Throckmorton Plot

The Throckmorton Plot was an attempt, in 1583, by English Roman Catholics to murder Queen Elizabeth I of England and replace her with her second cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots. The plot is named after the key conspirator, Sir Francis Throckmorton (a cousin of Elizabeth "Bess" Throckmorton, Elizabeth's first lady in waiting); Francis confessed to the plot under torture.

The plot aimed to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I, who had ruled England since 1558. The Roman Catholics wished to free her cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots, who had been held under house arrest in England since 1568, to make Mary England's queen, and to legally restore Roman Catholicism. The plan envisaged coordinating the assassination with an invasion of England led by Henry I, Duke of Guise, financed by Spain and by the Pope, and a simultaneous revolt of English Roman Catholics, involving both the Jesuits and the English Cardinal Allen.

Throckmorton acted as a Spanish agent, and, due to his arrest, the plot was never put in motion.

The plot failed. The brothers Francis and Thomas Throckmorton were the two main conspirators, with Francis being the more important one. While touring Europe they became sympathetic to the exiled English Catholics plight and the Spanish Kings desire to return England to Catholicism. In Paris, the two brothers met up with Thomas Morgan (of Llantarnam), who put them in contact with Bernardino de Mendoza, Philip II of Spain's ambassador in London.

When Francis returned to London in 1583, he became the go-between for Mary, Queen of Scots, Morgan, and Mendoza. Queen Elizabeth's secretary of state, Francis Walsingham, discovered what Throckmorton was doing and put him under surveillance. After six months, Walsingham had him arrested.

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