Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of I Heart Radio
Speaker 1: and Grim and Mild from Aaron Manky. Listener discretion advised,
Speaker 1: Hey everyone, this is Dana Schwartz, Happy three. Just a
Speaker 1: few quick pieces of housekeeping before we dive into this
Speaker 1: week's episode. There are still a few spots available on
Speaker 1: the tour I'm co leading to Cornwall next summer. It's
Speaker 1: a tour focused on Daphne du Maurier and the book Rebecca,
Speaker 1: which is one of my all time favorites. And we're
Speaker 1: going to be staying at this gorgeous house in Cornwall
Speaker 1: and just spending a few days talking about the book
Speaker 1: and reading and walking and writing. I did one of
Speaker 1: these trips last year about Frankenstein, and it was just
Speaker 1: such a phenomenal experience to like get a break from
Speaker 1: technology and work and you know, in touch with my
Speaker 1: creativity and what I love about talking about books with people.
Speaker 1: It's just such a phenomenal opportunity. I immediately begged them
Speaker 1: to let me do another, and so that's how the
Speaker 1: Rebecca Pilgrimage came along. So if it's something you're interested in,
Speaker 1: the program is called Common Ground. I'll put a link
Speaker 1: in the bio but it's just phenomenal, and I think
Speaker 1: if you listen to the show you'll get a lot
Speaker 1: out of the experience. Also, my novel Immortality, a Love Story,
Speaker 1: comes out February, and I know this is the most
Speaker 1: annoying thing in the world, but publishers just tell me
Speaker 1: as not. Their pre orders are like the most important
Speaker 1: thing that books need. It just determines their entire future.
Speaker 1: So if you read Anatomy, or you know, even if
Speaker 1: you haven't read Anatomy, which is the first book in
Speaker 1: the series, check out Immortality a Love Story. That link
Speaker 1: is in the bio two. You can support the show
Speaker 1: on Patreon for episode scripts and monthly bonus episodes, and
Speaker 1: you can get merch also in the episode description. I
Speaker 1: think that's all the housekeeping. It's a holidays here. I'm
Speaker 1: recording this before Christmas, and my kitchen is just filled
Speaker 1: with so many cookies. My brain has fully leaked out
Speaker 1: of my year. So I think that's everything. Thank you
Speaker 1: so much for listening. I hope you all are having
Speaker 1: a really wonderful new year. On the southern tip of England,
Speaker 1: the small county town of Louis in East Sussex sits
Speaker 1: with its charming antique shop line streets, and variety of
Speaker 1: local medieval architecture. At a population of just under eighteen thousand.
Speaker 1: I once took a train out of there. It was lovely.
Speaker 1: On an average day, the sleepy English hamlet welcomes the
Speaker 1: occasional tourist, those catching a train to London like me,
Speaker 1: or those hoping to catch a glimpse of any of
Speaker 1: Louis's numerous historical sites like Louis Castle, or for the
Speaker 1: more royally inclined, the Anne of Cleave's House, which though
Speaker 1: she never technically lived in, was given to her in
Speaker 1: the settlement following her divorce from Henry the eighth. But
Speaker 1: every year, come November five, Louis finds its usually empty
Speaker 1: streets suddenly overflowing with a sense of restless anticipation as
Speaker 1: the population skyrockets from eighteen thousand to upwards of sixty people,
Speaker 1: some dressed in period costumes, others simply carrying pockets full
Speaker 1: of fireworks, but each and every one of its visitors
Speaker 1: holding the singular intent of watching the town engulfed in
Speaker 1: flame by the night's end. Though I feel it is
Speaker 1: important to note the sudden influx of people are not
Speaker 1: attempting to set fire to the city itself, but rather
Speaker 1: watch as revelers race barrels of tar down in the
Speaker 1: high Street, then turn various parade floats into effigies, all
Speaker 1: before gathering to witness the main attraction, the attraction for
Speaker 1: which the night is named the lighting of the legendary bonfire.
