Contemporary reactions to the Popish Plot and the exclusion crisis
Abstract
It is often said that history is made up of the lies of a man's own times. This thesis looks at the highly controversial years, 1678-81, in England the years of the Popish Plot and Exclusion Crisis, through the eyes of men prominent on both sides of the issues. Much of the analysis of contemporary draws from the works of Gilbert Burnet, John Evelyn, Roger North, Roger L'Estrange, William Temple, and George Savile, Marquis of Halifax. These men were all close to the Court or had connections close to the Court, yet they did not see every twist and turn of the Plot and Crisis. But an examination of their writings, especially in contrast to Whig and Tory propaganda, shows that they recorded those issues which they perceived as important and their reactions to those events.