parliament building, and the person responsible for this matter was Guido, due to his military experience in explosives.

Because of an anonymous letter that told what would happen to the king and his family that day, the cellars of Parliament and the House of Lords were searched, and Guido was found with explosives, a fuse, an iron lantern and a box of matches. He was taken to the king, and when he asked him what he was doing down there, he answered with courage and boldness that he intended to blow them up. The king ordered him to be interrogated in the Tower of London, and to practice various types of torture on him in order to confess the details of the conspiracy. Despite this, Guido held out for a while, before surrendering and giving a written confession in his own handwriting, in which he told the names of the rest of the conspirators with him.

The rest of the conspirators were captured on 8 November, some of them shot dead as they tried to escape, and taken to the Tower of London for questioning. They were then all imprisoned, tried and sentenced to death by hanging. The sentence was carried out on 31 January 1606, when they were dragged behind a horse to Westminster Square, where they were hanged and their four limbs cut off. The remains were then displayed throughout London, to serve as a warning to anyone who might think of treason.

Guido was the last to ascend to the gallows, and he did so with difficulty due to the severity of his torture, and he was hanged like the others, and the fifth of November was considered a celebration of the success in thwarting this plot, and the celebrations of it continue to this day.

Guy Fawkes was considered the mastermind and leader of this plot, and after hundreds of years have passed since that event, most demonstrators in the world still wear the mask made in the shape of his face, as it has become for them a symbol of rebellion against oppressive and unjust regimes.