The Rye House Plot of 1683 was a plan to assassinate King
Charles II of EnglandCharles II was the King of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father King Charles I was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War. The English Parliament did not proclaim Charles II king at this time. Instead they passed a statute making such a...
and his brother (and heir to the throne)
James, Duke of YorkJames II & VII was King of England and Ireland as James II, and Scotland as James VII, from 6 February 1685. He was the last Catholic monarch to reign over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland...
. Historians vary in their assessment of the degree to which details of the conspiracy were finalized.
After the
RestorationThe English Restoration, often shortened to the Restoration, began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Commonwealth of England that followed the English Civil War...
of the monarchy under Charles in 1660 there was concern among some members of Parliament, former republicans and the general Protestant population of England that the King's relationship with France under
Louis XIVLouis XIV , popularly known as the Sun King , was King of France and of Navarre His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days, and is the longest documented reign of any European monarch.Louis began personally governing France after the death...
and the other
CatholicThe word Catholic is derived from the Greek adjective , meaning "universal". In the context of Christian ecclesiology, it has a rich history and several usages. For some, the term "Catholic Church" refers to the church in full communion with the Bishop of Rome, made up of the Latin Rite and the 22...
rulers of Europe was too close.
The Rye House Plot of 1683 was a plan to assassinate King
Charles II of EnglandCharles II was the King of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father King Charles I was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War. The English Parliament did not proclaim Charles II king at this time. Instead they passed a statute making such a...
and his brother (and heir to the throne)
James, Duke of YorkJames II & VII was King of England and Ireland as James II, and Scotland as James VII, from 6 February 1685. He was the last Catholic monarch to reign over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland...
. Historians vary in their assessment of the degree to which details of the conspiracy were finalized.
After the
RestorationThe English Restoration, often shortened to the Restoration, began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Commonwealth of England that followed the English Civil War...
of the monarchy under Charles in 1660 there was concern among some members of Parliament, former republicans and the general Protestant population of England that the King's relationship with France under
Louis XIVLouis XIV , popularly known as the Sun King , was King of France and of Navarre His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days, and is the longest documented reign of any European monarch.Louis began personally governing France after the death...
and the other
CatholicThe word Catholic is derived from the Greek adjective , meaning "universal". In the context of Christian ecclesiology, it has a rich history and several usages. For some, the term "Catholic Church" refers to the church in full communion with the Bishop of Rome, made up of the Latin Rite and the 22...
rulers of Europe was too close. Anti-Catholic sentiment, which associated Catholicism with absolutism, was widespread, and focused particular attention on the succession to the throne. While Charles was publicly Anglican, he and his brother were known to have Catholic sympathies. These suspicions were confirmed in 1673 when James was discovered to have converted to Catholicism.
In 1681, triggered by the opposition-invented
Popish PlotThe Popish Plot was a fictitious conspiracy concocted by Titus Oates which gripped England in anti-Catholic hysteria from 1678 until 1681. Oates alleged that there existed an extensive Catholic conspiracy to assassinate Charles II. These accusations would eventually lead to the execution of at...
, the
Exclusion BillThe Exclusion Bill Crisis ran from 1678 through 1681 in the reign of Charles II of England. The Exclusion Bill sought to exclude the king's brother and heir presumptive, James, Duke of York, from the throne of England because he was Catholic...
was introduced in the House of Commons, which would have excluded James from the succession. Charles outmanoeuvred his opponents and dissolved
ParliamentAn English Parliament assembled in the city of Oxford for one week from 21 March 1681 until 28 March 1681 during the reign of Charles II of England.This was the fifth and last parliament of the King's reign. Both Houses of Parliament met and the King delivered a speech to them on the first day. The...
. This left his opponents with no legal method of preventing James's succession, and rumours of plots and conspiracies abounded. With the "country party" in disarray,
Lord ShaftesburyAnthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury PC , known as Anthony Ashley Cooper from 1621 to 1631, as Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, 2nd Baronet from 1631 to 1661, and as The Lord Ashley from 1661 to 1672, was a prominent English politician during the Interregnum and during the reign of King Charles...
, leader of the opposition to Charles's rule, fled to Holland where he soon died.
