Introduction

The causes of changing attitudes towards conspiracy theory are many and complex, but it is clear that early modern Europeans lacked the sophisticated tools of modern historical, economic or sociological analysis. Events were explicable in terms of individuals, whose moral or religious virtues, or vices, were assumed to offer an insight into both their motives and the results of their actions. The emphasis on the individual made particular sense to the inhabitants of an intellectual world shaped by the classical and Christian traditions. In addition to these literary and classical references, early modern commentators had plenty of examples from their own times to draw upon. Power at court derived from access to the monarch, or to those who exercised authority on his or her behalf, and the great aristocratic clans that dominated the courts of London, Madrid or Versailles formed into factions and cabals to compete for royal favour.