Guy Fawkes: The back story
The article on Guido (Guy) Fawkes [“England’s Dark Intrigue,” Nov. 2] was highly pro-Catholic and lacked historical perspective.
Numerous Roman Catholic monarchs allied with Spain and France, having sworn an oath of fealty to the Vatican, were involved in slaughtering thousands of Protestants in Britain, removing many from jobs, denying their rights and proclaiming the Catholic religion as the only true faith. That, coupled with more than 500 years of Catholic inquisition in Europe and the slaughter of the Huguenots, prompted a backlash from the British public.
The Britons rebelled against Spain and France during Elizabeth’s fights with the Continent because they were openly aided by Irish and English Catholics of high rank. All this occurred because of the horrible Scot who became king: James I, a bigot, a thug and a man who thought he alone controlled the people, including the religions of all.
Discrimination against the Protestant Puritans drove them over to this country, and some of them allied with the Gunpowder plotters to blow up James and Parliament -- not without cause.
L. Henderson Moran
Torrance
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