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{{Short description|English participant in the Gunpowder Plot (1570–1606)}}
{{About|the historical figure}}
{{featured article}}
{{pp-semi-indef}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2020}}
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{{Infobox gunpowder plot
| name              = Guy Fawkes
| image             = The Gunpowder Plot Conspirators, 1605 from NPG (cropped).jpg
| alt               = Black-and-white drawing
| caption           = An engraving of Fawkes made in 1605
| enlisted          = 20 May 1604
| role              = Explosives
| apprehended       = 5 November 1605
| birth_name        = 
| birth_date        = 13 April 1570 (presumed)
| birth_place       = [[York]], [[North Yorkshire]], England
| death_date        = 31 January 1606 (aged 35)
| death_place       = [[Westminster]], London, England
| other_names       = Guido Fawkes, John Johnson
| motive            = [[Gunpowder Plot]], a conspiracy to assassinate King [[James VI and I]] and members of the [[Houses of Parliament]]
| criminal_charge   = 
| conviction        = [[High treason]]
| conviction_penalty = [[Hanged, drawn and quartered]]
| conviction_status = Executed
| occupation        = Soldier, [[alférez]]
| spouse            = 
| children          = 
| signature         = P29b_signature.jpg
}}
'''Guy Fawkes''' ({{IPAc-en|f|ɔː|k|s}}; 13 April 1570&nbsp;– 31 January 1606),{{efn|Dates in this article before [[Adoption of the Gregorian calendar|14 September 1752]] are given in the Julian calendar. The beginning of the year is treated as 1 January even though it began in England on 25 March.}} also known as '''Guido Fawkes''' while fighting for the Spanish, was a member of a group of provincial [[Catholic Church in England and Wales|English Catholics]] involved in the failed [[Gunpowder Plot]] of 1605. He was born and educated in [[York]]; his father died when Fawkes was eight years old, after which his mother married a [[recusant]] Catholic.

Fawkes converted to Catholicism and left for mainland Europe, where he fought for Catholic Spain in the [[Eighty Years' War]] against Protestant Dutch [[Reformation|reformers]] in the [[Low Countries]]. He travelled to Spain to seek support for a Catholic rebellion in England without success. He later met [[Robert and Thomas Wintour|Thomas Wintour]], with whom he returned to England. Wintour introduced him to [[Robert Catesby]], who planned to assassinate {{nowrap|[[James VI and I|King James I]]}} and restore a Catholic monarch to the throne. The plotters leased an [[undercroft]] beneath the [[House of Lords]]; Fawkes was placed in charge of the gunpowder that they stockpiled there. The authorities were prompted by an anonymous letter to search [[Westminster Palace]] during the early hours of 5 November, and they found Fawkes guarding the explosives. He was questioned and tortured over the next few days and confessed to wanting to blow up the House of Lords.

Fawkes was sentenced to be [[hanged, drawn and quartered]]. However, at his execution on 31 January, he died when his neck was broken as he was hanged, with some sources claiming that he deliberately jumped to make this happen; he thus avoided the agony of his sentence. He became synonymous with the [[Gunpowder Plot]], the failure of which has been commemorated in the UK as [[Guy Fawkes Night]] since 5 November 1605, when his effigy is traditionally burned on a bonfire, commonly accompanied by fireworks.

==Early life==

===Childhood===
[[File:St Michael le Belfrey (21st October 2010) 001.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|alt=Photo|Fawkes was baptised on 16 April 1570 at the church of [[St Michael le Belfrey, York]], next to [[York Minster]] (seen at left).]]
Guy Fawkes was born in 1570 in [[Stonegate (York)|Stonegate]], York. He was the second of four children born to Edward Fawkes, a [[proctor]] and an advocate of the [[consistory court]] at York,{{efn|According to one source, he may have been Registrar of the Exchequer Court of the Archbishop.{{sfn|Haynes|2005|pp=28–29}}}} and his wife, Edith.{{efn|Fawkes's mother's maiden name is alternatively given as Edith Blake,<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.gunpowder-plot.org/fawkes.asp |title=Guy Fawkes |publisher=The Gunpowder Plot Society |access-date=19 May 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100318043708/http://www.gunpowder-plot.org/fawkes.asp |archive-date=18 March 2010 }}</ref> or Edith Jackson.<ref name="ODNB Fawkes"/>}} Guy's parents were regular [[communicant]]s of the [[Church of England]], as were his paternal grandparents; his grandmother, born Ellen Harrington, was the daughter of a prominent merchant, who served as [[Lord Mayor of York]] in 1536.<ref>"Fawkes, Guy" in ''[[Dictionary of National Biography|The Dictionary of National Biography]],'' [[Leslie Stephen]], ed., Oxford University Press, London (1921–1922).</ref> Guy's mother's family were [[recusant]] Catholics, and his cousin, Richard Cowling, became a [[Jesuit]] priest.<ref name="Fraser 2005 84">{{Harvnb|Fraser|2005|p=84}}</ref> ''Guy'' was an uncommon name in England, but may have been popular in York on account of a local notable, Sir [[Guy Fairfax]] of Steeton.<ref name="Sharpep48">{{Harvnb|Sharpe|2005|p=48}}</ref>

