Elizabethan Espionage: Plotters and Spies in the Struggle Between Catholicism and the Crown

by Patrick H. Martin

Overview

In the wake of the 1588 destruction of the Spanish Armada, English Catholics launched an ingenious counterespionage effort to undermine the Tudor government's anti-Catholic machinations. This Jesuit-connected network secretly transmitted intelligence to Brussels, Antwerp, Madrid and Rome. Its central figure was William Sterrell, a brilliant Oxford philosopher. Sterrell moved at the highest levels of government, working for the ill-fated Earl of Essex and for the powerful 4th Earl of Worcester, secret sponsor of the Jesuits. This is the story of Sterrell's secret network—undetected for 400 years—brought to life in vivid detail, based on close examination of hundreds of original letters and documents never before transcribed or published.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781476662558
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Publication date:	05/09/2016
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 9.90(h) x 1.20(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Patrick H. Martin taught at the LSU Law Center from 1977 to 2011. Prior to joining the faculty at LSU, Professor Martin taught at the University of Tulsa Law School and at the University of Natal (now University of KwaZulu-Natal), Durban, South Africa. He has numerous publications in history, law, and legal philosophy. He lives in Clinton, Louisiana.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

Preface 1

1 The Persons-Campion Jesuit Mission of 1580-1581 5

2 Tainted in Blood 16

3 A Wolf by the Ears 21

4 The MP from Morpeth: Gentleman Pensioner and Assassin 29

5 Persecution of Catholic Gentry 38

6 Aboard the Ambassador's Boat 45

7 Mary Stewart and the Theatre of the World 50

8 The Spanish Armada and English Catholics 67

9 The Essex, Phelippes and Bacon Intelligence Initiative 79

10 In Spanish Lands: The Bisley-Moody Plot 95

11 The Parliament of 1593: Sterrell and Marlowe 107

12 Who Can Protect the Queen? A Rivalry over Assassins 120

13 The General Factor and Arbella Stewart 129

14 Co-opting the Privy Council 140

15 Trustworthy Men at the Fountainhead in the Council 147

16 The Network at Work: Tricks of Strong Imagination 161

17 Charles Paget, Meet Monsieur Boulant 167

18 Treaty Negotiations and Burgundian Jewels 175

19 Essex's Dismal Tumult 186

20 The War between the Priests 193

21 Scenes of a Dying Queen 208

22 Transitions and Treasons, 1603 218

23 From Intelligence to Entertainment 238

24 Measure for Measure: A Sermon to a King 249

25 Cecil's Interrogations: Phelippes's Lies and Sterrell's Equivocations 263

26 A Stir in Wales-The Whitsun Commotion, 1605 271

27 The Gunpowder Treason 275

28 Conclusion: The State of the English Counter-Reformation after Gunpowder 288

Chapter Notes 291

Bibliography 344

Index 353

Editorial Reviews

exhaustively researched”—British Catholic History; “valuable”—Journal of Jesuit Studies.

From the Publisher