Queen elizabeths secret agents12/12/2023 Layers of intrigue were employed to entrap Mary, although William incurred the great displeasure of Elizabeth when he allowed Mary to be executed before the monarch gave the order (historians debate whether her tantrum was motivated by grief or guilt, or was simply a case of method acting). A major threat was posed by Elizabeth's cousin Mary, Queen of Scots. At the time, England was a Protestant enclave surrounded by a Catholic Europe. Narrated by Colin Tierney, this three-part PBS/BBC documentary describes an early secret service team-led by William Cecil and later his son Robert-who guarded Elizabeth, using stool pigeons, surveillance, forgery, and double agents. It was also a time of plots, during which Elizabeth I improbably managed to reign on England's throne for over 40 years (1558-1603). I believe that Elizabeth was almost certainly not upset that the greatest threat to her power had been diminished.Elizabethan England was a time of court intrigue, violence, warfare, and deeply divided loyalties. Regardless, Cecil organised the execution of Mary (which the programme detailed in great detail), much to Elizabeth’s anger, which historians on this episode described as a ‘well-orchestrated melodramatic outburst to ensure that there was no blood on her hands’. It would have been difficult for the Queen to directly order the execution of her cousin, so I have to agree that she faked her anger to strengthen her own position. Elizabeth eventually signed the execution order, but it could not be enacted without the seal of state and her final approval. Honestly, I think Mary would have known that her communications were being intercepted, but did she know they were being read and understood…?Ĭecil’s mathematicians discovered that Mary had ordered the assassination of the Queen when Elizabeth was told, she was reluctant to agree to the execution of her cousin, with whom – until her exile in England – her relationship was arguably cordial. Little did she know, Cecil had hired expert mathematicians to decode these letters which she was sending to a group of Catholic rebel Lords working in Parliament. William and Robert Cecil, who ran Elizabeth I’s spy network in succession (Bridgeman Images/BBC) But she was able to communicate with the outside world using coded letters that she smuggled out in beer barrels. Mary was exiled in a secluded Staffordshire castle (Fotherinhay) and forbidden from riding her horse in the castle grounds, which she was furious about. In the second half of the episode, Mary Queen of Scots is Cecil’s target. I personally think that Elizabeth wanted to rid her realm of plotters, so Cecil and Walsingham were only enacting her wishes, even if the Queen did not openly say so. Cecil struggles to persuade Elizabeth to agree to the Duke’s execution, but, as is the case in many BBC royal series recently, he was eventually hung, drawn and quartered. In the first half of the episode, Cecil and his trusted ally, Sir Francis Walsingham, learn about the Catholic Duke of Norfolk’s plot to have Elizabeth assassinated in order to put Mary on the throne. The BBC is airing a greater number of royal-focused series recently, which can only be a good thing for those interested in history, amateur historians and drama fans alike. This episode focused on two people trying to murder the Queen, Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, Elizabeth’s second cousin, and Mary Queen of Scots, who was Elizabeth’s first cousin, through her paternal aunt. It is Cecil who features heavily throughout this first episode.Ĭecil, as spymaster, employed a number of Cambridge-educated mathematicians, former English diplomats, soldiers, and courtiers in an attempt to infiltrate the Catholic underworld across England, Spain and France. So to protect herself, Elizabeth hired her most trusted confidant, William Cecil, Baron Burghley, to protect her. William Cecil speaks to Queen Elizabeth I in the BBC’s ‘Elizabeth’s Secret Agents’ (72 Films/Richard Outram/BBC)ġ2 years after Elizabeth’s accession to the throne of England, Pope Pius V declared the Queen a heretic and traitor to God, which was an open invitation to English Catholics to attempt to assassinate her with the blessing of God and the Papal State.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |