As the embers of Halloween die away, we turn our attentions very happily to Bonfire Night! We’ve come up with a recipe for Quinn’s Popping Candy Toffee Apples over on the blog to make sure your Bonfire Night goes off with a bang! Go and check it out now at quinnthefox.com/blog.
Letter sent to William Parker, 4th Baron Monteagle, warning him to stay away from parliament on the day of the Gunpowder Plot.
“My lord, out of the love I have for some of your friends, I want to make sure you are safe. Because of this I would advise you to not attend this sitting of parliament because God and man have agreed to punish the wickedness of this time. Do not think this is a joke, go to your estate in the country where you will be safe, because although there is no sign of any problem yet, this parliament will receive a terrible blow, but they will not see who it is that hurts them. This advice should not be ignored as it may do you some good, and it can do you no harm because the danger will have passed as soon as you have burned this letter. I hope God grants you the grace to make good use of it, and that he protects you.”
“Remember, remember the fifth of November…“Guy Fawkes is said to have been carrying this iron lantern when he was arrested in the cellars underneath the Houses of Parliament on the night of 4–5 November 1605. Fawkes and his conspirators planned to ignite barrels of gunpowder concealed under firewood in the cellar during the state opening of Parliament, with the aim of blowing up the chamber and killing the Protestant King James I. Thanks to an anonymous warning, the cellars were searched, Fawkes was discovered and the plot failed.
Celebrating the fact that King James I had survived the attempt on his life, people lit bonfires around London, and later the introduction of the Observance of 5th November Act enforced an annual public day of thanksgiving for the plot’s failure.
Gifted to the University by Robert Heywood in 1641, the lantern joined the Ashmolean collection over two hundred years later in 1887. Guy Fawkes’ lantern is currently on display in our Ashmolean Story gallery on our lower ground floor.
seeing as it’s bonfire night i just thought i’d come n say to my fellow autistic people/people who have ptsd who are also uk inhabitants (or anyone else that finds today difficult) that it’s ok. you’re safe n nothing will hurt you. it’ll pass soon
get yourself a drink n some comfort food n maybe lie in bed or go watch your favourite movie or tv show or put some music on loud! whatever will help you feel safe. you can tell me about it all in the replies if you want to, i’d love to hear about it :D
i’m currently sat in bed under a weighted blanket with some comfort items, watching buzzfeed unsolved with noise cancelling headphones n i will admit that i’m really not having the best time but that’s ok! it’s completely understandable to be struggling, especially today
today is really difficult but it will pass n it’ll be ok. i’m here for you if you need any help or distractions <3
(for context for anyone who has no clue what i’m on about, every 5th of november in the uk - or definitely england anyway - we have this thing called bonfire night. it’s basically celebrating the foiling of the gunpowder plot which was a plot to kill king james in 1605 by blowing up the houses of parliament whilst he was there. to celebrate, people have bonfires where they burn a “guy” which is like a mock-up of the ringleader, guy fawkes, n set off a fuck ton of fireworks. i get why people celebrate cos it’s fun but so many people can’t handle it, pets have a really bad time, it’s bad for the environment: there’s a lot against it. but anyway i know a lot of people have a bad time on this day so i thought i’d let people know that it’s ok)
