Elizabeth I vs The Catholics: Killing the Queen of Scots (Part 6)
August 12, 2026
AI Summary
5 min readElizabeth I vs The Catholics: Killing the Queen of Scots (Part 6)
On the evening of July 17, 1586, Mary Queen of Scots dictated a letter to a young Catholic gentleman named Anthony Babington. In it, she gave the green light to what had been mooted for years: an operation to overthrow her cousin Queen Elizabeth I. Babington had proposed the assassination of Elizabeth—"that tragical execution," as he put it, to be carried out by "six noble gentlemen, all my private friends." Mary's reply contained the fateful phrase: "then shall it be time to set the six gentlemen to work." She added a postscript: "fail not to burn this present quickly." She had no idea that the letter would never reach Babington first.
The Trap Is Set
By 1586, England was at war with Spain in all but name. English and Spanish forces were fighting openly in the Low Countries, Francis Drake was raiding Spanish holdings in the New World, and reports circulated that Philip II was mustering a great fleet—the Armada. For Elizabeth's chief minister William Cecil, Lord Burghley, and her spy chief Sir Francis Walsingham, Mary Queen of Scots had become an intolerable menace. She was Elizabeth's Catholic cousin and obvious heir, and for two decades they had seen her as a "malignant spider" at the heart of international conspiracy.
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What you'll learn
- 1 Elizabeth I vs The Catholics: Killing the Queen of Scots (Part 6)
- 2 (03:46) **The Bloody Letter** - An extract from Mary Queen of Scots' most consequential letter, authorizing the assassination of Elizabeth I
- 3 (07:04) **The Strategic Problem of Mary** - Why Mary Queen of Scots represents an existential threat to Elizabeth's England
- 4 (11:03) **Elizabeth's Reluctance** - Why Elizabeth refuses to execute Mary despite mounting pressure
- 5 (13:52) **The Trap is Set** - Burghley's legislative masterstroke to force Elizabeth's hand
- 6 (15:15) **Mary's Condition in 1586** - The reality behind the romanticized image of Mary Queen of Scots
- 7 (21:53) **The Beer Barrel Scheme** - How Mary's partisans establish secret communication through a brewer's delivery
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Show Notes
How did the Babington Plot, another Catholic conspiracy to assassinate Elizabeth I and replace her with the imprisoned Mary Queen of Scots, unfold? Did the Spanish help her? How did Sir Francis Walsingham and his web of spies foil the plot? And, what would become of Mary once put on trial?
Join Tom and Dominic for the dramatic conclusion to their mighty series on the most climatic period of the reign of Elizabeth I, as she faces another assassination attempt, and decides whether to execute her cousin, and a fellow queen…
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