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Plots and Plotters in the Reign of Elizabeth I. By Francis Edwards, S.J. (Dublin: Four Courts Press. Distributed in the United States by ISBS, Portland, Oregon. 2002. Pp. 296. $50.00.)
Francis Edwards was archivist of the English Jesuit province and later director of the central archives of the Society. He has written extensively on Elizabethan politics, and this book deals with eleven plots, or rumored plots, which occurred between 1571 and 1601.These, he argues, were all manipulated, or invented outright, by William Cecil Lord Burghley and his son Sir Robert Cecil, successively the leading ministers of Elizabeth I. They were "the only contrivers with sufficient daring, intelligence and influence" to do so. "Their imprint lies on all the plots ."They "behaved with complete ruthlessness and an astonishing degree of success," using the plots to eliminate all their opponents. In the obscure and frequently ludicrous Squier plot of 1597-98, which admittedly "teems with absurdities," the younger Cecil nevertheless made his "first truly independent excursion into the dark realm of plot management." Finally in 1605 with the Gunpower plot (not treated here), Cecil "produced a masterpiece . . . a contrivance flawless enough to deceive for centuries." The aim was the most extreme repression of Roman Catholics in England, smearing them by association with treachery. After 1605, "the papists came increasingly to occupy the...