The Popish Plot

&
The Exclusion Crisis

Popish-plot playing cards, 1679

The British Museum
Conflicts in the Reign of Charles II:
• The conflicts that troubled the
reign of the Stuart monarchs in
first half of century, re-enacted:
The question of religious
consent
Balance of power between
king and parliament
• 1660, Declaration of Breda:
Charles promises toleration to
dissenters/non-conformists
• 1661: ‘Cavalier’ Parliament
passes legislation to ensure
conformity to the Anglican
Church
Charles II, c. 1665 (unknown artist)
National Portrait Gallery, London
The ‘Clarendon Code’ (1661-65):
• Corporation Act (1661): required all
municipal officials to take Anglican
communion
• Act of Uniformity (1662): the Book of
Common Prayer was restored and made
compulsory in religious service
• Coventicle Act (1664): forbade meetings
for prayer/worship of more than 5
people who were not members of the
same household
• Five-Mile Act (1665): non-conformist
ministers were forbidden from coming
within 5 miles of the place where they
had had their church

Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon.

By David Loggan, 1666
National Portrait Gallery, London
 The Catholic (phantom?) menace:
• King & royal family: suspected of being
Catholics or sympathising
• 1670: Treaty of Dover:
alliance between France & England
to make war against the Dutch
Charles agreed to support French
claims to the Spanish succession
• Secret clause: Charles would declare
himself a Catholic & endeavour to
bring the country back to Catholicism
• Louis XIV promised a yearly subsidy
and the support of French troops in Henrietta-Anne, Duchess of Orleans
case of rebellion By Samuel Cooper, c.1661
Victoria & Albert Museum
Dutch War:
• 1672: April 6, Louis declares war
on the Dutch; Charles the next
day, 27 March (OS)
• The war is deeply unpopular in
England
• 1672: Charles issues a
Declaration of Indulgence,
suspending penal laws against
non-conformists & relaxing
laws against Catholics

The Battle of the Texel (11-21 August 1673). By Willem van de Velde, the Younger, 1687
National Maritime Museum, Greenwich
Test Act (1673):
• Parliament responded to the
Declaration passing the Test
Act
• Test Act: required all office-
holders under the crown to
take the Anglican sacrament
and make a declaration against
transubstantiation
• The Duke of York (the King’s
brother) was forced to resign
as Lord Admiral
• 1673 he also remarries; his
choice of a Catholic princess,
Mary of Modena, unpopular
James, Duke of York. By Sir Peter Lely, 1661
Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh
Increasing opposition:
• growing discontent with
royal policy
• Strong campaing in the
press (pamphlets & gazettes)
• The coffee-houses become an
important focus of political
discussion

English coffee-house, c.1650-1750

The British Museum
Faction politics:
• Emergence of two opposing
political factions in parliament:
‘country’: mostly country
landowners; staunchly
protestant, defend the
preeminence of parliament
‘court’: royalist; defend the
king’s prerogative
• These two political factions
would eventually evolve into
the germ of the party system:
Whigs vs Tories
The Popish Plot (1678):
• Catholic conspiracy to assassinate
King Charles and replace him with
his brother James
• Sept. 1678: The plot ‘discovered’ by
Titus Oates in a series of depositions
before Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey
(London magistrate)
• Oates implicated Catholic noblemen,
the Queen (the Queen’s physician),
& the Duke of York
• The king originally gave no credence Popish-plot tile, c.1679-80
to the plot, though his ministers Victoria & Albert Museum
recommended that he open an
investigation
The Popish-Plot (II):
• 12 Oct 1678: Godfrey disappeared;
five days later he was found dead in a
ditch, run through with his own
sword & strangled
• News of the murder unleashed a
strong wave of anti-Catholic paranoia
• 25 Oct: the Catholic lords accused by
Oates were arrested & sent to the
Tower.
• As a result of these accusations 35
people were executed
• 1685: Oates was condemned for
perjury & all his accusations proved
false
Popish-plot playing cards, 1679
The British Museum
The Exclusion Crisis (1679-81):
• ‘Country’ faction in
Parliament took advantage of
the anti-Catholic hysteria to
promote the exclusion of the
Duke of York from the
succession to the crown
• They intended to replace him
with the king’s eldest
illegitimate son, the Duke of
Monmouth
• 1679: Parliament introduced
the first Exclusion Bill

James Scott, Duke of Monmouth.

