Catholic Plots Against Elizabeth Flashcards
What did all Catholic plots against Elizabeth seem to focus on
Getting Mary QOS to the throne
Who was Mary Stuart’s first child, and who was it with?
James I, with Lord Darnley
Which of Mary Stuart’s husbands was believed to have organised Darnley’s murder?
Her 3rd - The Earl of Bothwell
Why did Mary Stuart flee Scotland?
Due to the civil war caused by the Protestant reformation in Scotland
(In favour of James I)
When was the Ridolfi plot?
1571
Who were the key individuals in the Ridolfi plot?
- The Pope (Pope Pius)
- Roberto Di Ridolfi
- Mary Stuart
- Duke of Norfolk
When was Elizabeth excommunicated by the Pope?
1570
Who was Roberto Ridolfi?
The Pope’s financer, and a Catholic Italian banker based in London
Describe the Ridolfi Plot
The plan was hatched by Roberto Di Ridolfi, and international banker who could travel between Brussels, Rome and Madrid to gain support without attracting too much suspicion. The idea was for 6000 troops to land in Essex, led by the Duke of Alba. It was hoped that their arrival would prompt a rebellion, Ridolfi also optimistically calculated that about half of the English nobles were Catholic, and would be able to secure 40,000 men if they rebelled. Once Elizabeth had been murdered, the plan was to marry Mary Stuart to the Duke of Norfolk
Elizabeth’s intelligence network discovered the plot, and a man named Charles Bailey was arrested and sent to the Tower of London to be interrogated. It was discovered that letters were being passed from the Spanish government to individuals in England. In many of these coded letters, was an individual known as “40”, who was found to be the Duke of Norfolk. Initially Elizabeth was unsure as to whether she should sign Norfolk’s death warrant, but after Cecil published the news in his public newspaper, the public turned against the Duke, calling for his head. Norfolk was then put on trial and found guilty in 1572, then beheaded in June. Elizabeth then passed an act saying that anyone who didn’t see her as the rightful Queen was a traitor
When was the Throckmorton Plot?
1583
Why was Walsingham trusted by Cecil?
While he was the English Ambassador in France, he had witnessed the St Bartholomew’s massacre, (70,000 protestant deaths) and knew the threat of Catholocism
Describe the Throckmorton Plot
In 1583, Francis Throckmorton was taking letters from Mary Stuart to the Spanish Ambassador (De Mendoza). The plan was for an English army of Catholics to be supported by a French army led by Henry Duke of Guise, and money from King Phillip II of Spain and Pope Gregory II in order to free Mary and restore her and Catholicism to the throne. However Elizabeth’s secret service found out about this and Throckmorton was placed on surveillance for six months. Once arrested, he was tortured on the rack and made a confession. A new law “The Bond of Association” was passed in 1584, which stated that if Elizabeth’s life was threatened, there would be no benefactors, and Mary Stuart would be executed.
When was the Bond of Association passed?
1584
Why was Elizabeth’s excommunication significant?
As she was no longer endorsed by the Pope - the person believed to be the closest to God, this further propagated the idea that Elizabeth was not the rightful Queen, and that Catholics would be morally justified to usurp the Queen
Describe the Babington plot
Sir Anthony Babington planned to rescue Mary, Queen of Scots from jail and murder Elizabeth. Secret letters between the plotters and Mary were discovered which gave the evidence needed to prove Mary’s guilt.
. The exchange of letters was intercepted by Walsingham’s secret service and deciphered by Thomas Phillips. Walsingham’s spies then intercepted a letter from Mary on the 17th July 1586 that said “Set the 6 men to work” (A reference to the six men stationed in London to kill Elizabeth). Babington and his 6 other conspirators were then hung, drawn and quartered in September 1586.
Mary Stuart was then placed on trial in October, and found guilty of treason Elizabeth signed her death warrant on February 1st 1587, and Mary is then executed on February the 8th 1587
When was the Babington plot?
1586
When did Elizabeth sign Mary Stuart’s death warrant, and when was she formally executed?
The death warrant was signed on February 1st 1587, and Mary was executed 7 days later on the 8th February 1587
When was the revolt of the Northern Earls?
1569
Why were the Northern Earls unhappy with Elizabeth?
Many of the families involved in the plot were very ancient, and had been Lords and Earls for hundreds of years. They were now losing independence, and were largely disloyal towards Elizabeth as they were Catholic, and even rebelled against Henry VII
- 1/3 of nobles were Catholic during Lizzie reign, and were from traditionally powerful families, many became rich under mary
- became very angry about their loss of influence under Liz
- they didnt like elizabeth’s favourites such as cecil and dudley and saw it as protestant upstarts
Describe the plan of the Revolt of The Northern Earls
The Catholic Earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland hatched a plan to get Mary, Queen of Scots out of jail and on to the throne. They gathered an army of 6,000 soldiers in their attempt to return England to Catholicism. The plan was for Norfolk to marry Mary, depose Elizabeth and then restore Catholicism. Mary would be Queen and Norfolk would be her consul.
Who was the Earl of Northumberland at the time?
Thomas Percy
Who was the Earl of Westmoreland at the time?
Charles Neville
Who was the Duke of Norfolk at the time?
Thomas Howard
Describe the events of the Revolt of the Northern Earls
Nov 1569
Earls order their tenants to March down south and join their army. In Durham, the Earls and their men stormed into the Cathedral, destroyed protestant prayer books and the English Bible and celebrated traditional Catholic Mass in Latin
Rebels continue marching south to Braham (near York). The Queen had moved Mary QOS south to a prison near Coventry to prevent a rescue. The Earl of Sussex assembled an army of 10,000 men in the Midlands. The rebels heard this and turned back north. No foreign aid was sent to the rebels.