Speaker 1: In Great Britain, Bonfire Night, otherwise known as Guy Fox Knight,
Speaker 1: is the annual commemoration of the discovery and eventual thwarting
Speaker 1: of the Gunpowder Plot or the plan to blow up
Speaker 1: Parliament on November five, six oh five. If you are
Speaker 1: a UK listener, you likely grew up hearing all about
Speaker 1: Guy Fox and his co conspirators failed plot to essentially
Speaker 1: overthrow the Protestant led crown and establish a reigning British
Speaker 1: Catholic government in instead. But on this side of the pond,
Speaker 1: knowledge pertain meaning to the real life man behind the
Speaker 1: now infamous Guy Fox Mask typically begins and ends with
Speaker 1: the poem for which this episode is named. Remember remember
Speaker 1: the fifth of November, the gunflowder, treason and plot, which
Speaker 1: really only came into general public consciousness following the release
Speaker 1: of the graphic novel and subsequent anarchy fueled film V
Speaker 1: for Vendetta, but before Bonfire Night became an excuse to
Speaker 1: exhibit impressive arrays of pyrotechnics. The holiday was originally a
Speaker 1: motion passed through Parliament called the Observance of Fifth November
Speaker 1: Act six oh five, otherwise known as the Thanksgiving Act,
Speaker 1: which decreed quote Ministers in every cathedral and parish, church
Speaker 1: or other usual place for common prayer shall always upon
Speaker 1: the fifth day of no member, same morning prayer and
Speaker 1: give unto Almighty God thanks for this most happy deliverance
Speaker 1: end quote, which basically translates into a government sanctioned church
Speaker 1: service that forces citizens to remember the failed attempt to
Speaker 1: overthrow the government. Hardly a call to anarchy as laid
Speaker 1: out in V for Vendetta, but V for Vendetta aside.
Speaker 1: The festivities that have been taking place in Louis on
Speaker 1: November five every year don't exactly scream government sanctioned day
Speaker 1: of prayer and remembrance either, though burning in effigy of
Speaker 1: Guy Fox and throwing firecrackers at a man dressed as
Speaker 1: the Pope are well arguably problematic in their own right,
Speaker 1: admittedly somewhat on brand for the occasion, having parade goers
Speaker 1: dressed in costumes running the gambit from British suffragists to
Speaker 1: frankly racist portrayals of Native amor Amricans and Zulu warriors
Speaker 1: make it clear that somewhere in the last four hundred years,
Speaker 1: celebrations of the holiday seem to have lost the part
Speaker 1: in my pun plot. Even outside some of the questionable traditions,
Speaker 1: the current form of the holiday holds between the pro
Speaker 1: anarchy sentiments of VFA Vendetta and the growing popularity of
Speaker 1: the guy Fox masks use in popular culture, particularly on
Speaker 1: the Internet. It seems as if the words remember remember
Speaker 1: the fifth of November have almost begun to take on
Speaker 1: a meaning of their own, one that glorifies rebellion in general,
Speaker 1: rather than in a way attached to one specific, very
Speaker 1: Catholic plot, which begs the question, on a holiday which
Speaker 1: prides itself on lighting bonfires and setting off intricate fire
Speaker 1: works displays to commemorate the day Parliament did not go
Speaker 1: up in flames, what exactly is it that were meant
Speaker 1: to remember on the five of November. I'm Dana Schwartz
Speaker 1: and this is noble blood. In the over four centuries
Speaker 1: since the Gunpowder Plot, was foiled. People are quick to
Speaker 1: remember Guy Fox and the thirty six barrels of gunpowder
Speaker 1: he laid under the floors of Parliament, but they often
Speaker 1: forget the reasons why Fox and his co conspirators even
Speaker 1: orchestrated their attack in the first place. So in that vein,
Speaker 1: we need to take a step back from the failed
Speaker 1: plot in six five and instead look to the events
Speaker 1: that would eventually in fire their inception, the first of
Speaker 1: which took place in fifteen twenty seven, when King Henry
Speaker 1: the Eighth sought permission from the Pope to annul his
Speaker 1: marriage from his first wife so he could pursue the
Speaker 1: woman who would become his second wife, Anne Boleyn. The
Speaker 1: Pope's ultimate refusal to grant King Henry's annulment would go
Speaker 1: on to act as the catalyst for the Protestant Reformation
Speaker 1: in England, or King Henry the Eighth's decision to leave
Speaker 1: the Catholic Church and attempt to convert the whole of
Speaker 1: England to Protestantism and declare himself Supreme Head of the
Speaker 1: Church of England. Now, obviously, the Protestant Reformation and the
Speaker 1: subsequent decades and centuries of strife between British Catholics and
Speaker 1: Protestants is not something I confeasibly cover in the brief
Speaker 1: time we have today in this episode in which it's backstory.
