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
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“But, when to Sin our byast Nature leans,
The careful Devil is still at hand with means;
And providently Pimps for ill desires:
The Good Old Cause, reviv’d, a Plot requires,
Plots, true or false, are necessary things,
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—John Dryden (1631–1700)