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Bye Plot


The Bye Plot of 1603 was a conspiracy by Roman Catholic priests and Puritans aiming at religious toleration for their respective denominations, to kidnap the new English King, James I of England. It is referred to as the "bye" plot, because at the time it was presented as a minor component of a larger plot (the so-called "main" plot).

Elizabeth I of England died at the end of March 1603, and James VI of Scotland claimed the English throne, with effectively no overt opposition. The religious situation in England and Wales included a substantial number of Catholics subject to fines if they did not attend Church of England services, under a system of Penal Laws. The Anglo-Spanish War had been continuing for nearly two decades, with fighting at sea, in the Netherlands and in Ireland.

English Catholics widely protested loyalty to the Crown, and wished the legal constraints on their worship relaxed. They were ministered to by priests, both of the Society of Jesus and other religious orders active in England as a mission, and seminary priests and others not in religious orders (secular priests). The legal position of these priests was, in practice, very unclear.

A divisive quarrel and pamphlet war among English Catholics, the Archpriest Controversy, had in 1603 been contentious for about five years. The resulting alignment of Catholic priests had a great deal to do with making the plots of 1603 impractical, and also made one side of the argument receptive to the idea of informing the London government.


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