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Sir Francis Walsingham (c. 1530 – April 6 , 1590 ) is remembered by history as the " Spymaster " of Queen Elizabeth I Of England . An admirer of Machiavelli , Walsingham is remembered as one of the most proficient espionage-weavers in history, excelling in the use of intrigues and deception to secure the English Crown. BIOGRAPHY Francis Walsingham was born in Scadbury Park , Chislehurst , Kent in about 1530 to the family of William Walsingham and Joyce Denny. His father died the next year, and later, his mother married Sir John Carey. Walsingham studied at King's College , Cambridge from 1548 with many Protestant teachers but did not receive a degree. In 1550 , according to contemporary custom, he went abroad and returned in 1552 to enroll at Gray's Inn . The death of Edward VI and accession of Catholic Queen Mary saw him flee to continue his studies. A great irony is that this time he was a law student of the famous Jesuit University at Padua . He also cultivated languages and contacts that would later form his espionage network in the continent. He would later use these contacts to keep him informed of Catholic and often specifically Jesuit activity, to capture and execute Catholics and Jesuits who were seen as a threat to the throne. Between April 1556 and November 1558 he visited Switzerland . When Elizabeth I acceded to the throne, Walsingham returned to England and, through support of Sir William Cecil , was elected to House Of Commons for Banbury in 1559 and then Lyme Regis in 1563 . Sir William also assigned Walsingham to unravel the Ridolfi Plot . He also married a widow, Ann Carteill, who died two years later. In 1566 he married '''Ursula St. Barbe''', widow of Sir Richard Worsley and they had a daughter, Frances . In the following years, Walsingham became active in soliciting support for the Huguenots in France among the English clergy, and began to organise his later famous network of spies. Among his spies was Christopher Marlowe , the playwright and intellectual, and he employed the services of the Cryptographer Thomas Phelippes . He trained agents in intercepting and deciphering letters, creating false handwriting and breaking and repairing Seal s without detection. In 1570 William Cecil , the queen's chief advisor, chose Walsingham to negotiate in support of the Huguenots in their negotiations with Charles IX for the Treaty Of Blois . Later in the year he succeeded Sir Henry Norris as ambassador to France. After the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre his house in Paris became a temporary sanctuary of protestant refugees. He returned to England in April 1573. Walsingham was so successful that he was entrusted with a more prestigious role, becoming a joint Secretary Of State with Sir Thomas Smith . On December 1 1577 Walsingham received a Knighthood . He spent the years between 1578 and 1583 engaged in further diplomatic missions and established his network of spies throughout Europe. He paid the expenses of at least 50 agents from his own wealth. Walsingham was behind the discovery of the in 1587 . He was an active participant in her trial. Prior to the attack of the Spanish Armada , he received a large number of dispatches from his agents from mercantile communities and foreign courts. The Turks are believed to have had a helping hand in the defeat of the Spanish Armada {Link without Title} Recent research has uncovered evidence that the abortive first attempt to establish a permanent English settlement in North America, the famous lost colony at Roanoke Island , might have been sabotaged by Walsingham. The sponsor of the colonization attempt, Sir Walter Raleigh, was Walsingham's rival at court. In other affairs Walsingham remained in a Surrey county seat which he retained until his death. In 1584 he was part of the committee that considered letters patent granted to Sir Walter Raleigh . He nominated some of his servants to prominent positions. He also received the honorary appointments of Chancellor Of The Order Of The Garter and Chancellor Of The Duchy Of Lancaster . Although a devout Protestant and an advisor on whom Elizabeth came to depend during the middle part of her reign, Walsingham received little in the way of material reward from the queen. He did obtain land grants, grants for the export of beer and cloth and leases of customs in the northern and western outposts. However, he also used considerable amount of his income to maintain his intelligence network in the continent. After 1579 he lived at Barn Elms , Barnes and after 1589 also had to cover debts of his dead son-in-law Sir Philip Sidney . Francis Walsingham died in April 6 1590 , leaving considerable financial debt. His daughter Frances received only £300 annuity. QUOTES
BOOKS
WALSINGHAM IN FICTION
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