Thomas Morgan of Llantarnam (or Bassaleg, a branch of the Morgan of Tredegar) (1546–1606), of the Welsh Morgan of

Monmouthshire Monmouthshire ( cy, Sir Fynwy) is a county in the south-east of Wales. The name derives from the historic county of the same name; the modern county covers the eastern three-fifths of the historic county. The largest town is Abergavenny, with ...

, was a confidant and spy for

Mary, Queen of Scots Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567. The only surviving legitimate child of James V of Scot ...

, and was involved in the

Babington plot The Babington Plot was a plan in 1586 to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I, a Protestant, and put Mary, Queen of Scots, her Catholic cousin, on the English throne. It led to Mary's execution, a result of a letter sent by Mary (who had been imp ...

to kill Queen

Elizabeth I of England Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is ...

. In his youth, Thomas, a staunch Catholic, worked as Secretary of the Archbishop of York until 1568, and then for Lord Shrewsbury who had Mary under his care at this time. Morgan's Catholic leanings soon brought him into the confidence of the Scottish queen and Mary enlisted Morgan as her secretary and go-between for the period extending between 1569 -1572 which coincided with a series of important conspiracies against Elizabeth. Morgan was imprisoned for 3 years in the Tower of London before exiling himself to France.

The Parry Plot

Thomas Morgan had a secret correspondence with Mary, who was imprisoned in England, and he was plotting the assassination of Queen Elizabeth. In 1584 he may have been involved in the production of ''

Leicester's Commonwealth ''Leicester's Commonwealth'' (originally titled ') (1584) is a scurrilous book that circulated in Elizabethan England and attacked Queen Elizabeth I's favourite, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. The work was read as Roman Catholic propaganda agai ...

'', a scurrilous tract attacking

Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, (24 June 1532 – 4 September 1588) was an English statesman and the favourite of Elizabeth I from her accession until his death. He was a suitor for the queen's hand for many years. Dudley's youth was ov ...

, Elizabeth's powerful

favourite A favourite (British English) or favorite (American English) was the intimate companion of a ruler or other important person. In post-classical and early-modern Europe, among other times and places, the term was used of individuals delegated si ...

. The book was widely circulated in England. It contained a detailed argument that Mary should succeed Elizabeth to the throne.

Francis Walsingham Sir Francis Walsingham ( – 6 April 1590) was principal secretary to Queen Elizabeth I of England from 20 December 1573 until his death and is popularly remembered as her "spymaster". Born to a well-connected family of gentry, Wals ...

, the chief of Elizabeth's intelligence service, believed him to be the author. In 1584, Morgan was dispatched to Paris with letters from Mary to her supporters at the French court. He met up with Dr. William Parry and the pair hatched a plan to kill the queen. Parry was arrested in England and charged with High Treason but he pleaded that he was a secret agent trying to discover the Catholic's treasons. One of the charges brought against Mary in 1586 pertaining to her involvement with Morgan, charge no. 8, read 'Her Servant Morgan practising with Parry for the killing of her Majesty and the favouring and maintaining of him, since the said Queen did know that he was the principal persuader of Parry to attempt that most wicked act'. Morgan strenuously denied his involvement in his secret letters to Mary, who chose to believe him.

Babington Plot

Morgan and Charles Paget recruited

Anthony Babington Anthony Babington (24 October 156120 September 1586) was an English gentleman convicted of plotting the assassination of Elizabeth I of England and conspiring with the imprisoned Mary, Queen of Scots, for which he was hanged, drawn and quartere ...

, a young English nobleman ready to give his life for Mary, to murder

Queen Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". El ...

in the famous

Lewes Lewkenor Sir Lewes Lewknor (c.1560–1627) was an English courtier, M.P., writer, soldier, and Judge who served as Master of the Ceremonies to King James I of England. M.P. for Midhurst in 1597 and for Bridgnorth 1604–10. His career has been describ ...

described Morgan as 'a man not inferior to any of them all in drifts of policy'. In 1585 Gilbert Gifford arrived in Paris for a meeting with Morgan and Charles Paget, who sent him to England.

