Print, faked news and the politics of identity

The Exclusion Crisis in the reign of King Charles II was a fierce struggle over the issue of whether the King’s Catholic brother James should be the heir to the throne. At the same time, circumstances promoted an outpouring of polemical pamphlets on a massive scale. Here Gregory Gifford examines the nature of this pamphlet battle and analyses its impact on the development of this crucial crisis in the power struggle between king and parliament.