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FRANCIS WALSINGHAM

FRANCIS WALSINGHAM

TIME-LINE ON FRANCIS WALSINGHAM

 
DATE                                        EVENT                         
1532
  • Francis Walsingham was born possibly at at Foots Cray, near Chislehurst, Kent] His parents were the son of William Walsingham and Joyce Denny
1534
  • William , Francis father died.
1538
  • Francis mother, Joyce married the courtier Sir John Carey
1547
  • 28TH JANUARY King Henry VIII of England is dead and now his young son Edward VI is King of all of England
  • Francis step-father John Carey was knighted by Edward VI
1548
  • Francis matriculated at King's College, Cambridge
1550
  • Francis travelled in continental Europe
1552
  • Francis returned to England to enrol at Gray's Inn
1553
  • 6TH JULY Edward VI of England is dead.
  • 9TH JULY The Lady Jane Grey is Queen of England, only for nine days
  • JULY: Mary Tudor is Queen of England. Francis is among many who leaves England while it is now under Catholic rule.
  • Francis his studies in law at the universities of Basel and Padua , one of the subject was In natural sciences
1555
  • Francis was elected to the governing body by his fellow students at the universities of Basel and Padua
1558
  • 17TH NOVEMBER Mary 1st of England is dead now her half protestant sister Elizabeth 1st is Queen of England
  • Francis returns to England through the support of one of his fellow former exiles, Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford
1559
  • Francis is elected as MP for Bossiney, Cornwall
1562
  • JANUARY Francis married Anne Barbe widow of wine merchant Alexander Carleill
  • Francis was spymaster to Queen Elizabeth I of England.
1563
  • Francis is MP for Banbury and Lyme Regis, Dorset 1563–1567
1564
  • Francis wife Anne Barbe died, Anne left her son Christopher Carleill from her first marriage in Francis care.
1566
  • Francis married for a second time to Ursula St Barbe widow of Sir Richard Worsley,
1567
  • Francis daughter Frances Walsingham is born
  • Francis step-sons through his wife Ursula first marriage are killed on their estate on the Isle of Wight, Appuldurcombe in an accidental gunpowder explosion
1569
  • Francis was working with William Cecil to counteract plots against Queen  Elizabeth
1570
  • Queen Elizabeth chose Francis to support the Huguenots in their negotiations with Charles IX of France
1571
  • Francis is English ambassador in Paris. One of his duties was to continue negotiations for a marriage between Elizabeth and Charles IX's younger brother Henry, Duke of Anjou. 1570–1573
  • The Ridolfi plot William Cecil and Francis uncovered the plot, which was a plot in 1571 to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I of England and replace her with Mary, Queen of Scots
  • Francis sister Anne Walsingham married Thomas Randolf.Thomas was Master of the Post
1572
  • Francis is acquired a Surrey county seat in Parliament
  • 19TH APRIL The Treaty of Blois signed in Blois between Elizabeth I of England and Catherine de' Medici of France. Based on the terms of the treaty, France and England relinquished their historic rivalry and established an alliance against Spain
  • 23RD-24TH AUGUST Bartholomew's Day Massacre of Huguenots. This was was a targeted group of assassinations and a wave of Catholic mob violence, directed against the Huguenots (French Calvinist Protestants) during the French Wars of Religion. ,Francis barely escaped with his life.
  • Francis house in Paris acted as a refuge for Protestants during the terror
1573
  • JANUARY Ursula, Francis wife gave birth to a daughter Mary while he was still in France.
  • APRIL Francis returned to England
  • 20TH DECEMBER Francis is now Secretary of State 1573–1590
1576
  • 16TH MARCH Francis sister Mary died
  • Francis is in effective control of the privy seal,
1577
  • Francis is Custos rotulorum of Hampshire 1577–1590
  • 1ST DECEMBER Francis is knighted
  • Francis Recorder of Colchester, custos rotulorum of Hampshire, and High Steward of Salisbury, Ipswich and Winchester
1578
  • 22ND APRIL Francis is now Chancellor of the Order of the Garter1578–1587
  • Francis sent on a special embassy to the Netherlands
1579
  • Lady Margaret Clifford; wrote to Francis after being arrested on using socery to predict the QueenElizabeth death and then accused of even trying to poison the Queen. Margaret was a great-grandaughter of Henry VII of Engalnd, so was if anything was to happen to Queen Elizabeth, Margaret was a contender for the crown.No charges were brought against the countess, but she was banished from court
1580
  • JULY Francis younger daughter Mary died aged seven
  • OCTOBER Francis appointed his cousin Thomas Walsingham as one of the trusted couriers between the English court and the queen's ambassador in France
1583
  • AUGUST Francis visited the Scottish court to see and speak with king James VI of Scotland.
  • 21ST SEPTEMBER Francis daughter Francis married Philip Sidney, English poet, courtier, scholar, and soldier .As part of the marriage agreement, Francis agreed to pay £1,500 of Sidney's debts and gave his daughter and son-in-law the use of his manor at Barn Elms in Surrey.
  • DECEMBER The Throckmorton Plot This was was an attempt, , by English Roman Catholics to murder Queen Elizabeth I of England and replace her with her first cousin once removed, Mary, Queen of Scots .Francis had discovered what the brothers Francis and Thomas Throckmorton was doing and put him under surveillance. After six months, Walsingham had him arrested.
1584
  • The Bond of Association was a document created by Francis and William Cecil after the failure of the Throckmorton Plot in 1583.
  • The Safety of the Queen was an Act of the Parliament of England during the English Reformation. It required a tribunal of at least 24 peers and privy councillors to investigate "any open invasion or rebellion" in England, any attempt to injure Queen Elizabeth I or any pretender to the throne.
  • JULY Francis Throckmorton is executed for part in the throckmorton plot, high treason
1585
  • John de Critz paints Francis portrait.
  • NOVEMBER Francis granddaughter is born, and is named Elizabeth after the Queen. Queen Elizabeth and Robert Dudley are god parents to the child.
1586
  • Francis funded a lectureship in theology at Oxford University for the Puritan John Rainolds
  • 17TH JULY Francis uncovers the Babington Plot to murder Elizabeth
  • 25TH AUGUST Francis wrote to William Paulet from Windsor Castle that Queen Elizabeth ordered that Mary, Queen of Scots should not leave Tixall. However, on that day, Paulet brought Mary back to Chartley
  • 20TH SEPTEMBER Anthony Babington is executed for treason
  • 25TH OCTOBER The trial of Mary, Queen of Scots at Fotheringhay Castle . Mary is convicted and given the death sentence.
1587
  • 8TH FEBRUARY The execution of Mary, Queen of Scots at Fotheringhay Castle, Northamptonshire, England
  • Francis is now Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster1587–1590
1588
  • JULY-AUGUST Spanish Armada
1589
  • 12TH DECEMBER Francis made hi will, Francis word in this were complained of "The greatness of my debts and the mean state shall leave my wife and heirs in"
1590
  • Francis daughter Francis married for a second time to Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, This match caused great displeasure to the Queen, partly because Essex was the stepson of her lifelong favourite, Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester
  • 6TH APRIL Sir Francis Walsingham died at the age of fifty-eight Seething Lane, London, England from "a carnosity growing intra testium sunctas testicular cancer .
 
