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to await trial. A record of his interrogation shows that he tried to implicate Morgan and Paget in double dealings. In August 1589 he was brought before the court and sentenced to twenty year's imprisonment for acting against the interests of the
Catholic Church. At that time Paris was in the control
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While
Gifford is universally acknowledged as a double agent, his ultimate loyalties are often perceived to be in favour of Walsingham and Queen Elizabeth, rather than Mary, Queen of Scots. This supposition sits uneasily with the facts of his Catholicism, his flight from England when the Babington
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would fail, Gifford departed for France without
Walsingham's permission. In a letter dated 2 August 1586, Walsingham wrote: "Sorry I am that Gilbert Gifford is absent. I marvel greatly how this humour of estranging himself cometh upon him." He was ordained as a priest in Rheims in March 1587. At
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and wishing for her quick death. On the contrary, according to all the evidence, Gifford had attracted
Walsingham's ire and had fled to France several months earlier. Subsequent filmed and televised versions of Elizabeth's life fare little better in dealing with the evidence about
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went through
Gifford's papers after his arrest in 1587 and concluded that: "He had showed himself to be the most notable double, treble villain that ever lived." One historian has suggested that in fact Gifford was working for the assassination of Elizabeth.
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In late 1587 in Paris, he was arrested in a brothel, being found in bed with a woman and a male servant of the Earl of Essex. Initially placed in the Bishop's prison, his captors considered sending him back to
Walsingham. Eventually he was transferred to the
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in March 1590 the army of the League was annihilated, and the King marched towards Paris, determined to starve the capital into submission. The siege lasted until August and caused a famine. Gifford died a few months later, in
November 1590.
100:. He left again, returned to England, and went back to France, and from there to Rome. In October 1583, he returned to Rheims, and Allen, despite some doubts, readmitted him to the college. Gifford was ordained as a deacon in 1585.
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In the course of the interrogation, or beforehand, Gifford agreed to act as double agent. Walsingham gave him the code name No. 4. He used several aliases, such as
Colerdin, Pietro, Cornelys and Nicolas Cornelius. He visited
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in
Staffordshire. He quickly gained her trust and took the role of smuggling encrypted letters to and from her, concealing them in beer barrels. Some of the letters were in a cipher code formerly used by
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116:, on the throne. According to Savage's confession in English State Papers, Savage had agreed in the presence of Gilbert Gifford, William Gifford (Gilbert's cousin) and
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at Rome. He was expelled from there, but was offered a second chance by Allen, and in 1582, he returned to Allen's college, which was now based at
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It was around this time that
Gifford became friendly with John Savage, a student and former soldier who was involved in a plot to assassinate
120:(Gilbert's close friend) to carry out this assassination. In October 1585 Gifford left Rheims again and went to Paris, where he met
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in the title role – had Gifford lingering in England after Mary Stuart's trial, chatting amiably with her gaoler
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Plot was thwarted, and Walsingham's disapproval of his emigration. The English ambassador in Paris, Sir
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on the southern coast of England, where he was arrested and brought to London for questioning by
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least nominally a Catholic, Gifford opposed both the Jesuits and the proposed Spanish invasion.
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and the other conspirators, as well as to the execution of Queen Mary.
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338:(Edinburgh University Press: Edinburgh, 1921). The BBC TV series
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Letter of Sir Edward Stafford to Walsingham, 15 December 1587,
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Letter of Sir Edward Stafford to Walsingham, January 1588,
34:. Shortly before his death in Paris, he was ordained as a
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Mr Secretary Walsingham and the Policy of Queen Elizabeth
382:(Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1925), vol. 3, p. 27.
283:Cottonian Manuscripts, Appendix L, British Museum.
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325:(Burns and Oates, London, 1964), pp. 183, 186.
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365:(London: HMSO), vol. 21, part 1, pp. 661–2.
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73:landowner and former Member of Parliament,
30:and played a role in the uncovering of the
16:English spy and Catholic priest (1560–1590)
336:Mary Queen of Scots and the Babington Plot
363:Calendar of State Papers, Foreign Series
297:(London: HMSO), vol. 21, part 1, p. 660.
295:Calendar of State Papers, Foreign Series
254:Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
136:, head of the Queen's security forces.
22:(c. November 1560–November 1590) was a
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334:See, for example, J. H. Pollen (ed.)
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42:. His true allegiances, whether to
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270:(London, 1845), p. 350: Labanoff,
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221:"Calendar of State Papers"
58:In Douai, Rome and Rheims
161:Fateful flight to France
124:, an agent of Mary, and
323:An Elizabethan Problem
311:, Volume 3, pp. 346–9.
134:Sir Francis Walsingham
81:. In 1577, he entered
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400:Catholic Encyclopedia
268:Letters of Mary Scots
54:cause – are unclear.
396:Mary, Queen of Scots
274:, vol. 6, pp. 282–3.
142:Mary, Queen of Scots
114:Mary, Queen of Scots
48:Mary, Queen of Scots
151:Michel de Castelnau
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321:L. Hicks,
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192:Assessment
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38:priest in
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146:Chartley
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