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Misunderstood Guy

Every year on November 5th we celebrate the hanging of a man by burning effigies of him on a bonfire and creating a series of small coloured explosions in our gardens. Some people also go to a public ceremony to witness a large fire and purchase bags of toffee specifically for the occasion. This man must surely have been one of the most evil figures in history for people to spend money commemorating his death each year? After all, other historically evil people such as Pontius Pilate and Fred West have not been awarded such an accolade. I refer of course to Guy Fawkes, a man who has been badmouthed for the last four hundred years, and I would like to present the case for his defence.

Born 13 th April 1570 in Yorkshire , Guy Fawkes was an impressionable young man who lost his father at an early age. At school he came under the tutelage of John Pulleyn, a suspected Catholic who it is thought had an effect on Guy. England at this time did not tolerate Catholics kindly, and this was to be the key motivation behind the Gunpowder Plot.

In 1593 Fawkes went to Flanders where he enlisted in the Spanish Army and adopted the name Guido. There he held a post of command and was described by others as noble, virtuous, resolute, universally learned, of exemplary temperance, mild, cheerful, punctual (especially where religious observance was concerned) and a good friend. Fawkes was clearly a man of his faith, a possible template for an early suicide bomber perhaps, but certainly not a cold-blooded killer or a traitor.

In May 1604 Fawkes met with Robert Catesby, Thomas Percy, John Wright and Thomas Wintour in London . At this point he agreed to help out with the Gunpowder Plot, suggesting he was not responsible for initiating the plan, he was just manipulated into it through his integrity and religious affiliation. Catesby was the fanatic behind the conspiracy, he was incensed by the persecution of Catholics in this country due to the death his wife and parents. In total there were 13 eventual conspirators, yet Fawkes is by far the most notorious of this band of un-merry men simply because he was the first of the gang to be caught.

The following year in March the group hired a cellar beneath Parliament through Thomas Percy. Guy Fawkes assisted in filling the room with gunpowder, hiding it beneath iron bars and faggots, and replenishing it in August ready for the big strike. The group met for the last time on November 3 rd 1605 where they made plans to escape London , with Fawkes remaining behind to watch the cellar, firing the powder when necessary. This is the behaviour one would expect of a noble soldier, carrying out his instructions and ensuring the success of the mission.

Conflicting sources indicate that Guy Fawkes was arrested in the cellar by the King's men either late evening on 4 th or possibly in the early hours of 5 th November, and executed at Westminster (barley able to climb the ladder to be hanged due to the torture he had suffered) on 31 January 1606. Conspiracy theorists suggest the whole affair was a Jacobean sting operation, designed to give the officials public justification to pursue their anti-Catholic activities, but either way Fawkes was guilty of nothing more than rising up against the regime imposed on the Catholics. Granted his actions were a tad un-Christian, but he lived in very different times to us, and was basically fighting fire with fire, so to speak.

Word spread fast across London of Fawkes capture and the subsequent foiling of the plot, so people lit fires that evening to celebrate their King being saved. This is considered to be the origin of Bonfire Night, although today most people celebrate the death of Fawkes at the same time. If Guy Fawkes has any living relatives, and I am quite sure he must (I suspect they changed their surname to Fawks 'without the e' on 6 th November 1605), they would be wise to register him as a brand and claim image rights. That way any kids wandering the streets pimping Guy's image for pennies would be forced to pay a percentage of their earnings to the Fawkes Trust, instead of using it all to buy cider and cigarettes.

In conclusion, Guy was merely a loyal soldier in Catesby's platoon, a misguided soul who didn't like what was happening in England at the time. Society pays him a great injustice by celebrating his execution; we should respect his courage in rising up against the Government. We live in fortunate times where only fox hunters and divorced fathers are required to actively challenge Parliament. We take our democratic voice for granted, but if Tony Blair or the Queen started executing people we are close to (religiously or otherwise), I suspect the queue to rent a cellar under Parliament would extend from Westminster to the North Circular and beyond.

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