Speaker 1: But for the sake of this episode, you should know
Speaker 1: that just over thirty years after that, when King Henry
Speaker 1: the Eighth's daughter, Queen Elizabeth, ascended to the throne in
Speaker 1: fifteen fifty eight, she was still very much actively dealing
Speaker 1: with the repercussions of her father's actions. Elizabeth was fresh
Speaker 1: off the heels of her Catholic half sister Mary Tudor's reign.
Speaker 1: Elizabeth sought to reinstate the Church of England that their
Speaker 1: father had established, and she had to take decisive action
Speaker 1: to denounce all of the crowns ties to the Roman
Speaker 1: Catholic Church. This took the form of what we now
Speaker 1: call the Elizabethan Settlement, which in broad terms, essentially made
Speaker 1: Protestantism the official religion of England, with no room for arguments.
Speaker 1: Of course, it wasn't that simple. Queen Elizabeth may have
Speaker 1: been the governor of the Church of England, not the
Speaker 1: head as her father had been, because you know, she
Speaker 1: was a woman, but even she couldn't just snap her
Speaker 1: fingers and will Catholicism out of Great Britain. For the
Speaker 1: largely uneducated lower classes in England, the loss of a
Speaker 1: religion that heavily relied on a working knowledge of Latin
Speaker 1: was not sorely missed, especially considering the substantial finds that
Speaker 1: were now enacted. Should they decide not to attend the
Speaker 1: mandatory Protestant church services every Sunday, and after over a
Speaker 1: decade of back and forth between Protestant versus Catholic rulers
Speaker 1: since the death of Henry the Eighth, following the rules
Speaker 1: laid out by the Church of England and not the
Speaker 1: Pope was a sure way to prove their loyalty to
Speaker 1: the Queen Elizabeth the First. However, as you may have guessed,
Speaker 1: there were also those less than thrilled with the new
Speaker 1: let's say, changes in management. In spite of the find
Speaker 1: and possible jail time even death that might have awaited
Speaker 1: those unwilling to convert to Protestantism, there still remained a
Speaker 1: sub section of mostly upper class citizens who firmly held
Speaker 1: onto their ties to the Catholic Church. They were called recusants,
Speaker 1: and following Pope Pious, the fifth Papal Bull excommunicating Queen
Speaker 1: Elizabeth from the Catholic Church in fifteen seventy, Recusants were
Speaker 1: essentially given free reign to disregard any of her laws, or,
Speaker 1: depending on one's interpretation of the Pope's words, even kill
Speaker 1: the quote pretended Queen of England. And though the bull
Speaker 1: gave recusants the green light to continue there now technically
Speaker 1: illegal religious practices in England, the bulls language also carried
Speaker 1: something ominous in it. For Catholics, the threat was simple,
Speaker 1: should they obey any laws presented by the pretended Queen
Speaker 1: of England, they too would face the same excommunication and
Speaker 1: therefore damnation that their queen had. And so, stuck between
Speaker 1: treason and a hard place, recusants were forced to stay
Speaker 1: out of the Crown's line of fire enough to continue
Speaker 1: practicing Catholicism, but not so much as to be misconstrued
Speaker 1: as obeying the laws set forth by England's pretended Queen.
