Francis Walsingham Francis Walsingham Sir Francis Walsingham ( 1532 – 6 April 1590) was principal secretary to Queen Elizabeth I of England from 20 December 1573 until his death and is popularly remembered as her "spymaster". Born to a well-connected family of gentry, Walsingham attended Cambridge University and travelled in continental Europe before embarking on a career in law at the age of twenty. A committed Protestant, during the reign of the Catholic Queen Mary I of England he joined other expatriates in exile in Switzerland and northern Italy until Mary's death and the accession of her Protestant half-sister, Elizabeth. Walsingham rose
Thomas Wilkes and keep an eye on him. Wilkes maintained a secret correspondence with the Queen's Secretary of State and spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham, in which Leicester was known as "Themistocles", that grew increasingly critical of the policies of the Earl. In 1587 Wilkes was appointed to the Dutch Council of State as the successor to Henry Killigrew. In his capacity of member of the Council he addressed the States of Holland with a "Remonstrance" in which he defended the policy of the Earl to oppose the Regenten and promote the democratic (and extreme Calvinist) factions with an appeal to popular sovereignty