The Queen's Bed: An Intimate History of Elizabeth's Court by Anna Whitelock

Author:Anna Whitelock [Whitelock, Anna]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: History, Non-Fiction, Biography
ISBN: 9780374239787
Amazon: 0374239789
Goodreads: 17934392
Publisher: Sarah Crichton Books
Published: 2012-05-01T07:00:00+00:00

The ambassador told Arundell to advise your Majesty of this instantly, which, he said, would serve as a sample and handsel [token] of his goodwill; and within a fortnight or three weeks he would report whether the despatch of the fleet was being persisted in, together with the exact number of ships, men, stores and all other details of the project.19

In a letter dated 28 February, Mendoza described how he had authorised the payment of 2,000 crowns to his valuable ‘new correspondent’.20 For the next eighteen months, Mendoza’s dispatches were full of detailed information on English policy from his ‘new friend’. The evidence points to this being the English ambassador, though Sir Edward later claimed he was acting as a double agent, deliberately providing false information to the Spanish with the full knowledge of the Elizabethan government. Stafford also began to supply information, in December 1586, on Sir Francis Drake’s preparations for his raid on Cadiz (to ‘singe the King of Spain’s beard’) and warned the Spanish in advance of the English attack.21 That Walsingham had sought to give Stafford false information about Drake’s plans suggests that he suspected the ambassador of treason. The quality of intelligence Stafford passed back to the English court was low and he exaggerated the hostility of French Catholics in order to make out that they, rather than the Spanish, were Elizabeth’s principal enemy. As the Spanish threat grew, Sir Edward’s activities threatened to fatally undermine national security.

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