Guy Fawkes Night

Remember, remember the fifth of November!

This week in this Sceptered Isle they will commemorate on Bonfire Night, the 5th November, the 403rd Anniversary of Guy Fawkes and friend’s unsuccessful experiment in direct democracy. Some say Mr. Fawkes and Co. were the last people to enter the Houses of Parliament in Westminster with honest intentions. Bonfire Night is an annual celebration on the evening of the 5th of November celebrating the foiling of the Gunpowder Plot of the 5th of November 1605 in which a number of Catholic conspirators, including Guy Fawkes, attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament in London, England. It is primarily marked in the United Kingdom where it was compulsory, by Royal Decree, to celebrate the deliverance of the King until 1859.

This tasteful commemoration consists of the ritual re-enactment of the burning of Catholics on Bonfire night normally followed by fireworks to remind us that the Gunpowder Plot did not work out greatly to the advantage of the plotters. After Queen Elizabeth I died in 1603, English Catholics who had been persecuted under her rule had hoped that her successor, James I, would be more tolerant of their religion. James I had, after all, had a Catholic mother. Unfortunately, James did not turn out to be more tolerant than Elizabeth and a number of young men, 13 to be exact, decided that violent action was the answer.



A small group took shape, under the leadership of Robert Catesby. Catesby felt that violent action was warranted. Indeed, the thing to do was to blow up the Houses of Parliament. In doing so, they would kill the King, maybe even the Prince of Wales, and the Members of Parliament who were making life difficult for the Catholics. Today these conspirators would be known as extremists, or terrorists.

To carry out their plan, the conspirators got hold of 36 barrels of gunpowder - and stored them in a cellar, just under the House of Lords. But as the group worked on the plot, it became clear that innocent people would be hurt or killed in the attack, including some people who even fought for more rights for Catholics. Some of the plotters started having second thoughts. One of the group members even sent an anonymous letter warning his friend, Lord Monteagle, to stay away from the Parliament on November 5th. Was the letter real?

The warning letter reached the King, and the King's forces made plans to stop the conspirators. Guy Fawkes, who was in the cellar of the parliament with the 36 barrels of gunpowder when the authorities stormed it in the early hours of November 5th, was caught, tortured and executed.


Lewes Bonfire, Guy Fawkes Effigy

It's unclear if the conspirators would ever have been able to pull off their plan to blow up the Parliament even if they had not been betrayed. Some have suggested that the gunpowder itself was so old as to be useless. Since Guy Fawkes and the other conspirators got caught before trying to ignite the powder, we'll never know for certain.

Even for the period which was notoriously unstable, the Gunpowder Plot struck a very profound chord for the people of England. In fact, even today, the reigning monarch only enters the Parliament once a year, on what is called "the State Opening of Parliament". Prior to the Opening, and according to custom, the Yeomen of the Guard search the cellars of the Palace of Westminster. Nowadays, the Queen and Parliament still observe this tradition.

On the very night that the Gunpowder Plot was foiled, on November 5th, 1605, bonfires were set alight to celebrate the safety of the King. Since then, November 5th has become known as Bonfire Night. The event is commemorated every year with fireworks and burning effigies of Guy Fawkes on a bonfire.

Some of the English have been known to wonder, in a tongue in cheek kind of way, whether they are celebrating Fawkes' execution or honoring his attempt to do away with the government! On 31 January 1606, Fawkes and a number of others implicated in the conspiracy were tried in Westminster Hall. After being found guilty, they were taken to Old Palace Yard in Westminster and St Paul's Yard, where they were hanged, drawn and quartered.

For aficionados of such things, hanging, drawing and was in a league of its own in what the U.S Constitution calls “cruel and unusual punishment; Until 1814, the full punishment for the crime of treason was to be hanged, drawn and quartered in that the condemned prisoner would be:

1. Dragged on a hurdle (a wooden frame) to the place of execution. (This is one possible meaning of drawn.)
2. Hanged by the neck for a short time or until almost dead (hanged).
3. Disemboweled and emasculated and the genitalia and entrails burned before the condemned's eyes.
4. The body divided into four parts, then Beheaded (quartered).
Typically, the resulting five parts (i.e. the four quarters of the body and the head) were gibbeted (put on public display) in different parts of the city, town, or, in famous cases, in the country, to deter would-be traitors who had not seen the execution.


Traitors being taught a lesson

Even in the unstable times and despite the many conspiracy theories suggesting Guy Fawkes was framed the Plot was a shock and impacted on the popular imagination as can be seen from the popular rhymes still extant.

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, Guy Fawkes, t'was his intent
To blow up King and Parli'ment.
Three-score barrels of powder below
To prove old England's overthrow;
By God's providence he was catch'd
With a dark lantern and burning match.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, let the bells ring.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!

Or this more robust number is truer to the original Anti-Popery of Bonfire Night celebrations.

A penny loaf to feed the Pope
A farthing o' cheese to choke him.
A pint of beer to rinse it down.
A fagot of sticks to burn him.
Burn him in a tub of tar.
Burn him like a blazing star.
Burn his body from his head.
Then we'll say ol' Pope is dead.
Hip hip hoorah!
Hip hip hoorah hoorah

In these days of diversity and inclusion it serves to remind us of a certain institutional prejudice on the part of the British state. The Statute Law of England, in the Act of the Williamite Succession, describes the Pope as “An Anti-Christ and Object of Perdition” – In this of course it is repeating the words of the same King Guy Fawkes attempted to blow up along with his parliament, James VI of Scotland and I of England in his preamble to the official bible of the Church of England, the “King James” Bible. His mummy, Mary Queen of Scots, would have been very cross with him if she had not been beheaded by his predecessor, Elizabeth I.

More seriously, the same act prohibits both the Sovereign or their Consort from being Catholic or the heir to the throne and their Consort. It goes further and says that neither the Sovereign’s First and Second Lords of the Treasury (namely the Prime Minister and The Chancellor of the Exchequer) nor The Lord Chancellor (The head of the English legal system and successor in office of Sir Thomas More) can be Catholics thus institutionalising sectarianism at the very centre of the British state and legitimising the somewhat snide anti-Catholicism still fashionable in some quarters. They of course can be any other religion or indeed none but they cannot be Catholics.

It is not, one suspects that the Royal Family particularly identifies with this sectarianism. The Queen has shown herself immune to such instincts over the years meeting with Popes on several occasions, her husband was reared as Greek Orthodox and his mother became an Orthodox nun, Prince Charles has often signaled that he feels he has a wider brief than as a defender of the State Church of England and a senior member of the family, the widely admired Katherine Kent, has converted to Catholicism with no signs of family disapproval.


Their Non-Catholic Majesties

So where is the agenda for maintaining this sectarianism at the heart of the British state? I suspect there is no agenda here and it is a bit like the embarrassing drunken uncle at the family wedding, all are agreed it needs to be evicted but are not sure how it should be done.

So next week another Sovereign will arise in the Houses of Parliament, but not before the Serjeant at Arms and his men have searched the basement, and she will deliver the programme of “Her Government” for the next year, The Queens Speech. Whilst delivered by the Queen it is somewhat misnamed as it is written by “Her Prime Minister”. So perhaps that son of the manse, Gordon Brown, will take this opportunity to remove this unpalatable anomaly from the heart of the British Constitution and give a clear lead on diversity and inclusion, two highly fashionable causes close to the heart of New Labour. I suspect as the Queen delivers the lines abolishing The Act of Succession with her famous deadpan delivery she will give a wry smile and be relieved that this embarrassing uncle, who is well past his sell by date, is being removed from the proceedings, never to return. It can only lead to better humour all round.