The Queen's Agent: Sir Francis Walsingham and the Rise of Espionage in Elizabethan England
Language: English
Pages: 448
ISBN: 1605984108
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
A captivating true story that chronicles the exploits of Sir Francis Walsingham―the first great English spymaster and the man who saved Elizabeth's regime and the country’s independence.
Elizabeth I came to the throne at a time of insecurity and unrest. Rivals threatened her reign; England was a Protestant island, isolated in a sea of Catholic countries. Spain plotted an invasion, but Elizabeth's Secretary, Sir Francis Walsingham, was prepared to do whatever it took to protect her. He ran a network of agents in England and Europe who provided him with information about invasions or assassination plots. He recruited likely young men and 'turned' others. He encouraged Elizabeth to make war against the Catholic Irish rebels, with extreme brutality, and oversaw the execution of Mary Queen of Scots.
The Queen's Agent is a story of secret agents, cryptic codes and ingenious plots, set in a turbulent period of England's history. It is also the story of a man devoted to his queen, sacrificing his every waking hour to save the threatened English state.
40 Pages of Color and B&W Illustrations
interests were represented at court by his wife Katherine, whom Walsingham described as ‘a most diligent solicitor’ on his behalf. The northern counties were regarded by the government as a crucial buffer zone against potential attack from Scotland. The problem, as so often in Elizabeth’s reign, was one of money: the queen was reluctant to fund a costly military establishment on a permanent footing. Walsingham’s solution was to advise Huntingdon to send his requests for resources directly to the
‘other’ Boleyn girl) was Henry VIII’s mistress for a time in the early 1520s. This proved to be another useful political connection. William and Mary’s son Henry Carey, Lord Hunsdon, was Walsingham’s near contemporary and a cousin (or, according to gossip, half-brother) to Queen Elizabeth. Francis very probably went to live with his mother and stepfather at Hunsdon in Hertfordshire, a royal manor where Sir John was bailiff. Princesses Mary and Elizabeth and Prince Edward all spent time there in
country and my own credit, you shall always find me most resolute and ready to perform the same … This only I crave, that though I profess myself a spy (which is a profession odious though necessary) that I prosecute the same not for gain, but for the safety of my native country. Reading this letter in context, it almost rings true. The Elizabethan age praised those willing to face peril in the pursuit of fame. Berden’s work was undoubtedly dangerous, and by Protestant standards counted as
sickness began to strike down both the rich and the poor. Courtiers who contracted the sweat were dancing at nine o’clock and dead by eleven, hence its given name, ‘stop-gallant’. The price of bread rose to heights that had never before been seen, accelerated by bad harvests and the thousands pouring into London in search of work. With no modern economic theory to call on, the privy council blamed the crisis on the sloth of the mayor and aldermen. Preachers came to a different conclusion,
Walsingham. It is fair to question how close they came to replacing Elizabeth and her ministers with a Catholic regime under Mary Stuart. That said, there can be no doubt about the importance of the Babington plot. It led directly to the execution of the Queen of Scots, a savage end to the dream that she might one day accede to a united British kingdom. By associating Catholicism with treason, the plot also accelerated the fusion between English national identity and the Protestant faith: a