Guy Fawkes

Was he a hero or a villian?
Would our political world be different if he had achieved his target?
Anyways... this is where it all started, the birthplace of Guy Fawkes.
We learn loads of stuff in these boxes.
robert

 

we dont celebrate Guy Fawkes being killed. things aould have been much different if he'd succeeded. not sure it would have been for the better tho.

 

Would have been different sure but don't think it would necessarily have been better or worse.

Probably wouldn't have had the problems we've had in Northern Ireland.

 

I've never been quite sure if the tradition of celebrating guy fawkes night is to celebrate the fact that he tried to blow up parliament or the fact that he got caught.

 

You nailed it...depends on which side of the fence you are..

 

I remember a song from my early school days which gives us a little clue (unless the song was politically biased):

(I'm told the bow wow wow bit was supposed to refer to his dog, but I don't remember history classes teaching that he had a dog).

 

i believe its celebrating him getting caught and executed. or so i was led to believe anyway

 

Me too, the celebration used to involve burning an effigy of the pope at one point didn't it?

 

Thanks to
http://www.speroforum.com/
for the following quote:

On the evening of every November 5, patriotic Englishmen recall the so-called Gunpower Plot of 1605 to restore the monarchy, hatched by Catholic restorationists to be carried by one Guy Fawkes. Fawkes had spent ten years in the service of King Philip I of Spain and had gained considerable experience with explosives. The theory goes that certain Catholics, led by Robert Catesby, wished to see an end to Protestant persecution of Catholics in the realm, and wish to put to death the Protestant ascendancy in the person of King James I. To do so, a plot was hatched to detonate barrels of black powder beneath the Houses of Parliament while the King and parliament conferred.
Guy Fawkes was caught in the act and eventually tortured in the Tower. He was sentenced to die by being hanged, drawn, and quartered. However, was able to throw himself from the scaffold and break his neck before the last lugubrious part of his sentence could be carried out.
Ever since then, Guy Fawkes has been hung and burnt in effigy, as bonfires are lit in Merry Olde England in his memory. The chant that has long been repeated is as follows:
Remember, remember, the fifth of November,
Gunpowder, treason and plot;
I see no reason why Gunpowder Treason should ever be forgot.
A stick and a stake for King Jamesâ?? sake!
Holla, boys, Holla, make the town ring;
Holla, boys, Holla, boys, God save the King.

I`ve said it before and I shall say it again.
"We learn some stuff in these boxes"

 

Catholics in blowing stuff up in the name of religion' shocker:hehe:

John Johnson indeed

 

Ireland was "planted" by Protestants (Scots!) long before the time of James I, not to mention the invasion of Strongbow, the establishment of The Pale and the interference by Henry VIII deciding he was no longer Lord of Ireland by King of Ireland. The problem was more the interference by the English in Ireland, rather than Catholics vs Protestants. That came later.