Remember, remember
Nov. 5th, 2005 10:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
zoetropeExactly 400 years ago today, Robert Catesby and his group of fellow plotters set 36 barrels of gunpowder in the cellars beneath parliament, with the intention of blowing up the building and everyone in it, to coincide with the King, James I, opening Parliament.
I'm sure this is one of many Remember, Remember posts on your friends list, but I was having a look around and thought I'd post some facts and links that might be of interest.
* The word Bonfire comes, of course, from the burning of bones. This is believed to have Celtic origins and be a reference to their midsummer festival, in which they burnt animal bones to ward off evil spirits.
* The medieval Houses of Parliament - the one that was targeted by Guy Fawkes - were destroyed by fire in 1834. Those that stand in their place now, with Big Ben and whatnot, are not the same buildings. Although Westminster Hall remains, the House of Lords (the building that was targeted) and the House of Commons were rebuilt.
* Guy Fawkes didn't mastermind the plot, he was just the hapless trigger-man. The plot was founded by Robert Catesby, leader of a group of Roman Catholics (including Fawkes) who were angry at the systematic persecution of their religion by the state.
* Guy Fawkes wasn't burnt at the stake at the time, rather he was hung, drawn and quartered. This meant he was:
1. Dragged on a wooden frame to the place of execution
2. Hanged by the neck, but removed before death
3. Disembowelled, and the genitalia and entrails burned before the victim's eyes; the heart was the last to be removed and was then shown to the victim before the entrails were burned.
4. Beheaded and the body divided into four parts.
This was the standard punishment for treason, and was last used in 1820.
* But before all that he was tortured. The King wrote: "The gentler tortours are to be first used unto him, et sic per gradus ad maiora tenditur [and thus by increase to the worst], and so God speed your goode worke".
* Fawkes eventually gave in to the pain of the Rack, a device in which the victim was strapped to a table, his wrists attached to one roller, his ankles to another. The torturer pulls at the mechanism, step by step, so that the victim's body is stretched, each joint slowly becoming dislocated. Go here to see the impact of this torture on Guy Fawkes' confession signature.
* On the night that the Gunpowder Plot was foiled, bonfires were set alight to celebrate the safety of the King.
* The state opening of Parliament is still held at around the same time to this day, and is the only time the Queen goes into Parliament in a year. Beforehand, the cellars are still searched for explosives by the Yeomen of the Guard, as tradition dictates.
* Play a BBC History Gunpowder plot game here. (It's not that exciting, but amusing for a moment's diversion!)
* An interactive guide to the Gunpowder Plot from the Guardian newspaper. Excellent illustration of scope and impact.
* A publication of the day, published on the day the traitors were executed (31st January 1606).
* The Gunpowder Plot Society.
* ETA - Almost forgot! My favourite fact of all. Nowadays we still, of course, make Guys to burn on the bonfire. However, instead of being styled on Fawkes, they are usually effigies of popular modern figures of hate or mockery. Last year, joint most popular for being the Guy? Osama Bin Laden and George Bush. *g*
For more fun facts like these, check out www.wikipedia.org!
I'm sure this is one of many Remember, Remember posts on your friends list, but I was having a look around and thought I'd post some facts and links that might be of interest.
* The word Bonfire comes, of course, from the burning of bones. This is believed to have Celtic origins and be a reference to their midsummer festival, in which they burnt animal bones to ward off evil spirits.
* The medieval Houses of Parliament - the one that was targeted by Guy Fawkes - were destroyed by fire in 1834. Those that stand in their place now, with Big Ben and whatnot, are not the same buildings. Although Westminster Hall remains, the House of Lords (the building that was targeted) and the House of Commons were rebuilt.
* Guy Fawkes didn't mastermind the plot, he was just the hapless trigger-man. The plot was founded by Robert Catesby, leader of a group of Roman Catholics (including Fawkes) who were angry at the systematic persecution of their religion by the state.
* Guy Fawkes wasn't burnt at the stake at the time, rather he was hung, drawn and quartered. This meant he was:
1. Dragged on a wooden frame to the place of execution
2. Hanged by the neck, but removed before death
3. Disembowelled, and the genitalia and entrails burned before the victim's eyes; the heart was the last to be removed and was then shown to the victim before the entrails were burned.
4. Beheaded and the body divided into four parts.
This was the standard punishment for treason, and was last used in 1820.
* But before all that he was tortured. The King wrote: "The gentler tortours are to be first used unto him, et sic per gradus ad maiora tenditur [and thus by increase to the worst], and so God speed your goode worke".
* Fawkes eventually gave in to the pain of the Rack, a device in which the victim was strapped to a table, his wrists attached to one roller, his ankles to another. The torturer pulls at the mechanism, step by step, so that the victim's body is stretched, each joint slowly becoming dislocated. Go here to see the impact of this torture on Guy Fawkes' confession signature.
* On the night that the Gunpowder Plot was foiled, bonfires were set alight to celebrate the safety of the King.
* The state opening of Parliament is still held at around the same time to this day, and is the only time the Queen goes into Parliament in a year. Beforehand, the cellars are still searched for explosives by the Yeomen of the Guard, as tradition dictates.
* Play a BBC History Gunpowder plot game here. (It's not that exciting, but amusing for a moment's diversion!)
* An interactive guide to the Gunpowder Plot from the Guardian newspaper. Excellent illustration of scope and impact.
* A publication of the day, published on the day the traitors were executed (31st January 1606).
* The Gunpowder Plot Society.
* ETA - Almost forgot! My favourite fact of all. Nowadays we still, of course, make Guys to burn on the bonfire. However, instead of being styled on Fawkes, they are usually effigies of popular modern figures of hate or mockery. Last year, joint most popular for being the Guy? Osama Bin Laden and George Bush. *g*
For more fun facts like these, check out www.wikipedia.org!
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no subject
Date: 2005-11-05 11:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-05 01:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-05 12:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-05 01:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-05 03:12 pm (UTC)Wow. Bloodthirsty folks, aren't you? ::g::
Of course, we just whisk them away without explanation, confine them to gulag in Cuba, ignore the Geneva Convention, and refuse them legal representation....
no subject
Date: 2005-11-05 03:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-10 07:55 am (UTC)