Studio of Sir Godfrey Kneller, c.1678
National Portrait Gallery
The Exclusion Parliaments:
• Jan 1679: Charles II summons a
new parliament
• In the context of the Popish-Plot
paranoia, the parliament
returned was strongly anti-
Catholic, not very favourable to
Charles, and markedly hostile to
James
• investigated the Popish Plot &
discussed measures to protect the
king from Catholic attempts
against his life Engraving from Historical collections, or, A brief account
of the most remarkable transactions of the two last Parliaments,
1682
Parliamentary debates (1679):
• most members agreed that the fact that the Duke of York was
an avowed Catholic had given encouragement to the
conspirators (& would easily do so again) & that, therefore,
something had to be done
Lord Russell: If we do not something relating to the Succession, we
must resolve, when we have a Prince of the Popish Religion, to be
Papists, or burn. And I will do neither. We see now, by what is done
under a Protestant Prince, what will be done under a Popish. This is
the deciding day betwixt both Religions. I am transported, I confess,
both with spiritual and temporal concerns. I have Abbey Lands, but I
protest before God and man, I could not be more against Popery than
I am, had I none. I despise such a ridiculous and nonsensical
Religion—A piece of wafer, broken betwixt a Priest's fingers, to be our
Saviour! And what becomes of it when eaten, and taken down, you
know. . . . Therefore I desire, “That a Committee may be appointed to
draw up a Bill to secure our Religion and Properties in case of a Popish
Successor”.
(Grey’s Debates, 27 March 1679)
Parliamentary debates, 1679 (II):
• The debates also pointed to Catholicism as the root of all evils:
Sir Henry Capel: . . . This Session of Parliament must quiet the minds
of the people, as to their fears of Popery and the Succession, &c. or
never. In Queen Elizabeth's time there were conspiracies against her,
when Mary Queen of Scots was taken off. In King James's time, the
Gunpowder-Treason. In the last King's time, a horrid Rebellion, that
ended in his murder; but here the Crown is under such a character as
is more dangerous than all those; and from Popery came the notion of
a standing Army and arbitrary power. . . . Formerly the Crown of
Spain, and now France, supports this root of Popery amongst us; but
lay Popery flat, and there's an end of arbitrary Government and Power.
It is a mere chimaera, or notion, without Popery.
(Grey’s Debates, 27 March 1679)
The First Exclusion Bill:
• Introduced by William, Lord Russell, 15
May 1679
• it proposed that the succession proceed “in
the same manner as if the Duke was dead”
• next in line was James’ daughter, Princess
Mary (married to William of Orange), but
soon some groups began to support the
claim of the Duke of Monmouth
• opposition to the Duke began to rally
around the Earl of Shaftesbury, who
became Monmouth’s strongest supporter
• Since debates showed that the Bill might
William, Lord Russell,
Attr. to Thomas Flatman, c. 1675
be passed, Charles decided to prorogue (27
National Portrait Gallery, London May) and then dissolve Parliament (12 July)
2nd Exclusion Parliament (1679-81):
• new parliament elected in October, 1679;
but immediately prorogued.
• 7 Dec: Shaftesbury & 15 other peers sign a
petition asking Charles to convene
Parliament
• 13 Jan 1680: Shaftesbury and his faction
present another petition, signed by 20000
people (the Westminster or ‘monster’
petition)
• ‘Country’ faction called ‘petitioners’ or
‘Whigs’ (from pejorative term Whiggamore,
used for Scottish rebels in 1648)
• Whig propaganda campaigns attempt to fuel
anti-Catholic feeling organizing Pope-
Burning processions
• Parliament finally convenes in Oct 1680
• In November, the Exclusion Bill is presented
again; the bill passes in the Commons but is
blocked by the Lords Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury
• Jan 1681: Charles dissolves parliament again after John Greenhill, c. 1673.
National Portrait Gallery
The Pope-Burning Procession, 1679
The Pope-Burning Procession, 1679
The Oxford Parliament (1681):
• Next Parliament was summoned at • It opened March 21, 1681. Charles
Oxford, to escape the pressure of dissolved it on March 28.
the London crowds (agitated by • He would not summon more
the Whigs) Parliaments

S. College. A Ra-ree Show (1681)