The Real Guy Fawkes

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Fraser provides notes (although not annotated), a list of sources, and not one but three sections of color plates plus genealogical charts to help strengthen the text.

For much of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I the repression meted out against Catholics increased almost annually. You can understand why the Queen might have been a bit annoyed with the Catholics – she might well have won the Spanish Armada, but even the joy of winning would have to have been tempered by the fact that these guys literally wanted her dead and were prepared to go to quite an extreme to assure that. A Pope had even named her in what we would probably call today a fatwa – making it virtually the religious responsibility of Catholics to try to kill her. She was considered a devil, not only for being a woman ruler (clearly considered a job that could only be done with the right set of genitalia intact – a view that was so wide spread that even Elizabeth thought of herself as an honorary man), but also a bastard and therefore out of contention for what was basically a holy office from birth – she had even been excommunicated from the Church. Bohstedt, John (2010), The Politics of Provisions: Food Riots, Moral Economy, and Market Transition in England, C. 1550–1850, Ashgate Publishing, ISBN 978-0-7546-6581-6 The political and religious instability unleashed by the Reformation had resulted in pitting Catholics against Protestants throughout Europe. In England religious strife resulted in the accession of Elizabeth I in 1558. The following year she and her advisers created a religious “settlement,” which envisaged a Protestant national church. The monarch was at its head, although it retained bishops, along with the traditional church courts and some pre-Reformation ceremonial practices.Guy Fawkes, The Gunpowder Plot Society, archived from the original on 18 March 2010 , retrieved 19 May 2010 In Viviana Radcliffe I have sought to portray the loyal and devout Catholic, such as I conceive the character to have existed at the period. In Catesby, the unscrupulous and ambitious plotter, masking his designs under the cloak of religion. In Garnet, the subtle, and yet sincere, Jesuit. And in Fawkes, the gloomy and superstitious enthusiast. [10] Sources [ edit ]

Summarized briefly, Fraser has Catholics encouraged by James' early indications of an intent to liberalize, then discouraged when he fails to do so upon his ascension. Some are so discouraged they resolve to overthrow the government, blowing up parliament and leading a rebellion. The plot fails on both scores. Retribution follows. Among the executed are priests, especially Jesuits, who either knew nothing or little about the plotting, some of them even actively opposing it. The oppression of Catholics in the United Kingdom continues well into the nineteenth century.Holland went on to state that "weddings between Catholics were often conducted in secret", and that Fawkes may have once married, and that while the secretive nature of such marriages make it "impossible to prove that it did take place, the absence of an official record is certainly no indication that it didn't." Thompson, Irene (2008), The A to Z of Punishment and Torture: From Amputations to Zero Tolerance, Book Guild Publishing, ISBN 978-1-84624-203-8

The eighth, Thomas Bates, was considered inferior by virtue of his status, and was held instead at Gatehouse Prison. [49] When the old virgin finally died and was replaced by James I there was a general view (among the Catholics, at least) that life for England’s Catholics was likely to improve. And let’s face it, there was plenty of scope for improvement. Life for Catholics in England was pretty well intolerable. But their hopes for better days were based on the facts that James was both the son of Mary, who had died a Catholic, and also that he was married to a Catholic. There was even talk that he was just waiting to become King so he could do a Blair and convert to Catholicism. Things were looking up and James himself was helping to spread these rumours. The novel Guy Fawkes first appeared as a serial in Bentley's Miscellany, between January and November 1840. It was subsequently published as a three-volume set in July 1841, with illustrations by George Cruikshank. The first of William Harrison Ainsworth's seven "Lancashire novels", the story is based on the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, an unsuccessful attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament. Ainsworth relied heavily on historical documents describing the trial and execution of the conspirators, of whom Fawkes was one, but he also embellished the known facts. He invented the character of Viviana Radcliffe, daughter of the prominent Radcliffe family of Ordsall Hall–who becomes Fawkes's wife–and introduced gothic and supernatural elements into the story, such as the ability of the alchemist, John Dee, to raise the spirits of the dead. Inspire learning on the seasons with ' Seren's Seasons'. It's beautifully illustrated and is great for prompting discussions about different types of weather. Ms Fraser wrote this book in 1996 – as it turns out, five years too early for us to be able to play that most satisfying of games, the ‘we learn nothing from history’ game. The government’s attempts to tarnish the adherents of an entire religion on the basis of the actions of a few radical extremists, the efforts made to contort the ‘doctrine of equivocation’ (a necessity in a land where you could be put to death for admitting to being Catholic) so as to make it seem like all Catholics were essentially liars and the disproportionate punishment of civilian populations so as to make them pay for the excesses of a small number of extremists have so many parallels with today it seems pointless listing them.The gleefulness with which authorities of the day set about persecuting those suspected of being involved in this plot – obviously not unlike the gleefulness with which we invaded Iraq - was likewise inversely proportional to the level of responsibility these Catholics had for the plot. Guy Fawkes ( / f ɔː k s/; 13 April 1570– 31 January 1606), [a] also 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. He was born and educated in York; his father died when Fawkes was eight years old, after which his mother married a recusant Catholic.