The Sun King
and the
Merry
Monarch
1678
Explores the religious backdrop to one of the largest threats to
England's throne - the Popish Plot.
Aggravated by the murder of the magistrate Sir Edmund Berry
Godfrey, the Plot reflected religious beliefs and insecurities at the
time.
Sir Godfrey was my ancestor (of some 11 generations). A visit to his
grave in Westminster Abbey in 2014 inspired me to explore his role in
this religious turmoil which hit hard in 17th Century England...
By Calum
Johnson
The Clergyman and the King of England
Leaving for his morning stroll on the 13th of August 1678, Charles II, King of England and Defender of
the Faith heard for the first time of a plot to kill him. This was far from unusual. Indeed, just months
earlier, a woman in Newcastle had been subjected to a large investigation after stating, "the King
deserves the curse of all good and faithful wives for his bad example”. And yet, when Mr Kirkby (his
lab assistant) brought Dr Israel Tonge to him at 8 o’clock that evening, the king listened impatiently
before handing the matter over to his first minister….
The Religious Pendulum: Change of Faith in England
To truly examine the tumult about to hit England in the 17th Century, it is important that we look
first at the Religious scene in Europe some 150 years earlier.
In the previous century the Reformation began and Protestantism gathered momentum, fuelled by a
desire to reduce the exuberance of the Church in Rome with its elaborate sculptures, paintings and
stained-glass windows. In 1517, Martin Luther published his Ninety-Five Theses, criticising the sale
of indulgences as a means, put simply, of guaranteeing the deceased free passage to Heaven.
Others followed his lead (notably John Calvin) and in 1534 Henry VIII created the Church of England,
under a personal pretext.
In response, the Church in Rome began a Counter-Reformation. Some pressing issues were
addressed, but many still lay open to argument; the Pope preferring instead to strengthen the ‘good’
practices of the Church rather than deal with the corruption which had infiltrated right to the
highest echelons of Catholicism.
Even at the time of the English Protestant Reformation, much of England remained Catholic. In
particular, there was opposition to the decision to create a new Church - deemed, by many, to serve
the interests of the king alone and not the state. It was almost inevitable, therefore, that
Catholicism would attempt to return; a process which began under Mary, had she not married her
cousin, the Catholic King Phillip II of Spain. He still advocated the Inquisition and had 300
Protestants burnt at the stake.
With only a limited education, the population was easily influenced by the morality of events and
these actions quickly linked Catholicism with violence, foreign intervention, and persecution in the
minds of the people. While Elizabeth I returned England to Protestantism, her legitimacy was
insecure and a number of plots (particularly Ridolfi, 1571, and Babington, 1586) were conceived to
remove her from power. Once again Phillip II of Spain stepped in to reinforce the position of the
side he had always hoped would fail. The Armada ‘proved’ once again that foreign intervention was
synonymous with Catholicism and, with England’s winning, that God was on the side of Protestants.
This image was only reinforced further when the daring Guy Fawkes was foiled in his attempt to
topple Government, an act of such magnitude that all Catholics were branded as strongly antiestablishment.
The Treaty of Dover and French ties with England
Charles II was Protestant, and enjoyed a fairly good relationship with Parliament for much of his
reign. This all changed on 15th March 1672, when Charles issued the Royal Declaration of Indulgence
and in doing so presented more liberal treatment to non-Protestants under his rule. The same year,
he launched a new conflict with the Dutch (the Third Anglo-Dutch War) as part of a larger conflict
between France and the Dutch Republic. In effect, Charles joined the French king Louis XIV, ‘The
Most Catholic Ruler’ in Europe against a largely Protestant country. Parliament was fearful that
Charles would form an alliance with Louis and turn the country Catholic. They therefore demanded
an end to English involvement, signalled by their suspension of funding.
What they had not realised was, two years earlier, Charles had entered negotiations secretly with
Louis, his first cousin, and agreed – in return for a pension and aid in the war effort – to convert to
Catholicism at an unspecified date. In fact, a second ‘cover’ treaty was negotiated (by the Duke of
Buckingham) along the same lines as the first but without the divisive clauses about a pension and
aid. This was signed by all five of the “CABAL”, Charles’ important ministers, who had seen nothing
of the original.
