Interrogation, identification, trial and public execution
The House of Commons Journal for November 5, 1605, records:
This last Night the Upper House of Parliament was searched by Sir Tho. Knevett, and one Johnson, Servant to Mr. Thomas Percye, was there apprehended, who had placed Thirty-six Barrels of Gunpowder in the Vault under the House, with a Purpose to blow the King, and the whole Company, when they should there assemble.
Afterwards divers other Gentlemen were discovered to be of the Plot.
On that first fifth day of November, immediately after the arrest of “John Johnson,” nobody at court connected him with a guy named Guy. And so it continued for two full days (November 5 and 6) while the man they first arrested maintained his identity as Johnson. On the third day, weakened by increasing torture, he admitted to being Guy Fawkes—or should it be Guido, his Continental version? He chose Guido when he signed his name with a shaky hand on the pages of the transcript of his interrogations.
But it was “John Johnson” who was arrested very early on November 5. He was brought directly to the bedchamber of King James for questioning at about four in the morning,“Johnson” maintained his fabricated name and history. He was then brought directly to the prison cells of the Tower.
After that early-morning interrogation, James was sufficiently concerned that he himself drew up a list of 16 questions to be asked of the prisoner. “Ask what he is,” he began, “for I can never yet hear of any man that knows him.” Then there are:
13. What Gentlewoman’s Letter it was, that was found upon him?
14. And wherefore doth she give him another name in it, than he gives to himself?
On the afternoon of November 6, those questions were put to him and he gave answers. Apparently they didn’t do much good. The letter, from a woman supposedly named Bostock, never was made public.
The handwritten report of his interrogation includes matters like these:
He saith, that he knows not but by generall report and by making ready of the kings barge, that the king was coming thither the first day of this parliament, But confesseth that his purpose was to have blowne upp the upper house whensoever the king was there.
And being demanded when the king, his royal issue, the Nobles, Bishops, Judge, and of the principall of the Comons, were all destroyed what government would have ben, Answereth we were not growne to any determination therein, and beeing but a fewe of them the could not enter into such conforsation, but that the people of themselves would decide a head. . . .
He confesseth that he hath knowne Mr Percy two or three years but served him not, but about three moneths before the house was hired as is aforesaid,
Being demanded what noble men were warned, that they would not be there at that time, Answereth, wuld durst not forewarn them for feare wich should be discovered, And being asked why he would be a partie to any acte that might destroy any that was of his owne relligion, Answereth, we meant principally to have resported [respected] somme safely, and would have prayed for them.
As an explosives expert, happy to display his expertise in blowing up enemy buildings and fortifications, the prisoner apparently needed little coaxing to reveal the technical aspects of the plot. But he refused to name his co-conspirators. Or, rather, he said he didn’t know who they were. After all, he was just plain old John Johnson, servant to Thomas Percy. So the official Calendar of State Papers records for November 6, adding the true name in parentheses as it had come out that day:
Examination of John Johnson (Guy Faukes) as to the storing of powder, &c. in the Parliament cellar,—his connections abroad,—whether Mr. Percy would have allowed the Earl of Northumberland to perish, &c. He refuses to inculpate any person, saying, “youe would have me discover my frendes: the giving warning to one overthrew us all;” signed “John Johnson.”
That day “John Johnson” continued to explain the intention of the plotters but would still not give their names—or reveal that his was a pseudonym. So King James issued these instructions: “If he will not otherwise confess, the gentler Tortures are first to be used unto him and so by degrees proceeding to the deepest.” Or in the original form in Latin as well as English:
The gentler tortours are to be first usid unto him, et sic per gradus ad ima tenditur, and so God speede youre goode worke.
Torture was a rare tactic, requiring approval of the king, and reserved for serious crimes.
The first of the “gentler” tortures was iron gauntlets to hold his arms shackled to a wall. To gradually stretch him and increase the pain, the gauntlets could be raised and the wooden supports he stood on could be removed. “Johnson,” however, remained quiet with calm resolution for a whole day and evening of torture, and slept peacefully at night.
Still, resolute as he was, he could not hold out forever. The official record for November 7 indicates that he finally admitted to being Guy Fawkes, known on the European Continent as Guido. And he named the other conspirators. Once again the Calendar of State Papers:
Examination of Guy Faukes. The conspiracy began eighteen months before; was confined to five persons at first, then to two; and afterwards five more were added, who all swore secrecy; he refuses, on account of his oath, to accuse any; they intended to place the Princess Elizabeth on the throne, and marry her to an English Catholic. Signed at the foot of each page “Guido Faukes.”