The date of Fawkes's birth is unknown, but he was [[baptised]] in the church of [[St Michael le Belfrey, York]] on 16 April. As the customary gap between birth and baptism was three days, he was probably born about 13 April.<ref name="Fraser 2005 84"/> In 1568, Edith had given birth to a daughter named Anne, but the child died aged about seven weeks, in November that year. She bore two more children after Guy: Anne (b.&nbsp;1572), and Elizabeth (b.&nbsp;1575). Both were married, in 1599 and 1594, respectively.<ref name="Sharpep48"/>{{sfn|Fraser|2005|p=86&nbsp;(note)}}

In 1579, when Guy was eight years old, his father died. His mother remarried several years later, to the Catholic Dionis Baynbrigge (or Denis Bainbridge) of [[Scotton, Harrogate]]. Fawkes may have become a Catholic through the Baynbrigge family's recusant tendencies, and also the Catholic branches of the Pulleyn and Percy families of Scotton,{{sfn|Sharpe|2005|p=49}} but also from his time at [[St Peter's School, York|St. Peter's School]] in York. A governor of the school had spent about 20&nbsp;years in prison for recusancy, and its headmaster, John Pulleyn, came from a family of noted Yorkshire recusants, the Pulleyns of [[Blubberhouses]]. In her 1915 work ''The Pulleynes of Yorkshire'', author Catharine Pullein suggested that Fawkes's Catholic education came from his Harrington relatives, who were known for harbouring priests, one of whom later accompanied Fawkes to [[Flanders]] in 1592–93.<ref name="Herber"/> Fawkes's fellow students included [[John and Christopher Wright|John Wright]] and his brother [[John and Christopher Wright|Christopher]] (both later involved with Fawkes in the [[Gunpowder Plot]]) and [[Oswald Tesimond]], [[Edward Oldcorne]] and Robert Middleton, who became priests (the latter executed in 1601).{{sfn|Fraser|2005|pp=84–85}}

After leaving school Fawkes entered the service of [[Anthony Browne, 1st Viscount Montagu]].<!-- Browne was one of the leading statesmen during the time of Catholic [[Mary, Queen of Scots]], and was also allegedly implicated in the [[Ridolfi plot]] --> The Viscount took a dislike to Fawkes and after a short time dismissed him; he was subsequently employed by [[Anthony-Maria Browne, 2nd Viscount Montagu]], who succeeded his grandfather at the age of&nbsp;18.{{sfn|Fraser|2005|pp=85–86}} At least one source claims that Fawkes married and had a son, but no known contemporary accounts confirm this.<ref name="Fraserp86">{{Harvnb|Fraser|2005|p=86}}</ref>{{efn|According to the [[International Genealogical Index]], compiled by the [[Family History Library|LDS Church]], Fawkes married Maria Pulleyn (b. 1569) in Scotton in 1590, and had a son, Thomas, on 6 February 1591.<ref name="Herber">{{citation |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110617064347/http://www.gunpowder-plot.org/news/1998_04/gfmp.htm |archive-date=17 June 2011 |url=http://www.gunpowder-plot.org/news/1998_04/gfmp.htm |publisher=The Gunpowder Plot Society |contribution=The Marriage of Guy Fawkes and Maria Pulleyn |title=The Gunpowder Plot Society Newsletter |issue= 1 |date=April 1998 |last=Herber |first=David |access-date=16 February 2010}}</ref> These entries, however, appear to derive from a secondary source and not from actual parish entries.<ref name="Fraserp86"/>}}<!-- After renting them out for a while as a way to earn money, he sold his stakes in them to Anne Skipsey.{{fact|date=November 2010}} -->

