Popish Plot Popish Plot The Popish Plot was a fictitious conspiracy concocted by Titus Oates that between 1678 and 1681 gripped the Kingdoms of England and Scotland in anti-Catholic hysteria. Oates alleged that there was an extensive Catholic conspiracy to assassinate Charles II, accusations that led to the executions of at least 22 men and precipitated the Exclusion Bill Crisis. Eventually Oates's intricate web of accusations fell apart, leading to his arrest and conviction for perjury. The fictitious Popish Plot must be understood against the background of the English Reformation and the subsequent development of a strong anti-Catholic sentiment among the mostly
Southampton Plot in Shakespeare's "Henry V", in which it is portrayed as a French-financed betrayal of the king to stop Henry's invasion plans. It is also portrayed in the anonymous play, "The History of Sir John Oldcastle" (c.1600) and in William Kenrick's "Falstaff's Wedding" (1760). Southampton Plot The Southampton Plot of 1415 was a conspiracy to replace King Henry V with Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March. Mortimer was the great-grandson of Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence, second surviving son of King Edward III, and his claim to the throne was thus superior to that of Henry V and his