Up a Tree extra: Ties to a traitor

My last post caused some questions I wanted answers to, and as I began running them down, I came upon a story that appeared to have ties to one of Sharon's ancestors. And I was in for a surprise.

My explorations last week led me to Guy Fawkes. If you watch much British TV, or if you remember your world history, or if you've heard of the graphic novel V for Vendetta, which was made into a film in the early 2000s, you've heard of Fawkes and the holiday named for him celebrated in England. If not, you make have seen a Guy Fawkes mask like the one in the picture.

I looked up Fawkes many years back and couldn't remember what I'd learned so I looked him up again. Short version: Fawkes was an English Catholic who joined with several other conspirators in the early 1600s to blow up Parliament during a session that would include both chambers and King James I. They hoped to dispatch a majority of two houses and maybe the king and rise up with like-minded Catholics to install a Catholic monarch. 

The plot, now known as the Gunpowder Plot, was foiled when a sweep of underground chambers by guards rousted out Fawkes, who was keeping watch over the explosives. Side note: one historian has estimated that enough gunpowder had been amassed to obliterate Parliament and a fair chunk of Westminster.

Fawkes was imprisoned and questioned about who his coconspirators were, but he steadfastly refused to give them up. Eventually the powers that be decided Fawkes should be turned over to the Lieutenant of the Tower of London for questioning using "enhanced interrogation techniques," or in the parlance of the time, torture. 

The lieutenant was a capable man, having served a number of positions before his appointment including being a spy and an interrogator. We don't know what forms of physical coercion were used, but the Encyclopedia Britannica  states that it included the rack. After he gave up his mates, Fawkes was sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered. But Fawkes' neck broke upon being hanged, killing him quickly, and he was "only" quartered afterword. 

And the lieutenant in question? I recognized the name because I had look at another ancestor with the same last name. The lieutenant turns out  to be that ancestor's son and Sharon's 10th great-grandfather, William Waad (Wade, in modern spelling). I'll talk more about other aspects of his life in later posts. 

One other question I wondered about in connection with Fawkes was how modern English Catholics feel about Guy Fawkes Night, celebrated every November 5 since the year after his death. The reactions I found fell multiple groups. One is Catholics who see the holiday as continued anti-Catholic bigotry. The second is basically, "Meh. I don't give it much thought." A third was, "Hey, it's a grand blowout and a good excuse to drink a few pints." Also, in today's celebrations, one of the key components -- burning Fawkes in effigy -- has been augmented and sometime replaced by the burning in effigy of unpopular world figures, turning it into a protest against perceived oppressors. Boris Johnston, Harvey Weinstein and Donald Trump are among those who've been "honored" or protested or whatever you want to call it in recent years. 



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