Speaker 1: Just a casual, decades long stroll along a razors sharp
Speaker 1: knife's edge, no big deal, at least until March six
Speaker 1: o three, when the British Crown could no longer afford
Speaker 1: to ignore the imminent change that had long threatened to
Speaker 1: crest over the horizon after forty four years on the throne,
Speaker 1: and now year old Queen Elizabeth was succumbing to what
Speaker 1: would be her final bout of sickness before her reign
Speaker 1: would come to its inevitable end, similar to her modern
Speaker 1: day namesake, Queen Elizabeth the Second. After such a lengthy
Speaker 1: tenure as Sovereign Elizabeth the First, death, while of course unavoidable,
Speaker 1: seemed almost more unthinkable than the idea of someone new
Speaker 1: on the throne. Of course, it didn't help that the
Speaker 1: line of succession was once again left in a state
Speaker 1: of limbo. The famed Virgin Queen obviously had no heirs
Speaker 1: for which to leave the throne, and even speculating as
Speaker 1: to who would succeed Elizabeth had led one prominent Puritan
Speaker 1: leader to be imprisoned in the Tower of London in
Speaker 1: until he died three years later for treason. When Elizabeth
Speaker 1: finally lay on her deathbed in sixteen o three, it
Speaker 1: seemed as if she was no closer to naming her successor.
Speaker 1: Elizabeth's reticence to officially name her successor was no doubt
Speaker 1: partially informed by the inevitable repercussions The choice would have
Speaker 1: on the state of the Church of England after her death,
Speaker 1: which is why it came as somewhat of a shock
Speaker 1: that following her death, March twenty four, sixteen o three,
Speaker 1: it was confirmed that King James the sixth of Scotland,
Speaker 1: son of the infamous Catholic martyr Mary, Queen of Scots,
Speaker 1: had officially been given the title King James the First
Speaker 1: of England. For the recusants, news of King James's ascension
Speaker 1: to the English throne was a welcome beacon of hope
Speaker 1: after over forty years of persecution at the hands of
Speaker 1: Protestant Queen Elizabeth. British Catholics believed James would show practicing
Speaker 1: Catholics more leniency than his predecessor, and in the beginning
Speaker 1: it seemed like their hopes weren't unwarranted. The execution of
Speaker 1: Catholic priests had become something of a common practice, but
Speaker 1: a letter written by King James records him wishing for
Speaker 1: their exile as an alternative, with him stating quote, I
Speaker 1: would be glad to have both their heads and their
Speaker 1: bodies separated from this whole island and transported beyond seas unquote.
Speaker 1: And while the keeping of heads attached to bodies is
Speaker 1: no doubt a heartwarming sentiment. Sentiments alone do little to
Speaker 1: stop the harsh realities of religious persecution. British Catholics had
Speaker 1: held such high hopes that their new king would be
Speaker 1: the one to reign in a new era of religious
Speaker 1: tolerance in England, but by February sixteen o four, the
Speaker 1: actions of the new king were starting to outweigh their
Speaker 1: fondness for his beheaded Catholic martyr mother. Following his coronation
Speaker 1: in July sixteen o three, King James sought to curry
Speaker 1: some goodwill with the British Catholics and declared his intent
Speaker 1: to pardon the finds against recusants for the whole of
Speaker 1: the following year. But after only a few short months,
Speaker 1: in late February sixteen o four, King James made a
Speaker 1: public declaration of his quote utter detestation of Catholicism, which
Speaker 1: was quickly followed up with the repeal of his order
Speaker 1: to pardon recusant finds. After almost half a century bearing
Speaker 1: the brunt of religious persecution in Great Britain, recusants did
Speaker 1: not take kindly to having the carrot of religious tolerance
Speaker 1: King James head, so lacked, basically waved in front of
Speaker 1: their cage suddenly ripped away, arguably worse than the strict
Speaker 1: ordinances enacted by Queen Elizabeth. The first British Catholics felt
Speaker 1: betrayed by King James, a figurehead they had after so
Speaker 1: long without deemed worthy enough of putting hope into. In
Speaker 1: the wake of their new King's deception, most recuissants simply
