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Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies English Language and Literature Michaela Macková The Elizabethan Secret Service Bachelor’s Diploma Thesis Supervisor: Mgr. Pavel Drábek, Ph. D. 2009 1 I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. …………………………………………….. 2 Acknowledgement I would like to thank to my supervisor Mgr. Pavel Drábek, Ph. D. for his valuable advice and kind support and to Bc. Vlastimil Šprta and Mgr. Libor Dorňák for the introduction to the world of espionage which inspired this work. 3 Table of Contents 1. Introduction .............................................................................................................. 6 2. Key events which Influenced the Reign of Queen Elizabeth I ............................. 8 3. Basic Facts about the Elizabethan Secret Service .............................................. 11 3.1 The Origin of the Elizabethan Secret Service ................................................ 11 3.2 Functions of the Elizabethan Secret Service .................................................. 11 3.3 The Mechanics of the Elizabethan Secret Service ......................................... 13 4. The Spy Masters .................................................................................................... 16 st 4.1 William Cecil, 1 Baron of Burghley (1520-98) ............................................ 16 4.2 Sir Francis Walsingham (1530-90) ................................................................ 17 4.3 Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester (1532-88) ................................................... 19 4.4 Robert Cecil (1563-1612) ............................................................................... 19 4.5 Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex (1567-1601) and Anthony Bacon ............... 20 5. People Working for the Elizabethan Secret Service ........................................... 22 5.1 Types of the Service Carried out for the Spy Masters ................................... 22 5.1.1 The Intelligencer-Informer ................................................................ 22 5.1.2 The Intelligencer-Spy ........................................................................ 25 5.2 The Recruitment ............................................................................................. 27 5.3 The Payment ................................................................................................... 29 6. Espionage Techniques ........................................................................................... 31 7. Plots and Operations in which the Elizabethan Secret Service was Involved .. 36 7.1 The Norfolk Conspiracy ................................................................................. 36 7.2 Abduction of John Story ................................................................................ 38 7.3 The Ridolfi Plot .............................................................................................. 39 7.4 The Throckmorton Plot .................................................................................. 41 4 7.5 The Parry Plot ................................................................................................. 43 7.6 The Babington Plot ......................................................................................... 45 7.7 The Stafford Plot ............................................................................................ 49 7.8 The Defeat of Armada .................................................................................... 51 7.9 The Lopez Conspiracy ................................................................................... 54 8. Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 57 9. Czech Resume ........................................................................................................ 59 10. Works Cited and Consulted .................................................................................. 61 5 1. Introduction Queen Elizabeth I‟s reign is often seen as the golden age in the history of England. Culture in the form of literature, poetry and drama flourished; naval forces explored the sea, brought great fortune to England, and became more powerful; national feelings started to emerge; the religious question seemed to be more or less peacefully settled – the Reformation was accepted; and the country expanded economically. However happy these times in retrospective seem to be, there was a dark side to all of that: religious discontent appearing from time to time needed to be repressed and a good deal of political scheming had to take place in order to maintain England‟s position in Europe and the Queen‟s position on the throne. As the Queen‟s chancellors and advisors William Cecil, Lord of Burghley and Sir Francis Walsingham took care of this task, they began to form, as their aid, first networks of secret agents. Historical records show that these networks of agents, so called secret service, played an important part in protecting England, Queen Elizabeth I, and her interests and those of her country. Unfortunately, due to the fogginess of some facts, the part secret service played in important events of history is in their contemporary descriptions often neglected. Thus the aim of this thesis is to examine this role, especially the role the secret service played in revealing plots against the Queen, and outline mechanics, functions and organisation of Elizabethan intelligence network. In order to explain how the secret service protected the Queen and the country, it is desirable to introduce the reason why such protection was needed. Therefore the second chapter of the thesis continues in the introductory tone and presents the historical insight into the events which influenced the reign and the safety of the Queen. Such a background is also important for a proper understanding of the issues of the era, as they stood behind the very existence of the Elizabethan secret service. 6 In order to ease the comprehension of the role the secret service played in particular plots, chapters three, four, five, and six are concerned with the origins, functions, organisation and mechanics of the Elizabethan secret service, with people working in it and with techniques the secret service used. So, the origin of the Elizabethan secret service is described in the third chapter as well as its functions and mechanics. The fourth chapter discusses the spy masters directing the operations as the people of theirs time, as the bearers of theirs functions and as the espionage masterminds. The fifth chapter then introduces the types of people which worked for the secret service, explains circumstances under which they were hired and defines the specific jobs they performed. Finally the sixth chapter delves into the techniques the secret service used. The core of the thesis is chapter 7, on plots and activities in which the secret service played an important part. The actual historical events are discussed with particular focus on the role the secret service played in the protection of the Queen and with emphasis on the examples of techniques and espionage professions introduced in chapters 5 and 6. This chapter is followed by the final part of the thesis, where all the facts concerning the role of the secret service are summarized and the conclusion of the thesis is drawn. 7 2. Key events which Influenced the Reign of Queen Elizabeth I The times of Queen Elizabeth‟s reign were, as well as the whole Tudor Era, very turbulent. The Queen was almost constantly in great danger of being overthrown or even assassinated. It is therefore suitable to introduce the events which preceded Elizabeth‟s reign, led to the religious discontents, to the complication of foreign relations and subsequently to the formation of various conspiracies and plots aimed at overthrowing of Elizabeth and restoring of Catholicism in England. The first and the most important problem putting Elizabeth in danger was that the question of the succession as well as the question of the state religion had been complicated by the several marriages of Henry VIII, Elizabeth‟s father. It was because of Elizabeth‟s mother, Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII broke free of Catholic Church in 1534, declared himself the Head of the Church of England (Davies), and gave the primary impulse to religious conflicts which later affected Elizabeth‟s reign. It was because of Henry‟s marriage to his next wife, Jane Seymour, Elizabeth was proclaimed illegitimate and only later she gained the right to the throne again, but as the third in line after Edward, the son of Jane Seymour, and Mary Stuart, the daughter of Catharine of Aragon (Dobson 33). In the time Henry VIII died, Edward VI was only ten years old and Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, became the Lord Protector of England (Tudor Place). Protestantism was fully established in the country. Unfortunately young Edward‟s health was not very good in 1553, and in the same year, only at the age of 15, he died (ibid). For a few days the new Queen was Jane Gray, descendant of Henry VIII‟s sister, who was proclaimed the Queen by her father Henry Grey and her father-in-law John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland (ibid). However, Mary Tudor, the rightful heiress to the throne, had the bigger support of the army and of the people. She quickly got the 8 throne back. Although Mary was only the half-sister