Sir Francis Walsingham, Royal Spymaster. 1530-1590 Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Sir Francis Walsingham had a conventional education and training. He attended King's College, Cambridge, traveled round Europe, returning to take up the law. He was a staunch Protestant and wisely made himself scarce when Catholic Queen Mary I came to the throne in 1553. How did Sir Francis occupy himself for the five years of Mary's reign?

Answer: He traveled extensively round Europe, learning foreign languages and customs.

Walsingham took total advantage of his chosen exile. Not only did he learn foreign languages and customs but he ingratiated himself in the various European diplomatic circles. Here began his recruitment and strategic placement of a coterie of spies that were to serve him well in the future.

He utilized every ounce of human ingenuity to gain the upper hand in the flow of trustworthy information, while keeping his enemies unsure of his plans and movements. He became adept at the spreading of mis-information, in the creation of phantom plots and alliances.

2. On Walsingham's return to England, Elizabeth was now queen. He was employed by Sir William Cecil (Elizabeth's chief advisor) to create and command a highly effective intelligence service, in order to address the many Catholic plots that threatened Elizabeth. Plots and counter-plots were rampant in England and all over Europe. Who did Walsingham particularly regard as the greatest threat to the English throne?

Answer: Mary, Queen of Scots

Walsingham described Mary, Queen of Scots as 'that devilish woman'. He feared her ability to weave complicated schemes involving Scotland, France and Spain, so that one had to remain ever vigilant to untangle her web. Cecil, understanding the need for such intelligent vigilance, proffered two Oracle-like pronouncements on the need for a tightly run and brilliantly executed espionage ring: 'there is less danger in fearing too much, than too little' and 'there is nothing more dangerous than security'.

3. As the creator of the English/British intelligence system, Walsingham's modus operandi was to directly place people in the line of information, rather than relying on second hand intelligence. One man influenced him greatly, and Walsingham studied his books avidly. Who was this?

Answer: Niccolo Machiavelli

Machiavelli was a true Renaissance man, and brilliant political philosopher. He is thought to be a foundation stone in the art of modern political science. He is particularly known for two written works: 'The Prince' and 'The Art of War'. 'The Prince' showed a highly cynical approach to political power, and Machiavelli's name became synonymous with sly and deceitful politics.

In a time of ever-changing political alliances and intrigues, he used his education, intellect, diplomacy and cunning to navigate through. One can see how Walsingham would have admired Machiavelli's tactics, and he became adept at deceiving and manipulating others, not for personal gain, but for the safety of the Monarch and England.

4. In 1570, Sir Henry Norreys, the English Ambassador to the French court, sent Walsingham to France on a special mission. He was to begin negotiations with Charles IX, in an attempt to secure favorable terms for the Huguenots (French Protestants). It was also an opportunity for Walsingham to infiltrate the French court with his well-trained informers. Yet, unknown to the English diplomats, Charles' plans were already set . What dastardly act caused Walsingham to ever mistrust the French?

Answer: The St. Bartholomew Day Massacre

Catherine de Medici, Charles IX's mother, is thought to have been the instigator of the massacre. Many Huguenots had been drawn to Paris for the marriage of Charles' sister Margaret to (Protestant) Henry of Navarre. Six days after the wedding, trained assassins targeted many of the Huguenot leaders, and excited a mob to attack many others. Walsingham wanted to break diplomatic relations with France. He wrote to the Privy Council:

"I leave it to your honours now to judge what account you make of the amity of this crown. If I may without presumption of offence say my opinion, considering how things presently stand, I think less peril to live with them as enemies than as friends".

5. One must realize that at this moment in history, the fate of Europe hung on a knife's edge. The Reformation diminished the power of Rome, and zealotry among both Protestants and Catholics could have led to all out war across Europe. Walsingham returned to France as Ambassador in 1573. It was at this time that he began to painstakingly set up an independent secret service, with a small but highly effective spy ring. Who were his primary targets for information?

Answer: Catholic Priests and Jesuits whose main mission was to destroy the power of protestantism

Although all of these were made note of, in some way, it was the more fanatical Catholic priests, often emissaries from Rome, that seemed able to slip in and out of the various courts of Europe. They were the hatchers of plots and the instigators of unrest against Elizabeth, that severely threatened her throne. England was highly vulnerable, but her sea power was growing and the country was beginning to flourish under Protestantism, and making acquisitions in the New World.

It made Catholic Europe very nervous.

6. Walsingham gravely feared those that advocated for Mary, Queen of Scots to be Queen in place of Elizabeth. He knew that as long as Mary lived, Elizabeth would be threatened. Using well-placed spies and double agents, Walsingham maneuvered Mary into the role of traitorous conspirator, in a plot to overthrow Elizabeth. Her letters encouraging the plot were discovered and proved her involvement and treachery. What was the name of this plot?