===Military career===
In October 1591 Fawkes sold the estate in [[Clifton, York|Clifton]] in York that he had inherited from his father.{{efn|Although the ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' claims 1592, multiple alternative sources give 1591 as the date. Peter Beal, ''A Dictionary of English Manuscript Terminology, 1450 to 2000'', includes a signed indenture of the sale of the estate dated 14 October 1591. (pp. 198–199)}} He travelled to the continent to fight in the [[Eighty Years' War]] for Catholic Spain against the new [[Dutch Republic]] and, from 1595 until the [[Peace of Vervins]] in 1598, France. Although England was not by then engaged in land operations against Spain, the two countries were [[Anglo-Spanish War (1585)|still at war]], and the attempted invasion of England, led by the [[Spanish Armada]] in 1588, was only five years in the past. He joined [[William Stanley (born 1548)|Sir William Stanley]], an English Catholic and veteran commander in his mid-forties who had raised an army in Ireland to fight in [[Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester|Leicester's expedition to the Netherlands]]. Stanley had been held in high regard by [[Elizabeth I]], but following his surrender of [[Deventer]] to the Spanish in 1587 he, and most of his troops, had switched sides to serve Spain. Fawkes became an {{lang|es|[[alférez (rank)|alférez]]}} or junior officer, fought well at the [[Siege of Calais (1596)|siege of Calais in 1596]], and by 1603 had been recommended for a [[Captain (armed forces)|captaincy]].<ref name="ODNB Fawkes">{{citation |last=Nicholls |first=Mark |contribution=Fawkes, Guy (bap. 1570, d. 1606) |title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2004 |edition=online |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/9230 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/9230}} {{ODNBsub}}</ref> That year, he travelled to Spain to seek support for a Catholic rebellion in England. He used the occasion to adopt the Italian version of his name, Guido, and in his memorandum described [[James VI and I|James I]] (who became king of England that year) as "a heretic", who intended "to have all of the Papist sect driven out of England". He denounced Scotland, and the king's [[favourite]]s among the Scottish nobles, writing "it will not be possible to reconcile these two nations, as they are, for very long".{{sfn|Fraser|2005|p=89}} Although he was received politely, the court of [[Philip III of Spain|Philip III]] was unwilling to offer him any support.{{sfn|Fraser|2005|pp=87–90}}

==Gunpowder Plot==
{{Main|Gunpowder Plot}}

[[File:Gunpowder Plot conspirators.jpg|thumb|upright=1.9|alt=A monochrome engraving of eight men, in 17th-century dress. All have beards, and appear to be engaged in discussion|A contemporary engraving of eight of the thirteen conspirators, by [[Crispijn van de Passe]]. Fawkes is third from the right.]]

In 1604 Fawkes became involved with a small group of English Catholics, led by [[Robert Catesby]], who planned to assassinate the [[Protestant]] King [[James VI and I|James]] and replace him with his daughter, third in the line of succession, [[Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia|Princess Elizabeth]].{{sfn|Northcote Parkinson|1976|p=46}}{{sfn|Fraser|2005|pp=140–142}} Fawkes was described by the Jesuit priest and former school friend [[Oswald Tesimond]] as "pleasant of approach and cheerful of manner, opposed to quarrels and strife&nbsp;... loyal to his friends". Tesimond also claimed Fawkes was "a man highly skilled in matters of war", and that it was this mixture of piety and professionalism that endeared him to his fellow conspirators.<ref name="ODNB Fawkes"/> The author [[Antonia Fraser]] describes Fawkes as "a tall, powerfully built man, with thick reddish-brown hair, a flowing moustache in the tradition of the time, and a bushy reddish-brown beard", and that he was "a man of action&nbsp;... capable of intelligent argument as well as physical endurance, somewhat to the surprise of his enemies."<ref name="Fraser 2005 84"/>

The first meeting of the five central conspirators took place on Sunday 20 May 1604, at an inn called the Duck and Drake, in the fashionable [[Strand, London|Strand]] district of London.{{efn|Also present were fellow conspirators John Wright, [[Thomas Percy (Gunpowder Plot)|Thomas Percy]], and [[Robert and Thomas Wintour|Thomas Wintour]] (with whom he was already acquainted).<ref name="Fraserpp117119">{{Harvnb|Fraser|2005|pp=117–119}}</ref>}} Catesby had already proposed at an earlier meeting with [[Robert and Thomas Wintour|Thomas Wintour]] and John Wright to kill the king and his government by blowing up "the Parliament House with gunpowder". Wintour, who at first objected to the plan, was convinced by Catesby to travel to the continent to seek help. Wintour met with the Constable of Castile, the exiled Welsh spy Hugh Owen,{{sfn|Fraser|2005|p=87}} and Sir William Stanley, who said that Catesby would receive no support from Spain. Owen did, however, introduce Wintour to Fawkes, who had by then been away from England for many years, and thus was largely unknown in the country. Wintour and Fawkes were contemporaries; each was militant, and had first-hand experience of the unwillingness of the Spaniards to help. Wintour told Fawkes of their plan to "doe some whatt in Ingland if the pece with Spaine healped us nott",<ref name="ODNB Fawkes"/> and thus in April 1604 the two men returned to England.<ref name="Fraserpp117119"/> Wintour's news did not surprise Catesby; despite positive noises from the Spanish authorities, he feared that "the deeds would nott answere".{{efn|[[Philip III of Spain|Philip III]] made peace with England in August 1604.<ref name="ODNB Catesby">{{citation |last=Nicholls |first=Mark |contribution=Catesby, Robert (b. in or after 1572, d. 1605) |title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2004 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/4883/ |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/4883}} {{ODNBsub}}</ref>}}

