The Popish Plot was a fictitious conspiracy invented by Titus Oates that between 1678 and 1681 gripped the kingdoms of England and Scotland in anti-Catholic hysteria. [ 1 ] Oates alleged that there was an extensive Catholic conspiracy to assassinate Charles II , accusations that led to the show trials and executions of at least 22 men and precipitated the Exclusion Bill Crisis . During this tumultuous period, Oates wove an intricate web of accusations, fuelling public fears and paranoia. However, as time went on, the lack of substantial evidence and inconsistencies in Oates's testimony began to unravel the plot. Eventually, Oates himself was arrested and convicted for perjury , exposing the fabricated nature of the conspiracy.
The fictitious Popish Plot must be understood against the background of the English Reformation and the subsequent development of a strong anti-Catholic nationalist sentiment among the mostly Protestant population of England.
The English Reformation began in 1533, when King Henry VIII (1509–1547) sought an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon to marry Anne Boleyn . As the Pope would not grant this, Henry broke away from Rome and took control of the Church in England . Later, he had the monasteries dissolved, causing opposition in the still largely Catholic nation. Under Henry's son Edward VI (1547–1553), the Church of England was transformed into a strictly Protestant body, with many remnants of Catholicism suppressed. Edward was succeeded by his half-sister Mary I of England (1553–1558), daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine. She was a Catholic and returned the Church in England to union with the Holy See . Mary tainted her policy with two unpopular actions: she married her cousin, King Philip II of Spain , where the Inquisition continued, and had 300 Protestants burned at the stake, causing many Englishmen to associate Catholicism with the involvement of foreign powers and religious persecution.
Mary was succeeded by her Protestant half-sister, Elizabeth I (1558–1603), who again broke away from Rome and suppressed Catholicism. Elizabeth and later Protestant monarchs caused hundreds of Catholic priests and laymen to be hanged and mutilated. This, and her dubious legitimacy – she was the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn – led to Catholic powers not recognising her as queen and favouring her next relative, the Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots . Elizabeth's reign saw Catholic rebellions like the Rising of the North (1569) as well as intrigues like the Ridolfi Plot (1571) and the Babington Plot (1586), both intending to kill Elizabeth and replace her with Mary under a Spanish invasion. Three popes issued bulls judging Elizabeth, giving grounds to suspect English Catholics' loyalty. Following the Babington Plot, Mary was beheaded in 1587. This – and Elizabeth's support of the Dutch Revolt in the Spanish Netherlands – triggered Philip II of Spain's attempted invasion with the Spanish Armada (1588). This reinforced English resentment of Catholics, while the Armada's failure convinced many Englishmen that God was on the Protestant side.
Anti-Catholic sentiment reached new heights in 1605 after the failed Gunpowder Plot . Catholic conspirators attempted to topple the Protestant reign of King James I by exploding a bomb during the King's opening of parliament. The plot was thwarted when Guy Fawkes , who was in charge of the explosives, was discovered the night before. The magnitude of the plot, meant to kill the leading government figures in one stroke, convinced many Englishmen that Catholics were murderous conspirators who would stop at nothing to have their way, laying the groundwork for future allegations.
Anti-Catholic sentiment was a constant factor in how England perceived the events of the following decades: the Thirty Years War (1618–1648) was seen as an attempt by the Catholic Habsburgs to exterminate German Protestantism. Under the early Stuart Kings, fears of Catholic conspiracies were rampant and the policies of Charles I – especially his church policies, which had a decidedly high church bent – were seen as pro-Catholic and likely induced by a Catholic conspiracy headed by Charles' Catholic queen, Henrietta Maria of France . This, together with accounts of Catholic atrocities in Ireland in 1641, helped trigger the English Civil War (1642–1649), which led to the abolition of the monarchy and a decade of Puritan rule tolerating most forms of Protestantism, but not Catholicism. The restoration of the monarchy in 1660 under King Charles II brought a reaction against all religious dissenters outside the established Church of England. Catholics still suffered under popular hostility and legal discrimination.