From: "Nicolas J. Hammond" <njhm@ns.njh.com>
Date: Thu, 7 Nov 1996 05:58:02 -0800 (PST)
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: HAPPY GUY FAWKES DAY!
In-Reply-To: <Pine.A32.3.93.961106224202.67998A-100000@gpu5.srv.ualberta.ca>
Message-ID: <199611071359.IAA29100@ns.njh.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


> > >                           SANDY SANDFORT
> > > 
> > > On this day in 1605 the Gunpowder Plot was foiled.  Guy Fawkes
> > > and his compatriots had intended to blow up Parliment.

Actually I think it was late on November 4 that the plot was foiled.

Guy (Guido) Fawkes and 11 of this friends had rented a house next to the 
Houses of Parliament earlier that year and the group spent several months 
digging a tunnel from the basement of their house to the basement of the HoP.

They moved barrels and barrels of gunpowder into the basement and
left Guy Fawkes there along with a very long fuse on the night of
November 4. The King (James I of England, who was also James VI of Scotland)
was opening Parliament the following day. The plan was for Guy to light
the fuse, escape through the tunnel, and the whole of the HoP would
be blown up. There would be a catholic rebellion and a Catholic (I think
Queen, my memory is failing at this point) monarch installed.

[King Henry VIII had fallen out with the Pope over his many marriages
 (rather ironic as an earlier Pope had declared KH8 "defender of the 
 faith", a title that is still used by the current Queen, because KH8
 had written many articles defending the Catholic faith) and KH8 had
 helped to start the Church of England. Many loyal catholics wanted to
 return to papist control of religion.]

For some reason (the speculation is either that one of the gang
tipped off a friend who was a Member of Parliament (MP) and 
therefore expected to be at the opening and told him not to attend
OR that the whole plot was concocted by the King to raise public
support for him (King wasn't too popular at the time)), the plot was foiled.

The Beefeaters (the guards who still wear their traditional uniform)
searched the basement, saw barrels and barrels of gunpowder and a long
fuse. At the end of the fuse was Guy Fawkes. They either did the search
late on November 4, or early in the morning on the fifth.

Guy was tortured for about 2 weeks. They used the water torture and
dismembered a few parts of his anatomy. A same fate met the other
conspirators that were captured alive. Guy's torture lasted about 2 weeks
and then he was hung, drawn and quartered with his head put on the city
walls for many months. He has hung, cut down before he was dead,
drawn (large cuts made in the body with a sharp sword - makes
the quartering easier on the horses) and then quartered (each limb tied
to a strong horse and the horses then sending charging in four opposite
directions).

No-one knows why the celebrations started. Some speculate that the King
ordered it to remember how close the rule of monarchy nearly came to an end.

Traditional English celebrations are to have a large bonfire and put a 
guy (mannequin) on top. Kids would spend weeks making a realistic looking
"guy" and used to (long time ago) put their guy on the streets a couple
of days before asking for "a penny for the guy" to make money.
Fireworks are also normal.

> > > The English celebrate it because Guy Fawkes failed.
> > > I celebrate it because he tried.  :-)
> > 
> > A terrorist!!!   Call the police!!
> > 
> 
> Where would we be if he hadn't tried?  

Catholic.


 Please to remember
 The fifth of November
 Gunpowder, treason and plot

 I see no reason
 Why gunpowder treason
 Should ever be forgot
	[Traditional English nursery rhyme]

Not quite sure the relevance to cryptography.
I believe that at their "trial", some documents were produced - 
I doubt they were encrypted.

-- 
Nicolas Hammond                                 NJH Security Consulting, Inc.
njh@njh.com                                     211 East Wesley Road
404 262 1633                                    Atlanta
404 812 1984 (Fax)                              GA 30305-3774