Fly on the Wall
Henry VII made sure that he had eyes and ears wherever they were needed to put an end to thirty years of political conspiracy.
1485-1509
King Henry VIII 1509-1547
Henry VII made sure that he had eyes and ears wherever they were needed to put an end to thirty years of political conspiracy.
1485-1509
King Henry VIII 1509-1547
King Henry VII, so Sir Francis Bacon tells us, aspired to be held in awe by his subjects, rather than in love. To this end he employed spies not only in the courts of his European neighbours but also in England, and kept abreast of all that was going in his own court by compiling private notebooks in which the words and deeds of every courtier were carefully recorded.
abridged
AS for his secret spials* which he did employ both at home and abroad, by them to discover what practices and conspiracies were against him; surely his case required it; he had such moles perpetually working and casting* to undermine him.* Neither can it be reprehended; for if spials be lawful against lawful enemies, much more against conspirators and traitors. But indeed to give them credence by oaths or curses, that cannot be well maintained for those are too holy vestments for a disguise.* Yet surely there was this further good in his employing of these flies and familiars: that as the use of them was cause that many conspiracies were revealed, so the fame and suspicion of them kept (no doubt) many conspiracies from being attempted. [...]
That is, acts of surveillance; the word (now obsolete) was also used to mean ‘spies’.
That is, digging beneath the ground and throwing up earth upon earth to form a molehill; compare ‘worm cast’.
One of the most industrious of these ‘moles’ was Margaret of York, sister of Edward IV and of Richard III, the king whose crown Henry had taken at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. From Burgundy (the Duchy she held following the death of her husband Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy) she worked to undermine Henry’s government and was behind the pretenders Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck. There were also popular uprisings against Henry’s government in Yorkshire (1489) and Cornwall (1497).
Sir Francis prefers covert spying to getting suspects to swear allegiance and loyalty on the Bible.
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Henry VII employed spies. Many people conspired against him.
See if you can include one or more of these words in your answer.
IEyes. IIPlot. IIISecret.