Remember, Remember

As yesterday was November 5th I felt I could not resist providing a bit of a history lesson on the legacy of that particular day.

"Remember, remember the 5th of November,

the Gunpowder Treason and Plot,

I know of no reason why the Gunpowder Treason

should ever be forgot."

Many of you may recognize these words since they gained such fame in modern pop culture. They come from a move, V for Vendetta, based of a graphic comic and released in 2005. Since then, every November my Facebook has blown up with people quoting this movie and celebrating an idea, yet how much do you really know about Guy Fawkes Day and why it is remembered? For starters, not many know that the quote from the movie is actually just the beginning lines of a poem from an English folk verse in 1870:

  Remember, remember! 
    The fifth of November, 
    The Gunpowder treason and plot; 
    I know of no reason 
    Why the Gunpowder treason 
    Should ever be forgot! 
    Guy Fawkes and his companions 
    Did the scheme contrive, 
    To blow the King and Parliament 
    All up alive. 
    Threescore barrels, laid below, 
    To prove old England's overthrow. 
    But, by God's providence, him they catch, 
    With a dark lantern, lighting a match! 
    A stick and a stake 
    For King James's sake! 
    If you won't give me one, 
    I'll take two, 
    The better for me, 
    And the worse for you. 
    A rope, a rope, to hang the Pope, 
    A penn'orth of cheese to choke him, 
    A pint of beer to wash it down, 
    And a jolly good fire to burn him. 
    Holloa, boys! holloa, boys! make the bells ring! 
    Holloa, boys! holloa boys! God save the King! 
    Hip, hip, hooor-r-r-ray!

Guy Fawkes was born in 1570 in the town of York. His father died when he was 8 years old, after which his mother married a catholic man. Through the teachings of his stepfather, Fawkes eventually converted to Catholicism at a time when the national religion was Anglicism. Guy spent much of his young life abroad fighting in wars soon becoming quite proficient in the art of weaponry and made his living as a mercenary. It was during his travels that he came into contact with Thomas Wintour, a member of a group of conspirators from London led by Robert Catesby. It was Catesby's plan to assassinate the King and raise his daughter, Princess Elizabeth, to the throne thus restoring England to a catholic monarchy. There plan was quite simple, they purchased rent of an undercroft which was located right under the Parliament building and began storing gunpowder in it with the intent of blowing up the entire government along with the King. The conspirators amassed a store of 36 barrels of gunpowder in July but were delayed by the plague. In early November, everything looked to be in place and Fawkes was put in charge of guarding the undercroft. The plan may have worked too it it were not a for a letter the group sent to all catholic members of Parliament warning them to stay away from the building that day. The plot was only to kill those members that were not Catholic after all. One of the members who received such a warning quickly showed it to King who had the tunnels under Parliament searched the night of November 5th. Fawkes was found leaving the cellar with a slow match. He was immediately arrested and tortured until he broke and gave up the whole conspiracy. Afterwards, Fawkes was held in the Tower of London until January 31, 1606 when he and three others were dragged out to the gallows and the fate that awaited him. However, Fawkes took matters into his own hands by leaping from a top the gallows platform and fell headfirst onto the ground, breaking his neck and ending his life. 

Today, the 5th of November is known interchangeably as Guy Fawkes Day, Plot Night or Bonfire Night. After the death of Fawkes, King James I encouraged his subjects to celebrate the day the King was able to escape assassination and keep them from anarchy. Bonfires were lit and accompanied by fireworks. Soon, the tradition grew to burn effigies in the bonfires as well. It was not until 1841 that Guy Fawkes began to make his appearance as a sympathetic character in William Ainsworth's "The Gunpowder Treason". From there and especially since 2005, Guy Fawkes has become a celebrated figure in political culture representing the horrors of oppressive government and a desire rise up and oppose tyranny in any form. 

It is interesting to me how literature and culture can take someone and completely turn their image around from terrorist to hero, not because of what he did but because of what he failed to do...

I doubt we would be celebrating his image as widely today if he had actually succeeded in blowing up the Parliament building and killing the King. Think Osama Bin Laden and you would be pretty close to how history would have viewed him.