One of the conspirators, [[Thomas Percy (Gunpowder Plot)|Thomas Percy]], was appointed a [[Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms|Gentleman Pensioner]] in June 1604, gaining access to a house in London that belonged to John Whynniard, Keeper of the King's Wardrobe. Fawkes was installed as a caretaker and began using the pseudonym John Johnson, servant to Percy.{{sfn|Fraser|2005|pp=122–123}} The contemporaneous account of the prosecution (taken from Thomas Wintour's confession)<ref name="ODNB Thomas Wintour">{{citation |last=Nicholls |first=Mark |contribution=Winter, Thomas (c.&nbsp;1571–1606) |title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2004 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/29767 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/29767}} {{ODNBsub}}</ref> claimed that the conspirators attempted to dig a tunnel from beneath Whynniard's house to Parliament, although this story may have been a government fabrication; no evidence for the existence of a tunnel was presented by the prosecution, and no trace of one has ever been found; Fawkes himself did not admit the existence of such a scheme until his fifth interrogation, but even then he could not locate the tunnel.{{sfn|Fraser|2005|pp=133–134}} If the story is true, however, by December 1604 the conspirators were busy tunnelling from their rented house to the House of Lords. They ceased their efforts when, during tunnelling, they heard a noise from above. Fawkes was sent out to investigate, and returned with the news that the tenant's widow was clearing out a nearby [[undercroft]], directly beneath the House of Lords.<ref name="ODNB Fawkes"/>{{sfn|Haynes|2005|pp=55–59}}

The plotters purchased the lease to the room, which also belonged to John Whynniard. Unused and filthy, it was considered an ideal hiding place for the gunpowder the plotters planned to store.{{sfn|Fraser|2005|pp=144–145}} According to Fawkes, twenty barrels of gunpowder were brought in at first, followed by sixteen more on 20 July.<ref name="Fraserpp146147">{{Harvnb|Fraser|2005|pp=146–147}}</ref> On 28 July, however, the ever-present threat of the plague delayed the opening of Parliament until Tuesday, 5 November.{{sfn|Fraser|2005|pp=159–162}}

===Overseas===
In an attempt to gain foreign support, in May 1605 Fawkes travelled overseas and informed Hugh Owen of the plotters' plan.{{sfn|Bengsten|2005|p=50}} At some point during this trip his name made its way into the files of [[Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury]], who employed a network of spies across Europe. One of these spies, Captain William Turner, may have been responsible. Although the information he provided to Salisbury usually amounted to no more than a vague pattern of invasion reports, and included nothing which regarded the Gunpowder Plot, on 21 April he told how Fawkes was to be brought by Tesimond to England. Fawkes was a well-known Flemish mercenary, and would be introduced to "Mr Catesby" and "honourable friends of the nobility and others who would have arms and horses in readiness".{{sfn|Fraser|2005|p=150}} Turner's report did not, however, mention Fawkes's pseudonym in England, John Johnson, and did not reach Cecil until late in November, well after the plot had been discovered.<ref name="ODNB Fawkes"/>{{sfn|Fraser|2005|pp=148–150}}

It is uncertain when Fawkes returned to England, but he was back in London by late August 1605, when he and Wintour discovered that the gunpowder stored in the undercroft had decayed. More gunpowder was brought into the room, along with firewood to conceal it.{{sfn|Fraser|2005|p=170}} Fawkes's final role in the plot was settled during a series of meetings in October. He was to light the fuse and then escape across the Thames. Simultaneously, a revolt in the Midlands would help to ensure the capture of Princess Elizabeth. Acts of [[regicide]] were frowned upon, and Fawkes would therefore head to [[Continental Europe|the continent]], where he would explain to the Catholic powers his holy duty to kill the king and his retinue.<ref name="Fraser 1999 178–179">{{Harvnb|Fraser|2005|pp=178–179}}</ref>

