Elizabeth's Spymaster

By Robert Hutchinson

Book Overview

The incredible real life story of the world's first super spy

'Full of stimulating detail... vivid glimpses of the world of Elizabethan espionage' GUARDIAN

'Walsingham emerges from these pages as a hero of epic stature' DAILY TELEGRAPH

Francis Walsingham was the first 'spymaster' in the modern sense. His methods anticipated those of MI5 and MI6 and even those of the KGB. He maintained a network of spies across Europe, including double-agents at the highest level in Rome and Spain - the sworn enemies of Queen Elizabeth and her Protestant regime. His entrapment of Mary Queen of Scots is a classic intelligence operation that resulted in her execution.

As Robert Hutchinson reveals, his cypher expert's ability to intercept other peoples' secret messages and his brilliant forged letters made him a fearsome champion of the young Elizabeth. Yet even this Machiavellian schemer eventually fell foul of Elizabeth as her confidence grew (and judgement faded). The rise and fall of Sir Francis Walsingham is a Tudor epic, vividly narrated by a historian with unique access to the surviving documentary evidence.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0753822482
• ISBN13: 9780753822487
• Release Date: April 2007
• Publisher: Phoenix
• Length: 428 Pages
• Weight: 0.73 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Great history, passable biography, makes sense out of Shakespeare

I walked away with the feeling that the author intended to write a history of Queen Elizabeth's intelligence operations, but the publisher forced him to make it a biography. This book is an excellent history of internal and external politics of England during Elizabeth's reign. As a biography, it's only OK; not bad, but not great. As an adjunct to Shakespeare, it is brilliant. I never really understood the events surrounding the detention of Mary Queen of Scots and the Spanish Armada until reading this. Now it all makes perfect sense. Vignettes about the implications of over-aggressive operations against religiously based insurgents are rife. Read with a broad veiw of current events, this book is very relevant. As a bio, it's kind of flat. Walsingham was a character, and very good at what he did even if not appreciated by Elizabeth. He was a passionate intelligence professional, and ran some brilliant, if ethically dubious, operations. I think the material about Walsingham really got lost in the history. As an adjunct to Shakespeare, this is excellent. This book reviews what would have been recent history and current events at the time Shakespeare began writing. The tone and references from Shakespeare make a lot more sense after wrapping myself around the life and times of Walsingham. The treachery and conspiracy culture that permeated Elizabeth's court is described in detail, and especially in "Measure For Measure" and "Two Gentlemen of Verona", the reader can better appreciate the complexity and risks of court life. I really enjoyed and learned a lot from this book, and recommend it to any student of that period's history, intelligence history, or Shakespeare. E.M. Van Court

Elizabeth's Spymaster

A little dry in style, but with good information, and a good bibliography. I enjoyed reading it.