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Authors: Derek Wilson
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lessee of the lands of Carisbrooke Priory and owner of Appuldurcombe and Woolverton manors, as well as estates in Dorset and Wiltshire. Walsingham’s eager pursuit of this prize began within months of Richard’s death for we find him writing, in October 1565, to Sir William More, the Worsley executor, asking him to persuade the lady from ‘her resolution of sole life’. 11 That process apparently took some time, for it was another eighteen months before Francis and Ursula were wed. Almost immediately Walsingham gave up his Hertfordshire residence and settled with his enlarged family (Ursula had two sons) in the substantial Worsley house at Appuldurcombe. His application for the lease of Carisbrooke Priory indicated his determination fully to occupy Worsley’s shoes.
Walsingham’s decision to move his base to a place far distant from the court and from his own home turf was not made on solely financial grounds. In fact we can detect in this move early evidence for his involvement in that Protestant expansionist circle which revolved around Robert Dudley. The Isle of Wight was a crucial bastion in England’s defence system. It guarded the approaches to Portsmouth and Southampton and from there watch could be kept on traffic passing up and down the Channel. Its coves and inlets were useful places where clandestine visitors from France could be landed. In addition Carisbrooke Castle was a secure prison within whose stout walls men could be ‘persuaded’ to yield up any information they might have concerning potential threats to the realm. It was, therefore, vitally important to the government that the Isle of Wight should be in safe hands.
At the end of 1565 the captaincy of Carisbrooke Castle was entrusted to the soldier-diplomat, Edward Horsey. Horsey was a bluff, bold, unscrupulous patriot – and a died-in-the-wool Protestant. During Mary’s reign he had not only gone into exile, he had also been a prime mover in the Dudley plot. In the early days of the new reign he attached himself to Robert Dudley and through him gained the somewhat reluctant favour of Elizabeth. Very soon he had shipsscouring the Channel for enemy vessels and for easy prey whose cargoes he could appropriate. He was, therefore, one of the first Elizabethan sea dogs, those adventurer-pirates of whom the queen officially disapproved and unofficially found very useful. Before the reign was more than a few years old Horsey served the queen in various military and diplomatic situations. He was a patron of Calvinist clergy and, in 1562, secured the appointment of William Whittingham, erstwhile colleague and supporter of John Knox, as chaplain to an army sent over into France. Horsey was committed to the policy of England’s making a common front with the Huguenots against the Catholic Guise faction which dominated the French court. Someone else who advocated the same policy was Elizabeth’s first ambassador to France, Nicholas Throckmorton, who managed to enjoy Elizabeth’s favour despite his firm and firmly expressed Puritan opinions. These men were well known to Walsingham (Throckmorton had held the Lyme Regis parliamentary seat in the 1559 parliament) and, by 1565, they were already part of a political grouping which would become more confident and vociferous over the years. They were all concerned for the security of the realm and well understood the military and naval importance of the Isle of Wight. Walsingham had influential support in his suit for Ursula Worsley’s hand.
By no means did he spend all his time in the country. In the spring of 1568 he exchanged the old family house in St Mary Aldermanbury parish for a more commodious town residence beyond the city walls, close to the church of St Giles Cripplegate. Here, a short walk from the open country of Moor Fields and Finsbury Fields, he was away from the foetid airs of the close-packed metropolis yet near enough to the court when his advice was sought or when he was called upon to
Walsingham’s decision to move his base to a place far distant from the court and from his own home turf was not made on solely financial grounds. In fact we can detect in this move early evidence for his involvement in that Protestant expansionist circle which revolved around Robert Dudley. The Isle of Wight was a crucial bastion in England’s defence system. It guarded the approaches to Portsmouth and Southampton and from there watch could be kept on traffic passing up and down the Channel. Its coves and inlets were useful places where clandestine visitors from France could be landed. In addition Carisbrooke Castle was a secure prison within whose stout walls men could be ‘persuaded’ to yield up any information they might have concerning potential threats to the realm. It was, therefore, vitally important to the government that the Isle of Wight should be in safe hands.
At the end of 1565 the captaincy of Carisbrooke Castle was entrusted to the soldier-diplomat, Edward Horsey. Horsey was a bluff, bold, unscrupulous patriot – and a died-in-the-wool Protestant. During Mary’s reign he had not only gone into exile, he had also been a prime mover in the Dudley plot. In the early days of the new reign he attached himself to Robert Dudley and through him gained the somewhat reluctant favour of Elizabeth. Very soon he had shipsscouring the Channel for enemy vessels and for easy prey whose cargoes he could appropriate. He was, therefore, one of the first Elizabethan sea dogs, those adventurer-pirates of whom the queen officially disapproved and unofficially found very useful. Before the reign was more than a few years old Horsey served the queen in various military and diplomatic situations. He was a patron of Calvinist clergy and, in 1562, secured the appointment of William Whittingham, erstwhile colleague and supporter of John Knox, as chaplain to an army sent over into France. Horsey was committed to the policy of England’s making a common front with the Huguenots against the Catholic Guise faction which dominated the French court. Someone else who advocated the same policy was Elizabeth’s first ambassador to France, Nicholas Throckmorton, who managed to enjoy Elizabeth’s favour despite his firm and firmly expressed Puritan opinions. These men were well known to Walsingham (Throckmorton had held the Lyme Regis parliamentary seat in the 1559 parliament) and, by 1565, they were already part of a political grouping which would become more confident and vociferous over the years. They were all concerned for the security of the realm and well understood the military and naval importance of the Isle of Wight. Walsingham had influential support in his suit for Ursula Worsley’s hand.
By no means did he spend all his time in the country. In the spring of 1568 he exchanged the old family house in St Mary Aldermanbury parish for a more commodious town residence beyond the city walls, close to the church of St Giles Cripplegate. Here, a short walk from the open country of Moor Fields and Finsbury Fields, he was away from the foetid airs of the close-packed metropolis yet near enough to the court when his advice was sought or when he was called upon to
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