The Queen’s Agent: Francis Walsingham at the Court of Elizabeth I by John Cooper
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Anyone who knows even a little British history knows about Queen Elizabeth I, and most people know who her “spymaster” was: Sir Francis Walsingham. I felt very intellectual reading this biography, though sometimes it seemed that however deeply the author did his research, only guesses could be presented. We will probably never fully know Walsingham’s motivations; too much of his correspondence is lost and the primary sources are influenced by the politics of the time. But the author makes a credible attempt at showing the true Walsingham, using the evidence available. Little is known of Walsingham’s early life, so at the beginning we are treated to a section on what noble life in the 1500s was like. It is once Walsingham begins working for the queen that the intrigue begins–sometimes this seems more like a history of Queen Elizabeth, since you have to know about the one to know the other. There are a few times when the narrative skips in time: one chapter will detail a certain political movement and trace it to its end, then the next section starts with the movement again. Sometimes keeping track of the dates is difficult when this happens. A detailed bibliography is included for those interested in more history. It’s funny to realize that even though we know what happened–it’s history, after all, it’s in the books–we don’t really know what the reasons behind what happened are, as much as people try to write about it.

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