===Discovery===
[[File:Guy fawkes henry perronet briggs.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|alt=In a stone-walled room, several armed men physically restrain another man, who is drawing his sword.|''[[The Discovery of the Gunpowder Plot]]'' (c.&nbsp;1823), by [[Henry Perronet Briggs]]]]
A few of the conspirators were concerned about fellow Catholics who would be present at Parliament during the opening.{{sfn|Northcote Parkinson|1976|pp=62–63}} On the evening of 26 October, [[William Parker, 4th Baron Monteagle|Lord Monteagle]] received an anonymous letter warning him to stay away, and to "retyre youre self into yowre contee whence yow maye expect the event in safti for&nbsp;... they shall receyve a terrible blowe this parleament".{{sfn|Northcote Parkinson|1976|pp=68–69}} Despite quickly becoming aware of the letter—informed by one of Monteagle's servants—the conspirators resolved to continue with their plans, as it appeared that it "was clearly thought to be a hoax".{{sfn|Northcote Parkinson|1976|p=72}} Fawkes checked the undercroft on 30 October, and reported that nothing had been disturbed.{{sfn|Fraser|2005|p=189}} Monteagle's suspicions had been aroused, however, and the letter was shown to King James. The king ordered [[Thomas Knyvet, 1st Baron Knyvet|Sir Thomas Knyvet]] to conduct a search of the cellars underneath Parliament, which he did in the early hours of 5 November. Fawkes had taken up his station late on the previous night, armed with a slow match and a watch given to him by Percy "becaus he should knowe howe the time went away".<ref name="ODNB Fawkes"/> He was found leaving the cellar, shortly after midnight, and arrested. Inside, the barrels of gunpowder were discovered hidden under piles of firewood and coal.{{sfn|Northcote Parkinson|1976|p=73}}

===Torture===
Fawkes gave his name as John Johnson and was first interrogated by members of the king's [[Privy chamber]], where he remained defiant.<ref name="NorthcoteParkinsonpp9192">{{Harvnb|Northcote Parkinson|1976|pp=91–92}}</ref> When asked by one of the lords what he was doing in possession of so much gunpowder, Fawkes answered that his intention was "to blow you Scotch beggars back to your native mountains."{{sfn|Cobbett|1857|p=229}} He identified himself as a 36-year-old Catholic from [[Nidderdale|Netherdale]] in Yorkshire, and gave his father's name as Thomas and his mother's as Edith Jackson. Wounds on his body noted by his questioners he explained as the effects of [[pleurisy]]. Fawkes admitted his intention to blow up the House of Lords, and expressed regret at his failure to do so. His steadfast manner impressed King James, who described Fawkes as possessing "a Roman resolution".{{sfn|Fraser|2005|pp=208–209}}

James's respect did not, however, prevent him from ordering on 6 November that "John Johnson" be tortured, to reveal the names of his co-conspirators.{{sfn|Fraser|2005|p=211}} He directed that the torture be light at first, referring to the use of [[handcuffs|manacles]], but more severe if necessary, authorising the use of the [[Rack (torture)|rack]]: "the gentler Tortures are to be first used unto him {{lang|la|et sic per gradus ad ima tenditur}} [and so by degrees proceeding to the worst]".<ref name="NorthcoteParkinsonpp9192"/>{{sfn|Fraser|2005|p=215}} Fawkes was transferred to the [[Tower of London]]. The king composed a list of questions to be put to "Johnson", such as "''as to what he is'', For I can never yet hear of any man that knows him", "When and where he learned to speak French?", and "If he was a Papist, who brought him up in it?"{{sfn|Fraser|2005|p=212}} The room in which Fawkes was interrogated subsequently became known as the Guy Fawkes Room.{{sfn|Younghusband|2008|p=46}}

[[File:Guy fawkes torture signatures.jpg|thumb|alt=Two signatures|Fawkes's signature of "Guido", made soon after his torture, is a barely evident scrawl compared to a later instance eight days after the torture.]]
[[William Wade (English politician)|Sir William Waad]], Lieutenant of the Tower, supervised the torture and obtained Fawkes's confession.<ref name="NorthcoteParkinsonpp9192"/> He searched his prisoner, and found a letter addressed to Guy Fawkes. To Waad's surprise, "Johnson" remained silent, revealing nothing about the plot or its authors.{{sfn|Bengsten|2005|p=58}} On the night of 6 November he spoke with Waad, who reported to Salisbury "He [Johnson] told us that since he undertook this action he did every day pray to God he might perform that which might be for the advancement of the Catholic Faith and saving his own soul". According to Waad, Fawkes managed to rest through the night, despite his being warned that he would be interrogated until "I had gotton the inwards secret of his thoughts and all his complices".{{sfn|Bengsten|2005|p=59}} His composure was broken at some point during the following day.{{sfn|Fraser|2005|pp=216–217}}

