The subjects of Elizabeth I were not exempt from surveillance political ties and religion were often so impossible to separate that to remain loyal to one religion was considered tantamount to treason by the other. When street-level Watchers weren’t finding rebels (or rival spies) from Ireland, many of them spent their time capturing Catholic priests one Jesuit claimed that spies were “so many and diligent as every hour almost we heard of some taken, either on suspicion or detection against them” of plotting dissidence and openly defying the new Protestant faith. Some saw spying as a religious duty for those who felt the English were God’s chosen people. But one of the Watchers on the street beat was the one to discover Babington’s conspiracy to restore Mary of Scots, so there were moments to look forward to even as a regular street spy. Public Domainīeing a spy wasn’t all adventure-Alford writes that for some, being a regular spy was “simply a job and not a very glamorous one.” Many were assigned to routine work: walking in the cities and towns, listening, reporting back to base. According to Stephen Alford in The Watchers: A Secret History of the Reign of Elizabeth I, “There were few rules and no vetting of volunteers, and so if some spies and informants were brilliantly effective, others were derelict as well as dangerous, spying out of greed or spite or for private revenge.” Those accepted into the intelligence branch went on exciting adventures to surrounding countries, gathering information on the political and military status of her majesty’s growing list of enemies.
When spying abroad, Dee signed each private letter to Elizabeth with the insignia “007”-a moniker that was later borrowed by Ian Fleming, writer of James Bond.īut to become an entry-level Watcher, you didn’t need to be a magician. Given Dee’s experience as an alchemist, magician, and astrologer to the queen, this success sparked rumors that he didn’t just predict the storm-he created it through magic.
Richard Deacon, in his biography of John Dee, says that Dee used a wax pentacle to “accurately prescribe the nature of the storms which shortly afterwards were to scatter and destroy the Spanish Armada,” allowing the English to hold off on attacking the Spanish, and instead wait for the storm to take care of the job. One of Elizabeth’s most famous spies, John Dee, carefully reported on the Spanish court during its war with England-after first serving as the queen’s personal window into the occult world. The Watchers were not just Elizabeth’s eyes and ears some were among her most trusted advisors. Giles fields, a 17th century etching showing Anthony Babington meeting with his co-conspirators. The plot to restore Mary as rightful heir was just one of many reasons Elizabeth I had to be wary of her safety, and she took no chances-rather than leave her security to fate, she began a national security effort that heralded a centuries-long tradition of British espionage. Many British citizens were not happy about the change in government, and England was surrounded by Catholic nations. The queen’s network of spies formed the original surveillance state in the U.K., and she started it for good reason.īritain was divided by religion when Elizabeth I began her reign she was Protestant, while Mary, who many believed deserved the throne in an alternative line of succession, was Catholic.
US SPY NETWORK CRACKED
Long before NSA surveillance, Queen Elizabeth had her own “Watchers,” a network of agents who intercepted letters, cracked codes, and captured possible dissenters to protect the crown in secret. When Mary wrote back, the agent exposed the plot, and both she and Babington were executed. But Mary had no idea that his note had been opened and then resealed by a double agent posed as a courier, who was waiting for her reply.
He detailed the plan to Mary as a cipher-a secret note in code- and snuck it to her in a shipment of beer. The head of the operation, Anthony Babington, planned to rescue and crown Mary of Scotland, an alternative heir to the English throne who had been imprisoned in the castle dungeon for 20 years. In a lowly tavern in an English town in the 1580s, a group of men met to organize the assassination of their monarch, Queen Elizabeth I. Queen Elizabeth with Lord Burleigh and Sir Francis Walsingham.
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