RIDOLFI’s brief, assisted by smooth-talking diplomat Giovan Luigi ‘Chiappino’ Vitelli, was to coordinate discontent among English courtiers with a planned invasion from Philip’s Spanish Netherlands, led by the Duke of Alba. Simultaneously, Elizabeth was to be arrested and imprisoned, or worse; but her cousin Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, jailed for his part in the Northern Rebellion, would be Queen Mary’s consort.* England would become a Catholic country again, under Spain’s inquisitorial eye.
For a secret agent, however, Ridolfi was altogether too much of a chatterbox. His boasts to the horrified Duke of Tuscany were instantly relayed to Elizabeth, though they only confirmed what her own spies had already wormed out of the Spanish ambassador. The plot was uncovered, and Howard was executed; Ridolfi was conveniently out of the country. Yet neither King Philip nor Pius’s successors were discouraged, and the Continental conspirators were soon devising another, still bolder plan to bring England into European conformity: the ‘Grand and Felicitous’ Spanish Armada.*
Mary was already married to James Hepburn, her third husband, currently imprisoned for conspiring with Mary to murder her second husband Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. See Mary Queen of Scots. Mary’s first husband, King Francis II of France, had died of natural causes. Norfolk himself had been married and widowed three times. For the sake of the bigger picture, the Pope had declared himself ready to overlook all this, and even the fact that Norfolk was technically a Protestant.
See The Spanish Armada.
Précis
The Ridolfi Plot centred on getting English subjects to kidnap Queen Elizabeth, while Spain invaded from the Netherlands. However, the plot was discovered after Roberto Ridolfi let his tongue run away with him. The failure of the plot did not, however, mean the end of attempts by the European powers to remove Elizabeth. (53 / 60 words)
The Ridolfi Plot centred on getting English subjects to kidnap Queen Elizabeth, while Spain invaded from the Netherlands. However, the plot was discovered after Roberto Ridolfi let his tongue run away with him. The failure of the plot did not, however, mean the end of attempts by the European powers to remove Elizabeth.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 60 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 50 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: about, despite, just, may, unless, whereas, whether, who.
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Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
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.
Spinners Find in Think and Speak
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Conspirator. Lead. So.
2 Port. They. Worm.
3 Arrest. However. Queen.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
High Tiles Find in Think and Speak
Make words (three letters or more) from the seven letters showing below, using any letter once only. Each letter carries a score. What is the highest-scoring word you can make?
Your Words ()
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