Guy Fawkes, known as Guido Fawkes while fighting for the Spanish, was a member of a group of provincial English Catholics involved in the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605.
33 Facts About Guy Fawkes
2.
Guy Fawkes was born and educated in York; his father died when Fawkes was eight years old, after which his mother married a recusant Catholic.
3.
Guy Fawkes travelled to Spain to seek support for a Catholic rebellion in England without success.
4.
Guy Fawkes later met Thomas Wintour, with whom he returned to England.
5.
The plotters leased an undercroft beneath the House of Lords; Guy Fawkes was placed in charge of the gunpowder that they stockpiled there.
6.
Guy Fawkes was questioned and tortured over the next few days and confessed to wanting to blow up the House of Lords.
7.
Guy Fawkes was the second of four children born to Edward Fawkes, a proctor and an advocate of the consistory court at York, and his wife, Edith.
8.
In 1579, when Guy Fawkes was eight years old, his father died.
9.
Guy Fawkes's mother remarried several years later, to the Catholic Dionis Baynbrigge of Scotton, Harrogate.
10.
At least one source claims that Guy Fawkes married and had a son, but no known contemporary accounts confirm this.
11.
Guy Fawkes travelled to the continent to fight in the Eighty Years War for Catholic Spain against the new Dutch Republic and, from 1595 until the Peace of Vervins in 1598, France.
12.
Guy Fawkes joined Sir William Stanley, an English Catholic and veteran commander in his mid-forties who had raised an army in Ireland to fight in Leicester's expedition to the Netherlands.
13.
Guy Fawkes became an alferez or junior officer, fought well at the siege of Calais in 1596, and by 1603 had been recommended for a captaincy.
14.
In 1604 Guy Fawkes became involved with a small group of English Catholics, led by Robert Catesby, who planned to assassinate the Protestant King James and replace him with his daughter, third in the line of succession, Princess Elizabeth.
15.
Tesimond claimed Guy Fawkes was "a man highly skilled in matters of war", and that it was this mixture of piety and professionalism that endeared him to his fellow conspirators.
16.
Owen did introduce Wintour to Guy Fawkes, who had by then been away from England for many years, and thus was largely unknown in the country.
17.
Wintour and Guy Fawkes were contemporaries; each was militant, and had first-hand experience of the unwillingness of the Spaniards to help.
18.
Guy Fawkes was installed as a caretaker and began using the pseudonym John Johnson, servant to Percy.
19.
Guy Fawkes was sent out to investigate, and returned with the news that the tenant's widow was clearing out a nearby undercroft, directly beneath the House of Lords.
20.
Guy Fawkes was a well-known Flemish mercenary, and would be introduced to "Mr Catesby" and "honourable friends of the nobility and others who would have arms and horses in readiness".
21.
Guy Fawkes was to light the fuse and then escape across the Thames.
22.
Guy Fawkes had taken up his station late on the previous night, armed with a slow match and a watch given to him by Percy "becaus he should knowe howe the time went away".
23.
Guy Fawkes was found leaving the cellar, shortly after midnight, and arrested.
24.
Guy Fawkes gave his name as John Johnson and was first interrogated by members of the King's Privy chamber, where he remained defiant.
25.
Guy Fawkes admitted his intention to blow up the House of Lords, and expressed regret at his failure to do so.
26.
Guy Fawkes directed that the torture be light at first, referring to the use of manacles, but more severe if necessary, authorising the use of the rack: "the gentler Tortures are to be first used unto him et sic per gradus ad ima tenditur [and so by degrees proceeding to the worst]".
27.
Guy Fawkes searched his prisoner, and found a letter addressed to Guy Fawkes.
28.
Guy Fawkes's composure was broken at some point during the following day.
29.
Guy Fawkes shared the barge from the Tower to Westminster Hall with seven of his co-conspirators.
30.
Guy Fawkes was identified as Guido Guy Fawkes, "otherwise called Guido Johnson".
31.
Guy Fawkes pleaded not guilty, despite his apparent acceptance of guilt from the moment he was captured.
32.
Guy Fawkes asked for forgiveness of the King and state, while keeping up his "crosses and idle ceremonies".
33.
James Sharpe, professor of history at the University of York, has described how Guy Fawkes came to be toasted as "the last man to enter Parliament with honest intentions".