The Norton Anthology of English Literature Essays

The Norton Anthology of English Literature Essays The Norton Anthology of English Literature Essay The Norton Anthology of English Literature Essay Alexandra Briscoe stated on bbc. co. uk in the Elizabeth’s Spy Network on WWW, that Queen Elizabeth lived under constant threat from Catholics since she was a staunch protestant. Initially William Cecil (later known as Lord Burghley) overlooked the secret intelligence services and protection of the queen. Later Francis Walsingham, one of the most loyal ministers worked as the spymaster and supervised the secret network of spies protecting the queen’s life. Francis Walsingham an intelligent, serious, disciplined, quick-witted, ruthless and qualified lawyer with strong protestant beliefs was appointed as Secretary of State in 1568. â€Å"He was strict and almost a Puritan in his religious beliefs and passionate in protecting the country from Catholic threat. † Spies were posted in various countries to pass on the information about politics and attitudes of Catholic nations towards England. The intelligence reports enabled Walsingham to trace the links of various Catholics in other countries to that in England and annul the plots and conspiracies. Most of the spies recruited were undergraduates from Oxford and Cambridge, they had to undertake long journeys and sometimes even risk their lives to collect strategic information to safeguard the nation and the queen. Intelligence work involved deciphering the information received as code from various sources. The text was written in invisible ink such as lemon juice or milk, which could be read by heating the paper over the candle. Simple messages would be written alongside to the original text to mislead. Another form of passing information was by shuffling the letters or substituting with numbers, symbols and zodiac signs. Once the key was worked out it would transform into some meaningful secret messages. In order to succeed Walsingham had to establish a spy school to train the new recruits. For security reasons Queen Mary of Scotland was moved frequently and closely guarded, which she never knew. It took about 20 years for Walsingham to track down the fact that she was corresponding with a group of catholics led by Anthony Babington. Walsingham provided the minutest details of correspondence that Mary was having with Babington to Queen Elizabeth and finally when Babington wanted Mary to participate in the plot. She was caught red-handed and all others in the plot too were tracked down to be executed publicly in a brutal manner. After trials in the court Mary was found guilty of treason and sentenced to death. Mary was executed on February 08, 1587 in the Great Hall at Fotheringhay, due to nervousness the executioner missed aim and took three blows to severe her head with his axe, horrified onlookers stated that her lips continued to move in silent prayer for fifteen minutes. The queen distrusted the puritan leanings of Walsingham but appreciated his actions and had not provided proper funding for his activities. Walsingham died three years later in 1590. Alexandra Briscoe stated on bbc. co. uk in the Poverty in Elizabethan England on WWW, that the main reasons for poverty during Elizabethan era was due to a dramatic rise in population from three million to four million, rise in fertility, fall in death rate and inflation due to debasing of coins by Henry VIII, which was rectified in 1560 by Elizabeth’s government. Queen Elizabeth’s government also introduced various acts to tackle the problem of poverty; in 1563 the first of the many acts categorized the poor into ‘deserving poor’ and ‘undeserving poor. ’ A series of acts were introduced in the parliament in the following years 1563, 1572, 1576, 1597 and 1601. Some acts were very harsh, but were modified according to the prevailing conditions. The poor laws introduced played a crucial role and indicated a â€Å"progression from private charity to welfare state. † The laws guaranteed minimum subsistence to the destitute. The acts of 1597 and 1601 remained well into the nineteenth century which remains as a tribute to the Elizabethan era. In the concluding remarks I would like to state that Virgin Queen Elizabeth I asserted her power in the then male dominated society by executing total control over the people with the help of well managed ministers and advisers. Most important among them was Francis Walsingham, who provided the best security with well knit intelligence network available in those days. As is evident she was a very good orator and could win over the people just by talking out. The various laws introduced in her era were infact the guiding principles for the future generations. Thus Queen Elizabeth I stood apart from the rest of the women in that era. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. The Sixteenth Century Topics (2006). Page retrieved on October 01, 2006 from www.angelfire.com/mi4/polcrt/ElizabethI.html.