Henry Neville and the toleration of Catholics during the Exclusion Crisis

• Published in: Historical research : the bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research Vol. 83; no. 222; pp. 617 - 634
• Main Author: Mahlberg, Gaby
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.11.2010; Oxford University Press
• Subjects: Catholicism; European history; Historic documents; Letters; Neville, Henry (1562?-1615); Politics; England
• ISSN: 0950-3471; 1468-2281
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2281.2009.00533.x

While the Popish Plot of the later seventeenth century is commonly seen as a fabrication by the political opposition employed to root out Catholicism and secure a Protestant succession in England, this article shows that there were also voices within the opposition that exposed the scapegoating of Catholics as a political ploy, backed the succession of the duke of York and even argued for a toleration of Catholics. Using the example of the republican Henry Neville, his political writings and correspondence with Cosimo III, this article calls for a reassessment of the political and religious divisions of the so‐called Exclusion Crisis.