The observer [[Sir Edward Hoby]] remarked "Since Johnson's being in the Tower, he beginneth to speak English". Fawkes revealed his true identity on 7 November, and told his interrogators that there were five people involved in the plot to kill the king. He began to reveal their names on 8 November, and told how they intended to place Princess Elizabeth on the throne. His third confession, on 9 November, implicated [[Francis Tresham]]. Following the [[Ridolfi plot]] of 1571, prisoners were made to dictate their confessions, before copying and signing them, if they still could.{{sfn|Bengsten|2005|p=60}} Although it is uncertain if he was tortured on the rack, Fawkes's scrawled signature suggests the suffering he endured at the hands of his interrogators.{{sfn|Fraser|2005|pp=215–216, 228–229}}

==Trial and execution==
The trial of eight of the plotters began on Monday 27 January 1606. Fawkes shared the barge from the Tower to [[Westminster Hall]] with seven of his co-conspirators.{{efn|The eighth, Thomas Bates, was considered inferior by virtue of his status, and was held instead at Gatehouse Prison.{{sfn|Fraser|2005|p=263}}}} They were kept in the [[Star Chamber]] before being taken to Westminster Hall, where they were displayed on a purpose-built scaffold. The king and his close family, watching in secret, were among the spectators as the Lords Commissioners read out the list of charges. Fawkes was identified as Guido Fawkes, "otherwise called Guido Johnson". He pleaded not guilty, despite his apparent acceptance of guilt from the moment he was captured.{{sfn|Fraser|2005|pp=263–266|ps=none}}

[[File:The execution of Guy Fawkes' (Guy Fawkes) by Claes (Nicolaes) Jansz Visscher.jpg|thumb|upright=1.8|left|alt=Etching|A 1606 etching by [[Claes Jansz. Visscher|Claes (Nicolaes) Jansz Visscher]], depicting Fawkes's public execution in Westminster]]
The jury found all the defendants guilty, and the [[Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales|Lord Chief Justice]] Sir [[John Popham (judge)|John Popham]] pronounced them guilty of [[high treason]].{{sfn|Fraser|2005|p=273|ps=none}} The [[Attorney General for England and Wales|Attorney General]] Sir [[Edward Coke]] told the court that each of the condemned would be [[Hanged, drawn and quartered|drawn backwards]] to his death, by a horse, his head near the ground. They were to be "put to death halfway between heaven and earth as unworthy of both". Their genitals would be cut off and burnt before their eyes, and their bowels and hearts removed. They would then be decapitated, and the dismembered parts of their bodies displayed so that they might become "prey for the fowls of the air".<ref name="Fraserpp266269">{{Harvnb|Fraser|2005|pp=266–269}}</ref> Fawkes's and Tresham's testimony regarding the Spanish treason was read aloud, as well as confessions related specifically to the Gunpowder Plot. The last piece of evidence offered was a conversation between Fawkes and Wintour, who had been kept in adjacent cells. The two men apparently thought they had been speaking in private, but their conversation was intercepted by a government spy. When the prisoners were allowed to speak, Fawkes explained his not guilty plea as ignorance of certain aspects of the indictment.{{sfn|Fraser|2005|pp=269–271|ps=none}}

On 31 January 1606, Fawkes and three others—Thomas Wintour, [[Ambrose Rookwood]] and [[Robert Keyes]]—were dragged from the Tower on wattled [[hurdle]]s to the [[Old Palace Yard]] at Westminster, opposite the building they had attempted to destroy.{{sfn|Haynes|2005|pp=115–116}} His fellow plotters were then hanged and quartered. Fawkes was the last to stand on the scaffold. He asked for forgiveness of the king and state, while keeping up his "crosses and idle ceremonies" (Catholic practices). Weakened by torture and aided by the hangman, Fawkes began to climb the ladder to the noose, but either through jumping to his death or climbing too high so the rope was incorrectly set, he managed to avoid the agony of the latter part of his execution by [[Cervical fracture|breaking his neck]].<ref name="NorthcoteParkinsonpp9192"/>{{sfn|Fraser|2005|p=283}}{{sfn|Sharpe|2005|pp=76–77}} His lifeless body was nevertheless quartered{{sfn|Allen|1973|p=37}} and, as was the custom,{{sfn|Thompson|2008|p=102}} his body parts were then distributed to "the four corners of the kingdom", to be displayed as a warning to other would-be traitors.<ref>{{citation |title=Guy Fawkes |publisher=York Museums Trust |url=http://www.historyofyork.org.uk//themes/tudor-stuart/guy-fawkes |access-date=16 May 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100414012842/http://www.historyofyork.org.uk/themes/tudor-stuart/guy-fawkes |archive-date=14 April 2010 |url-status=live  }}</ref>

