OOP - Thoughts on the Order/Lucius as MoM/Gunpowder Plot

[Kirstini]

No: HPFGUIDX 60743

WARNING: LONG POST!
Just found this, from a Scholastic chat transcript, 6th October 2000 
It's JKR answering the question "What is Bonfire Night?":

"Good question! We celebrate November 5th in Britain every year. 
There was a plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament. The ringleader 
of the plot was called Guy Fawkes (spot any Harry Potter 
connection?!), and we burn him in effigy and set off fireworks to 
celebrate not losing our government."

Now this rather leads me to believe that the Order of the Phoenix is 
a new group set up around Fawkes for the specific purpose of 
overthrowing the government. I'm going to try and draw a potential 
OOP plotline from the events of 5th November. I *know* that everyone 
is sick of these analogy things, but this isn't just one of your 
tenuous Running Weasel schemes. Bonfire Night, as JKR says, is a 
massive institution in Britain. Children learn about it in school - 
it tends to be most people's introduction to history.  I'm not 
trying to say that OOP is essentially a rewriting of the Gunpowder 
Plot, rather offering it as one of many potential models. And there 
are some rather striking similarities. 

I'm proposing a scenario, much discussed recently, where Lucius 
Malfoy has deposed Fudge to become Minister of Magic. The analogies 
I can draw from this particular history make me almost sure that 
this is going to happen, and going to happen in OOP.
 First of all, some more facts about the Gunpowder Plot (taken from 
The Guy Fawkes Gunpowder Plot Pages, at 
http://www.bcpl.net/~cbladey/guy/html/main1.html#History  - please 
note, this is a very badly organised site, and the spelling and 
grammar in quotes is theirs, not mine. Therefore I'm not sure how 
reliable the details of this information are. I do know that it all 
more or less fits in with what I was taught at school, however, and 
they do seem to have done their research.)

"In 1604 three men, Robert Catesby (age 31), and  Thomas Winter (age 
32), and John Wright,(age 37)  met at the request of Robert Catesby 
at his house in Lambeth to discuss possible solutions to the 
limitation and qualification of the rights of Catholics which James 
I had re-imposed in February 1604  in response to activities against 
the state organized by Catholics. There was  very real evidence 
which linked the community of  English Catholic radicals to foreign 
Catholic states which were dedicated to the defeat of England and or 
the furtherance of the Counter Reformation....In general, within 
popular opinion,  there  was a broad political awareness that 
Catholics could not be trusted and were dangerous. By and large, 
however the Catholic community was not politically radical."

Now, if we substitute "Catholic" for "Muggle", this all fits in 
rather well with the immediate anti-prejudice theme of the series. A 
secret group working against a government which stigmatises a 
minority group, nay, even "organises activities against them"? Well, 
I know we've been told that Fudge is fairly into blood purity 
himself, but actually organising anti-Muggle activity? That's DE 
work. 
I remember being told in history class once that the houses of 
Catholics and those who were hiding Catholics were ransacked and 
raised to the ground: Arthur Weasley on the Dark Mark, anyone? Many 
old houses in Britain still have hidden staircases and chambers 
built specifically for hiding priests. Traquair House near 
Inverkeithing comes to mind immediately. I felt there were useful 
areas of overlap here with many of the secret chambers and rooms at 
Hogwarts. Then there's that area Harry's never been to before.
On to the characters involved. For the purposes of this analogy, I'm 
going to read Lucius Malfoy as Minister of Magic, linked to James 
I/VI (he was the first James of England, the sixth of Scotland), who 
was King and head of parliament at the time of the plot, and 
therefore
 Anyway, more from my illiterate historians:
"Robert Catesby: 31 years old. Robert Catesby came from an old 
midlands family. His ancestors had been famous as politicians. Due 
to his father's strong Catholic loyalties the family suffered 
greatly.Catesby possessed a wild and reckless nature and was a 
popular man. He was known as a good swordsman and was a part of 
elite court circles. Father Tesimond described him as being over six 
feet tall with noble and expressive countenance and manners and with 
an impressive dignity. He traveled the countryside as did many 
Catholics protecting priests as they traveled from safe house to 
safe house. Catesby's house in Lambeth was first headquarters of the 
plot and was used for the initial storage of powder. He was the 
originator of plot"
"Wild and reckless nature"? "Popular" - Sirius? Although the bit 
about the house leads me to identify him with Lupin, as in "lie low 
at Lupin's for a while". And could the house of the audio clip be 
described as the first headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix? 
That's what many of the people on this list seem to think.

