The article is devoted to the problem of the formation of the image of the Catholic enemy, one of the prototypes for which was William Parry. Based on the original materials, the author shows the Elizabethan government’s use of William Parry’s affiliation to Catholicism in the fight against the Queen’s detractors. It is concluded that, using the example of the failed conspiracy of William Parry, government propaganda of the 1580s demonstrated the immorality and lowliness of the spiritual principles of state traitors as a special social group.
