The Babington Plot: Codes, Conspiracy and the Crown

hello and welcome back to the channel if you're new here hi you're very welcome this is reading the past and i'm dr cat and i told you in last week's video that we'll be getting to this topic very soon today we're looking at the babington plot before we hop in i would like to indulge in some shameless self-promotion and ask you to subscribe to the channel if you haven't already i can scarcely believe it but over 90 000 of you lovely people have already subscribed thank you all so much but in the words of oliver twist please can i have some more i'm not even sure how plausible this request is but can we see if we can get this channel to a hundred thousand subscribers by the end of the year thank you all for listening and now back to our scheduled programming let's look at the babington plot [Music] on the evening of the 7th of february 1587 mary queen of scots was informed about the arrival of her death warrant which bore the signature of her near kinswoman queen elizabeth the first mary learned that she was to die the next day the next morning the 8th of february 1587 attired in black satin and clasping her prayer book and crucifix mary was taken to the hall of father and gay castle to mount the two-foot high scaffold draped in black cloth that had been built there for the purpose while richard fletcher the dean of peterborough set about praying loudly in a manner that conformed to the church of england the roman catholic mary prayed according to her own faith tradition as was customary the executioners knelt and begged her forgiveness which she granted her ladies then removed her outer garments to reveal a red petticoat and bodice red being the colour of catholic martyrdom blindfolded she knelt before the block and took it in her hands she then placed her chin over it to show consent for the headsman to strike she followed tradition and stretched out her arms while saying in latin into your hands o lord i commend my spirit it took two blows and a cut to sever her head from her body elizabeth's first cousin once removed a rival to her throne was dead mary had landed at workington in cumbria nearly two decades earlier on the 16th of may 1568 she had fled from scotland having been held captive and forced to abdicate her throne under threat of violence from her nobles she'd been forced to leave her son james who was not yet two years old behind he was to be her replacement as scotland's monarch a series of regents would oversee his rule and he would never see his mother again mary was 25 years old when she landed in england seeking support and or sanctuary in the realm of her kinswoman queen elizabeth the first i think a number of conflicting thoughts would have been running through elizabeth's mind affecting her approach to mary's plight there would have been the rage a fellow regnant queen's rule being challenged excitement over having a kinswoman and kindred sister queen so close at hand to befriend anxiety over how supporting a failed rule by force could bring conflict over her northern border concern over what may result if she empowered mary by returning her to the scottish throne fear about her remaining in england as a roman catholic alternative to elizabeth's own rule distaste at the thought of allowing her to retire to france in case the french should use her as a reason to intervene in scottish matters and that's to name just a few mary would remain in england housed as befitted her status as an anointed queen but and this is despite being charged with no crime in england as yet she was still a captive elizabeth and mary would thus become locked into an uncomfortable holding pattern of distrust and resentment for the better part of two decades as the years marched on there were many who realized that this dangerous and exhausting stalemate would and could only truly be resolved to allow one queen to be fully free of the other through one of their deaths so the question was would they wait for nature to take its course or would one of them blink first lose patience and act out there were apparently some in england who would seek to trigger these women to act against each other takes a francis morsingham the man that history remembers as elizabeth spymaster and who some credit with finally entrapping mary queen of scots i think it's fair to say that warsingham was essentially gunning for mary due to his distrust and i would argue fear of roman catholics this fear was for me heavily informed by his trauma that he experienced at living through the saint bartholomew's day massacre in paris in 1572 i have got a video about that event which i will leave linked also blotting mary's copy book so to speak was the fact that the year before the massacre at paris there was the scuppering of the rodolfi plot of 1571. the italian banker roberto rodolfi intended to assassinate elizabeth marry mary to the duke of norfolk and make her queen of england his plan had the support of philip ii of spain and the intended groom the duke of norfolk mary had even given the scheme her full approval in march 1571. norfolk was executed as a result of this plot it is also thought that mary may have been actively involved in the throck morton plot which was discovered in november 1583 and that planned for the duke of geese and a french army to invade england with the support of philip ii and the pope to free mary and make her queen of england francis throckmorton was executed for organizing this particular scheme elizabeth no