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History's
most infamous act of treachery against the English government was
committed by a man from York.
Guy
Fawkes' effigy is burned on bonfires across the country in November;
the man behind the myth was the only son of Protestant parents,
Edward and Edith, both of York.
Guy's
father Edward worked as a notary of the ecclesiastical courts and
an advocate of the court of the Archbishop of York. On
his mother's side, Guy was descended from the Harrington family,
eminent merchants and Aldermen of York.
Both
of his parents appear to have been Protestants, so how did this
middle-class Yorkshireman become a famous Catholic traitor?
Formative
years
Young
Guy was a pupil of St Peter's School, York, under a tutor named
John Pulleyn, who was a suspected Catholic. It's
believed the tutor may have had an early effect on the impressionable
Fawkes.
Another
strong impression may have been made by his fellow pupils, among
whom were the brothers John and Christopher Wright (who were later
part of the Gunpowder Plot conspiracy).
Guy's
father died when he was still only seven years old. His mother remained
a respectable widow for nine years, but when she did remarry, her
new husband was a Catholic...
In
his mid-teens, Guy may have been influenced by his stepfather, Dennis
Bainbridge, or fired with youthful zeal because of the injustice
that Catholics were subjected to under the rule of Elizabeth I.
The
Catholic Guy Fawkes
Whatever
the reasons for his conversion, he became an ardent Catholic. In
his early twenties, Guy went to Flanders and enlisted in the Spanish
army. It was around this time that he changed his name to Guido.
He
spent almost ten years fighting with the Spanish forces, achieving
an early post of command, and gaining a reputation as a good fighting
man of strong Catholic beliefs.
Concerned
about the plight of Catholics in England, he travelled to Spain
in 1603 to try to gain support for a Spanish invasion of England
once the elderly Queen Elizabeth had died.
This
mission failed, but when he returned to Brussels, he was introduced
to Thomas Wintour (another fellow conspirator). It's
believed that Wintour may have used this opportunity to recruit
Guy as one of the Gunpowder Plotters.
The
rest, as they say, is history. Guy Fawkes' life story shows how
a reasonably wealthy, middle-class Protestant lad from York became
embroiled in the annually remembered act of treachery for the Catholic
cause.
Read the BBC
History account of the Gunpowder Plot.
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