Rye House, a manor house in
HoddesdonHoddesdon is a town in the English county of Hertfordshire, situated in the Lea Valley. The town grew up as a coaching stop on the route between Cambridge and London. It is near Cheshunt, and a few miles from Bishop's Stortford. At its height during the Eighteenth century, more than 35 coaches a...
in Hertfordshire, was owned by a well-known Republican,
Richard RumboldRichard Rumbold was a Cromwellian soldier who took part in the Rye House Plot to assassinate Charles II of England and his brother James.The pattern of his character and the details of his life have to be pieced together from scanty evidence...
. The plan was to conceal a force of 100 men in the grounds of the house and ambush the King and the Duke on their way back to London from the horse races at Newmarket.
They were expected to make the journey on 1 April 1683, but there was a great fire in Newmarket on 22 March, which destroyed half the town. The races were cancelled, and the King and the Duke returned to London early. As a result, the planned attack never took place.
News of the plot leaked and the plot was publicly discovered 12 June 1683; Charles and his supporters were quick to act: a royal declaration of the heinous nature of the plot was issued on 27 July.. Many well-known members of Parliament and noblemen of the "country party", which opposed the Court party and would soon be known as
WhigsThe Whigs are often described as one of the two original political parties in England and later the United Kingdom from the late 17th to the mid-19th centuries. The Whigs' origin lay in constitutional monarchism and opposition to absolute rule...
, were arrested. Although the principal conspirators were minor figures, the Whig leaders
William, Lord RussellWilliam Russell, Lord Russell , was an English politician. He was a leading member of the Country Party, forerunners of the Whigs, who opposed the succession of James II during the reign of Charles II, ultimately resulting in his execution for treason...
, a son of the Earl of Bedford, was convicted and executed, and Algernon Sidney was convicted on weaker evidence by
Judge Sir George JeffreysGeorge Jeffreys, 1st Baron Jeffreys of Wem, PC , also known as "The Hanging Judge", became notable during the reign of King James II, rising to the position of Lord Chancellor .- Early years and education :Jeffreys was born at the family estate of Acton Hall, Wrexham in Wales, the sixth son of...
, brought in as Lord Chief Justice in September and also executed. The
Earl of EssexArthur Capell, 1st Earl of Essex PC , whose surname is sometimes spelled Capel, was an English statesman.- Early life :...
committed suicide in the Tower of London. The
Duke of MonmouthJames Crofts, later James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth and 1st Duke of Buccleuch PC , was an English nobleman. He was born in Rotterdam in the Netherlands, the eldest illegitimate son of Charles II and his mistress, Lucy Walter, who had followed him into continental exile after the execution of...
, Charles' illegitimate son, was also implicated and obliged to retire to the
United ProvincesThe Republic of the Seven United Netherlands was a European republic between 1581 and 1795, in about the same location as the modern Kingdom of the Netherlands,...
. A popular account of the plot was published in 1685 by T. Sprat,
A True Account and Declaration of the Horrid Conspiracy against the Late King.
Historians have suggested the story of the plot may have been largely manufactured by Charles or his supporters to allow the removal of most of his strongest political opponents. Richard Greaves cites as proof that there was a plot in 1683, the 1685 armed rebellions of the fugitive
Earl of ArgyllArchibald Campbell, 9th Earl of Argyll was Earl from 1663 following the restoration of the title two years after his father, the Marquess of Argyll, was executed for treason...
and Charles' Protestant bastard,
James Scott, 1st Duke of MonmouthJames Crofts, later James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth and 1st Duke of Buccleuch PC , was an English nobleman. He was born in Rotterdam in the Netherlands, the eldest illegitimate son of Charles II and his mistress, Lucy Walter, who had followed him into continental exile after the execution of...
(Greaves 1992). Doreen Milne asserts that its importance lies less in what was actually plotted than in the public perception of it and the uses made of it by the government. The popular reaction to the Tories' reactive excesses led to the discontent expressed in the
Glorious RevolutionThe Glorious Revolution, also called the Revolution of 1688, was the overthrow of King James II of England in 1688 by a union of Parliamentarians with an invading army led by the Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange-Nassau who, as a result, ascended the English throne as William III of England...
of 1688.