On November 4, 11605, in the Houses of Parliament in London, England, staff were busy until late at night, checking various facilities and preparations to ensure that everything was ready, because King James I would hold the opening ceremony of Parliament here the next day.
Just as the work team was preparing to evacuate, a soldier came to the basement of the Parliament Building. Although he had checked here many times before and found no problems, this time there seemed to be a mysterious force pulling him: Go and take a look again.
The soldier cautiously came to the entrance of the dark basement. As soon as he took two steps inside, he felt an eerie breath coming and shuddered unconsciously. The wind blew the curtains high, and then suddenly returned to their original positions with a "pop" sound, as if there were ghosts hiding everywhere, it was creepy.
The soldier was so frightened that he stopped and took a brave look inside. Suddenly, his heart was beating wildly: he seemed to see a faint light in the basement.
He stretched his neck, held his breath, and his mind went blank for a moment. Suddenly, a ghostly black figure appeared in the gloomy basement. Under the flickering lights, the dark shadow was getting closer and longer...
On January 31, 11606, a prison van made of branches, loaded with four prisoners, was dragged from the Tower of London to Westminster. Both sides of the prison van were lined with London citizens watching the excitement. Judging from their attire, these four men were all serious criminals, and this time they were being taken to the execution ground to be sentenced to death.
From the whispers of the onlookers, it can be judged that these four people are all aristocratic figures with status and status. So what kind of serious crime did they commit that required them to be hanged, disemboweled, beheaded, and quartered?
They want to assassinate King James I of England!
In March 11603, Queen Elizabeth I, the British hero, passed away. She was active in the political arena of and Western Europe for nearly half a century, turning Britain from a poor and backward third-rate country to a track for hegemony with Spain, the then empire that never set.
Elizabeth was a Protestant. At the beginning of her reign, due to her unstable status, her handling of domestic religious conflicts was relatively vague. Although the entire state religion is Protestant, in order not to intensify conflicts, some Catholic things, such as the Catholic Church and bishops, are retained within the Protestant framework.
(Elizabeth I)
This compromising approach aroused the dissatisfaction of some extreme Protestants. They believed that the religious reform should continue to deepen and all Catholic things should be eliminated. Elizabeth's constant adoption of various balancing policies, coupled with the year-round deployment of foreign troops, temporarily suppressed religious conflicts.
In the second half of Elizabeth's reign, religious conflicts in the country were already raging, and the gun almost went off the rails. In 1588, Elizabeth executed the Catholic Queen Mary of Scots without the consent of the Pope, which aroused the anger of the Pope and the disgust of domestic Catholics.
Elizabeth used the remaining power of her victory over Spain to vigorously restrict and crack down on Catholics in the country. It was considered treason for anyone to convey the Pope's instructions, and it was considered a crime for anyone to persuade others to join Catholicism. Under such a blow, Catholics in England were in danger of becoming extinct.
James was originally the king of Scotland. He had an honest and pragmatic personality. Elizabeth asked for his opinion before executing his mother, but he did not object. Elizabeth believed that he understood justice and was worthy of her trust.
When Elizabeth passed away, she appointed him as her heir with a single finger. In March 1603, James took over England and started the Stuart Dynasty.
When James I first took office, both English Protestants and Catholics had high hopes for him.The Protestants are looking forward to the new British king coming to power, eliminating the remaining Catholic forces in the country, and abolishing the Catholic Church and bishops. Catholics expected this kind king to grant them the same rights as Protestants.
(James I)
But to their surprise, James, as an airborne king, was very pragmatic when he first arrived. After weighing the pros and cons, he decided to maintain the status quo, respecting the Protestants and not persecuting Catholics.
Faced with this situation, there were divisions within the Protestant Church. Some believers were more easy-going and chose to stay and watch the changes. Another group of more radical Protestants began to break away from the organization and confront the king.
After decades of various restrictions and crackdowns by Elizabeth I, the Catholic power in England is still not extinct. Why? Because they have a powerful backstage boss: Spain. As long as the Protestants persecuted them, they would seek refuge in Spain.
As soon as James came up, this situation changed. James is a peace-loving person who doesn't like war. Among the European kings who are shouting to fight and kill, he stands out from the crowd. James took the initiative @Spain and asked for reconciliation: We two brothers get along well and won’t fight anymore!
