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6 September 1678
The Popish Plot is uncovered. Titus Oates (an Anglican priest with a penchant for lies and petty crime) tells a Westminster justice of the peace, Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey, of a Jesuit plot to kill Charles II and establish absolutist Catholic government under his brother James, Duke of York. In October, Godfrey's murder seems to confirm the existence of the plot, and several Catholics are executed. Gradually, however, Oates's story is revealed to be a fantasy. — • — Titus Oates was a model of turpitude, a charlatan so authentic that he could credit and remember in detail all the self-begotten lies and half-baked second-hand stories he brought forth, adding embellishments on a daily basis. From A Century of Troubles by Stevie Davies (Channel 4 Books) |
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