The Babington Plot Member: 陳繹中 (B ) 、 黃宗君 (B ) 黃鴻育 (B ) 、 陳俊賓 (B )

On November 24, 1542, Henry VIII (English force) demolished King James V (Scotland force). In feruary, 1543, Mary Queen of Scots was born prematurely. On September 9, 1543, she was crowned in the chapel of Stirling Castle. She was only nine month old.

Henry VIII did not invade Scots on that time, but he decided to marry his son, Edward, to Mary, in order to unit the two nations. First, he released the Scottish nobles. The Scottish court rejected it in favor of a marriage of Francis, the dauphin of France. This decision was pleased Mary’s mother.

Henry VIII had switched from diplomacy to intimidation in order to persuade the Scot. His forces committed acts of piracy, destroyed crops, burned villages and attacked towns and cities along the border. His son still attacked Scot after his father died. For Mary’s own safety, she set sail for the port of French at age of six.

Mary’s first few years in the French court would be the most idyllic time in her life. She married at the age of sixteen, and the following year Francis and Mary became king and queen. Francis had always suffered from poor health, and he was dead in1560 and Mary was widowed.

Walsingham- PrincipalSecratary a Machiavellian spymaster network of spies ： regular report from France, Germany Italy Spain Low Countries 1577 Philip of Spain tried to ally with Austria to invade England establish a cipher school in London

When Mary return to Scotland in 1561 She still confirmed her Catholic faith, while her Scottish subjects moved toward the Protestant church. > She marry her 2nd husband Darnley.who was killed by Mary in Feb 9,1567. She marry her 3rd husband, James Hepburn, but even worse. Their power was taken over in the summer of 1567.

Her terrible misjudgment She dared to turn to her cousin Elizabeth. Elizabeth was not recognized by English Catholics because she was a Henry VIII’s second wife. She was then imprisoned.

At first She was imprisoned in castles and manors, treated very well because most people love her. She even had the privileges to waters in Buxton to alleviate her illness.

By 1586,18years later She had lost her privileges. She wrote her son in Scotland to save her but she failed. Her son despised her. All her outgoing letters were confiscated by the jailer.

Gilbert Gifford He smuggled messages to Mary. He took the messages to a local brewer, who wrapped them in a leather pocket, which was then hidden inside a hollow bung used to seal a barrel of beer.

Babington Plot Babington hated the country, and his grandfather’s death fueled his animosity. He started to make a plan to assassinate Elizabeth, freeing Mary Queen of Scott. Via Gifford, Babington got contact with Mary, telling her their plan.

Codes Babington enciphered his letters to prevent his plot uncovered. He used a cipher which was not a simple monoalphabetic substitution, but rather a nomenclator, as shown in p.38 Figure.8. Symbols: 23 for letters, 35 for phrases and words some means nothing but that next one represents a double letters.

Phelippes & Grifford a linguist expert at Frence, Italian, German, Spanish, Latin and a great cryptanalyst 1585, Grifford wirtes a letter recruited as a spy another letter proposing assassination of Elizabeth replying letter which is forged

Babington and his six colleagues were captured and cut down. Meanwhile, on August 11, Mary and her entourage were also implicated in the Babington Plot and arrested. After two days trial, Elizabeth signed the death warrant of Mary. On February 8, 1587, Mary was brought to the block and died. She left with a motto, ”In my end is my beginning.”

Conclusion Why Elizabeth won? a. Too faithful of their cipher. –A weak encryption can be worse than no ncryption at all. b. Only one system of cipher. –The misuse of a weak cipher can generate a very false sense of security. C.The entourages they used. –Babington v.s. Gifford. –Guileful or not –Phellippes

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