Popish Plot

The Popish Plot was a fictitious conspiracy concocted by Titus Oates that gripped Great Britain (then governed by the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland) in Anti-Catholic hysteria between 1678 and 1681. Oates alleged that there existed an extensive Catholic conspiracy to assassinate Charles II, accusations that led to the execution of at least 15 men and precipitated the Exclusion Bill Crisis. Eventually Oates' intricate web of accusations fell apart, leading to his arrest and conviction for perjury.

Read more about Popish Plot:  Background, Plot, Godfrey Murder, Trial of The Five Catholic Lords, Other Accusations, Long-term Effects of The Plot, Gallery of Playing Cards

Famous quotes containing the word plot:

    Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot.
    Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)