Walsingham & the Use of Spies in Elizabethan England (Edexcel GCSE History)

Sir Francis Walsingham and the Elizabethan Spy Network - Summary

Who was Sir Francis Walsingham?

• Under the reign of Mary I, Walsingham fled England

  • As a devout Protestant, he worried that his beliefs would lead to persecution or death

  • He fled to Padua, Italy and studied law

• After Elizabeth’s succession in 1558, he became involved in the government

  • He entered Parliament in January 1559

  • Walsingham’s time abroad had intensified his Protestant beliefs. He became a Puritan

• In 1568, he began to work for Sir William Cecil

  • Cecil asked Walsingham to speak to Italian and French immigrants in London. He wanted Walsingham to discover Catholic plots against Elizabeth

  • Walsingham’s time in Europe meant he was fluent in Italian and French

• Walsingham interrogated Roberto Ridolfi in the autumn of 1569 on suspicion of plotting to depose Elizabeth

  • Walsingham believed Ridolfi’s claims of innocence. In 1571, the government captured Ridolfi passing letters between the Spanish ambassador and Mary, Queen of Scots. The letters contained a plan to overthrow Elizabeth

• In 1573, Elizabeth asked Walsingham to become her Secretary of State

  • He had spent three years as the English ambassador to France

  • Walsingham’s Puritan faith meant he had the determination to fight all Catholic threats against Elizabeth

Walsingham's Spy Network

• Walsingham created a spy network in England

• Each section of his network had different roles and responsibilities

How did Walsingham organise his spy network?

The Importance of Walsingham

• Walsingham created a large and ruthless system of surveillance, investigation and punishment

  • He believed that he was only enacting the policy approved by Elizabeth

  • His network ensured that Catholic plots did not succeed in deposing Elizabeth

  • By the time of the Babington Plot, his spy network uncovered plots before the plotters had widely communicated them

• Walsingham became more severe on Catholics than Elizabeth wanted

  • Elizabeth reworded some of the Acts of Parliament. She only wanted Catholic priests to have the most serious punishments. She did not want to anger her Catholic subjects

  • Elizabeth delayed taking action against Catholic plotters. This is despite the overwhelming amount of evidence collected by Walsingham’s spy network

  • Walsingham’s Puritan beliefs made his methods seem more extreme  to Elizabeth

• The evidence provided by Walsingham persuaded Elizabeth to execute Mary

  • The government continually pressured Elizabeth to punish Mary after the Revolt of the Northern Earls

  • Walsingham’s network provided the government with enough evidence of Mary’s involvement in Catholic plots. Elizabeth could no longer avoid punishing Mary after the Babington Plot