"Thomas Percy: 44 years old. He received James I's promise of 
toleration-later to be broken. He was a Catholic with court contacts 
through his cousin, the Earl of Northumberland. Northumberland used 
Thomas Percy as a messenger to assist James I in his communications 
with the court in London prior to the death of Elizabeth I. He was 
described as: "a tall gent". Thomas Percy attended Peterhouse, 
Cambridge from 1579 and may have gone to the Azores with George 
Clifford in 1589. From 1595 he served as estate officer for 
Northumberland. A fervent Catholic Percy hated Scots and all things 
Scottish. He was experienced in violent political actions in and 
around the wild border areas of the Western March. Percy was married 
to John(Jack) and Christopher (Kit) Wright's sister. Because of his 
court contacts, it is he that rents house for tunnel."

Messenger? Working for both teams? Hatred? (It should be noted here 
that being a fervent Catholic does not automatically involve hatred 
of Scottishness) I'm reading this chap as a Snape-figure, 
where "court" becomes "government under Minister Malfoy". Toleration 
which was later to be broken? I wonder if Draco will be quite so 
well behaved in 5th year Potions after Daddy tells him who wasn't 
present at the last DeathEatersReunited meeting? 

"Father Henry Garnett
After only a few years service he was promoted 
following the imprisonment of the Superior of the Jesuits. As 
Superior Garnett worked politically to extend tolerance
 Garnett was 
also visited by Robert Catesby concerning issues of conscience 
relating to murder. This consultation encouraged Catesby to 
undertake the plot. During Garnet's execution blood spattered from 
his wounds onto a grain of wheat painting his image."
Lovely. Not much of this is relevant. I was struck by the notion of 
Dumbledore as father-confessor, a role both Harry and Lupin place 
him in implicitly, whether they confess or feel guilty about having 
not confessed. I also picked up on "As Superior Garnett, worked 
politically to extend tolerance" (couldn't resist putting the comma 
in ;p) - this could equally be applied to Arthur Weasley.

Onwards:  
"Thomas Winter: 34 years old. A young man of considerable ability 
and great courage- A Catholic and cousin of Catesby he goes to visit 
Constable of Castile to ask that James I be pressured to end 
persecution. Thomas Winter took part in Essex's rising and was 
closely tied to Mounteagle having served as his secretary. He 
locates Guy Fawkes and returns with him to England.  

John Winter: 36 years old. He was Thomas Winter's younger  half-
brother. Thomas Winter's older brother was Robert A Catholic, he was 
educated could not take degree because of religious persecution. 
Both he and his brother were impoverished by reason of persecution. 
They were cousins of Robert Catesby. Robert,Thomas and John were all 
executed for their roles in the Gunpowder Plot. "

Oh, those poor boys. Considerable ability, great courage, and yet 
couldn't complete their education because of persecution. 
Impoverished because of persecution. Evening Rubeus, Remus. Nice to 
have you on board. And who was this Mounteagle to whom Thomas Winter 
was once closely tied, I hear you yawn...

