Guy Fawkes and the Powder Plot

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

S.M. Toyne draws upon Guy Fawkes’ background in an effort to better understand his single-minded motivation.

'The Discovery of the Gunpowder Plot and the Taking of Guy Fawkes' by Henry Perronet Briggs, circa 1823Despite its failure, the Gunpowder Plot has caught the popular imagination more firmly than any other plot in history; while Guy Fawkes, though not its prime instigator, has gained a notoriety out of all proportion to his achievements.

For many years the State kept alive the memory of “The Powder Plot” by a special “State Service” of Thanksgiving, attached to the book of Common Prayer. The “Gunpowder Treason Service” was ordered to be read by an Act of Parliament (3 Jac. 1 c 1) and additions were made to it in 1690, to include the landing of William III on November 5th 1689 in England as the second gracious deliverance by the Almighty from the Papists.

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