Francis Walsingham was buried privately in a simple ceremony at 10 pm on the 7th April

EXTRA FACTS ON FRANCIS WALSINGHAM

  • Sir Francis Walsingham was principal secretary to Queen Elizabeth I of England from 20 December 1573 until his death .
 
  • Francis was also known as the Spy master a code breaker and is is known to be one of the fathers of what we calll “secret service”. He even had a school in London training men for this role.Francis recieved money for his services.
 
  • Francis father, William was a successful, well-connected and wealthy London lawyer
     
  • Francis, mother's second marriage was to John Carey. John Carey was the brother-in-law to Mary Boleyn through her first marriage to William Carey.
 
  • Francis had eight siblings though his parents marriage and he had five siblings. Through his mother's second marriage to John Carey he had two brothers, Edward and Wymond.
 
  • Queen Elizabeth's 1st of England principal secretaries were Sir Francis and William Cecil, Lord Burghley, they both watched Mary Queen Scots carefully with the aid of spies placed in Mary's household . It was under Francis advise that Queen Mary had been put under house arrest. Mary blamed Francis for what was her downfall that let to her execution.
 
  • Francis had always had family connections in the Royal court, Sir Edmund Denny, Francis grandfather was the Barons of the Exchequer in the Royal court of King Henry VIII of England.. His uncle, Anthony was a close confident of King Henry VIII of England. , Francis brother-in-law Sir Walter Mildmay was Chancellor of the Exchequer
 
  • Francis was driven by Protestant zeal to counter Catholicism,and sanctioned the use of torture against Catholic priests and suspected conspirators
 
  • During event of the Bablington Plot, In a successful attempt to entrap Mary Queen of Scots, Francis had deliberately arranged for Mary's letters to be smuggled out of Chartley sent in beer barrels . Mary was misled into thinking her letters were secure, while in reality they were deciphered and read by Francis. From these letters it was clear that Mary had sanctioned the attempted assassination of Elizabeth Gilbert Gifford was a double agent working for Francis at the time, who gained Mary's trust and at same time passing letters over to be read by Francis these letters were used in the Mary Queen of Scots trial in October 1586.
 
  • Francis actively supported the opening of new trade routes. He also wanted England to play a more aggressive role in aiding Protestant communities in Europe.
 
  • Francis complained of ill health and regularly would go and retire to his country estate for periods of recuperation

FICTIONAL PORTRAYALS OF SIR FRANCIS WALSINGHAM

FICTIONAL PORTRAYALS OF SIR FRANCIS WALSINGHAM

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