Elizabethan Secret Agent

Elizabethan Secret Agent is the untold story of an Elizabethan ‘gentleman spy’ – a well-educated, socially-connected adventurer who merged espionage and diplomacy. A trusted protégé of Sir Francis Walsingham – the Queen´s spy master – William Ashby was a key figure in Anglo-Scottish relations during his tenure as English ambassador to the Court of King James VI from 1588 to 1590. 

Ashby was far more than a diplomat. For the majority of his career he was a spy, operating in a variety of countries on the European continent where among other adventures he accompanied the Queen´s cousin on a dangerous mission behind enemy lines, battled Spanish agents in a sword fight on the Rhine, and negotiated the release of an English diplomat taken hostage. In Scotland he masterminded a sabotage operation that destroyed a Spanish Armada galleon on Tobermory Bay and, with Walsingham, was cursed by a witch employed by the Scottish government during a failed diplomatic mission.

As England prepared for the onslaught of the Spanish Armada, Ashby arrived in Edinburgh charged with the crucial diplomatic task of keeping the Scots ‘in amity’ with the English to prevent a Spanish landing in Scotland and invasion from the north. At great risk to his reputation, and his life, Ashby accomplished his objective by offering a series of inducements to the young Scottish King. After the English defeat of the Armada, Queen Elizabeth I and her chief advisors Lord Burghley and Walsingham repudiated Ashby’s promises. Respected by the Scottish King and his courtiers, Ashby continued as ambassador and played an important role in the repairing of frayed diplomatic relations that led to the accession of James to Elizabeth’s throne in 1603 and the union of the Scottish and English crowns.  

´I have declared my mind and pleasure to Master Ashby …´

                                Sir Francis Walsingham, 1576.

Available direct from Scotland Street Press

And from Amazon UK

Please visit this link for a review in The Edinburgh Reporter

With thanks to Mirrin Hutchison for the following review in goodreads.com:

It is always fascinating and exciting when you pick up a book about someone that you realise you should have known about for a long time - and it is even more exciting to discover that the author of that book is a descendant of the person you are reading about! This kind of animation and elation was not only prevalent in me when reading this book, but in Timothy Ashby's writing as he details the very much 'untold story' of his ancestor, William Ashby.

Ashby's biography of the ambassador to Scotland and diplomat by day; Intelligence agent by night, depicts the political tensions that influenced and were influenced by William Ashby's sociopolitical role in the years and aftermath of the Spanish Armada crisis with a fresh flair and bite for history; humanity; and UK politics. William Ashby's legacy and existence vividly seep through the pages of this biography as much as he seeped into the cracks of the Elizabethan age; the many letters and intelligence affairs of the decade 1580-1590 being traced by, connected to or sourced by him.

This is a fiercely exciting and informative read for anyone who enjoys biography, historical non-fiction and essentially, anyone who enjoys reading about an 'untold' part of renowned Scottish, English and European history as well as anyone who enjoys reading a combination of thrillers and historical biography.