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Guy Fawkes: Also known as John Johnson,or as Guido Fawkes apprehended on Nov 5th 1605, under the Houses of Parliamnent with hundreds of pounds of gunpowder and a handful of matches.

Percy’s man, 34 years old. Son of Edward Fawkes, proctor and advocate in the consistory court of York, Guido was born in the Stonegate district of York. Baptized at St. Michael-le-Belfry in 1570, Fawkes entered St. Peter’s School in 1578. His schoolmates there included John and Christopher Wright. His father died in 1579. His mother Edith remarried into the Catholic Bainbridge family of Scotton.

It is thought that his stepfather influenced him to become a Catholic. Perhaps he was influenced by the headmaster of St. Peters, John Pullen, a man later named as a suspected Jesuit. By the time he was 21 Guy had sold his inheritance and had joined the Catholic forces fighting in the Low Countries. For twelve years he served as a military man in the Netherlands. He was trained as a miner, skilled with gunpowder and in the arts of tunneling. He was at the siege of Calais. He arrives in England with Thomas Winter on April 25,1604.

On November 7, after several sessions of torture, Fawkes admitted that the conspirators had planned to free Sir Walter Raleigh and other Tower Prisoners. Fawkes then said, ” yt was past,and he is nowe sorry fo yt, for that he nowe perceyveth that God did not concur with yet.” Fawkes never revealed the identity of the other conspirators. He was executed on January 31, 1606. To this day Guy is remembered for his bravery on November 5. Young children make scarecrows of Guy Fawkes which they exhibit while collecting money, “a penny for the Guy”, to be spent on their fireworks.

MORE TOMORROW – “The Plot Thickens.”

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