doubt remembered the people that had plotted on her behalf both with and without her knowledge during her half-sister's reign her own conscience may even have been pricked at how far she had once been willing to go allegedly avenging herself against mary queen of scots when she had potentially done as much to a prior mary her own sister might have felt somewhat hypocritical whatever elizabeth felt it seems that wolf singham and his agents would think it necessary to allegedly actively engineer a situation that would make mary desperate and as reckless as possible before going on to stage manage both a plot and a legal change that would make her death a foregone conclusion on the 19th of october 1584 the council of england sponsored a bond of association through which thousands of loyal englishmen would swear to defend their queen and to prosecute to the death any pretended successor in whose name any assassination attempt against elizabeth might be made this was modified when elizabeth's parliament of 1584-85 encouraged her to grant her assent to an act for provision to be made for the surety of the queen's majesty's most royal person and the continuance of the realm in peace this act would ensure the trial of anyone involved in any invasion rebellion or plot against the queen if they were found guilty any claim to the throne they had pretended or otherwise would be nullified then that person would still be pursued to the death by all the queen subjects elizabeth judges would as was common determine their guilt or otherwise but the sentence for their treason was arguably now provided with a bit less wiggle room certainly elizabeth would be able to feel and even assert that her hands were now tied should she be faced with a controversial traitor who might be in need of a dose of execution in the future for much of mary's time in england she had been in the care and custody of bess of hardwick's fourth husband george talbot sixth earl of shrewsbury as best and george's marriage unraveled some say under the political and fiscal pressure of housing mary in around 1583 bess would allege that her husband had been unfaithful with mary and that mary had even borne george a son this sexual scandal when coupled with mary's possible involvement in the throckmorton plot which was also from 1583 would give elizabeth's counsellors the perfect excuse to look to move her which they would do just over a year later in january 1585. now the more cynical among us may see the decision to move her to a more strict imprisonment under amy's paulette somewhere where her only permitted correspondence had to go through the french ambassador having first been inspected by paulette looks like a concerted effort to destabilize and anger mary intended potentially to sow thoughts of rebellion in her heart and mind it's also worth mentioning that warsingham had been reading the french embassy correspondent since 1583 so presumably having paulette read them too was done for mary's benefit indeed i don't think it's overstating wars powers to believe that this was intentional that he thought that this was likely to drive mary towards her first rebellion and that that rebellion would be to enter into any secret letter-writing relationship that may come her way i think he was orchestrating it so that she would do what she would end up doing in september 1585 the french ambassador to england was replaced wall singer responded by ordering that all of mary's correspondence must now go through him a few months later in december 1585 mary was moved again to robert devereaux second earl of essex's house at chartly in staffordshire and wouldn't you know it wouldn't be long a couple of weeks at most before one gilbert gifford would make himself known gifford had been educated at both dui college and the english college at rome being connected to these institutions was effectively a rubber stamp for his roman catholic credentials although he had been expelled from the english college for reasons that are now unknown to add to his credibility though gifford also came with a letter of recommendation from mary's agent in paris thomas morgan gifford had landed in england in december 1585 at which point he was immediately arrested and taken before wolsingham however it is thought that he had been in contact with warsingham and or his agents for years and that gifford may have actively been in warsingham service already in fact some argue that his connection suspected or otherwise with warsingham was what got gifford expelled from the english college at rome in the first place woolsingham sent gifford to mary to offer his services as a courier of secret correspondence the net twin snare mary was being laid out next a brewer was taken on by the warsingham scheme the brewer who supplied the imprisoned mary's household with its regular supply of beer he would now offer up the bungholes of his beer barrels as a place where letters could be secreted in little leather pouches letters to mary would be brought in the full barrels letters from her would go back in the empty barrels that the brawl would be collecting for refilling gifford would intercept these letters being sent to and from mary in order to pass them to thomas phillips aka thomas phillips so they could be decoded and copied to keep warsingham and the government informed of the plot as it unfolded the original letters were then convincingly resealed to be sent on their onward intended journey anthony babington for whom the plot is named had been born