Guy Fawkes Night Comes to Florida!
For some 400 years, bonfires have burned on November 5th and fireworks have filled the sky to mark the failed attempt by a certain Guy Fawkes to blow up the Houses of Parliament in the United Kingdom. The Gunpowder Plot of 1605 was a failed assassination attempt against King James I of England and VI of Scotland by a group of provincial English Catholics led by Robert Catesby.
The plan was to blow up the House of Lords during the State Opening of England’s Parliament on 5 November 1605, as the prelude to a popular revolt in the Midlands during which James’s nine-year-old daughter, Princess Elizabeth, was to be installed as the Catholic head of state.
Catesby embarked on the scheme after hopes of securing greater religious tolerance under King James had faded, leaving many English Catholics disappointed. His fellow plotters were John Wright, Thomas Wintour, Thomas Percy, Guy Fawkes, Robert Keyes, Thomas Bates, Robert Wintour, Christopher Wright, John Grant, Sir Ambrose Rookwood, Sir Everard Digby and Francis Tresham.
Fawkes, comes into play as the man who had 10 years of military experience fighting in the Spanish Netherlands in the suppression of the Dutch Revolt, and he was placed in charge of the explosives.
The plot was revealed to the authorities in an anonymous letter sent to William Parker, 4th Baron Monteagle, on 26 October 1605. During a search of the House of Lords at about midnight on 4 November 1605, Fawkes was discovered guarding 36 barrels of gunpowder, enough to reduce the House of Lords to rubble, and arrested. Most of his co-conspirators fled from London as they learnt of the plot’s discovery, trying to enlist support along the way. Several made a stand against the pursuing Sheriff of Worcester and his men at Holbeche House and in the ensuing battle Catesby was one of those shot and killed. At their trial on 27 January 1606, eight of the survivors, including Fawkes, were convicted and sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered. The sentences were carried out on 30th and 31st January 1606 with Fawkes meeting his fate on the latter date.
The thwarting of the Gunpowder Plot was commemorated for many years afterwards by special sermons and other public events such as the ringing of church bells, which have evolved into the Bonfire Night of today.
So, it’s against that background and a large British community residing in the Central Florida area, that the British-American Chamber of Commerce is hosting its “Guy Fawkes Night” at the Champions World Resort at 8660 W. Irlo Bronson Highway (US 192) on 5th November 2012 from 6pm to 10pm. The cover charge for an event that promises to be full of food, drink and fun is just $5 for adults and children aged 3 and over.
