WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Undetected: Sir Francis Walsingham

Episode Date: March 11, 2025

Megan and Alessia recount the story of British spy master and espionage pioneer, Sir Francis Walsingham.

It had been three days since the murders began, and the man had not left his house since, or the basement for that matter. He decided that he did not enjoy sharing his small basement with more than a dozen people. He made his way to one of the sconces in the wall that held a candle. The refugees in the basement nodded respectfully at him as he passed, and he nodded in return. The weak light of the candle illuminated the bearded face of a man who appeared to be in his late 50s, although he had just turned 40. Despite the lines of exhaustion around his eyes, with a regal, in turn to the candle. intimidating light as if he had lived a thousand years. He took a letter from his pocket and broke the seal of Queen Elizabeth of England to unfold it.

The night after the next, it told him that was when he would leave this god-forsaken place known as Paris. The man closed his eyes and thought about what he saw yesterday from the window. Bodies upon bodies of Protestant men and women floating in the river, lying on the street, their blood ran like a river down the cobblestones. The man raised the letter until it had caught the candle's flame and began to burn. The Catholics would pay for these horrors under God's sky today. They would control England again only over his dead body. Welcome to Undetected on Radio Free Hillsdale.

Go undercover with your hosts, Alessia Sandala and Megan Lee, as they uncover the stories of spies from every country in time. The most thrilling yet the most secret of lives in history. Welcome back to Undetected, everyone. This is Megan, and today we will be taking a leap back in time to talk about one of the most famous and successful spies in world history. That's right, Megan. I'm Alessia, and I can't wait to introduce you to Sir Francis Walsingham, an English statesman and diplomat who served as principal secretary to Queen Elizabeth I, and also headed

one of the most effective and original intelligence networks the world has ever seen, which became the routine foundation for future espionage networks. Walsingham was born in 1531 in Kent, England, to a family who held some minor offices in court. He entered King's College of the University of Cambridge in 1548, the most Protestant College of the University and then attended Graze Inn in London in 1552 to study law. It was not a surprise that Walsingham became a zealous Protestant and when the Catholic Mary Tudor ascended the throne in 1553, he moved abroad for five years, studying Roman civil law in Padua, Italy and adding French and Italian to his repertoire of languages. When Elizabeth took the throne in 1558, Walsingham came back to England and became a member of

parliament in 1559, but that was a cover job for what he was really up to. In 1568, Walsingham began working in confidential matters for Sir William Cecil, Elizabeth's principal secretary. Cecil had noticed Walsingham's active support for the Protestant Huguenots and other political matters. Walsingham began cultivating relationships with French and Italian emigres and learned of a possible plot hatched by Catholic France and Spain, an advancement of the Queen of Scots to the throne of England. Although the details were vague, Walsinghampton, Walsingham had his guard up, writing to Cecil a phrase that would become his personal saying, there is less danger in fearing too much than too little.

Walsingham's suspicions would prove true. A Florentine banker, Roberto Riedelphi, had been a suspect for an assassination plot against Elizabeth. And in 1569, Walsingham interrogated him under house arrest, but was convinced of his innocence. Later, it was revealed that Riedelphi had been guilty of communicating with money and letters with a group of English Catholic lords hoping to free Mary, who was confined in the English Midlands. In 1570, Walsingham became ambassador to France, but his negotiations with the French in an attempt to form an alliance

against the Catholics did not go well. The massacre of Protestant noblemen in Paris on St. Bertholomew's Day in 1572 was the cherry on top of Walsingham's failed diplomacy. Upon returning to England at the end of 1573, he joined the council as principal secretary, He became Elizabeth's unofficial spy master, accumulating information through spies, news gatherers that were spread across Europe. Some of his tactics included using prison informants and double agents obtained through bribes, threats, and even psychological games. He hired code and cipher experts. His goal was to penetrate Mary's circle and figure out her plans to return.

This is where things get real. Walsingham's efforts would unearth two very important plots that would ultimately save Elizabeth's life. the Throck Morton plot and the Babington plot. The more famous plot, the Babington plot, was named after Anthony Babington, one of the chief conspirators, and it was a plot against Elizabeth's very life. In August 1586, Walsingham's code experts and double agents inside Charlie Castle, where Mary was held, unearthed communication from Mary in a beer barrel. These documents confirmed Mary's effort to depose and assassinate Elizabeth.

Mary was tried and sentenced to execution. She died on February 8, 57. I feel like after all that, I would definitely retire, but Walsingham was not finished yet. In preparing England for war with Spain, he supported Francis Drake's raid on Cadiz in that same year. By feeding false information about the raid to the English ambassador in Paris, whom Walsingham correctly suspected of being paid by the Spanish, Walsingham concealed Drake's real plans. His spies continued to provide reports about Spain's sailing of the Armada against England in July.

July 1588. Naval commander, Lord Henry Seymour, recognized Walsingham's effort after England's victory. In 1590, Walsingham's health had been on a steady decline, and he passed away in April 6th of that year. Walsingham's work made him a pioneer in intelligence methods worldwide. I'm Megan. And I'm Alessia. We hope you enjoyed this episode of Undetected. Tune in next week for the story of an agent of the Red Orchestra, Mildred Harnack, on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM.