The Watchers

Elizabeth I is one of the most famous queens in history, so it might seem strange that anyone would have tried to remove her from power. But that’s exactly what happened over four hundred years ago. Although there were more than fourteen attempts to overthrow her reign, Elizabeth I was able to stay in power thanks to a little help from her friends.

The common people in Elizabeth I’s kingdom wanted her as their queen, but she ruled at a time when England was in distress over a religious dispute. The Catholics believed a woman named Mary Stuart should be England’s queen, while the Protestants supported Elizabeth I’s rule. To make matters worse, other countries began plotting to use this conﬂict to overthrow Elizabeth I’s reign. She had many reasons to feel threatened, so she created a spy network to uncover those who were working against her.

Elizabeth I’s spy network, known as The Watchers, was run by two men: Sir Francis Walsingham and William Cecil. Both of these men were known as “Chief Spymaster.”

Walsingham developed complex spy networks that included double agents, spy priests, and cryptologists who studied the art of writing and solving codes. William Cecil later continued Walsingham’s work. Elizabeth I’s spies sent messages using substitution codes where each letter of the alphabet was substituted with a symbol. Other coded messages were written in milk or lemon juice as invisible ink that became visible when held over a candle.

One of Elizabeth I’s main spies, John Dee, practiced alchemy and was believed to be able to predict and even control the weather. His code name continues to be used in popular culture today: 007. Normal people could become spies too, it wasn’t reserved just for cryptologists and magicians.Although working as a spy sounds exciting, most of the work was boring and involved standing around in public places, listening to people’s conversations, hoping to hear something important.

Walsingham and Cecil took their roles as spymasters seriously. Each placed spies in England and abroad to thwart any Catholic plots to overthrow the queen. Since Elizabeth I was not Catholic, and traditionally, the queen was a Catholic ruler, she had many enemies, including the Pope. It was believed that Catholic priests worked as spies in order to gain information damaging to the queen. They were the perfect spies, because who would ever believe a priest would try to overthrow the queen?

In May 1582, Chief Spymaster Walsingham discovered letters that showed a conspiracy between Sir Francis Throckmorton, Elizabeth I’s cousin, and the rulers of Spain and France. They planned to invade England and kill Elizabeth I. Suspicion arose when Throckmorton began having regular meetings with the Spanish ambassador. These meetings were happening too often for comfort, and the Watchers became wary of the queen’s cousin. Soon, it was discovered that there was indeed a plot to overthrow Elizabeth I and put Mary Stuart (another cousin of Elizabeth I) on the throne. Cecil discovered the plot and moved Mary Stuart, who was under house arrest, into a house in the countryside-far away from Elizabeth I. Throckmorton was quick to confess and was later executed for treason.

Possibly the most dramatic scheme against Elizabeth I came in 1586, called the Babington Plot. Mary Stuart was under very strict house arrest at Chartley Castle. A missionary priest named Gilbert Gifford worked as a double agent, earning Mary Stuart’s trust by supposedly carrying coded messages between Chartley Castle and Mary Stuart’s spies in Spain. But instead of completing that mission, Gifford would give the letters to Chief Spymaster Walsingham. Gifford found clever ways to get his messages to the Chief Spymaster and even went as far as hiding secret messages in the corks of beer barrels. Because they were in code, the head cryptologist of the Watchers had to decode them.

When Mary Stuart’s plot was discovered, she and fourteen other people were executed. Strangely, Gifford fled to France to continue being a Catholic priest—although he seemed to be working on the side of Elizabeth I, Gifford’s dedication to Catholicism still leaves historians wondering where his loyalty really was.

Due in large part to the success of her spy network, Elizabeth I stayed on the throne for 44 years, and her reign ensured that England would remain a Protestant country. Walsingham’s creation, the spy network, is still used by countries around the world to gather intelligence and uncover foes.