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Five people found my blog yesterday because they were looking for information on the Rathbone plot. Unfortunately all they found was my article about bonfire night, which is a pity, because Google turns up virtually nothing on this long forgotten act of treason.

So for anyone else visiting here, looking for details of this plot, here is what I know:

The Rathbone Plot took place in early 1666, coming to trial in April of that year. The key conspirator was Colonel John Rathbone. He and a group of eight former parliamentarians were arrested, tried and executed for conspiring to overthrow the King and Parliament and restore the Commonwealth.

The plan had apparently involved setting fire to London on September 3rd. The London Gazette reported this and speculated that the conspirators had consulted William Lilly’s almanac and horoscopes that predicted the fall of the king in that year. I suspect that the speculation may have been designed to discredit the conspirators, as the date also commemorated two of Cromwell’s victories at Dunbar and Worcester, as well as his death. It seems unlikely that puritan parliamantarians would have consulted with horoscopes.

For some background information, the 17th century was a turbulant time, particularly in English history. The English civil war saw the overthrow and regicide of king Charles I, who had been emulating the French absolutism, and advocating the doctrine of the divine right of kings. He was defeated by the puritan Oliver Cromwell, who was installed as Lord Protector in 1653.

Cromwell died on September 3rd 1658, and left a political vacuum. Whilst his son, Richard, was installed as Lord protector, there was a growing movement for a restoration, and in 1660 Charles II was restored to the English throne. Later in the century, in 1688, the glorious revolution would depose James II and lead to a second interregnum, in which the transfer of absolute power from monarchy to parliament in England was sealed.

However, the Rathbone plot was in 1666, and was an attempt to undo the restoration. It is principally of interest because of the coincidental starting of the Great Fire of London on 2nd September 1666. The fact that the fire started so close to the chosen date of the Rathbone plot is curious.

Whilst the fire is only known to have killed 6 people, it destroyed most of London. This tragedy eventually turned out to be a good thing, because Sir Christopher Wren was able to impose his magnificent artistic vision on the city, giving us the new St Paul’s, the London monument and much more. The redesigned city is also sometimes credited with imporoved sanitation that led to the great plague of the year before being the last plague to affect London.