Catholic links abroad, plots against Elizabeth, and the Elizabethan spy network (OCR GCSE History B (Schools History Project)): Revision Notes
Catholic links abroad, plots against Elizabeth, and the Elizabethan spy network
Catholic links abroad
The Catholics in England, who attended Protestant church services but were loyal to the pope on the inside, were supported abroad. This network of supporters provided the money and links to plot against Elizabeth. William Allen and the Pope ordered the priests to concentrate their work on wealthy Catholic gentry who could influence other Catholics.
The world of international affairs added pressures on the English Catholics and plots were discovered that targeted Elizabeth.
Plots against Elizabeth
Ridolfi Plot (1571)
THE AIM: Put Mary, Queen of Scots, on the throne.
WHO:
- Roberto di Ridolfi, an Italian Catholic banker and spy for the Pope
- Able to travel between Brussels, Rome and Madrid without attracting too much suspicion
- Involved in the Northern Rebellion
- Gaoled in 1568 and released in 1570 for sending funds to the Northern Earls.
Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, cousin of Elizabeth, Catholic.
Mary, Queen of Scots, at the centre of the Ridolfi Plot.
THE PLAN: Arrange the marriage of Mary, QoS, to Elizabeth's Catholic cousin, the Duke of Norfolk. Then, with Spain's help, overthrow Elizabeth and return England to Catholicism.
OUTCOME: Cecil and Walsingham discovered the plot and executed Norfolk in 1572.
Ridolfi escaped punishment by remaining in Europe.
Throckmorton Plot (1583)
THE AIM: Spain and France to invade England, overthrow Elizabeth and restore Catholicism.
WHO:
- Scottish Jesuits
- Spanish Ambassador Bernardino de Mendoza
- Mary, Queen of Scots
- Francis Throckmorton, cousin to Elizabeth's first lady in waiting Bess Throckmorton. THE PLAN: Assassinate Elizabeth and install Mary, Queen of Scots, as queen.
OUTCOME: Walsingham discovered the link between the main players and Francis Throckmorton. Throckmorton confessed under torture and was executed (1584). Mary was moved to the more secure Tutbury Castle. Mendoza was ejected from England.
Spanish Ambassador de Mendoza
Babington Plot (1586)
THE AIM: Put Mary, QoS, on the throne and restore Catholicism.
WHO:
- Sir Anthony Babington, recusant nobleman
- John Ballard, Jesuit priest
- Mary, Queen of Scots THE PLAN: Assassinate Elizabeth and install Mary, Queen of Scots, as queen.
Anthony Babington with his accomplices
OUTCOME: Coded letters were intercepted by Walsingham. Mary's replies of acknowledgement were the proof Walsingham needed to directly implicate Mary in the plot.
- Babington was arrested in August 1586 and confessed under torture.
- He was executed along with other plotters.
- The plot led directly to the execution of Mary, QoS.
Elizabethan spy network
Sir Francis Walsingham
When Protestant England's survival was threatened by external invasion from Spain and internal subversion by Jesuit missionaries working with a radical fringe of English Catholics, Elizabeth's Secretary of State, Sir Francis Walsingham's espionage network in the Continent and secret-service surveillance of Roman Catholics in England proved vital.
Walsingham brought together an extensive network of spies and news gatherers in France, Scotland, the Low Countries, Spain, Italy, and even Turkey and North Africa. Until 1587, the main hope of Spain and the papacy lay in the possibility that Elizabeth might be assassinated by conspirators, and replaced by Mary, Queen of Scots. Walsingham and his agents frustrated these Catholic plots, decisively establishing the complicity of Mary in some of them.
Notable agents under Walsingham
Anthony Munday
He pretended to be a Catholic in Rome and learnt about how English priests plannned to re-convert England. He wrote a very influential anti-Catholic propaganda book and eventually became a successful poet and playwright.
William Parry
He offered to spy on Catholics abroad in exchange for money. He became a double agent and was caught plotting to kill the queen.
Charles Sledd
He worked as a servant for a Catholic Englishman in Rome and passed on the plans he overheard in great detail in a file that named over 300 disloyal English Catholics.
George Eliot
In return for a royal pardon after committing a murder, he passed on secrets about Catholic gentry families who hid priests and became a full-time poursuivant (priest-catcher).