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The Watchers: A Secret History of the Reign of Elizabeth I

The Watchers: A Secret History of the Reign of Elizabeth I

The acclaimed and enthralling story of the dark side of Elizabethan rule, from Stephen Alford

Elizabeth I's reign is known as a golden age, yet to much of Europe she was a 'Jezebel' and heretic who had to be destroyed. The Watchers is a thrilling portrayal of the secret state that sought to protect the Queen; a shadow world of spies, codebreakers, agent provocateurs and confidence-men who would stop at nothing to defend the realm.

Maps and Illustrations,  Dates and Calendars, Principal Characters

Part 1 - Spying Out the Land

Chapter 1. Ten Days in November

Chapter 2. The Lion’s Mouth

Chapter 3. English Roman Lives

Chapter 4. ‘Judas his parts’

Chapter 5. Paris and London

Chapter 6. Hunting Edmund Campion

Chapter 7. Out of the Shadows

Part 2 - Enemies of the State

Chapter 8. ‘Sundry wicked plots and means’

Chapter 9. The Secret Lives of William Parry

Chapter 10. ‘The enemy sleeps not’

Chapter 11. ‘A very unadvised enterprise’

Chapter 12. Dangerous Fruits

Chapter 13. Alias Cornelys

Chapter 14. Sleights of Hand

Chapter 15. Framing the Labyrinth

Part 3 - Politics and Money

Chapter 16. An Axe and an Armada

Chapter 17. ‘Good and painful long services’

Chapter 18. Platforms and Passports

Chapter 19. The Fall and Rise of Thomas Phelippes

Chapter 20. Politics and Prognostications

Chapter 21. Ends and Beginnings

Chronology

References and Abbreviations

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