Mary's allies (combined with her royal blood) made her a dire threat to Elizabeth, even during Mary’s years under house arrest. As a Catholic, Mary had powerful supporters on the continent, including Phillip II. Second, although common law countries rightfully celebrate their connection to the English legal and constitutional tradition that stretches back to the Magna Carta in 1215, the reality is the legal procedures and evidentiary standards of Elizabethan England fell far short of anything we would recognize today as due process.įor example, the first episode of the BBC/PBS series culminates with the famous confrontation between Elizabeth and her cousin, Mary Queen of Scots, who Elizabeth’s forces held captive in a gilded prison. As Elizabeth's reign demonstrated, a government exercising extremely intrusive surveillance of its own population is not a new phenomenon. In short, although it was an age of primitive technology by modern standards, Elizabethan England was a police state by any definition of the term, and a chillingly effective one at that. Those deemed enemies of the state faced a slow and gruesome public execution, which was designed to terrorize Elizabeth's opponents and maintain the loyalty of the general populace. Elizabeth’s spymasters planted spies throughout the country, intercepted and monitored the mail, circulated rumors to flush out alleged conspirators, and tortured suspects without mercy. Her domestic spymasters, Francis Walsingham and William Cecil (later joined by his son Robert Cecil), organized a surveillance apparatus that placed the English people under constant watch. In response to the pervasive and growing threats, Elizabeth established the most sophisticated police state in Europe. In fact, in 1570 the Pope proclaimed Elizabeth a heretic, which essentially constituted a call for her assassination. Both King Phillip II of Spain, the most powerful ruler in Europe, and Pope Pius V, head of the Catholic Church, actively worked to overthrow Elizabeth and replace her with a Catholic monarch. As the only Protestant ruler in Europe in the late 1500s, she was a target of constant foreign and domestic threats. Without question, Elizabeth had reason to fear for her safety and the political stability of her country. Elizabeth had spies in every corner of her realm, and she assigned to her government officials full authority to relentlessly hunt-and ruthlessly crush-all real and perceived internal threats to the regime. Although Elizabeth's police state existed 450 years ago in an age before cameras, telephones, and listening devices, it would have made Erich Honecker’s East Germany proud. Even major democracies such as the United States and United Kingdom have had to make difficult choices in the post-September 11 years regarding the balance between individual rights and the security needs of the state.Įlizabethan England faced a similar set of choices, but there was no doubt as to which side it came down on. It conjures images of Lavrenty Beria, the murderous head of Joseph Stalin’s intelligence services, or of Kim Jong Un’s brutal North Korean dictatorship. The idea of a massive security and intelligence apparatus that surveils the domestic population seems like a modern invention. Queen Elizabeth's Secret Agents takes us through the biggest events of Elizabeth's reign, the entrapment and execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, the capture and escape of catholic fugitive John Gerard and the most infamous terrorist conspiracy in British history, the Gunpowder Plot.First, the story of Elizabeth I’s reign powerfully underscores the deep historical roots of police states. They dissect the minds and motivations of key players, to uncover an intricate, covert spy network, revealing how Elizabethan England really was. Leading historians study the period from different key players' points of view. Join leading historians as they examine the biggest events of Elizabeth's reign. Run by William and Robert Cecil, this father-and-son team had the duty of protecting the Queen and the Country. During a time when Britain was divided, unstable, and violent, the world's first secret service was born. Discover the secret state that helped keep Queen Elizabeth I in power for over 40 years.
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