IX. ST MICHAEL LE BELFREY
Guy Fawkes, born in 1570, was baptised here in the Church of St Michael le Belfrey. In his early twenties Fawkes went to Europe, where he fought in the Eighty Year War for Catholic Spain against the Protestant Dutch. Whilst fighting in Spain he met Thomas Wintour who asked him to conspire in what would later become known at the Gunpowder plot. Fawkes had gained an expertise in handling gunpowder during the war which made him especially useful to their cause. The plan was to tunnel under the Houses of Parliament, plant gunpowder and blow up the Houses of Parliament. But unknown to the conspirators their plotting was about to be exposed. King James I ordered the cellars to be searched, and Fawkes and the gunpowder was found. Fawkes was tortured and sentenced to be hung drawn and quartered. However Fawkes had other plans and he jumped from the gallows in Westminster breaking his neck meaning that he avoided being cut down whilst alive, having his genitals cut off and his stomach split open whilst still alive. His body was still cut into quarters, and sent across the country as a warning to others.
|
|