Anthony Wood (1632–1695), the Oxford biographer and historian, was accused of being a ‘papist’ from the early 1670s until his death on 29 November 1695. These accusations were given credence because Wood had many Catholic friends and acquaintances; had a genuine affection for manuscripts and monuments of the pre-reformation past; wrote bio-bibliographies of many noteworthy Catholics who were graduates of Oxford colleges or were associated with the university; had a view of the reformation that Gilbert Burnet, later the bishop of Salisbury, saw as ‘unseemly’; and never joined any campaign against Catholics before or after James II reigned in Great Britain. This essay deals with Wood's relationships with Catholics and his attitude towards Catholicism.