Walsinghams spies

• Walsingham had a network of spies in every town. Some of his agents were paid and trained by the government, while others were paid informants
• Paid informants were people who knew the plotters against the queen and could help investigate. An example was John Hart, who agreed to help the investigation if he was pardoned
• Walsingham also had spies abroad, such as France, Spain and North Africa
• Walsingham used ciphers which would be written in code and then decoded when the letter was received to communicate
• Walsingham tortured Priests to encourage Priests to give information. Walsingham executed around 130 priests and 60 of their supporters
• Walsingham only used torture in serious cases, as he did not want to make martyrs of plotters