CHAPTER IV Τ GUY FAUKES AND THOMAS PERCY HE name of the terrible hero of the popular feast, the anniversary of which is celebrated every fifth day of November, has been, and is written in several different forms. Sometimes it is written Fawkes,' with the Christian name as 'Guido.' Father Gerard calls by other writers he him 'Mr. Guido Falks,' and has been dubbed 'Guye Faux.' But, as he himself signed himself Faukes in his confession, I prefer to use that form of the surname, irrespective of the question as to his proper Christian name.' Guy Faukes was born early in the year 1570, at York, where he was christened. He came of a race of ecclesiastical lawyers, which was also connected with one or two well-known county families. His parents were (from the accession of Elizabeth, at any rate) Protestants, and he was their only His father, Edward Faukes, Registrar of the Consistory Court, dying in 1578, his mother son. 1 He is called Guy Fawkes in the official account of his trial. 2 In an indenture, dated 1592, picked up for a few shillings in a second-hand book shop in London (1901), his name is signed in neat lettersGuye Faukes.' After being tortured in the Tower, he wrote 'Guido,' but fainted before he could complete his surname. married a gentleman named Baynbridge, of Scotton, in the county. Guy seems to have been on good terms with his step-father, who is reported to have persuaded him to become a Roman Catholic; but soon after his coming of age he left Yorkshire for the Continent, and enlisted in the service of the Spaniards occupying Flanders. His service in the Spanish army readily enough explains the change of his Christian name into 'Guido.' Whilst in Spain, Gerard reports that those who knew him 'affirm that as he did bear office in the camp under the English coronell on the Catholic side, so he was a man every way deserving it whilst he stayed there, both for devotion more than is ordinarily found in soldiers, and especially for his skill in martial affairs and great valour, for which he was there much esteemed.' In 1595 he assisted in the capture of Calais. In 1604, at Catesby's request, he came over to England, Catesby and Winter having desired one out of Flanders to be their assistant.'" He had, before returning to England, been employed as a delegate of the Jesuits in the mission to obtain aid from Spain after the death of Queen Elizabeth.3 1 Sir William Stanley. 2 As Faukes had left his native county for the Continent when quite a young man, he was consequently not known in London, and it was this reason that induced Catesby to allot to him the task of looking after the powder and of firing the mine, for his presence at Westminster would not attract attention. 3 Guy Faukes was a tall and wiry man, with light brown hair, and auburn beard. Thomas Percy was a person of great influence among the conspirators. Indeed, next to Catesby, he was the most important amongst them. He seems to have acted as Catesby's first lieutenant. It was he who hired within the precincts of Westminster Palace the little dwelling next to the Parliament House, and it was he who obtained possession of the cellar where the powder was eventually deposited. As soon as the news of the abortive plot leaked out in London on November 5, it was described at first as Percy's conspiracy. In common with so many of his confederates, Percy was of illustrious lineage, being a scion of the great feudal house of Northumberland.1 He was an agent of the head of the family, Henry, the ninth Earl, the political enemy of Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury. Authorities differ, however, as to how nearly he was related to the Earl. The nearness of the connection has, I think, been exaggerated, and (so far as I can ascertain) he was no nearer in blood to the head of his house than a third or fourth cousin. With this opinion Father Gerard agrees, when he declares that he was not very near in blood, although they called him cousin.' 'For the most part of his youth,' relates Father Gerard, 'he had been very wild more than ordinary, and much given to fighting; so much that it was noted in him and in Mr. John Wright (whose 1 From which the present Duke of Northumberland is only descended in the female line. |