‽istis remembers, remembers… (weekending November 5th
2022)
As the week draws to a close on ‘Bonfire Night’ in the UK, ‽istis
ponders just what it may be that children in this part of the world are
exhorted to ‘remember, remember’[i] –
and whether there is ‘no reason why the Gunpowder treason should ever be
forgot’?
Are we remembering, remembering:
·
the plot: ‘to blow the King and Parliament All up
alive’?
·
the specifics: ‘threescore barrels (of gunpowder),
laid below’ (Parliament)?
·
the seeming lax security or inside information that
enabled them to be placed below?
· the underlying aim: ‘to prove old England’s
overthrow’?
·
the plans: for what a ‘new’ England might look like –
or might it be back to an ‘older’ England?
·
the warning to Lord Monteagle[ii]: ‘I would advise you as
you tender your life to devise some excuse to shift your attendance at this
Parliament…’
·
the ‘caught in the act’[iii]: in the nick of time as
the match was being lit?
·
the torture[iv]: of Guy Fawkes and others
– personally authorised by the King ‘If he will not other wayes confesse, the gentler tortours
are to be the first usid unto him…God speed youre goode worke. James.'[v]?
·
the brutality: of the
captured plotters’ punishment: hung, drawn and quartered[vi] (description)?
·
the ignominy: of being a
plotter not now remembered, remembered or commemorated in rhyme or with a
lapsed Act of Parliament bearing their name[vii]?
·
the underlying politico-religious struggle: ostensibly
between ‘Protestantism’ and ‘Catholicism’ – but perhaps, possibly, maybe as
always about power, wealth and dominance?[viii]
·
the legislation: that prompted services and sermons
Commemorating the Plot through the Thanksgiving Act of 1606?
·
the liturgy: of such Church services; the messages of
the sermons?[ix]
·
the apparent aftermath?[x]
·
the roll call of effigies[xi] (largely political it
seems) burnt on community bonfires whilst fireworks provide a representative successful
explosion (relatively harmlessly – though not for lots of pets and animals), perhaps
something of an echo of the suffering plotted for the Parliamentarians and King
all those years’ ago?:
o
The Pope
o
The devil
o
David Cameron (with pig)
o
Harvey Weinstein
o
John Bercow
o
Katie Price
o
Boris Johnson
o
Alex Salmond
o
Wayne Rooney
o
Jacob Rees-Mogg
o
Theresa May
o
Lance Armstrong (with cycling helmet)
o
Vladimir Putin (with ‘mankini’)
o
Liz Truss[xii]
The events of recent months and the apparent possible ‘permacrisis’[xiii],
perhaps omnishambles, maybe psychodrama of the Tory party[xiv] suggest
that plotting is alive and well in Westminster.
© ‽istis
NB: further reflections and comments linked to this week’s theme and
past blog entries to be found on Twitter: replies, retweets (which don’t
necessarily indicate approval, sometimes the very opposite!) and ‘likes’:
@Pistis_wonders. ‘Follows’ and respectful comment and dialogue welcome...
[i] https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/remember-remember-the-fifth-of-november-the-words-to-the-gunpowder-plot-poem-and-its-meaning-explained/ar-AA13KaFa?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=cd413e46c9d9428788ea2dccaf43c92b
[ii] ‘My
Lord…I would advise you as you tender your life to devise some excuse to shift
your attendance at this Parliament for God and man hath concurred to punish the
wickedness of this time…though there be no appearance of any stir yet I say
they shall receive a terrible blow this parliament and yet they shall not see
who hurts them.’ https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/parliamentaryauthority/the-gunpowder-plot-of-1605/overview/the-plot-and-its-discovery/discovery-and-flight/
[iii]
As if these have never happened since in and around Westminster!
[iv] https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/parliamentaryauthority/the-gunpowder-plot-of-1605/overview/aftermath/toture-trial-and-execution/
[v] https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/parliamentaryauthority/the-gunpowder-plot-of-1605/overview/aftermath/toture-trial-and-execution/
[vi] "That
you be drawn on a hurdle to the place of execution where you shall be hanged by
the neck and being alive cut down, your privy members shall be cut off and your
bowels taken out and burned before you, your head severed from your body and
your body divided into four quarters to be disposed of at the King's pleasure."
https://history.howstuffworks.com/history-vs-myth/hanging-drawing-and-quartering.htm
[vii]
‘An Act for the Attainder of divers Offenders in
the late most barbarous, monstrous, detestable and damnable Treasons [Attainder
of Guy Fawkes and others]’ https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/parliamentaryauthority/the-gunpowder-plot-of-1605/collections/1605-fawkes-attainder/
https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/parliamentaryauthority/the-gunpowder-plot-of-1605/overview/people-behind-the-plot/
[viii]
https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/parliamentaryauthority/the-gunpowder-plot-of-1605/overview/aftermath/
and https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/parliamentaryauthority/the-gunpowder-plot-of-1605/overview/background-to-the-gunpowder-plot/
[ix] For
example: ‘King James I paused every Nov. 5 to hear a sermon on the subject of
deliverance.
The first such sermon was preached by Lancelot
Andrewes, Bishop of Winchester Nov. 5 1606
“this day of ours, this fifth of November, a day of
God’s making; that which was done upon it was the Lord’s doing...This day is
the scripture fulfilled in our ears.” The destroyer passed over our dwellings
this day. It is our Passover, it is our Purim.”-(Sermons Preached upon the V of
November , in Lancelot Andrewes, XCVI Sermons, 3rd. Edition (London,1635) pp.
889,890, 900-1008’ http://cbladey.com/guy/html/sermons.html
& Bishop George Carleton:
“Their hellish device was at one blow to root out
religion, to destroy the state, the father of our country, the mother of our
country, the olive branches the hopeful succession of our king,, the reverend
clergy, the honorable nobility the faithful councillors, the grave judges, the
greatest part of our knights and gentry, the choices burgesses, the officers of
the crown, couincil, signet, seals and other seats of judgment, the learned
lawyers with an infinite number of common people, the hall of justice, the
houses of parliament, the church used for the coronation of our kings, the
monuments of our former princes, all records of parliament, and of every
particular man’s right with great number of charters, and other things of this
nature, all these things had the devil by his agents devised at one secret blow
to destroy.”
A Thankful Remembrance of God’s Mercy. In an Historical
Collection of the great and mercifull Deliverances of the Church and State of
England (London, 1624)
[x]
Which the UK Parliament sums up as: ‘The discovery of the plot had a lasting
effect on the treatment of the Catholics in England…’ https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/parliamentaryauthority/the-gunpowder-plot-of-1605/overview/aftermath/
[xi] https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Previous+Bonfire+Night+effigies+burnt&form=HDRSC3&first=1&tsc=ImageHoverTitle
[xii] https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/effigy-of-ex-pm-liz-truss-to-be-burned-at-edenbridge-bonfire-society-party-on-saturday/ar-AA13ECWU
[xiv] https://londonlovesbusiness.com/starmer-warns-the-tory-psychodrama-has-spooked-the-markets-who-are-now-reacting-to-yet-more-uncertainty/
& leaked messages from Gavin Williamson (ironically a one time fireplace
salesman!) https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/rishi-sunak-had-not-seen-expletive-laden-texts-gavin-williamson-sent-to-chief-whip-minister-claims/ar-AA13NnRH?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=1187e67c4853427daa5e271e61ff89d6
