Rye House Plot Rye House Plot, 1683, conspiracy to assassinate
Charles II of England and his brother James, duke of York (later
James II), as they passed by Rumbold's Rye House in
Hertfordshire on the road from Newmarket to London. However, the
king did not make the journey on the expected day; the plot, an
offshoot of earlier insurrection plots hatched by the 1st earl
of Shaftesbury, was revealed. Although the actual conspirators
were only minor figures, the great Whig leaders Lord William
Russell and Algernon Sidney were executed on flimsy evidence of
guilt by association. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th
ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights
reserved. More on Rye House Plot from Fact Monster: See more
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