STARTING EARLY

Some people are getting ready for Christmas as in buying gifts. It’s odd, as the fireworks are screaming and banging outside. I can’t think of Christmas until after our traditional Guy Fawkes night.

Guy Fawkes was born in 1570 in Stonegate, York. Edward Fawkes Guys father was a Proctor/Law. His Mother was called 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 the Lord Mayor of York

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)

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,

Fawkes had various jobs after leaving a prestigious school in York. Now we all know I am not allowed to speak of such people, but Bloggets, we know of a person who is a pupil of the same school as Fawkes. The same school is the oldest school in England, and is very expensive to attend. For a boarder, about £35,000 per year.  Guy, then joined the military, after having a few jobs. Fawkes became synonymous with the Gunpowder Plot, the failure of his attempt to blow up our Government building. which has been commemorated in England since 5 November 1605. His effigy is traditionally burned on a bonfire, commonly accompanied by a firework display

The author, Antonio Fraser, describes Fawkes as "a tall, powerfully built man, with thick reddish-brown hair, a flowing moustache in the tradition of the time, and a bushy reddish-brown beard", and that he was "a man of action ... capable of intelligent argument as well as physical endurance, somewhat to the surprise of his enemies."

Fawkes was to make an attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament, with the help of others. This began the “Gun powder plot” In an attempt to gain foreign support; in May 1605 Fawkes travelled overseas and informed Hugh Owen of the plotters' plan. It is uncertain when Fawkes returned to England, but he was back in London by late August 1605, when he and Wintour discovered that the gunpowder stored in the undercroft had decayed. More gunpowder was brought into the room, along with firewood to conceal it. A revolt in the Midlands would help to ensure the capture of Princess Elizabeth. On 28 July however, the ever-present threat of the plague delayed the opening of Parliament until Tuesday, 5 November.

The night before the so called blow/explosion to Parliament, Guy Fawkes checked all was OK with the gun powder. He was given a watch to know of the time and a box of matches to strike with. King James became suspicious of a letter which was sent to some members of parliament by Fawkes, warning them of what will happen. He told them as they were of the same religion as he was so wanted them not to attend Parliament on the 5^th of November. So the king was told and he ordered the arrest and searches for Fawkes.

Guy Fawkes, was found leaving the cellar, shortly after midnight, and arrested. Inside, the barrels of gunpowder were discovered hidden under piles of firewood and coal.

Fawkes gave his name as John Johnson and was first interrogated by members of the King's Privy Chamber, where he remained defiant. When asked by one of the lords what he was doing in possession of so much gunpowder, Fawkes answered that his intention was "to blow you Scotch beggars back to your native mountains."

He identified himself as a 36-year-old Catholic from Netherdale in Yorkshire, and gave his father's name as Thomas and his mother's as Edith Jackson. Wounds on his body noted by his questioners he explained as the effects of Pleurisy. Fawkes admitted his intention to blow up the House of Lords, and expressed regret at his failure to do so. His steadfast manner earned him the admiration of King James, who described Fawkes as possessing "a Roman resolution".

Fawkes was transferred to the Tower of London.

The room in which Fawkes was interrogated subsequently became known as the Guy Fawkes Room.

The trial of eight of the plotters began on Monday 27 January 1606. Fawkes shared the barge from the Tower to Westminster Hall.

The Attorney General told the court that each of the condemned would be drawn backwards to his death, by a horse, his head near the ground. They were to be "put to death halfway between heaven and earth as unworthy of both". Their genitals would be cut off and burnt before their eyes, and their bowels and hearts removed. They would then be decapitated, and the dismembered parts of their bodies displayed so that they might become "prey for the fowls of the air".

 Fawkes was the last to stand on the scaffold. He asked for forgiveness of the King and state, while keeping up his "crosses and idle ceremonies", and aided by the hangman began to climb the ladder to the noose. Although weakened by torture, Fawkes managed to jump from the gallows, breaking his neck in the fall and thus avoiding the agony of the latter part of his execution.

His lifeless body was nevertheless quartered, and his body parts were then distributed to "the four corners of the kingdom", to be displayed as a warning to other would-be traitors.

“Gosh, we are a nice race?”

On 5 November 1605 Londoners were encouraged to celebrate the King's escape from assassination by lighting bonfires, "always provided that 'this testimony of joy be carefull done without any danger or disorder'".

Although he was only one of 13 conspirators, Fawkes is today the individual most associated with the failed Plot. In Britain, 5 November, is now known/called, Guy Fawkes night, and Bonfire Night; the latter can be traced directly back to the original celebration of 5 November 1605. 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.

Effigies of other notable figures that have become targets for the public's ire, such as Margaret Thatcher, have been burned. Haha,

. Oh for me personally, Thatcher is a great Effigy.

So this is why we have our fireworks and bomb fire on the 5^th of November, though as typical of a culture/breed we are, we can’t seem to wait anymore until the fifth, so start early, as we do Christmas shopping. Have you started your shopping yet and for those of different religions, do you start earlier than you should?