Sir Francis Walsingham uncovers the Babington Plot to murder Elizabeth I, and discovers that Mary Queen of Scots was a collaborator in the conspiracy. It planned to assassinate Queen Elizabeth and replace her on the throne with Mary. Legend claims that the conspirators planned to build of a tunnel between the house of Anthony Babington, a Catholic devotee of the imprisoned Scottish queen, and nearby Wingfield Manor, where Mary was living under house arrest, though no evidence of such a tunnel has ever been found. Walsingham's discoveries were to lead ultimately not only to the execution of Babington but also to that of Mary herself, in a move that Elizabeth had resisted for the past two decades.
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Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "The Babington Plot". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 February 2011 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=15333, accessed 28 March 2024.]