Guy Fawkes - Quick facts

 

 

 

Guy Fawkes, or Guido Fawkes as he also liked to be known, was born on April 13th 1570 in Stonegate in York. He was educated at St. Peter's School in York.

Guy Fawkes converted to Catholicism when he was about 16. At the time, religious teaching was dictated by the Church of England which would not tolerate Roman Catholicism. Therefore it was difficult for followers of the Catholic faith to worship freely in England.

Guy Fawkes and the other members of the Gunpowder Plot were all Catholics and the plot was a response to the repression they experienced. Another reason for wanting to kill the King was that King James I was Scottish.

Guy Fawkes was an experienced soldier. Although he didn't fight for his country, he fought for the Spanish against the Dutch in the Netherlands. This is where he gained experience with explosives, and also where he decided to call himself Guido.

Although Guy Fawkes wasn't the main conspirator in the Gunpowder Plot, he probably had one of the most important roles.

During his involvement in the Gunpowder Plot, Fawkes called himself John Johnson and when he was arrested and asked to give his name, this is the name he gave.

Despite being involved in what is basically a terrorist plot, Guy Fawkes was named the 30th Greatest Briton in a poll conducted by the BBC in 2002.

Shortly after being discovered, Fawkes was taken to the King's bedchamber to explain why he wanted to kill him and blow up Parliament. Fawkes calmly answered that he regarded the King as a disease since he had been excommunicated by the Pope. He also explained that he needed such a huge quantity of gunpowder "To blow you Scotch beggars back to your own native mountains!"

Under torture, it took up four days for Guy Fawkes to admit to his part in the Gunpowder Plot and give names of other people involved in it. His signature on the written confession after torture, which is still held by the National Archives, was very faint and weak.

Fawkes and other people involved in the Gunpowder Plot were tried on January 31st 1606 and then hung, drawn and quartered in the Old Palace Yard in Westminster. Contrary to popular belief, Fawkes wasn't thrown onto a bonfire.

An uninhabited island to the north of Santa Cruz Island in the Galapagos Islands is named Isla Guy Fawkes, or Guy Fawkes Island.