Speaker 1: went back to practicing in secret, accepting the loss for
Speaker 1: what it was. But on the night of May sixteen
Speaker 1: o four, a group of men decidedly not in this majority,
Speaker 1: sat at a small table at London's Duck and Drake
Speaker 1: in finally desperate enough to take matters into their own hands. Now,
Speaker 1: contrary to popular belief, Guy Fox was not the sole perpetrator,
Speaker 1: or even the leader of the Gunpowder plot. He may
Speaker 1: have been sitting at that small table at the Duck
Speaker 1: and Drake that May evening, But like any good heist movie,
Speaker 1: the plots conception was the product of a team of
Speaker 1: very specific individuals, each of whom had their own roles
Speaker 1: to play. Starting from the top, we have our ringleader,
Speaker 1: the charismatic radical Robert catesby young, handsome and equipped with
Speaker 1: a larger than recommended dose of theological fanaticism. Katesby had
Speaker 1: an immediately likable magnetic personality, even after his death, when
Speaker 1: his name was all but synonymous with treason. One man
Speaker 1: described him as his quote loving kinsman and the only
Speaker 1: son that must ripen our harvest. In essence, the deadly
Speaker 1: combination of Katesby's charm and his penchant for radical action
Speaker 1: made him exactly the type of person your parents probably
Speaker 1: would have used as an example to lecture you on
Speaker 1: the dangers of caving to peer pressure, as in, just
Speaker 1: because Robert Catesby decides to jump off a cliff, you're
Speaker 1: going to jump off after him. In this case, the
Speaker 1: cliff in question was the House of Parliament, and Kateesby
Speaker 1: wasn't planning to jump off it so much as he
Speaker 1: was plotting to set off enough gunpowder underneath its floors
Speaker 1: to blow every living lawmaker and politician inside, including the
Speaker 1: King himself, to Kingdom. Come and between Katesby's beguiling charisma
Speaker 1: and the sense of poetic justice in taking the lives
Speaker 1: of the lawmakers responsible for their suffering in the very
Speaker 1: place the laws again them were made, it didn't take
Speaker 1: much for other men to jump after him off the
Speaker 1: metaphorical cliff. Sitting next to the fearless leader was a
Speaker 1: man who would come to be known as his second
Speaker 1: in command, Katesby's cousin, Thomas Wintour. Wintour would first hear
Speaker 1: of Katesby's plans in February six four, upon a visit
Speaker 1: to his cousin's house in Lambeth, where he went to
Speaker 1: Or would stumble into a meeting with yet another person
Speaker 1: who ended up at the Duck and Drake that may,
Speaker 1: a renowned swordsman named Jack Wright. But when Katesby first
Speaker 1: relayed the plan to his cousin, win Tour was not
Speaker 1: so quick to fawn over the idea of drastic action.
Speaker 1: Rightfully so win to Or feared the negative repercussions that would,
Speaker 1: no doubt plague English Catholics should the plot fail. If
Speaker 1: life for accusance was already a mine field of fines
Speaker 1: and warrants for arrest, what would their lives look like
Speaker 1: should the quote stroke at the root that win Tour
Speaker 1: characterized the gunpowder treason as fail. In spite of his
Speaker 1: initial misgivings, Catesby's tenacity would win out, and within weeks
Speaker 1: wind Tour would be on a ship to the continent
Speaker 1: in hopes of recruiting aid from the Spanish to further
Speaker 1: their Catholic agenda in England, and though wind tours request
Speaker 1: for support from Spain would ultimately be shot down, the
Speaker 1: trip had the unintended consequence of introducing Catesby's second in
Speaker 1: command to none other than the fourth man at the
Speaker 1: Duck and Drake that evening the Gunpowder plots inevitable poster boy,
Speaker 1: Guy Fox, or as he was better known back then,
Speaker 1: Guido Fox, was perhaps the least connected to the actual
Speaker 1: plot itself, but that heartily means his role was inconsequential.
Speaker 1: In the heist movie adaptation, Fox would be the quiet,
Speaker 1: unassuming man in the back, who, when questioned about his involvement,
Speaker 1: would suddenly open his jacket to reveal pockets lined with grenades,
Speaker 1: machine guns, and enough AMMO to take down a small army.