==Legacy==

{{See also|Gunpowder Plot in popular culture|Guy Fawkes mask}}
[[File:Procession of a guy.jpg|thumb|alt=Sketch of a group of children escorting an effigy|''Procession of a Guy'' (1864)]]
On 5 November 1605, Londoners were encouraged to celebrate the king's escape from assassination by lighting bonfires, provided that "this testemonye of joy be carefull done without any danger or disorder".<ref name="ODNB Fawkes"/> [[Observance of 5th November Act 1605|An Act of Parliament]] designated each 5 November as a day of thanksgiving for "the joyful day of deliverance", and remained in force until 1859.<ref name="factsheet">{{citation|author=House of Commons Information Office |url=http://www.parliament.uk/documents/upload/g08.pdf |title=The Gunpowder Plot |date=September 2006 |access-date=15 February 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050215195506/http://www.parliament.uk/documents/upload/g08.pdf |archive-date=15 February 2005 }}</ref> Fawkes was one of 13&nbsp;conspirators, but he is the individual most associated with the plot.{{sfn|Fraser|2005|p=349}}

In Britain, 5 November has variously been called [[Guy Fawkes Night]], Guy Fawkes Day, Plot Night,{{sfn|Fox| Woolf|2002|p=269}} and Bonfire Night (which can be traced directly back to the original celebration of 5 November 1605).{{sfn|Fraser|2005|pp=351–352}} Bonfires were accompanied by fireworks from the 1650s onwards, and it became the custom after 1673 to burn an effigy (usually of the pope) when heir presumptive [[James II of England|James, Duke of York]], converted to Catholicism.<ref name="ODNB Fawkes"/> Effigies of other notable figures have found their way onto the bonfires, such as [[Paul Kruger]], [[Margaret Thatcher]],{{sfn|Fraser|2005|p=356}} [[Liz Truss]], [[Rishi Sunak]] and [[Vladimir Putin]].<ref>{{citation |date=5 November 2022 |title=Lewes bonfire night: Thousands attend annual event |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-sussex-63527177 |accessdate=5 November 2022}}</ref> The "guy" is normally created by children from old clothes, newspapers, and a mask.<ref name="factsheet"/> During the 19th century, "guy" came to mean an oddly dressed person, while in many places it has lost any pejorative connotation and instead refers to any male person and the plural form can refer to people of any gender (as in "[[you guys]]").<ref name="factsheet"/><ref name="mw">{{citation |title=The Merriam-Webster New Book of Word Histories |last=Merriam-Webster |publisher=Merriam-Webster |year=1991 |isbn=0-87779-603-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IrcZEZ1bOJsC&pg=PA208|page=208}}, entry "guy"</ref>

[[File:Guy Fawkes night at Chirk (1455059).jpg|thumb|Children preparing for Guy Fawkes night celebrations (1954)]]
[[James Sharpe (historian)|James Sharpe]], professor of history at the University of York, has described how Guy Fawkes came to be toasted as "the last man to enter Parliament with honest intentions".{{sfn|Sharpe|2005|p=6}} [[William Harrison Ainsworth]]'s 1841 historical romance ''[[Guy Fawkes (novel)|Guy Fawkes; or, The Gunpowder Treason]]'' portrays Fawkes in a generally sympathetic light and his novel transformed Fawkes in the public perception into an "acceptable fictional character".<ref>{{citation |last=Harrison Ainsworth |first=William |authorlink=William Harrison Ainsworth |title=Guy Fawkes; or, The Gunpowder Treason |publisher=Nottingham Society |year=1841 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YvcOOnJWc3gC&pg=PP1}}</ref> Fawkes subsequently appeared as "essentially an action hero" in children's books and [[penny dreadful]]s such as ''The Boyhood Days of Guy Fawkes; or, The Conspirators of Old London'', published around 1905.<ref name=Sharpe128>{{Harvnb|Sharpe|2005|p=128}}</ref> According to the historian [[Lewis Call]], Fawkes is now "a major icon in modern political culture", whose face has become "a potentially powerful instrument for the articulation of [[postmodern anarchism]]" in the late 20th century.<ref>{{citation |last=Call |first=Lewis |title=A is for Anarchy, V is for Vendetta: Images of Guy Fawkes and the Creation of Postmodern Anarchism |journal=Anarchist Studies |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=154 |date=July 2008 }}</ref> Fawkes is regarded by some as a [[martyr]], political rebel<ref name="Nilsen1">{{cite book |last1=Nilsen |first1=Don LF |last2=Nilsen |first2=Alleen Pace |author1-link=Don Nilsen |author2-link=Alleen Pace Nilsen |title=The Language of Humor: An Introduction |date=2018 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-1-108-41654-2 |pages=185 |edition=1st |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Language_of_Humor/-HWIDwAAQBAJ?gbpv=1&pg=PA185 |language=en |chapter=Literature (14) |doi=10.1017/9781108241403.015}}</ref> or freedom-fighter, especially amongst a minority of Catholics in the United Kingdom.<ref name="guardian1">{{cite web |title=What do Catholics do on Guy Fawkes night? {{!}} Notes and Queries |url=https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-18627,00.html |website=[[The Guardian|theguardian.co.uk]] |access-date=6 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230706132929/https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-18627,00.html |archive-date=6 July 2023 |language=British English}}</ref>