Answer: The Babington Plot

This was a very complicated plot involving Anthony Babington, an English Catholic, who hoped, with the help of King Felipe II of Spain, to overthrow Elizabeth and put Mary Queen of Scots on the English throne. The entire drama, unknown to the many Catholic players, was carefully controlled by Walsingham. He made it possible for Mary to secretly receive correspondence. Babington told her of a plan to mount an insurrection of English Catholics, and the intention to rescue her. Her act of replying to this letter forever implicated her. Elizabeth was not safe as long as Mary lived.

Against Elizabeth's initial wishes, Mary went to the block in 1587. It was a gruesome beheading, and required three swings of the axe before the head was severed. The result also included draconian measures against the Jesuits and English Catholic community. Walsingham ensured that Babington and many other of the conspirators met the dreadful end of being publicly hanged, drawn and quartered.

Walsingham had, in effect, changed history by proving plots that did not really exist without his string pulling in the background. He could show information from many plausible sources that appeared to prove the crimes. In his mind the end justified the means. At Mary's trial Walsingham said: "I call God to witness that as a private person I have done nothing unseeming an honest man, nor, as I bear the place of a public man, have I done anything unworthy of my place."

7. Christopher Marlowe, Elizabethan poet and dramatist, is believed to have been recruited by Walsingham's men to carry out a secret government mission, while still at Cambridge. He is a murky character and it is uncertain whether or not he was Protestant or Catholic, or in fact spied for both. He lived life very much on the edge, and although not a major spy, Walsingham found him useful at a young age. He would disappear for months at a time, such that it was amazing that he wrote anything at all. Which of these works is not written by Marlowe?

Answer: Mourning Becomes Elektra

"Morning Becomes Elektra" was written by Eugene O'Neill several centuries later.

Marlowe's death was truly shrouded in mystery. He was accused of murdering a man, and spent a short time in Newgate Prison. His death in Eleanor Bull's house in Deptford, supposedly after an argument over who should pay a bill, may have had a deeper political connotation. There were charges of atheism and homosexuality hanging over his head. It is believed that Marlowe was murdered by Walsingham's men, but no cause has yet been proven. He died from a dagger through the eyeball, after a skirmish with his friend Ingram Frizier on May 30, 1593.

8. We have seen how adept Sir Francis was in the strategic placement of spies, but once caught, their fates were limited to a long stretch, literally. I refer, of course, to the use of the rack (known as the Duke of Exeter's Daughter). Two other nasty instruments of torture were also employed: 'The Scavengers Daughter' and 'The Manacles'. The first of these two worked in opposite function to the rack, gradually squashing the poor prisoner. The Manacles were used to keep the prisoner suspended off the floor by the wrists. What was the ultimate purpose of these dreadful machines?

Answer: To inflict pain for perceived wrong-doing.

Thomas Norton, one of Elizabeth's Chief Interrogators, said of Walsingham's use of the rack, "None was put to the rack that was not at first by some manifest evidence known to the council to be guilty of treason, so that it was well assured beforehand that there was no innocent tormented. Also none was tormented to know whether he was guilty or not, but for the Queen's safety to know the manner of the treason and the accomplices". In other words, they had pain inflicted for pain's sake, having already been proven guilty.

Bodies broken by these machines, unable to walk usually were dragged to the gallows, or the ultimate horror of being hanged drawn and quartered.

Walsingham's Inquisitor in chief was the despicable Richard Topcliffe, a man described by Father Gerard (in his narrative of the Gunpowder plot) as'...the cruelest tyrant of all England, Topcliffe a man most infamous and hateful in all the realm for his bloody and butcherly mind'. To obscure much of his worse torturous doings, Topcliffe had permission from Walsingham to set up his own evil machinery at home, and torture as he wished, out of sight and sound of the Tower guards.

9. The 'Invincible' Spanish Armada gathered in Lisbon harbor, making ready for the attack upon England. Walsingham's network of 'intelligencers' were hard at work to glean any snippet of information regarding the location of the attack. But the Spaniards remained closed mouthed. What ultimately won the day for the English navy?

Answer: Better English ships and seamanship.

The Spanish navy was crushed by the swift tactics and manoeuvres of such as Drake and Hawkins. The top-heavy Spanish galleons were no match for the redesigned speedier English ships. Ultimately the winds blew up and dashed much of the Armada against the rocks. It marked the end of Spain as a major naval power, and the beginning of English supremacy of the seas.

10. Walsingham was not a well man, and died in April, 1590, in considerable debt. A compromise was reached with the crown over the true amount owed. They then seized his papers,which were never to be seen again. Despite his devotion to the Queen's well-being, he was not recognized in death. What was the legacy he left?

Answer: His innovative spying techniques probably saved Queen Elizabeth's life, but did the end justify the means?

I am not sure that Walsingham could today fit easily into the guise of Judy Dench as 'M', and Christopher Marlowe certainly would have made a rather shoddy 007. He certainly left a great many questions and apologies to the English Catholics in the construction and proof of the various plots. One again, fanaticism cares only for the result.

However, if Elizabeth had been overthrown would we all be speaking French or Spanish?

Source: Author Englizzie

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor Snowman before going online.
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Reputed founder of modern espionage, (The second oldest profession), Sir Francis Walsingham added a chilling, merciless zealotry to his position as Spymaster Extraordinaire.

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