Elizabeth's Spymaster

The incredible real life story of the world's first super spy'Full of stimulating detail... vivid glimpses of the world of Elizabethan espionage' GUARDIAN'Walsingham emerges from these pages as a hero of epic stature' DAILY TELEGRAPHFrancis Walsingham was the first 'spymaster' in the modern sense.His methods anticipated those of MI5 and MI6 and even those of the KGB.He maintained a network of spies across Europe, including double-agents at the highest level in Rome and Spain - the sworn enemies of Queen Elizabeth and her Protestant regime.His entrapment of Mary Queen of Scots is a classic intelligence operation that resulted in her execution.As Robert Hutchinson reveals, his cypher expert's ability to intercept other peoples' secret messages and his brilliant forged letters made him a fearsome champion of the young Elizabeth.Yet even this Machiavellian schemer eventually fell foul of Elizabeth as her confidence grew (and judgement faded).The rise and fall of Sir Francis Walsingham is a Tudor epic, vividly narrated by a historian with unique access to the surviving documentary evidence.