Oh, you mean..."William Parker, Fourth Lord Mounteagle: It was he 
that received letter which exposed plot. As a member of the House of 
Lords, he was secretly a friend of James I and Robert Cecil. He was 
Catholic but converted to Protestantism. He had taken part in the 
Essex Rebellion and was related to most of the conspirators. His 
main home was Great Hallingbury, near Bishop Stortford in Essex.  He 
did take part in the Essex rebellion. Parker extended his assistance 
to Catesby to fund travel of his representatives to Spain. Parker 
was a close friend of Catesby and was present during key meetings 
related to the plot although he never became a plotter. Parker owed 
his power and prosperity to James who had promoted him at court. 
Mounteagle went with Thomas Howard on the investegation which 
discovered the gunpowder. Some believe that Parker served as a 
government spy following his confession and pardon for his role in 
the Essex rebellion."
Close friend of Catesby (that was Sirius. Aren't you people paying 
any attention?), who was secretly working for the other side. That 
would be Wormtail, than. Mounteagle was the one who eventually 
betrayed them all. I do wonder about that silver hand.

Here's Guy Fawkes himself. Not, as is commonly believed, the 
originator of the plot, rather, someone drafted in to put it into 
action. 
"Guy Fawkes:  a.k.a. Percy's man. 34 years old
. By the time he was 
21 Guy had sold his inheritance and had joined the Catholic forces 
fighting in the Low Countries. For twelve years he served as a 
military man in the Netherlands
. Fawkes was captured at around 
midnight Nov.4 and was brought before the privy council on Nov.5. On 
November 7, after several sessions of torture, Fawkes admitted that 
the conspirators had planned to free Sir Walter Raleigh and other 
Tower Prisoners. Fawkes then said, " yt was past,and he is nowe 
sorry fo yt, for that he nowe perceyveth that God did not concur 
with yet." Fawkes did not reveal the identity of the other 
conspirators until severely tortured on Nov.9 but only after he was 
told that some had been arrested. He was executed on January 31, 
1606. To this day Guy is remembered for his bravery on November 5."

Having trouble analogising this one at present, it has to be said. 
There's potential here for another version of [a dead] Hagrid. Of 
course, there is Fawkes himself, who does burn sometime in November 
in CoS. 
Of course, those pesky names do prove problematic, what with Jameses 
and Percies popping up in all the wrong places. Well, how about I 
chuck this one in as well - 
"Ambrose Rookwood: 26 years old. Rookwood came from an old recusant 
family of Coldham Hall, Stanningfield, Suffolk. He was around 26, 
well-built,handsome though somewhat short, well lettered and genial- 
his clothing- a bit wild. Rookwood carried a special sword with its 
hilt engraved with the passion of christ which he seems to have 
specifically commissioned for the plot. Ambrose Rookwood a reluctant 
plotter convinced only by Catesby's logic of the religious 
justification for the murder of innocents paid dearly for his role."

Yes, that's Rookwood. Not a common name, really. I can't draw any 
links, beyond speculating that we could see a kind of Reverse Crouch 
(the DE Rookwood was described as "old") where a son betrays his 
father. I'm wondering about that specially engraved sword as well, 
as Godric's sword appeared with Fawkes in CoS (which is after all, 
more pivotal than any of us suspected, remember?). 

There you go. No real conclusions drawn. I just wanted to highlight 
the fact that the Order of (Fawkes) the Phoenix, if a group, would 
only be working against the government so directly and violently if 
Fudge had been deposed, and by Lucius (incidentally, King James's 
oldest son and the heir apparent to the throne was also a target of 
the plotters. He eventually died aged eighteen) and I thought the 
prejudice theme was rather interesting. One of the things I love 
about this series is that there's such a patchwork of myths and 
histories invoked anyway, and you can always pitch in some more of 
your own to infuse the muddle. I'll have two measures of Gunpowder 
Plot mixed in with a shot of "Pope Lucius succeeded Pope Cornelius", 
today, thank you very much. Besides, Gunpowder Plots are very Bangy.
Kirstin     
Remember, remember 
The Fifth of November
Gunpowder, Treason and Plot
I see no reason why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot
(as every British child is forced to sing. And nobody ever lets you 
touch anything more than a paltry sparkler. Bah)