Bond of Association

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The Bond of Association was a document created in 1584 by Francis Walsingham and William Cecil, Lord Burghley after the failure of the Throckmorton Plot in 1583.

Contents 1 Contents 2 Royal approval 3 Implications 4 References

[edit] Contents

The document obliged all signatories to execute any person that:

• attempted to usurp the throne
• successfully usurped the throne
• made an attempt on Elizabeth's life
• successfully assassinated Elizabeth

[edit] Royal approval

Elizabeth authorised the Bond to achieve statutory authority.

[edit] Implications

The Bond of Association was a key legal precedent for the execution of Mary Queen of Scots in 1587. Walsingham, having achieved irrefutable evidence of Mary's treason in a letter to Anthony Babington, stating her approval of a plot to assassinate Elizabeth and install herself on the English throne.

[edit] References

Ridley, Jasper (1987). Elizabeth I: The Shrewdness of Virtue. Fromm International, p. 254. 

O'Day, Rosemary (1995). The Tudor Age. England: Longman Group Limited.