Guy Fawkes (13 April 1570-31 January 1606) was an English Catholic who served in the Spanish Army during the Eighty Years' War and was one of the leading conspirators behind the 1605 Gunpowder Plot. Fawkes was arrested in the cellar of Parliament after the plot was discovered, and he and his co-conspirators were hanged, drawn, and quartered.
Biography[]
Guy Fawkes was born in York, Yorkshire, England on 13 April 1570, the son of Anglican parents; after his father died in 1579, Guy was raised by a Catholic stepfather. In 1591, Fawkes sold his father's estate in York and travelled to continental Europe to fight for Catholic Spain against the Protestant Dutch Republic in the Eighty Years' War, adopting the alias "Guido Fawkes". He fought at the Siege of Calais in 1596 and was recommended for a captaincy in 1603, traveling to Spain that same year to raise support for a Catholic rebellion in England. King Philip III of Spain received Fawkes at his court, but he was unwilling to provide him any support due to Spain's recent peace treaty with England. In 1604, Fawkes joined Robert Catesby's conspiracy to assassinate King James I of England and replace him with his daughter Princess Elizabeth. They first met on 20 May 1604 at the Duck and Drake inn in the Strand, London, and the plotters recruited Thomas Wintour to seek European help for their endeavor. By October 1605, Fawkes was designated as the man who was to light the fuse and escape across the River Thames before escaping to Europe to explain to the Catholic powers his holy duty to kill the King and his retinue. However, on 5 November 1605, the plot was discovered by Sir Thomas Knyvet after William Parker, 4th Baron Monteagle received an anonymous letter warning him to stay away from the "terrible blow" which was to happen to the Parliament. Fawkes was arrested in the cellar of the House of Lords, and he initially identified himself as "John Johnson" of Netherdale in Yorkshire. The plotters' trial began on 27 January 1606, and Fawkes and the others were found guilty of high treason. On 31 January 1606, Fawkes and his co-conspirators were dragged from the Tower of London to the Old Palace Yard at the Palace of Westminster, where they were hanged and quartered. 5 November has since become a major holiday in Britain, known as "Guy Fawkes Night"; the failure of the Gunpowder Plot is also celebrated in the annual Lewes Bonfire.