What is a CABAL?

Описание: #conspiracy #historyfacts #wordhistory #englishhistory

We can’t go anywhere these days without hearing about satanic cabals.

Come learn where this term originated, and the history behind it!

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What is a cabal?

A cabal is usually understood as a shadowy group of elites exerting excessive and sinister control over a population. The word’s origin lies in the Hebrew name for a Jewish mystical tradition called Kabbalah.

Kabbalah was an esoteric belief system attempting to understand God’s true nature. For us 2000s kids, you might remember that Madonna couldn’t stop spouting off to tabloids about finding herself in this ideology. Get a grip, Madge!

While often taking a scholarly, philosophic bent, a large part of Kabbalah is protective magic in the form of amulets and talismans.

It was probably this aspect that made people think of secrecy and the occult, hence the word eventually being applied to clandestine, mystical groups.

The most famous cabal (in history not conspiracy theories) was that of England’s King Charles II. This group of royal advisers are cited by randos as the origin of the word because, by coincidence, the 5 members were the Lord Clifford, Earl of Arlington, Duke of Buckingham, The Lord Ashley, and the duke of Lauderdale.

These randos included my high school history textbook. Wrong!

We humans love us some urban myths. Maybe you heard that alligators live in New York sewers or that Marilyn Manson removed his lower ribs so that he could, ummm, reach his mouth to himself.

Well we do this with words too, often assuming that words are from acronyms. These usually seem to originate as jokes. For example, when your buddy dunks on your car by calling it a “Fix Or Repair Daily”.

But then the humor is forgotten and the myth takes hold. As it has with the oft-repeated “Fornication Under Consent of King”. You get the idea. I’m saying always be skeptical, people!

And it looks like this happened with the word “cabal”, when people noted the coincidence.

But why were they so shadowy? England was pretty rough in the 1600s. King Charles I, had ruled tyrannically with his own cabal (before our Cabal) named the “Star Chamber” likely after the room decorated with stars on the ceiling where they met.

The Star Chamber was a panel of judges who meted out brutal punishments like branding letters on people’s faces, cutting off their ears or nailing an ear to the stocks while people were in them.

In fact the US Constitution’s amendment banning “cruel and unusual punishment” was written partly remembering the excesses of the Star Chamber.

And it also led to King Charles I being beheaded. For a short period, the English version of the Pilgrims established a Republic and then kings came back with Charles II who appointed the Cabal Ministry.

And they were controversial because….well, they were a cabal. The public knew a great deal about their bickering, corruption and seedy behavior.

There likely was some worry that they would start acting like the Star Chamber again. And Lord Buckingham had an affair with a nobleman’s wife later killing the dude in a duel over her.

Not cool, bro.

Make sure to subscribe, and let me know in the comments if you didn’t hear the word cabal enough in this video and you want to know more about the history behind our modern words. CABAL!
Sources
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Cabal, n.1 meanings, etymology and more | oxford english dictionary. Accessed January 30, 2026. https://www.oed.com/dictionary/cabal_n1.

Cheyney, Edward P. “The Court of Star Chamber.” The American Historical Review 18, no. 4 (1913): 727–50. https://doi.org/10.2307/1834768.

Eisiminger, Sterling. “Acronyms and Folk Etymology.” The Journal of American Folklore 91, no. 359 (1978): 582–84. https://doi.org/10.2307/539576.

Goldie, Mark. “Toleration and the Godly Prince.” In Contesting the English Polity, 1660-1688: Religion, Politics, and Ideas, 139–56. Boydell & Brewer, 2023. https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.1614180.12.

Huss, Boaz. “All You Need Is LAV: Madonna and Postmodern Kabbalah.” The Jewish Quarterly Review 95, no. 4 (2005): 611–24. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25470100.

LEIBIGER, STUART. “George Washington and Lafayette: Father and Son of the Revolution.” In Sons of the Father: George Washington and His Protégés, edited by ROBERT M. S. McDONALD, 210–31. University of Virginia Press, 2013. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt6wrr....

Masters, Edgar Lee. The New Star Chamber: And Other Essays. Chicago: The Hammersmark Publishing Company, 1904.

SMITH, NIGEL. “CABAL DAYS.” In Andrew Marvell: The Chameleon, 212–45. Yale University Press, 2010. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1nq4....

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