Remember, remember! The fifth of November, The Gunpowder treason and plot; I know of no reason Why the Gunpowder treason Should ever be forgot!

Guy Fawkes

As many know, today is the anniversary of the November 5, 1605 Gunpowder Treason Plot, also known as Guy Fawkes Day (and also known as the Catholic Gunpowder Plot).  Briefly, the plot involved a group of Catholic conspirators led by Robert Catesby who plotted to blow up King James I and the English House of Lords on the opening day of Parliment by detonating 36 barrels of gunpowder placed in the cellar underneath the Parliament building.  While many today choose to view this attempted insurrection as a noble yet failed revolt against an oppressive government, we need to recall that the whole episode took place in the middle of the European Wars of Religion and that the intent of the plot was not to remove the monarchy and replace it with a benevolent ruler, but rather to restore a Catholic monarch to the English throne.

Fawkes was described 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," who was a "a man of action ... capable of intelligent argument as well as physical endurance, somewhat to the surprise of his enemies.”  Because of his extensive military experience, Fawkes was chosen to light the fuse that would detonate the gunpowder on the opening of Parliment, and to then escape to Europe.

Map of Parliament showing "Guy Vaux" location of the gunpowder.

Cellar beneath the House of Lords.

Let there be no doubt, Fawkes was a true-believer in the cause of assassinating the King.  He was up to his nose in the entire conspiracy.  Indeed, Fawkes described King James I as "a heretic", who intended "to have all of the Papist sect [Catholics] driven out of England."

Anonymous letter revealing the existence of the plot
(author never reliably established).

As these things go, an anonymous letter was sent to a nobleman informing of the plot.  During the early morning of November 5, 1605, Guy Fawkes, dressed in a cloak and hat, and wearing boots and spurs was discovered in the cellar near the barrels of gunpowder.  He was arrested and an investigation ensued.  That subsequent inquiry identified the various conspirators who were  hunted down and some were killed, although it appears that for the most part, Fawkes kept his silence despite extensive torture.

The trial found many of the participants guilty of high treason.  The condemned were sentenced to a brutal death: "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."

Engraving of eight of the thirteen conspirators,
Fawkes (Guido Fawkes) is third from the right.

On January 31, 1606, Fawkes and three conspirators were dragged from the Tower of London.  Fawkes watched as his fellow conspirators were brutally executed.  As he climbed to the top of the gallows, he jumped from the scaffold breaking his neck.  His body was nonetheless quartered and limbs sent to the corners of the Kingdom.

A 1606 etching depicting Fawkes's execution

Here’s the traditional English Fifth of November poem (c. 1870):

The Fifth of November

Remember, remember!
The fifth of November,
The Gunpowder treason and plot;
I know of no reason
Why the Gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot!
Guy Fawkes and his companions
Did the scheme contrive,
To blow the King and Parliament
All up alive.
Threescore barrels, laid below,
To prove old England's overthrow.
But, by God's providence, him they catch,
With a dark lantern, lighting a match!
A stick and a stake
For King James's sake!
If you won't give me one,
I'll take two,
The better for me,
And the worse for you.
A rope, a rope, to hang the Pope,
A penn'orth of cheese to choke him,
A pint of beer to wash it down,
And a jolly good fire to burn him.
Holloa, boys! holloa, boys! make the bells ring!
Holloa, boys! holloa boys! God save the King!
Hip, hip, hooor-r-r-ray!

(note that it ain't an homage to Guy Fawkes)

[P]ut 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.