Guy Fawkes, caught with 36 barrels under Parliament, still marked 421 years on
The gist
English soldier Guy Fawkes was caught in 1605 guarding 36 barrels of gunpowder beneath Parliament.
Britain still marks November 5 with bonfires, and his mask now symbolizes dissent.
How it unfolded
- 1570Guy Fawkes was born in York, England, to a Protestant family; his father Edward was a church lawyer and prominent Protestant in York.
- 1578Fawkes's father died when he was eight.
- Oct 26, 1605Catholic nobleman Lord Monteagle received an anonymous letter warning him not to attend the opening of Parliament on the 5th, as 'they shall receive a terrible blow'.
Key terms
- Gunpowder Plot
- Failed 1605 attempt by English Catholics led by Robert Catesby to kill King James I by blowing up Parliament.
- Houses of Parliament
- The meeting place of the UK Parliament, comprising the House of Commons and House of Lords, located in the Palace of Westminster in London.
- hanged, drawn and quartered
- A method of capital punishment for high treason in medieval and early modern Britain, involving drawing on a hurdle, hanging, disembowelling, beheading, and quartering.
Source: Wikipedia