King James issued a stern proclamation, printed and widely distributed on November 7, naming Percy, telling the plot, and commanding
our Lieutenants, Deputy Lieutenants, Sheriffes, Justices of Peace, Mayors, Bayliffes, Constables, and all other our officers, Ministers, and loving Subjects, to . . . employ themselves for the suppressing, apprehending, deterring, and discovering of all sorts of persons any wayes likely to be privie to a Treason so hatefull to God and man.
The proclamation then names Percy and concludes with names of seven other conspirators. It doesn’t mention Fawkes, probably because he had already been apprehended.
On the morning of November 8, still frustrated, the director of the interrogation, Sir William Waad, lieutenant of the Tower, reported to his supervisor, Sir Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury and Secretary of State:
My Lord,
I do think it my duty to give your Lordship daily account of what temper I find this fellow, who this day is in a most stubborn and perverse humour, as dogged as if he were possessed. Yesternight I had persuaded him to set down a clear narration of all his wicked plots, from the first entering on the same to the end they pretended, with the discourses and projects that were thought upon amongst them, which he undertook to do, and craved time this night to think him the better. But this morning he hath changed his mind, and is so sullen and obstinate as there is no dealing with him.
But as strong and strong-willed as Fawkes was, he could not withstand another day of torture. So the daytime interrogation on November 8 got him to reveal just about everything. That day’s Calendar recorded:
Deposition of Guy Faukes. Thos. Winter first proposed a conspiracy to him; Catesby, Percy, and John Wright were next taken into the scheme, then Chris. Wright, afterwards Sir Everard Digby, Amb. Rokewood, Francis Tresham, John Grant, Rob. Keyes, and many others. Details of the Plot, the same as in the examinations.
His stubborn refusal at first to name names, even under torture, impressed his captors. If he had held out till he died, it is conceivable that the other perpetrators of the Gunpowder Plot would never have been discovered.
But he had already let one big cat out of the bag. The moment he was arrested, he gave the name of his supposed employer, Thomas Percy, cousin of the Earl of Northumberland. That led to a search for Percy, which then led to all the rest.
Already in the light of day on November 5 a proclamation had been issued for the apprehension of Percy. The king’s broadside proclamation of November 7 added half a dozen names to the search.
The hunt for the rest of the plotters put the country in turmoil, but Guy’s resistance to torture gave them a head start. Counting Guy, there were 13 conspirators, and all but Guy were still at large for a few days after his arrest. Most of them had been in London, but all succeeded in escaping the city.
Finally on November 8 the sheriff of Worcester, with a posse of 200 men, caught up with a majority of the fugitives at Holbeche House in Staffordshire, more than 100 miles west of London. Four were killed in a shootout there: Percy, Catesby, John Wright, and his brother Christopher Wright.
Five others were captured at Holbeche or nearby that day: Catesby’s servant Thomas Bates, John Grant, Ambrose Rookwood, Sir Everard Digby, and Thomas Wintour. Robert Keyes was also arrested that day. All were of course delivered to the Tower of London, and they had additional information to be extracted, but until they arrived Fawkes was the only conspirator available to the authorities.
Interrogation of Thomas Wintour began November 12. Francis Tresham was captured November 12. He died, supposedly of natural causes, on December 23.
The last two fugitives, Thomas Wintour’s brother Robert and Stephen Littleton, were captured on January 9, 1606.
Catesby, the inventor and director of the plot, would undoubtedly have been the primary focus of government attention if he had been available. But since he had been killed before the authorities could get to him, four centuries later we say “you guys” instead of “you robs.”
In the days that followed, the story of the plot and its characters became widely known. And the point man who had been ready to light the gunpowder and then ride quickly away, who had held out against torture to an extent that amazed his captors, and who also was known for his stalwart soldierly bearing and expertise, in addition to being red-headed, well dressed, and more than six feet tall, drew more and more attention. Guy was on his way to being the very different guy we know today.
As Guido, his name continued now and then to appear, for example at the end of a 1606 book reporting His Maiestes Speech in This Last Session of Parliament:
The Trve Copie of the Declaration of Guido Fawkes, taken in the presence of the Counselllers, vvhose names are vnder vvriten.