Speaker 1: In short, Guy Fox was the firepower, a role borne
Speaker 1: out of years as a soldier fighting for Catholic interests abroad. Unsurprisingly,
Speaker 1: unlike wind Tour, Fox had little to no qualms with
Speaker 1: the violent action set forth by Catesby. In fact, he,
Speaker 1: like the final man at the Duck and Drake that
Speaker 1: evening was ready to take drastic action for the sake
Speaker 1: of Catholic life in Great Britain. The fifth and final
Speaker 1: seat at the Inn was taken by a gentleman named
Speaker 1: Thomas Percy. Percy found his way to the table through
Speaker 1: his connections to Catesby and Right, but it would be
Speaker 1: his connections to the Earl of Northumberland that would make
Speaker 1: him indispensable to the gunpowder conspirators. He, like Fox, was
Speaker 1: tired of waiting for the lives of British Catholics to
Speaker 1: improve on goodwill alone. Upon sitting down with the four
Speaker 1: other men that evening, Percy's first words to the group
Speaker 1: took the form of a simple question, Shall we always,
Speaker 1: gentlemen talk and never do anything? It was with that
Speaker 1: question in mind that the original conspirators began to formulate
Speaker 1: the beginning of what would eventually become the infamous Gunpowder plot.
Speaker 1: Tucked away at their inconspicuous table in the Duck and
Speaker 1: Drake in a small prayer book was passed through each
Speaker 1: of their hands as they swore oaths of secrecy in
Speaker 1: hushed tones, promising death and destruction for the sake of
Speaker 1: building a better world from its ashes, and as if
Speaker 1: they needed further proof of their good intentions, in the
Speaker 1: next room, a priest had just finished holding a secret
Speaker 1: Sunday Catholic Mass. So, with their secret plot for the
Speaker 1: greater good woven intricately between them, together, the five men
Speaker 1: took the sacrament of Holy Communion, a sure sign that
Speaker 1: God himself was blessing the violent means by which they
Speaker 1: saw to achieve their righteous ends, especially as Catesby rationalized
Speaker 1: his plot to kill all the government leaders in Parliament,
Speaker 1: saying quote perchance God hath designed that place for their punishment.
Speaker 1: After departing from the Duck and Drake in May sixteen
Speaker 1: o four, each of the men had vague plans set
Speaker 1: in place to help the plot move forward, but it
Speaker 1: wouldn't be until Thomas Percy received a promotion from the
Speaker 1: Earl of Northumberland that any real progress would begin to
Speaker 1: be made. In June sixteen o four, Percy was given
Speaker 1: the title Gentleman Pensioner, which essentially made him one of
Speaker 1: about fifty bodyguards for the Earl of Northumberland. More importantly, though,
Speaker 1: this new position gave Percy an excuse to find permanent
Speaker 1: logic in London, and thereby secure a base of operations
Speaker 1: for the gunpowder conspirators. As Catesby continued to recruit more
Speaker 1: recuissants to their cause, Percy made the first steps towards
Speaker 1: planting boots on the ground by hiring Guy Fox as
Speaker 1: a servant under the alias John Johnson, which frankly sounds
Speaker 1: like a name made up under Darress. Then one carefully
Speaker 1: chosen to help conceal the identity of a man attempting
Speaker 1: to carry out a government coup. But I digress. With
Speaker 1: John Johnson under the employee of Thomas Percy. In March five,
Speaker 1: enough funds were finally pulled together for the group to
Speaker 1: lease out a storage space close to Percy's London home,
Speaker 1: a storage space which just so happened to lay directly
Speaker 1: beneath the Palace of Westminster. Now, the idea of a
Speaker 1: private citizen being able to gain access to a storage
Speaker 1: space so close to a government building, let alone the
Speaker 1: House of Parliament, might seem peculiar by today's standards, But
Speaker 1: in sixteen o five the Palace of Westminster was by
Speaker 1: no means the space we associated with today. Back then,
Speaker 1: the building was an assortment of private apartments, taverns, and
Speaker 1: other businesses that all coexisted within walking distance of each other.
