In the year of our Lord 1603
By Barbera Thomas
13 men secretly gathered in one
of the dark taverns in London
Town
The main speaker was Robert Catesby who
seemed to have commandeered the group.
These were catholics sharing the same hatred
of King James 1st but also knowing that at anytime King James 1st’s guards
could come crashing in and arrest them all, firstly breaking curfew secondly
being a Catholic which in a mainly Protestant country would always be treated
with suspicion.
Robert Catesby wasn’t from
But each had one goal, to blow up the Houses
of Parliament, kill the king and replace him with the Spanish king.
During the evening the men were given their
jobs.
One of those men was Guy Fawkes,
recently recruited, soon after coming to
Unlike the other men Guy Fawkes had been a
soldier in the army against the
He had knowledge and technical knowhow of
placing gunpowder he was seen as a bonus among the men gathered there.
The date was eventually decided would be the
the 5th November 1605.
As they scuttled away back to their homes
Guy Fawkes lingered behind.
As Robert Catesby was clearing away he
glanced up and saw Fawkes standing there.
Between them there was an instant bond for
here was a man willing to die for the cause.
Robert Catesby was well known to both
Parliament and king for his views against both and was monitored regularly.
Robert Catesby immediately made Fawkes his
second in command.
On the night of the 5th it had just stopped
raining which was a relief to the collaborators as during the weeks before,
barrels of gunpowder had been brought in and stored beneath the Houses of
Parliament these were bought through a tunnel that had been dug out by Guy
Fawkes (who had changed his name to John Johnson for whatever reason only known
to him) the property was owned by Catesby which he had required for the sole
reason of his men to climb through un-noticed to the bowels of Parliament.
But the deed was not to be as unknown to the other 12 men, there was one man who had doubts and anonymously sent a letter to William Parker 4th Baron Monteagle Catholic member of Parliament.
On receiving this terrible letter and not
fully understanding its full meaning, the Baron immediately rode to London and
handed the letter to a Member of Parliament none other than Cecil, the then
Earl of Salisbury whereby the Gun Powder Plot was thwarted.
Below is the letter that saved both the King, Parliament, and the country:
“My Lord, out of love I bear to some of
your friends I have a care of your preservation. Therefore I would advise you, as you tender your life to devise some excuse to shift your attendance at this Parliament; for God and man have concurred to punish the wickedness of this time. And think not slightly of this advertisement but retire Yourselves into your country where you may expect the event in safety for though there be no appearance of any stir, yet I say they shall receive a terrible blow this Parliament; and yet they shall not see who hurts them. This counsel is not to be condemned because it may do you good and could and can do you no harm; for the danger is passed as soon as you have burnt this letter. And I hope God will give you the grace to make good use of it, to whose holy protection I commend you
Action was taken, instantly.
The Kings army was sent below the cellars of Parliament immediately but all they found was Guy Fawkes, he was arrested on the spot and dragged out into the open, taken to the Tower of London and tortured for days until he confessed, then taken to the old Palace yard of Westminster and as he climbed with great difficulty up the stairs Guy Fawkes suddenly threw himself off the scaffold and immediately died from a broken neck thereby escaping the terrible ordeal of being disembowelled whilst still alive. Although his body was disembowelled and sent to the 4 corners of the kingdom after death.
His partner in crime had been urged to
abandon the plan but chose to ignore the advice days before.
But once he had heard that Guy Fawkes had
been discovered, he galloped as quick as he could back to his country home in
Holbeche joined by some of the 13 would be assassins.
It was decided that each would stand their
ground where they stood, against the might of the Kings men and their weaponry.
The Kings men arrived and both Robert
Catesby and his men fought gallantly side by side.
He and another papist took the full blast of
a cannon ball.
Robert Catesby’s family, although shocked,
secretly collected the body, but this was discovered and while making
preparations for the funeral, the Kings soldiers rode up dragged Catesby’s body
out on the ground then disembowelled and hacked the head off which was taken
and put on a spike to be displayed on the highest part of the roof in the
Houses of Parliament in Westminster square London for all to see as a reminder
that that is what happens to enemies of the crown.
People were shocked and when the 5th of
November came round the next year 1606 an effigy of Guy Fawkes would be paraded
throughout the streets of
When it became dark bonfires were burnt as a
reminder of what could have happened but thankfully thwarted surprisingly
through an anonymous letter.
To this day the tradition carries on with
the added bonus of fireworks.
Chants were sang:
Remember, remember the 5th of November
Gun powder, treason and plot. For there is no
reason why gunpowder treason should ever be forgot
Also I discovered a poem named:
The night
Poem
Guy Fawkes, ‘‘twas his intent to blow up
King and Parliament
Three score barrels were laid
Below To prove old
By God’s mercy he was catches
With a dark lantern and lighted match,
Holler boys, Holler boys, let the bells ring
Holler boys Holler boys
God Save the king
Halloween
A small child asks her Mother a question.
“Why do children wear witches and wizards
clothes and knock on neighbours doors on Halloween night carrying pumpkin
buckets asking the question “treacle or treat”
If it’s treat we would be given sweets but if they choose treacle we have to recite a poem or song”
The mother thought for a while and then told
the child that in ancient times there were people called “Pagans” these were
people who believed in different Gods who were sun worshippers and the devil
Their beliefs through the decades were
transformed into folklore of the unknown and fear of the dead.
“Yes Mother” the young child asked
“But that still doesn’t answer why we dress
up on that night”
The mother tried to explain without
frightening her child.
“The belief was that if people dressed up in
strange clothes, they could chase away bad spirits from their homes”.
This day in our calendar is the 31st October
also known in the holy bible as “All Souls’ Day “ where it was believed in
ancient times that bad spirits would visit the homes that they had once lived
in.
That’s why people dressed up to frightened
the spirits away.
It was believed that the souls that died in
sin would forever be cast away in purgatory, This means souls were forever
restless.
By you and other children going from house
to house you are frightening away these spirits.
The sweet treats that you have now are to make sure you do not visit their house again.”
The child then put on her scary makeup and put on her witches dress picked up her sweetie bucket and set off with her friends to visit her neighbours houses.
This made me think about both Robert Catesby and Guy Fawkes as their souls did not have the churches holy sacraments, in a christian funeral or burial from any Father of the Cloth therefore in the believers eyes forever in purgatory.
I would like to think that both their
families would have prayed that their relative be forgiven for all their sins
and ask God for forgiveness and contrition so to allow their restless souls to
enter the
“Only our maker knows”
Copyright Barbara Thomas
Intriguing Barbara, I was not aware of Guy's suicide, well written!
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