Engraving by William Faithorne of Queen Elizabeth I with William Cecil and Sir Francis Walsingham, 17th century
When Elizabeth I came to the English throne, her reign was challenged by all of Catholic Europe. As she refused to marry, resistance to her rule increased among Catholics in England, and Catholic rulers abroad encouraged her subjects to overthrow Elizabeth and place the Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots on the throne.
Soon Elizabeth’s court was full of spies, eager to find any weakness that could be exploited to topple her government. To maintain England’s power, Elizabeth and her court turned to William Cecil and Francis Walsingham, devoted Protestants who were fully committed to Elizabeth’s crown and willing to do whatever it took to preserve her power.
Tudor and Renaissance scholar Carol Ann Lloyd Stanger examines how Cecil and Walsingham developed a secret network of spies that spanned Europe and enabled them to prevent the overthrow of the English queen. She also considers how the emerging science of codes and ciphers, and new ways of sharing, intercepting, and reading messages changed history and sparked the birth of modern espionage.
Lloyd-Stanger is a former manager of visitor education at the Folger Shakespeare Library.