But Guy, the name we are looking for, was becoming well known, even better than Guido, soon after November 5. In a sermon preached at Paul’s Cross on November 10, the Bishop of Rochester declared,
So ment Guy Faulkes (the true name of a false traytor) to haue beheld as (hee said) the houses and bodies flying vp; he liuing & laughing at it If hee had solde vs for bond-slaues & hand-maides, saith Hester of Haman, yet there had been life, and so hope of returne, but to make an vtter dissolution of the whole State, had beene a misery incurable, was a proiect most damnable.
Another variant, ingeniously combining the English and Continental versions of the arch-villain’s names, appears in a 1606 printing of Thomas Nash’s The returne of the knight of the poste from Hell with the diuels aunswere to the supplication of Pierce Penilesse, with some relation of the last treasons.
But (sayd he) Deuils me no denils, they may hereafter through iudgement proue Deuils, but as yet they are men, which both contriude, and should haue executed: Haue you, (quoth I) heard any of their names—their names (replied he) why: I am of familiar acquaintāce with them all, he that should haue executed, and was like wise a contriuer, was one Guy do Faulkes.
The especial Plotte-layer, was Thomas Piercy, Robert Catesby, the two VVinters, John VVright, Christopher VVright, and diuers others: truely (aunswered I) you doe but delude me, for these fellowes, were of such vnder qualitie, and so farre from hope of aduancement, by the subuersion of the common-wealth, that except all gentrie should be rooted out, and nothing left but their families: I see not which way they should haue raisde their fortunes one steppe higher: as for Faukes I neuer hearde his name before.
The trial of the eight living conspirators on January 27 gave further notoriety for the man now usually referred to as Guy Fawkes. The official record of the trial, more than 11,000 words long, exclusively used that form of the name and that spelling. It began in the heading:
XIX. The Trials of Robert Winter, Thomas Winter, Guy Fawkes, John Grant, Ambrose Rookwood, Robert Keyes, Thomas Bates, and Sir Everard Digby, at Westminster for High-Treason, being Conspirators in the Gunpowder-Plot. 27 Jan. 1605. 3 Jac. l.
And continued in the full list of conspirators, repeated again and again, in the indictment:
Guy Fawkes Gent. otherwise called Guy Johnson . . .
. . . the said Henry Garnet, Oswald Tesmond, John Gerrard, and other Jesuits, did maliciously, falsly, and traitorously move and persuade as well the said Thomas Winter, Guy Fawkes, Robert Keyes, and Thomas Bates, as the said Robert Catesby, Thomas Percy, John Wright, Christopher Wright, and Francis Tresham. . . . To which traitorous Persuasions, the said Thomas Winter, Guy Fawkes, Robert Keyes, Thomas Bates, Robert Catesby, Thomas Percy, John Wright, Christopher Wright, and Francis Tresham, traitorously did yield their Assents: And that thereupon the said Henry Garnet, Oswald Tesmond, John Gerrard, and divers other Jesuits; Thomas Winter, Guy Fawkes, Robert Keyes, and Thomas Bates, as also the said Robert Catesby, . . . traitorously amongst themselves did conclude and agree, with Gunpowder, as it were with one Blast, suddenly, traitorously and barbarously to blow up and tear in pieces our said Sovereign Lord the King. . . .
. . . the said Guy Fawkes, afterwards, . . . traitorously had prepared, and had upon his Person Touchwood and Match, therewith traitorously to give fire to the several Barrels, Hogsheads, and Quantities of Gunpowder aforesaid, at the time appointed for the Execution of the said horrible Treasons.
All told, this record used Guy Fawkes 21 times, plain Fawkes another 14 times, but no Guidos. Guy was becoming well known.
It was no surprise that the jury found all the defendants guilty. King James graciously gave them only “an ordinary Punishment, much inferior to their offence,” since they “exceeded all others their Predecessors in Mischief, and so Crescente Malitia, crescere debuit & Pæna.” Ordinary punishment for traitors was to be hanged, drawn, and quartered, and so they were on January 30 and 31. The last to be put to death was Fawkes, who managed to die from hanging, his neck broken, so he was not conscious for the rest of the indignities to his body.
If John Johnson really had been his name, or if he managed to keep that alias through all the interrogations that soon followed, instead of “you guys” we might nowadays be saying “you johns.”
Not!
The other names wouldn’t have served to develop into 21st-century pronouns—John too common, Guido too foreign and esoteric. But Guy—that’s a plain guy well suited for commando duty in the structure of English. He successfully infiltrated the English language even as he didn’t manage to successfully command the cellar under the House of Lords.