Dec
Royal army reached the river Tees and the rebels fled. Earls escaped to Scotland. Northumberland was handed over by the Scots and beheaded. Westmoreland managed to escape abroad
Around 450 rebels executed
What were some reasons that the Revolt of the Northern Earls failed?
- Promised aid from Spain never arrived
- Lack of concrete plan, rebels never seemed sure
whether to overthrow Elizabeth and replace her with
Mary or just to free Mary and have here named as heir - Not all Northern Landowners, (e.g. Lancashire and Cheshire) were
against the Queen, as religious upheaval had been ongoing in
England, and perhaps they just wished for stability - Northumberland and Westmoreland were not brave or decisive leaders
Why was Northumberland angry w Elizabeth?
He had lost an important position as Warden of the Middle March
Elizabeth appointed the Earl of Sussex as President of the Council of the North
Impact of Ridolfi plot
Parliament MPs were justified in putting pressure on Elizabeth to be harsher towards Catholics
St Bartholomew’s day incited by Mary’s relatives
Increased fears of a Catholic attack in England
- English Catholics and Mary QOS could not be trusted
- Spain was becoming a threat, began trying to improve English relationship with France so that she can have an ally against spain
why did the northern earls rebel
- many nobles in the North were Catholic and they wanted to return England to Catholicism
- when Elizabeth became queen, she brought in Protestant advisors and got rid of a lot of Catholic advisors in her court; William Cecil, Dudley etc , so Catholic nobles would’ve lost jobs and money to these people
- Westmoreland, at the time of the revolt, was bankrupt and starting to take out loans, Northumberland also lost a lot of income due to the loss of his position, as these positions came with the right to tax people
- In 1561, Liz appointed James Pilkington as the new Bishop is Durham, and his job was to stamp out Catholicism and he used harsh methods to do so
- Elizabeth had no heir, if she died, it could lead to rebellion or civil war, and a civil war could mean heavy loss of money and power for the nobles, particularly if another protestant monarch comes into power
Summarise the Ridolfi plot
- 1571
Italian Banker Ridolfi, who worked as a spy to the Pope, planned to free Mary, marry her to the Duke of Norfolk and kill and replace Elizabeth, with the support of Spain - He travelled to Netherlands and linked up w Phillip II and the Duke of Alba. Phillip said he would support and prepare 10,000 troops ready to invade England
- Cecil found out, Norfolk arrested, Ridolfi fled
- Although there was some evidence linking Mary to the plots, Liz refused as she thought only God could judge monarchs
Summarise the Throckmorton plots
- 1583
- Throckmorton (a young Catholic) organised for a French army to invade and help Mary to the throne
- Had support from the Pope, and King Phillip II of Spain
- Bond of association passed as a result of this
how did elizabeth control propaganda
- she herself created propaganda to influence peoples opinions
- she made sure that everything that was made public about her was flattering
- few people actually met her, so portraits especially on coins were important
how did Walsingham uncover plots
- he intercepted coded letters and messages, he employed a man skilled at resealing letters so that plotters didn’t know they had been intercepted, and a leading coder who deciphered mary’s letters
- he employed a network of spies and agents - agents with code names were based overseas in major towns and cities, some were double agents, taking part in the plots then sending info to walsingham
- he was influential in parliament, which passed acts such as the 1584 bond of association stating that if liz life was threatened, mary qos would be 😵
- he captured catholic priests and rescue rants - after 1570 excommunication, pope started sending missionary priests to england, but walsinghams spies were particularly effective in seizing them
- he used interrogation and torture, for example Francis throckmorton was tortured on the rack to extract info about their intentions and other threats to liz
impact of revolt of the northern earls
- Northumberland and Westmoreland flew and die in poverty
- Mary QOS moved to Coventry
- Mary cant be trusted
- Elizabeth strengthens her control over the north and executes 700 of the rebels that stood against her
- Tighter sanctions on Catholics
- Pope excommunication , basically encouraging Catholics to overthrow her
what laws were passed as a result of the ridolfi plot
1581
- became illegal to shelter priests and illegal to convert people
-anyone who didnt see elizabeth as queen was a traitor
Summarise the throckmorton plot
- Organised by the Duke of Guise, a french nobleman who was also related to mary
- wanted to restore catholicism and also increase his families power
- Phillip II was again willing to support this, providing money to pay for soldiers and weapons, but not actually his own soldiers. Pope sent a letter saying he approved of the plot
- Recruited a young catholic called Francis Throckmorton to pass letters between Mary and the plotters
- Walsingham uncovered the plot using his spy network
- Throckmorton arrested tortured and executed, 1584 BOND OF ASSOCIATION PASSED
Impact of Throckmorton plot
- Both France and Spain were now threats
- English Catholics and Mary QOS were now becoming significant threats
- 11,000 Catholics placed under surveillance
Summarise the Babington plot
- Plan was for Duke of Guise to invade England, murder elizabeth and put Mary on the throne
- Had support from Pope and Phillip, but Phillip didn’t back up his support on this occasion
- English Catholic anthony babington was tasked to pass letters in a more clever way, hiding them in sealed wax envelopes inside beer barrels
- Walsinghams spy networks uncovered this and Babington hung drawn and quartered
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Summarise the spy network
- The job was to uncover plots on Elizabeth
-Some were trained agents waged by the government , others were paid informants, usually friends or tenants of suspected people, but sometimes were Catholic Priests who would be spies for a pardon- he placed these spies and informants in every single town in England
- Walsingham also employed clever people, like Thomas Phellippes who could decode ciphers, meaning he could send and receive sensitive information using his own codes
