Hoax: The Popish Plot that Never Was

The extraordinary story of the Popish Plot and how it shaped the political and religious future of Britain

“Stater tells a complex and convoluted story with absolute clarity. . . . As a work of historical scholarship, Hoax is terrific.”—Robert G. Ingram, National Review

“[Stater’s] accounts have the compulsively fascinating quality of a true-crime podcast.”—Jeffrey Collins, Wall Street Journal

In 1678, a handful of perjurers claimed that the Catholics of England planned to assassinate the king. Men like the “Reverend Doctor” Titus Oates and “Captain” William Bedloe parlayed their fantastical tales of Irish ruffians, medical poisoners, and silver bullets into public adulation and government pensions. Their political allies used the fabricated plot as a tool to undermine the ministry of Thomas Lord Danby and replace him themselves. The result was the trial and execution of over a dozen innocent Catholics, and the imprisonment of many more, some of whom died in custody.

Victor Stater examines the Popish Plot in full, arguing that it had a profound and lasting significance on British politics. He shows how Charles II emerged from the crisis with credit, moderating the tempers of the time, and how, as the catalyst for the later attempt to deny James II his throne through parliamentary action, it led to the birth of two-party politics in England.
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