Elizabeth I, Mary Queen of Scots, Anthony Babington and the Deadly Web of the 1586 Babington Plot
Image info:
Image of forged postscript to a letter by Mary Queen of Scots to Anthony Babington and the record of cyphers.
Author:Thomas Phelippes and Anthony Babington
Permission: Crown Copyright expired
I have recently been learning about some of the scandals of the Victorian age, and this got me thinking about what scandals happened in the Tudor age. I know there are so many. We all know of the fall of Anne Boleyn, the scandal surrounding Catherine Howard, and the succession of Jane Grey, but I thought I would share with a little about the story of the Babington Plot.
By the 1580s, England was a country with huge religious tensions. Queen Elizabeth I had ruled for nearly three decades, but her Protestant settlement had remained exteremely unpopular amongst many Catholics, both at home and abroad. At the centre of all this tension was Mary, Queen of Scots, she was Elizabeth’s cousin and a Catholic figurehead. Mary had been in various forms of captivity in England since 1568, and although she lived under guard, she still represented hope to those who wished to have a Catholic monarch on the English throne. You can only imagine how isolated she must have felt, she was watched constantly and still very much aware that her very existence was dangerous to Elizabeth.
Anthony Babington who was a Catholic man from Derbyshire and like many of his generation was torn between loyalty to his queen and loyalty to his faith. In 1586, influenced by Catholic exiles and foreign plots, he became convinced that drastic action was necessary to restore Catholicism in England. The plan was bold and completely reckless: Elizabeth needed to be assassinated, Mary must be freed and a Catholic uprising must follow with foreign support.
What the conspirators did not realise was that they were being watched. Elizabeth’s principal secretary, Sir Francis Walsingham, had built an extensive network of spies and informers. He was not a stupid man, he understood that Mary remained the centre of Catholic cause in England, and he was determined to uncover any conspiracy. Secret letters were smuggled to and from Mary using coded messages hidden inside beer barrels, this gave them the illusion of privacy and secrecy. But Walsingham had arranged for these messages to be intercepted and deciphered.
Image info:
Walsingham
Date:1587
In July 1586, Babington wrote to Mary outlining the plan, including the intention to assassinate Elizabeth. When Mary replied, she appeared to give her approval. Whether she fully grasped the consequences of her letters or whether she felt driven by frustration and maybe even hope is something historians still debate to this day, but her reply sadly sealed her fate. Walsingham now had the evidence he needed.
Babington and his fellow conspirators were arrested. Whilst under interrogation, the reality of their situation would have become painfully clear. In September 1586, they were executed in London, suffering the most brutal punishment reserved for traitors. The spectacle was meant to serve as a warning, and it must have sent shockwaves through those who had sympathised with their cause.
Mary, Queen of Scots
Date: 1578
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Mary’s trial was later that year. She defended herself, insisting she had never eanted Elizabeth’s death, but the evidence against her was considered overwhelming. In February 1587, she was executed at Fotheringhay Castle.
Do you think Mary was a willing conspirator driven by ambition, or a desperate prisoner clinging to any chance of freedom?
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