The Popish Plot
The plot, in fact, was not a plot at all. Fears of a Catholic takeover – by way of Charles’ ties with
France or through his brother and closest heir the Duke of York – were spread by two men, Titus
Oates and Israel Tonge. They claimed the King was to be assassinated by Catholics. Oates and
Tonge together wrote a document detailing the approval of the Catholic Church to kill the King, to be
performed by Jesuits. Named within were about a hundred devout Catholics who supposedly would
play a part in the fictitious plot. Through Mr Kirkby (the lab assistant), Tonge was brought before
Lord Danby (now the King’s most important minister) where he claimed to have found the document
but didn’t know the author. Alarmed, Danby asked the King to launch an investigation. He refused;
hoping that, instead, limited coverage of the issue would discourage any future regicide attempts.
Somehow, the Duke of York found out about the plot and ordered publicly that there be an
investigation into the issue to which the King, unable to say with certainty that none of the many
supposed conspirators was plotting to kill him, reluctantly agreed. On the 6th September 1678,
Edmund Berry Godfrey (my ancestor) took Oates’ oath prior to his testimony before Charles II.
Oates described a meeting at the White Horse Tavern, London, in which Jesuits had discussed plans
to kill the king. The issue was then brought before the Privy Council.
The Unsolved Murder of Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey
Still however, the allegations gained little credence. That was until the murder of the judge, Sir
Edmund Berry Godfrey, himself a faithful Protestant. Disappearing on the 12th October 1678, he was
found to have been out all night. Searching began and he was found eventually on 17th October
1678, with a broken neck and his own sword rammed through his chest post-mortem. The murder
could not be solved and conspiracies began to form. The Protestant population was outraged and
his supporters blamed the murder on the Catholics, resulting in the outlawing of Catholicism within
20 miles of London from 30th October. Unfortunately, Panic had already spread.
Conclusion
What Oates and Tonge achieved through their bizarre plot was a state of mass hysteria. Britain was a
blaze of religious tension throughout the 16th and 17th Century, crackling in response to certain
events, and then vanishing when nothing piqued the people’s interest. It was Sir Edmund Berry
Godfrey’s murder that finally relit the dying embers of a religious feud which had stretched back to
the time of Henry VIII.
Dead in a ditch, with no reason to be there, his assassination left scope for fantastic conspiracies
which, by accident, prevented the passing of the one act that would really challenge Protestant
power – Charles’ conversion. It was only on his deathbed that he eventually kept his word to Louis
XIV of France, by which time it was too late to be of impact.
This seems a simple conclusion therefore, were it not for the mystery of Sir Godfrey, and his murder
– one of the three greatest in English history (alongside the mysteries of Jack the Ripper and the
Princes in the Tower) – which, to this day and forever, remains unsolved.
So fascinating is the fruitless search to uncover the truth that he should be remembered as a key
figure of 17th Century conspiracy; his legacy certainly touched me, as his direct descendent, to write
about his life and his impact on the Popish Plot.
Bibliography:
Duignan, Brian; Cambell, Heather (2006-7),
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/236825/Sir-Edmund-Godfrey (Accessed 19.08.2014)
Marshall, Alan (1999), The Strange Death of Edmund Godfrey, Plots and Politics in Restoration
London
Kenyon, John (1972), The Popish Plot
No specified author (2009), http://www.history.com/topics/reformation (Accessed 25.08.2014)
No specified author (2014), http://www.biography.com/people/louis-xiv-9386885 (Accessed
26.08.2014)
Pollock, John (2005), The Popish Plot: A Study in the History of the Reign of Charles II
Sheila Williams (1958), "The Pope-Burning Processions of 1679, 1680 and 1681" (Journal of Warburg
and Courtauld Institutes)
Fraser, Antonia (1979), King Charles II
Gyford, Phil (2003), http://www.pepysdiary.com/ (Accessed 01.09.2014)
No specified author (2005), http://archive.museumoflondon.org.uk/LondonsBurning/People/record.htm?type=person&id=150765 (Accessed 01.09.2014)
Carr, John Dickson (1989), The Murder of Sir Edmund Godfrey
Knight, Stephen (1986), The Killing of Justice Godfrey
Marks, Alfred (1905, reprinted), Who Killed Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey ?
(By Calum Johnson)