When were Spy Services in England Created?

Spying has existed since early historical societies in the Middle East, China, and southeast Europe. However, spy services are generally a later development, where groups of government individuals and ultimately agencies within government became responsible for external and internal spying. England, one of the first countries to have a formal spy service, greatly professionalized spying and made it one of the birthplaces of what ultimately became modern espionage.

Early History

The rise of espionage or spying services could be traced to the Catholic and Protestant conflicts of the 16th and 17th centuries in Europe. In England, there was both a fear of a Catholic invasion and attempt to take the English throne and a desire to shape events in Europe, particularly the Netherlands. Under the reign of Elizabeth I (1558-1603), one of the first official spymasters in English history arose in the figure of Francis Walsingham, who was also the Secretary of State for Elizabeth I. Another key person was William Cecil. Together, these two helped form what was called the Bond of Association, which was a document, and effectively a foundation document, for a network of spies that devoted themselves to protection Elizabeth I after the Throckmorton Plot..

The Throckmorton Plot was a plot by English Catholics to murder Elizabeth I and place Mary Queen of Scots on the throne. While the plot failed, it maid the aides nearest to Elizabeth realize that England would continue to face external threat, in the form of Spain in particular, and internal descent from Catholics who wanted to put a Catholic monarch back in power. What was significant about the Bond of Association is it committed a network of people to ensure any plot against the Protestant monarch would be attacked even if the reigning monarch was killed. This, in effect, put the interest of the Protestant state ahead of any individual with a claim on throne. Any potential killers were to be effectively killed at all costs.

Walsingham realized that to defeat future plots tactics would have to include having a vast network of spies across England (and later Scotland after the accession of James I). Spies had to be able to decipher coded letters, find hidden ink in letter, search hiding spaces in homes, and infiltrate Catholic groups to know what they were up to. In effect, this created not only among the earliest espionage networks but also the first surveillance state that monitored it's people at a vast scale. It also recruited many normal people to carry out mundane, everyday espionage in many different towns and municipalities across England.