Her Majesty's Spymaster

Her Majesty's Spymaster PDF Author: Stephen Budiansky
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 9780452287471
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
Sir Francis Walsingham’s official title was principal secretary to Queen Elizabeth I, but in fact this pious, tight-lipped Puritan was England’s first spymaster. A ruthless, fiercely loyal civil servant, Walsingham worked brilliantly behind the scenes to foil Elizabeth’s rival Mary Queen of Scots and outwit Catholic Spain and France, which had arrayed their forces behind her. Though he cut an incongruous figure in Elizabeth’s worldly court, Walsingham managed to win the trust of key players like William Cecil and the Earl of Leicester before launching his own secret campaign against the queen’s enemies. Covert operations were Walsingham’s genius; he pioneered techniques for exploiting double agents, spreading disinformation, and deciphering codes with the latest code-breaking science that remain staples of international espionage.

Her Majesty's Spymaster

Her Majesty's Spymaster PDF Author: Stephen Budiansky
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1440627134
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
Sir Francis Walsingham’s official title was principal secretary to Queen Elizabeth I, but in fact this pious, tight-lipped Puritan was England’s first spymaster. A ruthless, fiercely loyal civil servant, Walsingham worked brilliantly behind the scenes to foil Elizabeth’s rival Mary Queen of Scots and outwit Catholic Spain and France, which had arrayed their forces behind her. Though he cut an incongruous figure in Elizabeth’s worldly court, Walsingham managed to win the trust of key players like William Cecil and the Earl of Leicester before launching his own secret campaign against the queen’s enemies. Covert operations were Walsingham’s genius; he pioneered techniques for exploiting double agents, spreading disinformation, and deciphering codes with the latest code-breaking science that remain staples of international espionage.

Elizabeth's Spymaster

Elizabeth's Spymaster PDF Author: Robert Hutchinson
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 0312368224
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 413

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Book Description
A profile of the leading spymaster for Queen Elizabeth I explores his role in uncovering information that helped preserve England in the face of a network of powerful English Catholic families and the efforts of Catholic Spain to impose Catholicism on its

The Queen's Agent

The Queen's Agent PDF Author: John Cooper
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1639361154
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 303

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Book Description
Elizabeth I came to the throne at a time of insecurity and unrest. Rivals threatened her reign; England was a Protestant island, isolated in a sea of Catholic countries. Spain plotted an invasion, but Elizabeth's Secretary, Francis Walsingham, was prepared to do whatever it took to protect her. He ran a network of agents in England and Europe who provided him with information about invasions or assassination plots. He recruited likely young men and 'turned' others. He encouraged Elizabeth to make war against the Catholic Irish rebels with extreme brutality and oversaw the execution of Mary Queen of Scots. The Queen's Agent is a story of secret agents, cryptic codes, and ingenious plots, set in a turbulent period of England's history. It is also the story of a man devoted to his queen, sacrificing his every waking hour to save the threatened English state.

Betrayal of Angels

Betrayal of Angels PDF Author: Armin Shimerman
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781949184310
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
The Queen's conjurer, Doctor John Dee; Elizabethan mathematician, cryptographer, and mystic, is commissioned by her Majesty's spymaster, Walsingham, to suss out the loyalty of a Catholic Duke who governs an island in the English Channel. His mission: Discover any treason, religious terrorists and possible threats to The Crown. In preparation for his mission, Dee becomes acquainted with William, an unknown, teenaged playwright, who has just written a horrendousflop - "Prince Amleth". On a blustery winter's day, they set sail on their clandestine mission to find forbidden, seditious clues in the strangest of places. Dee must rely on his ingenuity, build trust with his young companion, and follow each slim lead to discover if recusants exist on the island or if there are yet some loyal to the Crown.His very life depends on it.

The Watchers

The Watchers PDF Author: Stephen Alford
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1608193624
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 417

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Book Description
In a Europe aflame with wars of religion and dynastic conflicts, Elizabeth I came to the throne of a realm encircled by menace. To the great Catholic powers of France and Spain, England was a heretic pariah state, a canker to be cut away for the health of the greater body of Christendom. Elizabeth's government, defending God's true Church of England and its leader, the queen, could stop at nothing to defend itself. Headed by the brilliant, enigmatic, and widely feared Sir Francis Walsingham, the Elizabethan state deployed every dark art: spies, double agents, cryptography, and torture. Delving deeply into sixteenth-century archives, Stephen Alford offers a groundbreaking, chillingly vivid depiction of Elizabethan espionage, literally recovering it from the shadows. In his company we follow Her Majesty's agents through the streets of London and Rome, and into the dank cells of the Tower. We see the world as they saw it-ever unsure who could be trusted or when the fatal knock on their own door might come. The Watchers is a riveting exploration of loyalty, faith, betrayal, and deception with the highest possible stakes, in a world poised between the Middle Ages and modernity.