into a most likely roman catholic family in derbyshire in 1561. he had first become connected to mary in around 1579 when he would have been about 18 years old and acting as a page in george talbot's household while mary was in talbot's custody then babington also met with mary's agent thomas morgan the one who had recommended gifford abbington met him in paris and as he would later confess when he returned to england he conveyed some of morgan's letters to mary in around 1583-4 then in around may 1586 babington was approached by john ballard a roman catholic priest about a potential plot to assassinate elizabeth where the dukes of ghees and mayan planned to mount a roman catholic invasion of england which was supported by the pope in order to clear the way to put mary queen of scots on the english throne babington was apparently at first skeptical but not for long babington was already moving in circles with those whose loyalty to rome would potentially make them feel connected to the plight of mary queen of scots and indeed a number of them would join in his conspiracy however the government was apparently already watching most if not all of them among their number were those who had pretty prominent court connections so there was robert dudley's ward thomas salisbury there was edward abington who was the son of queen elizabeth kofra there was charles tilney who was both a gentleman pension report in his own right as well as being a relative of elizabeth's own master of the rebels edmund tilney there was robert barnwell who came to elizabeth's court in the service of the earl of kildare meaning that it's likely that the queen would have recognized him and there was edward jones who shared a name with his father and that father was elizabeth's master of the wardrobe also implicating the plot would be the fantastically named chidiok titchborn if i've pronounced that right it will be a miracle chidiok came from a family who had faced accusations and interrogations regarding their popish practices there was also a londoner henry dunn who is thought to be a possible ancestor for the poet john dunn there was one edward windsor of whom little is known as its thought he might have dropped out of the conspiracy also implicated was robert gage john travers and john charnock it was also thought by the government that the father of that escape artist priest father john gerard may also have been involved as well i will link my video about father john and his escaping from the tower henry williams asserts that quote this was not a provincial conspiracy but rather one hatched in london mainly by young catholic courtiers the plotters had a meeting on the 7th of june 1586. babington expressed his concern in fact he recommended leaving england to avoid the dangers that may be about to surface babington contacted one robert pooley about obtaining a passport pulley was not the ally that babington thought he was rather he was another who was already in warsingham service babington's passport would never appear babington would later claim that his inaction was a cause for complaint from john ballard and his fellow conspirators seemingly these complaints would spur him on because on the 6th of july 1586 babington wrote one of the beer barrel letters for mary in cipher in this letter he pledged his allegiance to her cause and he laid out the plan as it was quote myself with ten gentlemen and a hundred of our followers will undertake the delivery of your royal person from the hands of your enemies for the dispatch of the usurper so read death of elizabeth from the obedience of whom we are by the excommunication of her made free there be six noble gentlemen all my private friends who for the zeal they bear to the catholic cause and to your majesty service will undertake that tragical execution abington also asked that mary see to it that they the conspirators may be honorably rewarded and or remembered for these deeds mary's own cipher response was written on the 17th of july in it she expresses her gratitude before engaging in a series of rapid-fire points for effectively mounting rebellion she suggests that he quote must first examine deeply end quote what forces they could gather what towns ports and havens they could control where would be the best place for their forces to gather what foreign forces would they need and how would they pay them what would they need in terms of money and armour and how would they get it fatally mary would continue quote the affairs being thus prepared and forces in readiness both without and within the realm then shall it be time to set the six gentleman to work mary's is a long letter both it and the letter from babington that inspired its creation had of course been decrypted and copied by thomas phillips at some point phillips when decoding and copying mary's letter was moved to add a gallows clearly he recognized the explosive nature of this missive but phillips was also a forger so before sending mary's original letter on it's thought he added the following forged postscript quote i would be glad to know the names and qualities of the six gentlemen which are to accomplish the designment for that it may be i shall be able upon knowledge of the parties to give you some further advice necessary to be followed therein and even so do i wish to be made acquainted with the names of all such principal persons etc as also from time to time particularly how you proceed and as soon as you may for the same purpose who be already and how far everyone