In the wake of the 1588 destruction of the Spanish Armada, English Catholics launched an ingenious counterespionage effort to undermine the Tudor government's anti-Catholic machinations. Its central figure was William Sterrell, a brilliant Oxford philosopher. This is the story of Sterrell's secret network, undetected for 400 years, brought to life in vivid detail.

Table of Contents Acknowledgments Preface 1. The Persons-Campion Jesuit Mission of 1580–1581 2. Tainted in Blood 3. A Wolf by the Ears 4. The MP from Morpeth: Gentleman Pensioner and Assassin 5. Persecution of Catholic Gentry 6. Aboard the Ambassador’s Boat 7. Mary Stewart and the Theatre of the World 8. The Spanish Armada and English Catholics 9. The Essex, Phelippes and Bacon Intelligence Initiative 10. In Spanish Lands: The ­Bisley-Moody Plot 11. The Parliament of 1593: Sterrell and Marlowe 12. Who Can Protect the Queen? A Rivalry over Assassins 13. The General Factor and Arbella Stewart 14. Co-opting the Privy Council 15. Trustworthy Men at the Fountainhead in the Council 16. The Network at Work: Tricks of Strong Imagination 17. Charles Paget, Meet Monsieur Boulant 18. Treaty Negotiations and Burgundian Jewels 19. Essex’s Dismal Tumult 20. The War between the Priests 21. Scenes of a Dying Queen 22. Transitions and Treasons, 1603 23. From Intelligence to Entertainment 24. Measure for Measure: A Sermon to a King 25. Cecil’s Interrogations: Phelippes’s Lies and Sterrell’s Equivocations 26. A Stir in Wales—The Whitsun Commotion, 1605 27. The Gunpowder Treason 28. Conclusion: The State of the English ­Counter-Reformation after Gunpowder Chapter Notes Bibliography Index