Titus Oates
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Titus Oates (1649–1705) was a clergyman who invented the "Popish plot".
Oates was born in Oakham, Rutland, and attended Caius College, Cambridge, where he gained a reputation for stupidity and homosexuality.[1] He transferred to St John’s College in 1669, but left without a degree. In 1675 he falsely accused a [[Hastings] ]schoolmaster of sodomy in an attempt to become schoolmaster himself.[1] Oates was accused of perjury, but escaped and fled to London. In 1677 he was appointed as a chaplain of the ship Adventurer in the English navy. He was soon accused of buggery, which was a capital offence, and spared only because of his clergyman's status.