is privy here unto babington would apparently not receive this letter until the 31st july and he would not have the time to respond with the particulars that had been requested by that postscript but as has previously been discussed it seems fairly evident that the government already had their eyes on many more than just six of babington's known associates certainly john ballard the priest who had approached babington all those months ago would be arrested just days later on the 4th of august 1586 babington was left at large for just long enough for him to set the intended assassin one john savage to work babington had provided savage with his ring and with some money to buy clothing that might allow savage to blend in better at court days all 14 known conspirators had been captured interrogated and had offered their four confessions the first seven savage ballard babington barnwell dunn salisbury and pitchbourne were brought to trial on the 13th to 14th of september 1586. all of the accused except for titchborn would eventually plead guilty to the charges that had been laid against them all seven would face a traitor's death the next seven accused abington tilney bellamy charnock jones gage and travers would be tried the next day the 15th of september 1586. in this trial all of them denied their guilt but were nevertheless found guilty and condemned to suffer a traitor's death as well five days after the second trial the first seven convicted men were conveyed to their place of execution where they were to be hanged cut down while they were still alive and then castrated and disemboweled this happened on the 20th of september 1586 the next day the next seven were to be executed but in their case according to william camden elizabeth would show mercy by allowing them to be hung until dead before being castrated and disemboweled it's said that elizabeth was not privy to just how knowledgeable and in control warsingham had been throughout so instead she was apparently permitted to experience the abject terror of a near miss against her life then wolfingham and william sessom would remind elizabeth of that 1585 act designed for her safety so by law a commission would have to be appointed to bring mary to trial whatever elizabeth may have thought and wanted so that trial took place at father gay castle on the 14th to 15th of october 1586 mary apparently defended herself ably and in fact she had some of her own accusations to level because she formally accused woolsingham of falsifying evidence designed to destroy her awesome rebuffed her and responded with quote i call god to witness that as a private person i have done nothing unbeseeming an honest man nor as i bear the place of a public man have i done anything unworthy of my place i confess that being very careful for the safety of the queen and the realm i have curiously searched out all the practices against the same well okay then i guess that's his story and he's sticking to it the trial was moved to westminster on the 25th of october and unsurprisingly the 42-man commission which included warsingham found mary guilty of plotting to kill elizabeth and take her throne what would follow was the nearly sisyphean task of getting elizabeth that consummate equivocator to actually sign mary's death warrant eventually she was brought to capitulation and she signed her name to the documents on the first of february 1587 and then promptly handed it on to the relatively junior william davidson it said that she commanded davidson to ensure that this document not be sent on nor acted upon until she gave her further say-so just what elizabeth actually had in mind with this is anyone's guess in fact discussing that could probably be a video on this channel in its own right i mean equally we could look at the frankly weak efforts that mary's son james provided both before and after the plotting to save his mother both from imprisonment and later from execution i mean just what were his motivations what we do know is what happened next the warrant was sealed and sent to father and gay on the 3rd of february so that preparations for mary's execution could begin as we know mary would die five days later on the 8th of february 1587. the former queen of scots had arrived in england at 25 years old at her execution she was 44 years old she had been elizabeth's prisoner for 19 years but what do you think as always i'm looking forward to reading your conversations in the comments section underneath this video or you can find me on social media i'll leave links to the other places you can find me on the internet in my description box follow me over on some or all of them so we can continue this conversation and start some others i do hope you enjoyed this video and found it useful and if you did why not share it with some friends please also let me know you liked it by hitting the thumbs up please subscribe to the channel and let's see if we can hit that one hundred thousand if you hit the bell icon beside the subscribe button and then you select all in the drop down youtube will tell you when i've next uploaded i hope you're gonna have a great day whatever you're doing and i look forward to speaking to you all in my next video take care of yourselves bye bye for now [Music] you

Channel: Reading the Past

Views: 51,861

Keywords: Jacobean, Elizabethan, Education, Literature, Culture, History, Early Modern, Renaissance

Id: F51HrJ1NeZg

Length: 29min 21sec (1761 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 26 2021