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Remember, Remember, the 5th November.

As promised here is a bit of history about Guy Fawkes Night (Bonfire night/Fireworks night) that we celebrate here in England.(Not an actual holiday..no time off work, no).

On November 4th, 1605 Guy Fawkes attempted to blow up the houses of parliment, London but was caught in the act.

Although the plot involved blowing up the Houses of Parliament, it was mainly intended to Kill King James I. James had actually started out as King James VI of Scotland. When Queen Elizabeth I died, he was her nearest living relative, and so he became King of England.

At the time, England was divided on religious grounds. Elizabeth was a protestant, and Head of the Church of England. She persecuted the Catholics and had many priests and important Catholics executed. Needless to say, the Catholics weren't very happy about this. When she died they danced in the streets and celebrated her death. James had given the Catholics a private promise that he would stop the persecutions, if he became King.

As the Catholics were soon to learn, people will say anything to get power. James may have really intended helping the Catholics, but Parliament was against them, and he continued on where Elizabeth had left off.

The whole problem had begun with Henry VIII, Elizabeth's father. England had been Catholic and the Church had had a lot power. Henry had fallen out with the Pope because he couldn't get divorced. He had then formed the Church of England, declaring himself its Head, and given himself a divorce. The Catholics were determined to restore their Church to power and get rid of the Church of England. Unfortunately members of the Church of England felt exactly the same way. A group of English Catholics was fighting with the Spanish Army. They hoped that if they managed to get rid of James, the Spanish could come in and conquer England. Then they could restore the Catholic Church to its powerful position.

Some of these Catholics got together, recruited Guy Fawkes to do the dirty work, and hatched their plot. First, they rented a house with a basement that lay under the House of Lords (part of the Houses of Parliament). Then, they moved barrels of gunpowder into the basement, hiding it under piles of wood. They needed to blow up the building when King James, his family and all of the non-Catholic members of Parliament were in it. This had to be the day Parliament opened for a new session. That year, due to fear of plague, the opening of the Houses of Parliament was delayed for over 8 months. The delay meant the plot failed. Too many people got to hear about the plot. Someone who knew about it had a relative who was a Member of Parliament. Not wanting his relative killed, he sent him a message telling him about the plot. The relative, Lord Monteagle, sent the letter to the King. The plotters knew that someone had told about the plot, but were determined to carry on anyway. Guy Fawkes, under the alias of John Johnson, was arrested in the basement, just a few hours before he was due to light the fuse. He was taken to the Tower of London, tortured until he signed a confession, and publicly executed on January 31, 1606. The other plotters were hunted down and shot or executed.

Information and traditions can be found here. The whole Bonfires thing started that very same year and now we have big displays of fireworks too. For those of you who do not know, this is the poem that all children here were and still are taught...

Remember, remember the fifth of November,
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
We see no reason
Why Gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.