Speaker 1: So while the idea of renting out a storage space
Speaker 1: underneath Parliament might seem completely infeasible today, in sixteen o
Speaker 1: five it was likely costly but not impossible, and so
Speaker 1: with the seller secured, the definitely not suspicious at all
Speaker 1: Servant John Johnson then spent the following months sourcing gunpowder
Speaker 1: to fill the storage space, and by the end of
Speaker 1: July he had managed to gather thirty six barrels of
Speaker 1: explosive ammunition and hidden it discreetly under piles of firewood,
Speaker 1: more than enough to, if not blow the roof off Parliament,
Speaker 1: then at least condemn everyone inside to a fiery grave. Initially,
Speaker 1: Parliament was set to go back in session in late July,
Speaker 1: but an outbreak of the plague set back the date
Speaker 1: to the fifth of November, at which point the gunpowder
Speaker 1: conspirators could do nothing more but sit and wait for
Speaker 1: their plan to finally come to fruition. Come October, the
Speaker 1: final pieces of the plot had fallen into place. The
Speaker 1: plan was simple. A November five, Guy Fox would light
Speaker 1: the fuse to set off the thirty six barrels of
Speaker 1: gunpowder beneath Parliament, then flee to the continent to alert
Speaker 1: the Catholic leaders in Europe to the success of their coup. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: Catesby and his followers would begin a rebellion in the
Speaker 1: Midlands with the purpose of capturing King James's daughter Elizabeth,
Speaker 1: who they would then make the new Catholic leader of England.
Speaker 1: After over a year and a half of planning, the
Speaker 1: Gunpowder Plot was just days away from forever altering the
Speaker 1: lives of English Catholics across the country, altering history forever.
Speaker 1: That is, until the night of October twenty six, when,
Speaker 1: unbeknownst to Catesby, a mysterious figure moved swiftly through London
Speaker 1: streets with a letter burning a hole in his pocket,
Speaker 1: a letter that would effectively cut their bombs fuse before
Speaker 1: Fox would ever have a chance to strike his match.
Speaker 1: That's the end of part one of our two part
Speaker 1: series on the Gunpowder Plot, but stick around after a
Speaker 1: brief sponsor break to hear about how the legacy of
Speaker 1: Guy Fox still affects us today. Language, like history, has
Speaker 1: the unique ability to appear as if it's set in stone,
Speaker 1: even though it's perpetually in a state of flux. One
Speaker 1: prime example of this is the use of the word
Speaker 1: guy in the English language, as in Hey guys or
Speaker 1: look at that guy over there, which, if you haven't
Speaker 1: guessed by, now originates from the Gunpowder king himself Guy Fox.
Speaker 1: Today the term guy is more synonymous with man, or
Speaker 1: in the case of guys, a group of gender neutral
Speaker 1: people at large, but when the term was coined, its
Speaker 1: connotations were originally far less innocuous. In its first form,
Speaker 1: the word guy appeared in reference to the guys that
Speaker 1: would be burnt in effigy each year for Bonfire Night
Speaker 1: on November five. Children would sell handmade Guy Fox effigies
Speaker 1: fashioned out of old fabric and straw, then beg on
Speaker 1: the street asking for pennies for the guy. The sale
Speaker 1: of eyes on November five celebrations would eventually extend its
Speaker 1: definition from the singular effigy of Guy Fox to include
Speaker 1: all effigies, effectively labeling them as guys. This opened up
Speaker 1: the term to become less beholden to the man himself,
Speaker 1: subsequently leading to the words second iteration, which acted more
Speaker 1: as an insult than a physical object. By the nineteen century,
Speaker 1: the word guy had mostly lost its connection to the
Speaker 1: former Guy Fox, and was used to characterize a man
Speaker 1: who was undeservedly cocky or otherwise foolish in some way. Eventually,
Speaker 1: the terms negative connotations would fade, and the twentieth century
Speaker 1: would give birth to the term guy as the general
Speaker 1: male descriptor we know today. Obviously, we witnessed the change
Speaker 1: of language every day, just in the use of slang
Speaker 1: a loan. But I think it's worth noting that the
Speaker 1: rules of grammar and language by extension are not as
Speaker 1: rigid as we're taught to believe. Time gives the illusion
Speaker 1: that certain words have simply always existed. But if this
Speaker 1: specific piece of Guy Fox's legacy proves anything, it's that
Speaker 1: language will always adapt to serve the world around it.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, guys. Noble Blood is a production of
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Manky.
Speaker 1: Noble Blood is hosted by Me Danish Words. Additional writing
Speaker 1: and researching done by Hannah Johnston, hannah's Wick, Mirra Hayward,
Speaker 1: Courtney Sunder and Laurie Goodman. The show is produced host
Speaker 1: by rema Il Kali, with supervising producer Josh Thain and
Speaker 1: executive producers Aaron Mankey, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. For
Speaker 1: more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the I heart
Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
Speaker 1: favorite shows.