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| Guy Fawkes is burned in effigy every year in England and in other English held territories |
Quite a bit known about Guido "Guy" Fawkes from the historical record. We know he was born in York in 1570 to Edward and Edith Fawkes. His parents were protestant and members of the Church of England. His father was proctor and advocate of the Consistory Court at York. His father died when he was eight years of age, and his mother married a die-hard Catholic rebel. Largely due to his step-father, Fawkes converted to Catholicism. He became so caught up in Catholic rebellion that he left England to fight for Catholic Spain against Protestant Dutch Reformers during the Eighty Years War.
According to historical fact, he approached Spanish Catholic leaders and offered to establish a Catholic Rebellion in England. His requests were refused. Upon his return to England, Fawkes met Robert Catesby through Thomas Wintour with whom he served in Spain. Catesby was already helping to lead conspiracy against King James I to restore a Catholic Monarch to the English Throne.
Thus through this association, the "Gunpowder Plot of 1605" was hatched. The goals was to blow up the House of Lords. Fawkes was placed in charge of the gunpowder amount of kegs which were stored beneath the Parliament building. In was sometime in the early morning of November 5th that authorities were provided an anonymous letter outlining the plan in detail - and on that evening Guy Fawkes was caught red-handed guarding 20 barrels of Gunpowder.
Government officials captured Fawkes and tortured him during extensive questioning where he revealed the plot, and his co-conspirators. He was sentenced to be executed publicly on January 31. When his day of reckoning came, he avoided hanging by jumping from the scaffold, but as fate would have it - the villain broke his neck doing so. So he avoided the hangman, although his body was publicly mutilated as was the custom of the day, and his internal organs burned.
Ironically, each year the failed scheme of the Gunpowder Plot is commemorated each year by public firework displays. Guy Fawkes is the central figure remembered, and is burned in effigy cross England in both neighborhood and large scale celebrations - although realistically Robert Catesby was likely the central figure behind the plot. Catesby's intention was to kill James I and replace him with his daughter, Princess Elizabeth on the throne.
Here is the Poem well-known to most English patriots, there and abroad:
Remember, remember, the 5th of November
The Gunpowder Treason and plot ;
I know of no reason why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes,
'Twas his intent.
To blow up the King and the Parliament.
Three score barrels of powder below.
Poor old England to overthrow.
By God's providence he was catch'd,
With a dark lantern and burning match
Holloa boys, Holloa boys, let the bells ring
Holloa boys, Holloa boys, God save the King!
Hip hip Hoorah !
Hip hip Hoorah !
A penny loaf to feed ol'Pope,
A farthing cheese to choke him.
A pint of beer to rinse it down,
A faggot of sticks to burn him.
Burn him in a tub of tar,'
Burn him like a blazing star.
Burn his body from his head,
Then we'll say: ol'Pope is dead.
