Podcasts History In Our Time: History Titus Oates and his 'Popish Plot'

Titus Oates and his 'Popish Plot'

Published: May 12, 2016, 10:18 a.m.

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Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Titus Oates (1649-1705) who, with Israel Tonge, spread rumours of a Catholic plot to assassinate Charles II. From 1678, they went to great lengths to support their scheme, forging evidence and identifying the supposed conspirators. Fearing a second Gunpowder Plot, Oates' supposed revelations caused uproar in London and across the British Isles, with many Catholics, particularly Jesuit priests, wrongly implicated by Oates and then executed. Anyone who doubted him had to keep quiet, to avoid being suspected a sympathiser and thrown in prison. Oates was eventually exposed, put on trial under James II and sentenced by Judge Jeffreys to public whipping through the streets of London, but the question remained: why was this rogue, who had faced perjury charges before, ever believed?

With

Clare Jackson\\nSenior Tutor and Director of Studies in History at Trinity Hall, University of Cambridge

Mark Knights\\nProfessor of History at the University of Warwick

And

Peter Hinds\\nAssociate Professor of English at Plymouth University

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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