Guy Fawkes & The Gunpowder Plot of 1605 Research Paper

Guy Fawkes & The Gunpowder Plot of 1605 - Research Paper Example The paper will therefore, outline the political and historical context of the Gunpowder plot and the effect it had to Britain’s culture. Guy Fawkes is one of the York’s known historical characters, being famous for his involvement in the failed Gunpowder plot. Guy Fawkes was a protestant by birth, born in Stone gate, York in the year 1570, after which he became a Roman Catholic after his marriage. Fawkes was the only son in his parents who lived and married in Scotto. He attended school at St. Peter’s where he received Roman Catholic influences among others. Over the years, those who knew him painted him as ‘a man of great piety’ (Fraser 2010, p. 10-15). In the year 1593, he was enlisted in the Spanish Army and in the year 1596, he participated in the capture of the Calais city by the Spanish, as their war with Henry IV of France was underway. In his service in the army, he was furnished as a bravely man and an expert in mining. In the year 1602, he moved to Madrid where he met with Kit Wright and later with Thomas Winter who enrolled him in the gunpowder plot as a useful expert and was unknown to the authority. He played his part well in the plot and behaved in courage and dignity even after his arrest. For several days, Guy Fawkes withstood torture rather than selling his fellow plotters out (MALAM, & MALAM 2008, p. 20-25). Queen Elizabeth 1 had made England one of the Protestant strongholds in Europe, in which under her reign, the Catholics had suffered because of the anti-catholic laws that had been implemented. Therefore, when she died, the Catholics had hoped that King James 1 would scrap out the laws, but as time went by, the religion became stronger and the king felt that his authority was threatened so he implemented the anti-Catholic laws again. Therefore, Guy Fawkes, Robert Catesby, Thomas Percy, Thomas Wright among others