==References==
'''Footnotes'''
{{Notelist|notes=}}

'''Citations'''
{{reflist|30em}}

'''Bibliography'''
{{Library resources box}}
{{refbegin}}
* {{citation |last=Allen |first=Kenneth |title=The Story of Gunpowder |year=1973 |publisher=Wayland |isbn=978-0-85340-188-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/storyofgunpowder0000alle }}
* {{citation |last=Bengsten |first=Fiona |title=Sir William Waad, Lieutenant of the Tower, and the Gunpowder Plot |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=89NarZPrQ7sC |edition=illustrated |publisher=Trafford Publishing |year=2005 |isbn=1-4120-5541-5}}
* {{citation |last=Cobbett |first=William |title=A History of the Protestant Reformation in England and Ireland |year=1857 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rl0JAAAAQAAJ |publisher=Simpkin, Marshall and Company}}
* {{citation |last1=Fox |first1=Adam |last2=Woolf |first2=Daniel R. |authorlink2=Daniel Woolf |title=The spoken word: oral culture in Britain, 1500–1850 |year=2002 |publisher=Manchester University Press |isbn=0-7190-5747-7}}
* {{citation |last=Fraser |first=Antonia |authorlink=Antonia Fraser |title=The Gunpowder Plot |publisher=Phoenix |year=2005 |origyear=1996 |isbn=0-7538-1401-3}}
* {{citation |last=Haynes |first=Alan |title=The Gunpowder Plot: Faith in Rebellion |publisher=Hayes and Sutton |year=2005 |origyear=1994 |isbn=0-7509-4215-0}}
* {{citation |first=C. |last=Northcote Parkinson |authorlink=C. Northcote Parkinson |title=Gunpowder Treason and Plot |year=1976 |publisher=Weidenfeld and Nicolson |isbn=0-297-77224-4}}
* {{citation |last=Sharpe |first=J. A. |title=Remember, Remember: A Cultural History of Guy Fawkes Day |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2005 |edition=illustrated |isbn=0-674-01935-0}}
* {{citation |last=Thompson |first=Irene |title=The A to Z of Punishment and Torture: From Amputations to Zero Tolerance |year=2008 |publisher=Book Guild Publishing |isbn=978-1-84624-203-8}}
* {{citation |last=Younghusband |first=George |title=A Short History of the Tower of London |year=2008 |publisher=Boucher Press |isbn=978-1-4437-0485-4}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{sisterlinks|d=Q13898|commons=category:Guy Fawkes|b=no|v=no|s=no|voy=no|mw=no|m=no|species=no|wikt=no|n=no}}
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/people/guy_fawkes Guy Fawkes story from the BBC, including archive video clips]
* [http://www.armitstead.com/gunpowder/gunpowder_trial.html The Trials of Robert Winter, Thomas Winter, Guy Fawkes, John Grant, Ambrose Rookwood, Robert Keyes, Thomas Bates, and Sir Everard Digby]
* [https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/parliamentaryauthority/the-gunpowder-plot-of-1605/collections/1605-fawkes-attainder/ Guy Fawkes Attainder from the Parliamentary Archives]

{{Gunpowder Plot}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fawkes, Guy}}
[[Category:Guy Fawkes| ]]
[[Category:1570 births]]
[[Category:1606 deaths]]
[[Category:16th-century English criminals]]
[[Category:17th-century English criminals]]
[[Category:17th-century Roman Catholics]]
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