Born: April 13, 1570 in York
Died: January 31, 1606 in the Old Palace Yard, Westminster
Guy Fawkes was a member of a Catholic plot of the infamous Gunpowder Plot of 1605, a plan to blow up the Houses of Parliament, eliminate England's Protestant rulers, and restore civil rights for Catholics. Large amounts of gunpowder were stored beneath the House of Lords and Guy was the one assigned to light the fuse.
However, one of the conspirators warned a Catholic relative who, in turn, alerted authorities. On the night of 4-5 November, the cellars were searched and Guy was discovered. He was tortured until he gave up the names of his co-conspirators and then exectured. Celebration of the foiling of the plot has long been a tradition in England and, on the night before (known as Bonfire Night), a bonfire is lit where often an effigy of Guy is burned.
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