|
The Most Famous Plotter
Guy Fawkes: Also known
as John Johnson, or as Guido Fawkes (this shows up in a possibly translated
engraving text. By the way the word "guy" pre-dates Fawkes in its origins
it comes from French:Guy,then from Gui then from Late Latin-Uitus and then
from Middle Latin: Vitus as in the repulsive saint of epileptics)a.k.a.
Percy's man. 34 years old. Son of Edward Fawkes, proctor and advocate in
the consistory court of York, Guido was born in the Stonegate district
of York. Baptized at St. Michael-le-Belfry in 1570, Fawkes entered St.
Peter's School in 1578. He had two younger sisters Elizabeth and Anne.
His schoolmates included John and Christopher Wright. His father died in
1579. His mother Edith remarried into the Catholic Bainbridge family of
Scotton. It is thought that his stepfather influenced him to become a Catholic.
Perhaps he was influenced by the headmaster of St. Peters, John Pullen,
a man later named as a suspected Jesuit. By the time he was 21 Guy had
sold his inheritance and had joined the Catholic forces fighting in the
Low Countries. For twelve years he served as a military man in the Netherlands.
He was trained as a miner, skilled with gunpowder and in the arts of tunneling.
He was at the siege of Calais. In 1603 Fawkes went to Spain to discuss
the plight of English Catholics with King Philip II. There he met Christopher
Wright with whom he tried to get Spanish support for an invasion of England.
He arrives in England with Thomas Winter on April 25,1604 and in May 1604
he joined the plot at a meeting with Catesby at an inn: The Duck and Drake.
Fawkes was captured at around midnight Nov.4 and was brought before the
privy council on Nov.5. On November 7, after several sessions of torture,
Fawkes admitted that the conspirators had planned to free Sir Walter Raleigh
and other Tower Prisoners. Fawkes then said, " yt was past,and he is nowe
sorry fo yt, for that he nowe perceyveth that God did not concur with yet."
Fawkes did not reveal the identity of the other conspirators until severely
tortured on Nov.9 but only after he was told that some had been arrested.
He was executed on January 31, 1606. To this day Guy is remembered for
his bravery on November 5. Young children make scarecrows of Guy Fawkes
which they exhibit while collecting money, "a penny for the Guy", to be
spent on their fireworks. Guy Fawkes' signature
-
before, during, and after torture. The
Baptismal Record of Guy Fawkes
To Return to the Cast of Characters Page for more fun...Click
it right here!
|
