The Ridolfi, Throckmorton and Babington Plots, 1571-86 - Worksheets, Questions and Revision

15 original exam-style questions - 4 pages of questions with a full mark scheme - free printable PDF.

Download PDF Jump to mark scheme (page 5)The Ridolfi, Throckmorton and Babington Plots, 1571-86 revision guide

This topic is chapter 9 of GCSE History: Early Elizabethan England, 1558-88 Practice Book.

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3.9 The Ridolfi, Throckmorton and Babington Plots, 1571-86

EDEXCEL 1HI0 · about 55 minutes

Total Marks

Name: _______________________________ Date: ____ / ____ / ______

Answer ALL questions. Write in full sentences for Questions 13, 14 and 15. You are advised to spend about 65 minutes on this pack.

Give the year in which the Ridolfi Plot was discovered in England.

(Total for Question 1 is 1 mark)

Give the year in which the Throckmorton Plot was uncovered in England.

(Total for Question 2 is 1 mark)

Give the year in which the Babington Plot was discovered in England.

(Total for Question 3 is 1 mark)

Name the Italian banker who organised contacts for the Ridolfi Plot and sought Spanish support for replacing Elizabeth I with Mary Queen of Scots.

(Total for Question 4 is 1 mark)

Name Elizabeth I's principal spymaster who developed a network of agents and intercepted correspondence to foil plots against the queen.

(Total for Question 5 is 1 mark)

Name the English conspirator whose arrest and interrogation in November 1583 exposed the Throckmorton Plot, revealing plans for a French-backed invasion to free Mary, Queen of Scots.

(Total for Question 6 is 1 mark)

Describe two features of Walsingham's intelligence network that helped to uncover plots against Elizabeth I between 1571 and 1586.

(Total for Question 7 is 4 marks)

Explain why Catholic and Spanish support was important for attempts to overthrow Elizabeth I in the period 1571-1586.

You may use the following in your answer:
- the financial and military resources Spain could provide
- the Pope's authority and the support of continental Catholics

You must also use information of your own.

(Total for Question 8 is 12 marks)

'Walsingham's intelligence work, rather than Mary's own behaviour, was the decisive factor in ending the major Catholic plots against Elizabeth between 1571 and 1586.' How far do you agree? Explain your answer.

You may use the following in your answer:
- the role of intercepted ciphers and double agents in the Babington Plot
- the way Mary served as a focus for conspirators despite being under house arrest

You must also use information of your own.

(Total for Question 9 is 16 marks)

State two aims shared by conspirators involved in the Ridolfi, Throckmorton and Babington Plots.

(Total for Question 10 is 2 marks)

State one method, other than agents, that Walsingham used to obtain evidence against conspirators plotting with Mary Queen of Scots.

(Total for Question 11 is 2 marks)

Name the English conspirator whose correspondence was directly used to implicate Mary Queen of Scots in the Babington Plot.

(Total for Question 12 is 1 mark)

State two foreign backers or sympathetic powers who provided support or encouragement to Catholic conspirators plotting against Elizabeth I between 1571 and 1586.

(Total for Question 13 is 2 marks)

Name the agent who for a time acted as a double agent, used by Walsingham to intercept letters in the Babington affair.

(Total for Question 14 is 1 mark)

State two reasons why Mary Queen of Scots was used as a figurehead by Catholic conspirators plotting against Elizabeth I between 1571 and 1586.

(Total for Question 15 is 2 marks)

Mark scheme · 3.9 The Ridolfi, Throckmorton and Babington Plots, 1571-86

Question 1

B1 1571
Answer: 1571

Question 2

B1 1583
Answer: 1583

Question 3

B1 1586
Answer: 1586

Question 4

B1 Roberto Ridolfi
Answer: Roberto Ridolfi

Question 5

B1 Sir Francis Walsingham
Answer: Sir Francis Walsingham

Question 6

B1 Francis Throckmorton
Answer: Francis Throckmorton

Question 7

B1 feature 1 identified, e.g. use of agents and spies both in England and abroad to recruit informers and to monitor suspected Catholics
B1 supporting detail for feature 1, e.g. agents infiltrated Catholic circles, reported on meetings, and maintained secret contact with double agents
B1 feature 2 identified, e.g. systematic interception and deciphering of letters and ciphers to secure documentary evidence
B1 supporting detail for feature 2, e.g. Walsingham employed codebreakers and controlled the route of suspect correspondence to obtain readable copies
Answer: He ran agents and spies who infiltrated Catholic networks and he intercepted and deciphered coded letters, using broken ciphers to produce documentary evidence.

Question 8

Level 1 (1-3): Identifies one or two basic reasons why foreign Catholic support mattered, with little or no supporting detail or explanation.
Level 2 (4-6): Identifies and begins to explain some reasons, supported by relevant detail.
Level 3 (7-9): Explains several reasons clearly, supported by accurate and relevant detail and some analysis of consequences.
Level 4 (10-12): Explains in a well-developed and analytical way why foreign Catholic and Spanish support was important, with precise and accurate detail and clear links between reasons and consequences.
Indicative content:
- Spain under Philip II could provide money and the promise of military invasion forces, and conspirators such as Ridolfi sought Spanish troops to land in England as part of a plan to seize key positions and place Mary on the throne.
- The Pope's authority and endorsement could legitimise the conspirators and encourage Catholics in England and on the Continent to commit resources, giving plots a wider religious and political framework beyond a few isolated conspirators.
- Spanish naval and diplomatic pressure could deter English responses and coordinate landings or diversions elsewhere, making a plot more than a domestic uprising and raising the stakes for Elizabeth's government.
- Foreign support also allowed conspirators to imagine sustaining a new regime, paying troops and rewarding supporters, rather than relying only on uncertain homegrown backing, which made plots more dangerous in intent even if they often failed in practice.
- However, relying on foreign help also increased conspirators' dependence on continental timetables and on the goodwill of foreign rulers whose priorities were not identical to English Catholics, a factor that sometimes limited conspirators' effectiveness.

Question 9

Level 1 (1-4): Shows limited relevant knowledge and offers only a simple, unsupported judgement on the statement.
Level 2 (5-8): Shows some relevant knowledge and explains a few factors, but the argument is limited and the judgement is only partly supported.
Level 3 (9-12): Shows good knowledge and explains a range of factors on both sides, reaching a supported judgement with some analysis of connections.
Level 4 (13-16): Shows precise, well-selected knowledge and analyses a range of factors in a balanced way, reaching a sustained and fully supported judgement with clear analytical links and accurate use of specialist terms.
Indicative content:
- For Walsingham decisive: his interception and deciphering of ciphers, the use of double agents such as Gilbert Gifford, and careful entrapment led directly to clear documentary evidence in the Babington Plot which made prosecution possible.
- For Walsingham decisive: his network uncovered the Ridolfi and Throckmorton conspiracies early, allowing the government to act before plots could gain momentum, showing systematic intelligence as the common factor in foiling these attempts.
- For Mary decisive: Mary Queen of Scots provided a dynastic and religious focus that motivated conspirators and attracted foreign support, so her presence in England kept the threat alive and had to be addressed politically and legally.
- Against Mary decisive: Mary was often under strict control and limited in her capacity to coordinate; it was her correspondence and willingness or carelessness in communication that allowed Walsingham to gather the evidence used against conspirators, meaning her behaviour mattered but only in combination with intelligence work.
- Balanced points: both factors interacted, since Mary as a figurehead made plots meaningful and Walsingham's methods turned that meaning into prosecutable treason, and other factors such as international politics and the weakness of conspiratorial support in England also shaped outcomes.
- Judgement: a strong answer argues that Walsingham's intelligence was the most immediately decisive practical factor in exposing and stopping plots, but that without Mary as a focus the plots would have lacked coherence and international appeal, so both were important in different ways.

Question 10

B1 restore Catholicism in England
B1 place Mary Queen of Scots on the English throne
Answer: To restore Catholicism in England, and to put Mary Queen of Scots on the English throne.

Question 11

B1 intercepting and deciphering letters and coded messages
B1 supporting detail, e.g. his team broke ciphers and copied letters sent to and from Mary to catch conspirators in the act
Answer: He intercepted and deciphered letters and coded messages, using broken ciphers to gather incriminating evidence against conspirators.

Question 12

B1 Anthony Babington
Answer: Anthony Babington

Question 13

B1 Spain (the Spanish crown under Philip II)
B1 Catholic France or French nobles sympathetic to Catholic restoration (accept also the Pope or Papal encouragement)
Answer: Spain under Philip II, and elements of Catholic France or Papal encouragement.

Question 14

B1 Gilbert Gifford
Answer: Gilbert Gifford

Question 15

B1 she had a strong dynastic claim to the English throne and many English Catholics saw her as the rightful queen
B1 she was a Catholic symbol who could unite domestic and foreign Catholics in opposition to Protestant Elizabeth
Answer: Because she had a dynastic claim that many Catholics regarded as superior to Elizabeth's, and because she served as a Catholic symbol to unite supporters at home and abroad.

The Ridolfi, Throckmorton and Babington Plots, 1571-86 - Worksheets, Questions and Revision

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