Walsingham: Elizabethan Spymaster & Statesman

by Alan Haynes

For the greater part of her reign, Elizabeth I had three very gifted, and very different men to support her. One of these was the haunted intellectual, Sir Francis Walsingham. During the brief reign of the Queen Mary, Walsingham was a Protestant exile in Italy. Returning home when Elizabeth assumed the throne, from 1570 he became a diplomat to the arch-pragmatist Queen. He was often troubled by her inconsistent policy decisions and for allowing the exile in England of Mary Queen of Scots. His triumph came in 1587 when Mary was at last beheaded after the cunning defeat of the Babington plot. A powerful, if enigmatic figure, loathed by his adversaries and deeply admired by friends and allies, Walsingham became the master coordinator of a feared pan-European spy network. His spies underpinned his organization of national resistance to the Spanish Armada, but devotion and duty to Elizabeth was costly and Walsingham died two years later. Alan Haynes’s new book restores a great Elizabethan to his rightful place in history. It will appeal to anyone interested in matters of secrecy, betrayal, loyalty, and individual freedom.

Genres: History, Tudor Period

274 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Ubiquitousbastard · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't start really having issues with this book until about halfway through, and it went rapidly downhill after that. The author's use of very insulting adjectives to describe people that he didn't like, such as Elizabeth always "spitting, gnashing, shrieking, etc..." so that she sounded like an insane and unstable child/geriatric. I also really loved how he described that it was because she was a woman that she couldn't grasp certain concepts of rule but luckily had men around to make the important decisions for her. In the copy I read on Scribd there were several errors as well, such as Babington's letter to Poley having the Latin words "cure" and "paci" instead "curae" and "pati." You would think that would be something easily double checked. That was not the only instance either, since several people's names changed spelling between mentions (and not in Elizabethan quotes which would be understandable.). The constant sprinkling of random French phrases throughout was also annoying. It doesn't bother me if French or any language is used sparingly or if the phrases are then explained, but these were strewn all throughout the text as if I was supposed to have a mastery of French in order to properly read this book.

Sure, this book did have some of what I was looking for in that there were some obscure Babington Plot related facts, but I was reading the book to get a feel for the people involved, not just to have some random facts. I also don't think most readers would have had the same motives for reading this, so without that benefit, I really don't believe this is a book to read for knowledge on Walsingham. There are far better biographies out there.