Within England, the Roman Catholics were actually a small minority when Charles II came to the throne in 1660. However, Parliament looked upon them as a threat for two reasons. One, the king favoured the Catholics (and actually declared himself a Catholic in 1669), and the duke of York was one openly. Second, the great Roman Catholic powers of France and Spain were always ready to send over their armies should there be a Catholic uprising in England. To make matters worse, in 1678 a Londoner named Titus Oates invented a preposterous story of a Roman Catholic plot to murder Charles and put his brother James on the throne. This triggered a violent wave of reaction, and many Catholics were accused of conspiracy and imprisoned. A number suffered the extreme penalty, including some whose lives were known to be above reproach. By 1681 feeling against James becoming king ran so high that Charles, fearing the London mob would break into the Parliament House at Westminster, convened that body at Oxford.