Popish Plot

American  

noun

1. an imaginary conspiracy against the crown of Great Britain on the part of English Roman Catholics, fabricated in 1678 by Titus Oates as a means of gaining power.

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Popish Plot British  

noun

1. a supposed conspiracy (1678) to murder Charles II of England and replace him with his Catholic brother James: in reality a fabrication by the informer Titus Oates

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Example Sentences

While “tumbling up and down in the world,” he records details about Oxford during the English Civil War, life in London at the time of the plague and after the Great Fire destroyed much of the city, the doings of the Royal Society’s natural philosophers and scientists, and the unfolding of the so-called Popish Plot to bring a Catholic to England’s throne.

From Washington Post

The country was in a ferment over the alleged discovery of the Popish Plot, and George regarded the judicial murders then perpetrated with astonished disgust.

From Project Gutenberg

The broadsheets of that year, 1678, and of the troublous years following, even until William of Orange was seated on the throne of England, in 1690, have, we may almost say, but one topic—the Popish Plot.

From Project Gutenberg

The circumstance which gave occasion for this quo warranto to be brought against the City charter, was a petition the Court of Aldermen and City made to the King, upon his prorogation of Parliament, when they were going to try several noblemen concerned in the Popish plot; but especially for their printing and publishing the petition, which was considered seditious.

From Project Gutenberg

He showed moderation in the Popish Plot, and on the question of the exclusion followed Halifax rather than Shaftesbury.

From Project Gutenberg