1558 (Nov) The Count of Feria’s embassy to Queen Mary’s court; Feria meets Princess Elizabeth
(17 Nov) Accession of Elizabeth as Queen of England and Ireland
1559 (Jan–May) Parliament passes Act of Supremacy, making Elizabeth supreme governor of the Church of England, and Act of Uniformity, putting into law a Protestant prayer book
1568 (May) Mary Queen of Scots seeks asylum in England (Oct–Dec) Tribunal at York and Westminster examines the Casket Letters
1569 (Dec) The Northern Rising of the earls of Northumberland and Westmorland
1570 (Feb) Pope Pius V excommunicates Queen Elizabeth
1571 (Apr–Aug) The Ridolfi Plot
Parliament’s Treasons Act
1572 (June) Duke of Norfolk executed for treason (Aug) Saint Bartholomew’s Day massacre in Paris
1579 (Feb) Anthony Munday arrives in Rome
(July) Charles Sledd arrives in Rome
1580 (May) Sledd arrives in London
(June) Edmund Campion and Robert Persons enter England
1581 (July) Campion captured
(Nov) Campion tried
(Dec) Campion executed
1583 (June) Duke of Guise plans the invasion of England Sept) Charles Paget, alias Mope, arrives secretly in England (Oct) John Somerville sets out to kill Elizabeth (Nov) Francis Throckmorton arrested; Lord Paget leaves England secretly
1584 A True, Sincere, and Modest Defence of English Catholics, by William Allen, printed in Rouen
(July) Francis Throckmorton executed for treason; William of Nassau, Prince of Orange assassinated
(Oct) Privy Council subscribes to the Instrument of Association
1585 (Feb) William Parry tried for treason
(Mar) Parry executed; Act for the Queen’s Surety (Dec) Gilbert Gifford leaves Paris for England 1586 (June–Aug) Babington Plot
(July) Mary Queen of Scots composes the ‘bloody letter’ (Aug) Gilbert Gifford leaves England secretly for Paris (Sept) Anthony Babington and his group tried and executed (Oct) Commission under Act for the Queen’s Surety ( 1585 ) tries Mary Queen of Scots
1587 (Feb) Queen Elizabeth signs Mary Queen of Scots’s death warrant; Mary executed
(July) King Philip of Spain and Pope Sixtus V agree on the Enterprise of England
1588 (July) Philip launches his Great Armada against England 1590 (Apr) Sir Francis Walsingham dies
(May) Lord Burghley conducts an audit of Walsingham’s espionage network
1591 (May) John Snowden and John Fixer recruited to spy on William Allen; Thomas Phelippes courted by the Earl of Essex and Francis Bacon
1592 (May) William Sterrell’s mission begins
1594 (Jan–Feb) The Lopez Plot; Patrick O’Collun’s conspiracy discovered
(June) Roderigo Lopez hanged
(Aug) Edmund Yorke’s plot discovered
1596 (early) Thomas Phelippes goes to prison
1600 (Apr) Phelippes makes an offer of service to Sir Robert Cecil
1601 (summer) Cecil begins a secret correspondence with James VI of Scotland concerning the English succession
1603 ( 24 Mar) Queen Elizabeth dies at Richmond Palace; James VI of Scotland succeeds her as King of England and Ireland