Hoax

The Popish Plot that Never Was

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Pub Date 26 Jul 2022 | Archive Date 14 Feb 2023
Yale University Press, London | Yale University Press

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Description

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.
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...

Advance Praise

“An extraordinary story of vicious lies manipulated by desperate politicians into a frenzy of disinformation. Stater tells it with verve and a magnificently tight narrative control. It led to more than thirty innocent Catholics being tortured to death. Few conspiracy stories have been quite so lethal.”—Professor John Morrill FBA, Selwyn College, Cambridge

“A fascinating study. As well as describing the progress of the ‘plot’, and the investigation into it, blow by blow, Stater gives us a many-sided picture of seventeenth century London. For anyone with an interest in seventeenth century history – this book is unmissable. Let Hoax be a lesson to us!”—Liza Picard, author of Elizabeth's London


“An extraordinary story of vicious lies manipulated by desperate politicians into a frenzy of disinformation. Stater tells it with verve and a magnificently tight narrative control. It led to more...


Available Editions

EDITION Other Format
ISBN 9780300123807
PRICE US$35.00 (USD)
PAGES 336

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