The Queen's Agent: Francis Walsingham at the Court of Elizabeth I by John Cooper Read Free Book Online Page A

battles, against the canker of court faction as well as the illness which was gradually poisoning him. Where others would have crumpled under the burden of government, Walsingham stayed by Elizabeth’s side until the twin threats of the Queen of Scots and the Spanish Armada had been neutralised.
    Walsingham often wielded power over the lives of others. The destruction of Mary Stuart has been attributed to him by both critics and admirers, though Walsingham exonerated himself of any blame: she had conspired to destroy his mistress, and consequently she deserved to die. The execution of Catholic missionary priests is harder to justify. Walsingham was responsible for protecting the queen from assassination, and he saw it as his duty to use every weapon in his arsenal. Imprisonment, torture and a state-sponsored campaign of intimidation were all employed to drive Catholics into conformity with the established Church of England. Walsingham’s agents infiltrated the English Catholic community at home and in exile, tempting the radicals in their midst to break cover by standing up for what they believed.
    Modern lawyers would condemn this as entrapment, but again Walsingham’s conscience was clear. Hidden treason would always reveal itself in the end, just as a witch could never fully conceal the pact which she had made with the devil. England was engaged in a war; literally so in the Netherlands and on the oceans from the mid-1580s, but also in spiritual combat against the forces of the Antichrist, whether in the form of the pope or the Guise family or Philip II of Spain. The need to convinceElizabeth of this fact was Walsingham’s most urgent priority during the two decades which he spent as her adviser and principal secretary. He presented himself to the world as the queen’s agent, carrying out her policies and protecting her from harm. The full picture may surprise anyone who thinks that Tudor England was governed solely by personal monarchy. Walsingham was loyal and true to Elizabeth, devoted his life to her service; but he also cajoled her, clashed with her, and ultimately authorised the beheading of Mary Stuart without her knowledge. Queen Elizabeth I believed that she was in command of the ship of state, but Francis Walsingham was often at the tiller.
    NOTES
     
1 Briquemault and Sassetti: John Tedeschi, ‘Tomasso Sassetti’s Account of the St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre’, in A. Soman (ed.), The Massacre of St Bartholomew: Reappraisals and Documents (The Hague, 1974), 143, where Briquemault is called Bricamore; ‘Journal of Sir Francis Walsingham from Dec. 1570 to April 1583’, ed. C. T. Martin, Camden Miscellany 6 (London, 1870–1), 4–5, 10, 13; Dudley Digges, The Compleat Ambassador, or, Two Treaties of the Intended Marriage of Qu. Elizabeth (London, 1655), 270–1, 345. The Briquemault incident is not mentioned in Conyers Read’s account of St Bartholomew: Mr Secretary Walsingham and the Policy of Queen Elizabeth (Oxford, 1925), I, 219–22.

Acknowledgements
     
     

     
    Neil Belton at Faber and Faber has been a heroically patient editor, incisive and gracious in his comments. This was his idea for a book; I hope it has been worth the wait. Kate Murray-Browne helped to make it a better-written story than it would otherwise have been. Numerous colleagues, friends and family have assisted along the way. Robert Armstrong, Jason Eldred, Jonathan Fagence and Matthew Grimley kindly commented on drafts. Simon Ditchfield translated Tomasso Sassetti’s Italian account of Francis Walsingham and the Sieur de Briquemault, and Stuart Carroll helped me understand the geography of sixteenth-century Paris. Advice and encouragement was offered by Kenneth Bartlett, Claire Booth, John Bossy, Jonathan Blunden, Jon Crawford, Thomas Healy, Jan James, Harry Kelsey, Peter Mancall, Bill Sherman, Penry Williams and Jonathan Woolfson. Blair Worden lent me his copy of Conyers Read’s three-volume biography of Walsingham, and