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Titus Oates
Titus Oates (15 September 1649 – 12/13 July 1705) was an English priest who fabricated the "Popish Plot", a supposed Catholic conspiracy to kill King Charles II.
Titus Oates was born at Oakham in Rutland. His father was the Baptist minister Samuel Oates (1610–1683), of a family of Norwich ribbon-weavers. Samuel was a graduate of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and became a minister who moved between the Church of England (sometime rector of Marsham, Norfolk) and the Baptists; he became a Baptist during the English Civil War, rejoining the established church at the Restoration, and was rector of All Saints' Church at Hastings (1666–74).
Oates was educated at Merchant Taylors' School and other schools. At Cambridge University, he entered Gonville and Caius College in 1667 but transferred to St John's College in 1669; he left later the same year without a degree. A less than astute student, he was regarded by his tutor as "a great dunce", although he did have a good memory. At Cambridge, he also gained a reputation for homosexuality and a "Canting Fanatical way".
By falsely claiming to have a degree, he gained a licence to preach from the Bishop of London. On 29 May 1670 he was ordained as a priest of the Church of England. He was vicar of the parish of Bobbing in Kent, 1673–74, and then curate to his father at All Saints', Hastings. During this time Oates accused a schoolmaster in Hastings of sodomy with one of his pupils, hoping to get the schoolmaster's post. However, the charge was shown to be false and Oates himself was soon facing charges of perjury, but he escaped jail and fled to London. In 1675 he was appointed as a chaplain of the ship HMS Adventure in the Royal Navy. Oates visited English Tangier with his ship, but was accused of buggery, which was a capital offence, and spared only because of his clerical status. He was dismissed from the Navy in 1676.
In August 1676, Oates was arrested in London and returned to Hastings to face trial for his outstanding perjury charges, but he escaped a second time and returned to London. With the help of the actor Matthew Medbourne he joined the household of the Catholic Henry Howard, 7th Duke of Norfolk as an Anglican chaplain to those members of Howard's household who were Protestants. Although Oates was admired for his preaching, he soon lost this position.
On Ash Wednesday in 1677 Oates was received into the Catholic Church. Oddly, at the same time he agreed to co-author a series of anti-Catholic pamphlets with Israel Tonge, whom he had met through his father Samuel, who had once more reverted to the Baptist doctrine.
He is described by John Dryden in Absalom and Achitophel (published 1681) thus—
Sunk were his eyes, his voice was harsh and loud,
Sure signs he neither choleric was nor proud:
His long chin proved his wit, his saint-like grace
A church vermilion and a Moses' face.
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Titus Oates AI simulator
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Titus Oates
Titus Oates (15 September 1649 – 12/13 July 1705) was an English priest who fabricated the "Popish Plot", a supposed Catholic conspiracy to kill King Charles II.
Titus Oates was born at Oakham in Rutland. His father was the Baptist minister Samuel Oates (1610–1683), of a family of Norwich ribbon-weavers. Samuel was a graduate of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and became a minister who moved between the Church of England (sometime rector of Marsham, Norfolk) and the Baptists; he became a Baptist during the English Civil War, rejoining the established church at the Restoration, and was rector of All Saints' Church at Hastings (1666–74).
Oates was educated at Merchant Taylors' School and other schools. At Cambridge University, he entered Gonville and Caius College in 1667 but transferred to St John's College in 1669; he left later the same year without a degree. A less than astute student, he was regarded by his tutor as "a great dunce", although he did have a good memory. At Cambridge, he also gained a reputation for homosexuality and a "Canting Fanatical way".
By falsely claiming to have a degree, he gained a licence to preach from the Bishop of London. On 29 May 1670 he was ordained as a priest of the Church of England. He was vicar of the parish of Bobbing in Kent, 1673–74, and then curate to his father at All Saints', Hastings. During this time Oates accused a schoolmaster in Hastings of sodomy with one of his pupils, hoping to get the schoolmaster's post. However, the charge was shown to be false and Oates himself was soon facing charges of perjury, but he escaped jail and fled to London. In 1675 he was appointed as a chaplain of the ship HMS Adventure in the Royal Navy. Oates visited English Tangier with his ship, but was accused of buggery, which was a capital offence, and spared only because of his clerical status. He was dismissed from the Navy in 1676.
In August 1676, Oates was arrested in London and returned to Hastings to face trial for his outstanding perjury charges, but he escaped a second time and returned to London. With the help of the actor Matthew Medbourne he joined the household of the Catholic Henry Howard, 7th Duke of Norfolk as an Anglican chaplain to those members of Howard's household who were Protestants. Although Oates was admired for his preaching, he soon lost this position.
On Ash Wednesday in 1677 Oates was received into the Catholic Church. Oddly, at the same time he agreed to co-author a series of anti-Catholic pamphlets with Israel Tonge, whom he had met through his father Samuel, who had once more reverted to the Baptist doctrine.
He is described by John Dryden in Absalom and Achitophel (published 1681) thus—
Sunk were his eyes, his voice was harsh and loud,
Sure signs he neither choleric was nor proud:
His long chin proved his wit, his saint-like grace
A church vermilion and a Moses' face.