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www.bigworld.com. Big World. Travel your passions. Hello and welcome to the Renaissance English History podcast.

I'm your host, Heather Tesco.

This week, I'm going to talk about the life of Francis Walsingham, who is popularly remembered

as Queen Elizabeth's spymaster and was officially her principal secretary.

He is remembered as the man who founded a modern espionage network to combat the perceived Catholic threat to Elizabeth's reign.

One of his major successes was the entrapment of Mary Queen of Scots and ultimately the decision

to execute her. But before I get started, just a reminder that if you like this podcast, please rate it in

whatever service you use to listen to it, whether it's iTunes or Stitcher or something else.

Also, I have a fairly new website up at www.orglandcast.com with buttons to donate and links

to the Patreon page if you are so inclined to support

this podcast, either by giving a one-time tip or making a regular subscription contribution,

and both are appreciated. So, let's get started. Francis Walsingham was born to a London lawyer's

family. His father, William, had been chosen by Henry the 8th to write a report on all of the possessions that belonged to a London lawyer's family. His father, William, had been chosen by Henry VIII to write a

report on all of the possessions that belonged to Cardinal Woolsey when he had fallen from grace.

Francis's mother, Joyce, was the younger sister of one of the principal men of Henry's privy chamber,

Sir Anthony Denny. So Francis Walsingham came from a family who were connected at court,

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