Sir Francis Walsingham’s official title was principal secretary to Queen Elizabeth I, but in fact this pious, tight-lipped Puritan was England’s first spymaster. A ruthless, fiercely loyal civil servant, Walsingham worked brilliantly behind the scenes to foil Elizabeth’s rival Mary Queen of Scots and outwit Catholic Spain and France, which had arrayed their forces behind her. Though he cut an incongruous figure in Elizabeth’s worldly court, Walsingham managed to win the trust of key players like William Cecil and the Earl of Leicester before launching his own secret campaign against the queen’s enemies.

The Chronica Maiora of Thomas Walsingham 1376 - 1422

First complete translation of detailed chronicle of medieval England, one of Shakespeare's most important sources.
The version of Walsingham's chronicle used here is the one published by Riley in the Rolls Series as the Historia Anglicana. This is the latest and most summary of the recensions of Walsingham's narratives. Its twin attractions are its conceptual unity and its brisk review of the period 1376–1422; its all too obvious drawback is the omission of much of the detail found in the longer recensions.