Spain and Britain have been fighting for half a century. Since the world-leading Armada was destroyed by the British, the country's fortunes have turned from prosperity to decline. Seeing that the King of England offered him an olive branch, he was happy to rest and recuperate, and agreed to live in peace.
Since Britain is so generous, Spain will no longer be able to take in those Catholics who defected from Britain as it did before. The loss of asylum made British Catholics feel the crisis, and they decided to find ways to save themselves.
One day in 11604, the Spanish aristocrat Guy Fawkes visited a distinguished guest from afar at his mansion in Madrid. This distinguished guest is from Warwickshire, England. This time he traveled across the ocean to find Fox, bringing with him a top-secret mission: to find a blaster to blow up King James I of England!
(Guy Fawkes)
Fawkes is also an Englishman. He was born in Yorkshire in 1570 to a prominent family who converted to Catholicism. Strictly speaking, he was a wealthy fourth generation, but unfortunately he was born in the wrong era. At the end of the 16th century, Queen Elizabeth I of England vigorously attacked Catholicism. Many Catholics fled to Spain, and Fox was one of them.
Fox joined the Spanish army and participated in the war against the Netherlands. He was especially good at blasting technology and made great achievements for Spain. Fox was a fervent Catholic and was very dissatisfied with the Queen's policy of favoring Protestants.
Fox hit it off with the visitor. In April of the same year, he returned to the UK and joined an organization called the "Gunpowder Plot". They made a detailed plan, trying to blow up the British Parliament Building when James I held the opening ceremony, and send the king and the Protestant MPs to the West together.
They rented a cellar next to the Capitol and then dug a tunnel into the basement of the Capitol. Under the cover of relevant personnel, they transported a large amount of gunpowder into the basement in batches on the pretext of storing winter fuel, buried it under the masonry, and camouflaged it with coal and firewood.
On November 4, 11605, everything was ready, except for the explosion. Late that night, in order to ensure that the operation was foolproof, Fox went to the basement for the last time to check the explosives.
However, God did not help him. A soldier accidentally discovered Guy Fawkes and the explosives guarding the entrance of the cellar. This famous "Gunpowder Plot" that shocked Europe in British history was completely exposed.
(Catch Guy Fawkes)
Fawkes has been arrested!
After torture, Fox confessed the names of several accomplices. After his accomplices learned the news, they fled north in a hurry. A few days later, all the accomplices were locked up. Some of them were killed during the chase, and some were captured and imprisoned in the Tower of London, waiting to be tortured.
After trial, the four principal criminals were defined as "traitors" and sentenced to death. At the end of January 1606, the principal criminals were taken from the Tower of London to the execution ground. They were hanged one by one, then beheaded, disemboweled, burned, and finally quartered.
Fox was the last to be tortured. He felt the fear of death, kept asking for forgiveness, kept crossing himself, and finally collapsed into a ball of mud. With the help of hanged officials, he climbed up the ladder of the padlock. The first time he jumped from the ladder, the second time he climbed too high, and the third time the padlock was placed crookedly.
No matter how brave a person is, he is afraid of death. In the end, Fox broke his neck on the fourth climb. As usual, he was quartered by four horses, and the four parts were sent to the "four corners of the kingdom" as a warning.
(Member of the "Gunpowder Plot" organization)
In order to celebrate the smashing of the Guy Fawkes Night conspiracy, every year on November 5th, the British will set off fireworks, light bonfires, and burn a straw man wearing old clothes to symbolize Fox, simulating the scene of an explosion. This night is also called Bonfire Night and Fireworks Night.
Although this matter was unsuccessful, it really scared King James into a cold sweat, and the British Catholics also felt deep despair.
In order to prevent similar regicide plots from happening again, and to allow the vitality of Catholicism to be passed on, the Catholics and the king reached a compromise to avoid the Catholics being exterminated. Thanks to the efforts and compromises of all parties, Britain's confusing religious issues have all pressed the pause button.
In 1981, British cartoonist Alan Moore published a new work "V for Vendetta" in a monthly comic magazine. In Moore's writing, a mysterious eccentric wearing a mask with a toothy sneer, a black cloak, and a pointed hat becomes a fighter against the government in power.
The mask expression on the face of this unknown fighter is the expression that Moore sketched out when Fox was being tortured based on folklore. Based on this image, the movie "V for Vendetta" was released in 2006, and "The Face of Guy" became famous all over the world.
(Face of Guy)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-