Sir Francis Walsingham Read Online Free PDF

certainly made a lasting impression on Walsingham. In later years, amid the stresses and strains of government work, he sighed that he was ‘weary of the place I serve in and . . . wish myself among the true-hearted Swiss’. 5 Even at this stage of his life young Francis was developing earnest and sober character traits similar to those which came to be associated with the hardworking Swiss.
    The prevailing regime in England had much in common with ruling establishments in the cantons. There were frequent exchanges between church leaders and scholars and theological opinion in England was moving steadily from Lutheranism to the more radical opinions which held sway in the Helvetian republics. The fact that Protestant states were in a minority in mainland Europe strengthened the bonds between them and the Tudor state. In 1552, when Walsingham returned to take up his studies at Gray’s Inn, Protestantism seemed more secure against the forces of Counter-Reformationin the land which Shakespeare later described as being guarded by a ‘moat defensive’ than it was in some of the German and Swiss states.
    There was much to encourage a young evangelical. The Reformation was proceeding apace and he was well placed to play his part in creating a godly commonwealth in his own country. But everything hung upon a very slender thread – the life of a teenage king.

Chapter 2
TRAVEL AND TRAVAIL
1553–8
    The shock of Edward VI’s death, in July 1553, was profound to those who had believed that the Reformation in England was safe under the leadership of their young Josiah (the boy king who had revitalized the religious and national life of ancient Israel). The immediate aftermath was dramatic and confusing. Walsingham, in the legal community between Westminster and the City, was aware of the rumours about the king’s health. Edward had not been seen in public for several weeks. It was 8 July before the news broke that the boy king had died and that his cousin, Lady Jane Grey, had been proclaimed queen. Bemused crowds turned out to watch the young woman, her husband and leading courtiers who made their way by river and road to the Tower, where monarchs traditionally went to prepare for their coronation. Everything seemed set for an uncontested transfer of the crown. Edward’s half-sisters were nowhere to be seen. Elizabeth did not move from Hatfield and Mary was at the royal manor of Hunsdon – or so it was thought. Walsingham may have been among the first in the capital to hear from friends in the country that the elder princess had fled into East Anglia and was sending messages to urge the people to come to her aid.
    Walsingham may have heard from his contacts at court that the nation’s leaders were divided. Some supported the late king’s wishes that his Catholic sister should be permanently disbarred from the succession, while others agreed with Sir Nicholas Throckmorton:
    And, though I liked not the religion
Which all her life Queen Mary had professed,
Yet in my mind that wicked notion
Right heirs for to displace I did detest. 1
    Throckmorton probably spoke for the majority. In his manoeuvring to maintain the impetus of the Reformation the Duke of Northumberland had lost the moral high ground. People were suspicious of him and the young woman perceived to be his puppet and there was widespread sympathy for the ‘wronged’ Princess Mary. Those, like Walsingham, who feared what Catholic Mary might do if she came to the throne found themselves in the uncomfortable position of having to rely on the government’s show of naked force. On 14 July Northumberland set out with a mounted posse to apprehend the princess and bring her back to London. Days of confusion followed in the capital. Contradictory rumours flew around. Rival preachers ranted. Then the news spread from the Tower that Northumberland’s erstwhile supporters had changed sides. Two days later (20 July) information came from Cambridge that the duke had capitulated