Wolves at the Door

Wolves at the Door PDF Author: Judith Pearson
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1493078682
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
Virginia Hall left her Baltimore home in 1931 to enter the Foreign Service and went to work for the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) when Hitler was building toward the peak of his power in Europe. She was assigned to France, where she helped the Resistance movement, escaped prisoners of war, and American Allied paratroopers. By 1942 she was considered so dangerous to the Gestapo that she had to escape over the Pyrenees mountains—on an artificial leg, no less. When she got to England, she was reassigned to France by the OSS, disguised as an old peasant woman. She helped capture 500 German soldiers and kill more than 150, while she sabotaged Nazi communications and transportation. Hitler's forces were hot on her trail, however, and her daring intelligence activities and indomitable spirit defied the expectations of even the Allies until the very end of the war. Her story was ignored for more than fifty years, and this book now brings Virginia Hall's story to patriots young and old.

Her Majesty's Spymaster

Her Majesty's Spymaster PDF Author: Stephen Budiansky
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 9780452287471
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
Sir Francis Walsingham’s official title was principal secretary to Queen Elizabeth I, but in fact this pious, tight-lipped Puritan was England’s first spymaster. A ruthless, fiercely loyal civil servant, Walsingham worked brilliantly behind the scenes to foil Elizabeth’s rival Mary Queen of Scots and outwit Catholic Spain and France, which had arrayed their forces behind her. Though he cut an incongruous figure in Elizabeth’s worldly court, Walsingham managed to win the trust of key players like William Cecil and the Earl of Leicester before launching his own secret campaign against the queen’s enemies. Covert operations were Walsingham’s genius; he pioneered techniques for exploiting double agents, spreading disinformation, and deciphering codes with the latest code-breaking science that remain staples of international espionage.

God's Secret Agents

God's Secret Agents PDF Author: Alice Hogge
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0062047256
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 466

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Book Description
One evening in 1588, just weeks after the defeat of the Spanish Armada, two young men landed in secret on a beach in Norfolk, England. They were Jesuit priests, Englishmen, and their aim was to achieve by force of argument what the Armada had failed to do by force of arms: return England to the Catholic Church. Eighteen years later their mission would be shattered by the actions of the Gunpowder Plotters -- a small group of terrorists who famously tried to destroy the Houses of Parliament -- for the Jesuits were accused of having designed "that most horrid and hellish conspiracy." Alice Hogge follows "God's secret agents" from their schooling on the Continent, through their perilous return journeys and lonely lives in hiding, to, ultimately, the gallows. She offers a remarkable true account of faith, duty, intolerance, and martyrdom -- the unforgettable story of men who would die for a cause undone by men who would kill for it.

Sir Francis Walsingham

Sir Francis Walsingham PDF Author: Derek Wilson
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 1472112482
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
During the brief reign of the Queen Mary, Walsingham was a Protestant exile in Italy. Returning home when Elizabeth assumed the throne, from 1570 he became a diplomat to the arch-pragmatist Queen. He was often troubled by her inconsistent policy decisions and for allowing the exile in England of Mary Queen of Scots. His triumph came in 1587 when Mary was at last beheaded after the cunning defeat of the Babington plot. A powerful, if enigmatic figure, loathed by his adversaries and deeply admired by friends and allies, Walsingham became the master co-ordinator of a feared pan-European spy network. His spies underpinned his organisation of national resistance to the Spanish Armada, but devotion and duty to Elizabeth was costly and Walsingham died two years later in penury. Historian and storyteller Derek Wilson delves deeply into the life of a fascinating and highly influential figure, bringing us tales of deceit, betrayal and loyalty along the way; popular history of the highest calibre. see www.derekwilson.com

Burghley

Burghley PDF Author: Stephen Alford
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 446

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Book Description
William Cecil, Lord Burghley (1520–1598), was the closest adviser to England’s Queen Elizabeth I and—as this revealing and provocative biography shows—he was the driving force behind the Queen's reign for four decades. Cecil’s impact on the development of the English state was deep and personal. A committed Protestant, he guided domestic and foreign affairs with the confidence of his religious conviction. Believing himself the divinely instigated protector of his monarch, he felt able to disobey her direct commands. He was uncompromising, obsessive, and supremely self-assured—a cunning politician as well as a consummate servant. This comprehensive biography gives proper weight to Cecil's formative years, his subtle navigation of the reigns of Edward VI and Mary I, his lifelong enmity with Mary Queen of Scots, and his obsession with family dynasty. It also provides a fresh account of Elizabeth I and her reign, uncovering limitations and concerns about invasions, succession, and conspiracy. Intimate, authoritative, and enormously readable, this book redefines our understanding of the Elizabethan period.