In 1678, Catholic assassins a plot to murder hatched Charles II... or did they?

Victor Stater tells the story of the Popish Plot, an elaborate fake news story that reshaped British politics - and sent dozens of innocent people to the gallows

- Victor Stater

Fake news. Misinformation. Disinformation. Today these are terms with which we are all too familiar. They exercise a powerful influence - enough to shape, or misshape, our political world. Modern society is highly polarised: Leavers versus Remainers, Republicans versus Democrats, each convinced that their opponents threaten everything good.

Yet this phenomenon is not a new one. England in the reign of Charles II was also highly polarised - providing the perfect backdrop for an elaborate hoax that catalysed the birth of two-party politics in Britain.

On 13 August 1678, as King Charles walked through the St James's district of central London, a minor courtier named Christopher Kirkby rushed up and exclaimed: "Sire, you might be assassinated on this very walk!"

The man whose information led Kirkby to make this breathless claim was Israel Tonge, a 56-year-old Anglican minister who blamed his professional disappointments on a Jesuit conspiracy. The Jesuits, he believed, feared him as one of their greatest enemies. In truth, his polemics were nigh unreadable, and his failure to progress was largely because he was perceived as mentally unbalanced. As one observer said: "Dr Tonge was hardly ever without a plot in his head and a pen in his hand."

Tonge had told Kirkby of a Jesuit-led conspiracy aiming to murder Charles and place his brother James, Duke of York, on the throne. James would then restore Catholicism using "popish" tyranny, and the Inquisition would wield fire and sword in England.

Contested successor James, Duke of York, portrayed in a miniature of c1660/61. When he converted to Catholicism later that decade, his right to succeed his brother, Charles II, was challenged