ABSTRACT
In an important essay, Historian Peter Lake saw the Protestant view of popery as based on a series of polar opposites, through which the evils of popery highlighted the virtues of Protestantism. To explain why 'popery' still seemed dangerous, we need to broaden the discussion and explain why 'popery' came to mean something wider than Catholicism. Catholics remained numerous among the peers and gentry they comprised at least a tenth of the peerage in 1640 but their numbers tended to fall and by the reign of Charles II Catholics probably made up little more than one per cent of the population. Anti-popery played a substantial part in the crowd violence of 1640-42, while the king's association with Catholics, especially Irish Catholics, figured prominently in Parliamentarian propaganda. The government denied that they were executed for their religion, neglecting to mention that they would not have been asked about the Pope's deposing power if they had not been Catholic priests.
