This is definitely the book with which to begin – it is both readable and comprehensive. It describes the fragility of a Protestant England, struggling to survive in the face of a hostile Catholic continent while at the same time trying to deal with a network of English Catholic families determined to remove Elizabeth I from the throne. Key to dealing with external and internal threats is, of course, Walsingham’s network of spies. Particularly useful are Chapters 4 ‘The Babington Plot’ and 7 ‘Defeating the Armada’, which add depth and complexity when teaching the more usual straightforward narrative. 

This book is a detailed and fascinating biography of the man who created and remained at the centre of the vast Elizabethan spy network. If you are thinking of devising a unit dedicated to Walsingham and his spy network, this should be your starting point. Otherwise, go straight to Chapter 4 – The English Mission – which begins with the (gruesome) hanging of the first English Catholic priest to have been trained in Douai, and continues with the covert entry of Catholic priests into England and the ways in which Walsingham’s network identified them. Chapter 5 – Security Services – provides an excellent demonstration of Walsingham’s methods by unpacking the dynamics of the Throckmorton Plot.

The immediate focus of the book is an espionage operation in London, designed to discover whether France would support Protestant England or Catholic Europe in any future conflict. Working as an historical detective, the author identifies a mole, deeply embedded in a household central to the operation, who passed vital information to Walsingham’s spies. However, the book encompasses far more than just one operation and sheds light on Walsingham’s methods, successes and failures. Here, Chapters 5, 6 and 7 – Dates in a Diary, From a View to a Death and Old Friends respectively – are particularly relevant. The epilogue addresses the problem of the validity of information obtained clandestinely or under torture – this may be too nuanced for KS3 but could form the basis of a class discussion. 

Elizabeth's spies were pivotal in keeping the queen safe from all the plots attempting at her life, but this clip shows how even her collaborators got worried about the amount of threats they discovered in their activity.

Test your students' knowledge with these questions on the above clip.
Includes a Vocabulary section and a Take It Further challenge.

Test your students' knowledge with these questions on the above clip (with answer key).
Includes a Vocabulary section and a Take It Further challenge.