Sir Francis Walsingham
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [1]
an eminent English statesman, was born at Chiselhurst, in Kent, in 1536. He was ambassador to the court of France from 1570 to 1577, during which time the Massacre of St. Bartholomew occurred. Here he learned much of the part which Mary Stuart took in the intrigues of that dreadful plot, and acquired a deep and abiding hatred towards her. He went as ambassador to Scotland in 1583, and in 1586 became one of the commission for the trial of Mary Queen of Scots. He afterwards became chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, and remained such until his death, April 6, 1590.
The Nuttall Encyclopedia [2]
English statesman, born at Chiselhurst; was ambassador at Paris, and was there during the St. Bartholomew massacre, and was afterwards appointed one of Queen Elizabeth's Secretaries of State; he was an insidious inquisitor, and had numerous spies in his pay, whom he employed to ferret out evidence to her ruin against Mary, Queen of Scots, and he had the audacity to sit as one of the Commissioners at her trial (1536-1590).
