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stuart3 -> RE: Bonfire Night Graf Spee (11/7/2017 8:18:05 PM)
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As part of a plot to stage a coup during the religious wars and persecutions of the period, the Catholic faction, headed by Robert Catesby, planned to blow up Parliament during the state opening on 5th November 1605.
Parliament in these days consisted of the ruling lords, and as King Charles would have presided over the state opening, a successful explosion would have killed or incapacitated the entire ruling elite, leaving a political vacuum for the plotters to occupy.
The plot was uncovered after one of the plotters warned a friend not to attend Parliament on the day. The building was searched and Guido (Guy) Fawkes was discovered in a cellar where he had succeeded in secreting no fewer than 36 barrels of gunpowder.
The plotters were arrested, tried, and mostly hanged, drawn and quartered.
Bonfires and fireworks became part of the official annual celebration of the plot's failure. Because he was found at the scene, the centerpiece of the bonfire is traditionally a "Guy", an effigy of Guy Fawkes. Few now remember Catesby.
Of course nowadays the celebration is just an annual entertainment for the kids, especially the big kids. [:)]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunpowder_Plot
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