Titus
Oates was born in 1649. His
father was a Anabaptist preacher
who had been a New
Model Army chaplain during the Civil
War. Educated at Caius College,
Cambridge, he became an Anglican
minister but was dismissed after being charged with "drunken
blasphemy". He then became a chaplain on a ship but was dismissed
for committing an homosexual act.
In 1678 Titus Oates announced
that he had discovered a Catholic plot to kill Charles
II. Oates claimed that Charles
was to be replaced by his Roman Catholic
brother, James.
He went on to argue that after James came to the throne Protestants
would be massacred in their thousands.
Titus Oates accused James
I's secretary, Edward Coleman, of being involved in the Popish
Plot. This picture of Coleman appeared on the songsheet, The Plotter
Executed (1678)
This announcement made
Catholics more unpopular than ever, and eighty of them were arrested
and accused of taking part in the plot. Several were executed, including
Oliver Plunkett, the Archbishop of Armagh, before it was revealed
that Titus Oates had been lying.
In 1683 Oates was imprisoned
and fined £100,000 for calling James,
Duke of York a traitor. In May 1685 Oates was found guilty of perjury
he was pilloried, whipped and imprisoned for life.
Oates was released from
prison in December, 1688, as a result of the Glorious
Revolution. Titus Oates died in 1705.
Titus Oates in the pillory
(1685)
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