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Guy Fawkes Night - Bonfire Night
After Queen Elizabeth I died in 1603, English Catholics who had been
persecuted under her rule had hoped that her successor, James I, would be
more tolerant of their religion. James I had, after all, had a Catholic
mother. Unfortunately, James did not turn out to be more tolerant than
Elizabeth and a number of young men, 13 to be exact, decided that violent
action was the answer.
A small group took shape, under the leadership of Robert Catesby. Catesby
felt that violent action was warranted. Indeed, the thing to do was to blow
up the Houses of Parliament. In doing so, they would kill the King, maybe
even the Prince of Wales, and the Members of Parliament who were making life
difficult for the Catholics. Today these conspirators would be known as
extremists, or terrorists.
To carry out their plan, the conspirators got hold of 36 barrels of
gunpowder - and stored them in a cellar, just under the House of Lords.
But as the group worked on the plot, it became clear that innocent people
would be hurt or killed in the attack, including some people who even fought
for more rights for Catholics. Some of the plotters started having second
thoughts. One of the group members even sent an anonymous letter warning his
friend, Lord Monteagle, to stay away from the Parliament on November 5th.
Was the letter real?
The warning letter reached the King, and the King's forces made plans to
stop the conspirators.
Guy Fawkes, who was in the cellar of the parliament with the 36 barrels of
gunpowder when the authorities stormed it in the early hours of November
5th, was caught, tortured and executed.
It's unclear if the conspirators would ever have been able to pull off their
plan to blow up the Parliament even if they had not been betrayed. Some have
suggested that the gunpowder itself was so old as to be useless. Since Guy
Fawkes and the other conspirators got caught before trying to ignite the
powder, we'll never know for certain.
Even for the period which was notoriously unstable, the Gunpowder Plot
struck a very profound chord for the people of England. In fact, even today,
the reigning monarch only enters the Parliament once a year, on what is
called "the State Opening of Parliament". Prior to the Opening, and
according to custom, the Yeomen of the Guard search the cellars of the
Palace of Westminster. Nowadays, the Queen and Parliament still observe this
tradition.
On the very night that the Gunpowder Plot was foiled, on November 5th, 1605,
bonfires were set alight to celebrate the safety of the King. Since then,
November 5th has become known as Bonfire Night. The event is commemorated
every year with fireworks and burning effigies of Guy Fawkes on a bonfire.
Some of the English have been known to wonder, in a tongue in cheek kind of
way, whether they are celebrating Fawkes' execution or honoring his attempt
to do away with the government.
Source:
http://www.bonefire.org/guy/gunpowder.php
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