REMEMBER, REMEMBER THE FIFTH OF NOVEMBER: A short story from the British Reformation

[Ray Nearhood]

A QUICK AND INSUFFICIENT BACKGROUND (but I'm usually too wordy, so I'll keep it brief)

The earliest years of the 17th century were a tumultuous time on the British Isles. The years leading up to the turn of that century had seen many political and religious changes that kept the Isles teetering on edge of Civil war. First there were the breaks from alliance with France and Roman Catholicism by Henry VIII while Scotland was strengthening its alliance with France and the Roman Catholic Church. Then came the ascendency to the English throne of Mary I (Bloody Mary). Under Queen Mary's five year rule Roman Catholicism was forcefully restored to England. Queen Mary I of England was succeeded by her half-sister Elizabeth I, who restored the Church of England through long-term, politically motivated reforms in the Church.

During Henry's rule, through Bloody Mary's rule, and into the early years of Elizabeth's rule Mary Queen of Scots ruled over Scotland and maintained its Catholic identification. King James VI of Scotland ascended to his mother's throne following her execution by Elizabeth I of England (an incident that earned Mary Queen of Scots the title of Martyr from some of her supporters and further divided the British Isle). King James was thirteen months old when he took the Scottish throne. By adulthood he was a Protestant Monarch that maintained a tenuous peace with England and remained uninvolved in the Protestant England's ongoing conflicts with the Catholic nations of France and Spain.

On the 24th of March 1603, one day after the natural death of Queen Elizabeth of England, King James VI was peacefully crowned King James I of England. Laying claim to the throne through the his great grandmother, sister of Henry VIII, King James VI&I united (though not with full legality) the crowns of Great Britian under one throne.

THE PLOT THICKENS

Memory of the reign of Bloody Mary, religious strife throughout western Christendom, and constant conflict with the Catholic nations of Spain and France all were contributing factors to the growing intolerance of Roman Catholics in England during Elizabeth I's rule. But, the coronation of King James VI&I brought hope to the intolerated Catholics in England. He was, after all, the eldest son of the martyred Mary Queen of Scots. But, this hope soon waned as King James demanded loyalty to both the Church of England (with minor concessions to Catholics) and loyalty to the authority of the combined throne above loyalty to Papal Authority. The King condemned separatist Catholics (that would not accept his authority over the Pope's) and separatist Puritans (that would not accept the Church of England).

Disenfranchised and persecuted, a group of wealthy and aristocratic Catholics began to plot treason against the throne and the Protestant controlled Parliament. The plan was to kill both Houses of Parliament and the King during the State Opening in 1605. The means by which this treason would be accomplished was by burrowing under the House of Lords, laying massive amounts of gunpowder, and razing the building with the detonation while occupied by Parliament and the King. A rebellion would follow and the King's daughter, Princess Elizabeth II, was to be installed as the Catholic ruler of England.

Though many events stood in the way of the plot (the Black Plague delaying the State Opening, burrowing proving too hard to accomplish), eventually 816kg of gunpowder was stored in a rented room under the House of Lords. The execution of this "Gunpowder Treason" plot was left to a ten year military veteran with explosives experience named Guy Fawkes.

Through a number of events, word of the Gunpowder Treason made its way to King James VI&I, who ordered it be investigated and the plotters brought to justice. The State Opening was scheduled for November 5th, 1605 and on that day Guy Fawkes was arrested in the storage room preparing for execution of the plot.

THE AFTERMATH (I'm being wordy again, so, I'll make this really quick)

Well, Fawkes and many of the conspirators were caught and tortured, and others were killed while being captured. On January 31st 1606 the conspirators were hanged until nearly dead, pulled from the gallows, and then quartered. Fawkes, scheduled to be executed last, cheated his executioners by making an escape from their grip and, jumping from the gallows headlong, breaking his neck to escape the live quartering.

On May 3rd of the same year, the Jesuit Henry Garnett was set to be executed in the same fashion for being the confessor to many involved in the plot. Having been confessed to of the plot, Garnett was not obliged to reveal the plot to the government. However, the Parliament still found fault in him and sentenced him to death. Garnett's sentence was very unpopular, and, while being executed, the crowd kept the executioner from leaving him alive at the end of the noose to be quartered by holding the executioner back and hanging off the the condemned's legs, hastening his death.

Intolerance grew against the Roman Catholic Church in England as a result of the plot. The King issued decrees that loyalty be sworn to the crown over papal authority, now under the penalty of death. Catholic's experienced further losses of religious freedom that would continue for 200 years until the Catholic Emancipation.

The thwarting of the plot was commemorated for years in many different ways, ultimately being annually celebrated on Guy Fawkes Night with a bonfire. A traditional rhyme, popular in England remembers the events of that day:

Remember, remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot!
I see no reason,
why gunpowder treason Should ever be forgot.
Remember, remember, the fifth of November,
Gunpowder, treason and plot!
A stick or a stake for King James' sake
Will you please to give us a fagot
If you can't give us one, we'll take two;
The better for us and the worse for you!

Paying special attention to the religious implications and intolerance for papal authority, the town of Lewes added and maintains this verse:

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!

AND NOW THE END

Playing less a part in English society than it did just one hundred years, religion and religious divisions are no longer the focus of Guy Fawkes Night. It is generally celebrated only for the foiling of an attempt against the monarchy neutered of the religious implications. The event is marked with fireworks, bonfires, the burning of "guys" (effigies of Guy Fawkes) and, in recent years, trick-or-treating.

[Ray Nearhood]

Just edited it for really, REALLY poor grammar and spelling. Sheesh!

[Marv]

"edited for spelling," for what it's worth check: Aisles, James IV (x3), seperatist (x2), totured,

[Ray Nearhood]

THAT'S what I thought I fixed. What the heck. I must have messed up the save or something. Dang-nabbit. Fixed it elsewhere, copy/pasted and jacked something up. Will be fixed momentarily.

[Marv]

Well, that's hardly egregious. Anyway, it is intereting. I never realized it had that religious context. And I didn't remember the fifth of November.

[Marv]

Better, still seeing James IV for VI

[Ray Nearhood]

still seeing James IV for VI

Now that wasn't an accident. That was me being an idiot. The ONE TIME I got it right was accidental. Good catch. Thanks. Will be fixed momentarily.

[Rey Reynoso]

V is for Vendetta!

[Harry]

This is why Anglicism's theology is a mile wide and an inch deep.