's agents arrested him at the port of

Rye, East Sussex is a small town and civil parish in the Rother district of East Sussex, England, two miles from the sea at the confluence of three rivers: the Rother, the Tillingham and the Brede. An important member of the mediaeval Cinque Ports confederatio ...

and he was taken to London for questioning. It appears that Walsingham's persuasive techniques were enough to convince Gifford to spy for him and intercept the letters from

which ultimately brought about her downfall and subsequent execution. Gifford even told how Walsingham's chief decipherer, Phelippes 'could take off Morgan to the life'. Spying for Elizabeth in the embassy, Gifford was copying all of the letters exchanged between Thomas and Mary and passing them to Walsingham. Elizabeth's top codebreaker,

Thomas Phelippes Thomas Phelippes (1556–1625), also known as Thomas Phillips was a linguist, who was employed as a forger and intelligence gatherer. He served mainly under Sir Francis Walsingham, in the time of Elizabeth I, and most notably deciphered the code ...

, was able to decipher the code used by Thomas Morgan. The plot was discovered, Babington was arrested, and he and his co-conspirators were hung, drawn and quartered. The Jesuits accused Morgan of being the 'setter on' of Gilbert Gifford and kwot him close prisoner in a miserable dungeon called the Truerenborche' where he remained until the death of

Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma Alexander Farnese ( it, Alessandro Farnese, es, Alejandro Farnesio; 27 August 1545 – 3 December 1592) was an Italian noble and condottiero and later a general of the Spanish army, who was Duke of Parma, Piacenza and Castro from 1586 to 1592 ...

in December 1593. Thomas Morgan, escaping extradition and a dreadful fate, was thrown into the Bastille and then in another prison in Flanders, before finally being set free in 1593.

Exile and death

Morgan was accused of being an intelligencer for Walsingham by his fellow conspirators, Charles Paget, Thomas Throgmorton and Ralph Liggons. He was incarcerated in the

Bastille The Bastille (, ) was a fortress in Paris, known formally as the Bastille Saint-Antoine. It played an important role in the internal conflicts of France and for most of its history was used as a state prison by the kings of France. It was sto ...

, but his friends sought aid from the Pope who commanded his release. Morgan retired to live with the Bishop of

Cusano Milanino Cusano Milanino (local lmo, Cusan ) is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Milan, in Lombardy. Cusano Milanino is about 13 kilometers far from the center of Milan. It borders Paderno Dugnano, Cinisello Balsamo, Cormano and Bresso. ...

Amiens Amiens (English: or ; ; pcd, Anmien, or ) is a city and commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme department in the region of Hauts-de-France. In 2021, the population of ...

until his death, the date of which is uncertain. In January 1605, he was condemned to death for conspiracy, but the sentence was not carried out.

References

Data-Wales, website on Welsh history and culture
*

William Camden William Camden (2 May 1551 – 9 November 1623) was an English antiquarian, historian, topographer, and herald, best known as author of ''Britannia'', the first chorographical survey of the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, and the ''Annal ...

, ''Annales''
Year 1586
*

Simon Singh Simon Lehna Singh, (born 19 September 1964) is a British popular science author, theoretical and particle physicist. His written works include ''Fermat's Last Theorem'' (in the United States titled ''Fermat's Enigma: The Epic Quest to Solve th ...

, ''

The Code Book ''The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography'' is a book by Simon Singh, published in 1999 by Fourth Estate and Doubleday. ''The Code Book'' describes some illustrative highlights in the history of cryptog ...

'', Doubleday, New York, 1999 {{DEFAULTSORT:Morgan, Thomas English spies 1546 births 1606 deaths 16th-century Welsh people 17th-century Welsh people Court of Mary, Queen of Scots 16th-century spies