I can only remember the first line, unfortunately. -.- So I shall copy the whole bit from the Net. BWAHA. >:)
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- 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, Guy Fawkes, t'was his intent
- To blow up the King and Parli'ment.
- Three-score barrels of powder below
- To prove old England's overthrow;
- By God's providence he was catch'd
- With a dark lantern and burning match.
- Holloa boys, holloa boys, let the bells ring.
- Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!
I first heard of it when I was playing Pink Panther: Passport to Peril. >.> It's strange what computer games can teach you. LOL. (It was also where I learned of the existence of Earl Grey tea and it's been my English tea of choice since then. HAHA!) But I digress.
Today is the 5th of November, like duh. And in UK, New Zealand and some parts of Canada, I think... They celebrate Guy Fawkes Night, also known as Bonfire Night or Fireworks Night which marks the downfall of the Gunpowder Plot of 5 November 1605, in which a number of Catholic conspirators, including Guy Fawkes, attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament, in London.
I'll paste some bits about the plot from Wikipedia for ya.
The Gunpowder Conspiracy of 1605, as it was then known, (also known as The Powder Treason or The Gunpowder Plot) was a failed assassination attempt by a group of provincial English Catholics against King James I of England and VI of Scotland. The plot intended to kill the King and most of the Protestant aristocracy by blowing up the Houses of Parliament during the State Opening on 5 November 1605.
The conspirators also planned to abduct the royal children, and lead a popular revolt in the Midlands.
The original idea was to mine their way under the foundations of the Lords chamber to lay the gunpowder there. The main idea was to kill James, but many other important targets were to be present, including the majority of the Protestant nobility and senior bishops of the Church of England. Guy Fawkes, as "John Johnson", was put in charge of this building, where he posed as Percy's servant, while Catesby's house in Lambeth was used to store the gunpowder with the picks and implements for mining.
Fawkes assisted in filling the room with gunpowder, which was concealed beneath a wood store under the House of Lords building, in a cellar leased from John Whynniard. By March 1605, they had filled the undercroft underneath the House of Lords with 36 barrels of gunpowder, concealed under a store of winter fuel. Had all 36 barrels been successfully ignited, the explosion could easily have reduced many of the buildings in the Old Palace of Westminster complex to rubble, and would have blown out windows in the surrounding area of about a 1 kilometre radius.
Guy Fawkes was left in charge of executing the plot, while the other conspirators fled to Dunchurch in Warwickshire to await news. Once Parliament had been destroyed, the other conspirators planned to incite a revolt in the Midlands.
The weakest parts of the plot were the arrangements for the subsequent rebellion which would have swept the country and installed a Catholic monarch. Due to the requirements for money and arms, Sir Francis Tresham was eventually admitted to the plot, and it was probably he who betrayed the plot.
On the evening of Friday, 26 October Lord Monteagle received an anonymous letter while at his house in Hoxton revealing some of the details of the plot.
"My Lord, out of the love I bear to some of your friends, I have a care of your preservation. Therefore I would advise you, as you tender your life, to devise some excuse, to shift your attendance at this parliament; for God and man have concurred to punish the wickedness of this time And think not slightly of this advertisement but retire yourself into your country where you may expect the event in safety, for though there be no appearance of any stir, yet I say they shall receive a terrible blow this Parliament and yet they shall not see who hurts them. This counsel is not to be contemned, because it may do you good, and can do you no harm, for the danger is past as soon as you have burned the letter: and I hope God will give you the grace to make good use of it, to whose holy protection I commend you."
Monteagle had the note read out loud, possibly to warn the plotters that the secret was out. The conspirators learned of the letter the following day, but resolved to go ahead with their plan, especially after Fawkes inspected the undercroft and found that nothing had been touched.
Shortly after midnight on the 5th of November, Fawkes was found leaving the cellar the conspirators had rented and was arrested, giving his name as John Johnson. Inside, the barrels of gunpowder were discovered hidden under piles of firewood and coal. Far from denying his intentions during the arrest, Fawkes stated that it had been his purpose to destroy the King and the Parliament.
Fawkes was taken to the Tower of London and interrogated there under torture. In a letter of 6 November, King James I stated:
"The gentler tortours [tortures] are to be first used unto him, et sic per gradus ad maiora tenditur [and thus by steps extended to greater ones], and so God speed your good work."
On hearing of the failure of the plot, the conspirators fled. Many of them were caught by Richard Walsh, the Sheriff of Worcestershire, when they arrived in Stourbridge. The remaining men attempted a revolt in the Midlands. This failed, coming to a dramatic end at Holbeche House in Staffordshire, where there was a shoot-out resulting in the deaths of Catesby and Percy and capture of several other principal conspirators.
The conspirators were tried on 27 January 1606 in Westminster Hall. All of the plotters pleaded "Not Guilty" except for Sir Everard Digby, who attempted to defend himself on the grounds that the King had reneged on his promises of greater tolerance of Catholicism. The trial lasted one day and the verdict was never in doubt.
The trial ranked highly as a public spectacle, and there are records of up to 10 shillings being paid for entry. Four of the plotters were executed in St. Paul's Churchyard on 30 January. On 31 January, Fawkes, Winter and a number of others implicated in the conspiracy were taken to Old Palace Yard in Westminster, in front of the scene of the intended crime, where they were to be hanged, drawn and quartered.
Fawkes, although weakened by torture, cheated the executioners: when he was to be hanged until almost dead, he jumped from the gallows, breaking his neck and killing himself, thus avoiding the gruesome latter part of his execution.
NB: Until reformed under the Treason Act 1814, the full punishment for the crime of treason was to be hanged, drawn and quartered in that the condemned prisoner would be:
1. Dragged on a hurdle (a wooden frame) to the place of execution (a possible meaning of drawn).
2. Hanged by the neck for a short time or until almost dead (hanged).
3. Disembowelled and emasculated and the genitalia and entrails burned before the condemned's eyes (this is another meaning of drawn).
4. The body divided into four parts, then beheaded (quartered).
It remains the custom in Britain, on or around 5 November, to let off fireworks. Traditionally, in the weeks running up to the 5th, children made "guys"— traditionally effigies of Fawkes—usually formed from old clothes stuffed with newspaper, and equipped with a grotesque mask, to be burnt on the 5 November bonfire. These effigies would be exhibited in the street, to collect money for fireworks, although this practice is becoming less common.
There are several foods that are traditionally consumed on Guy Fawkes Night:-
- black treacle goods such as bonfire toffee and parkin
- toffee apples
- baked potatoes, more commonly and traditionally referred to as jacket potatoes, which are wrapped in foil and cooked in the bonfire or its embers
- black peas with vinegar
- potato pie with pickled red cabbage
There ya go. A little bit of history. ^.^
-Lissa-