Free The Code Book by Simon Singh Page A

rescue her. It soon became clear that these men had come to arrest her, not release her. Mary had been implicated in the Babington Plot, and was charged under the Act of Association, an Act of Parliament passed in 1584 specifically designed to convict anybody involved in a conspiracy against Elizabeth.
    The trial was held in Fotheringhay Castle, a bleak, miserable place in the middle of the featureless fens of East Anglia. It began on Wednesday, October 15, in front of two chief justices, four other judges, the Lord Chancellor, the Lord Treasurer, Walsingham, and various earls, knights and barons. At the back of the courtroom there was space for spectators, such as local villagers and the servants of the commissioners, all eager to see the humiliated Scottish queen beg forgiveness and plead for her life. However, Mary remained dignified and composed throughout the trial. Mary’s main defense was to deny any connection with Babington. “Can I be responsible for the criminal projects of a few desperate men,” she proclaimed, “which they planned without my knowledge or participation?” Her statement had little impact in the face of the evidence against her.
    Mary and Babington had relied on a cipher to keep their plans secret, but they lived during a period when cryptography was being weakened by advances in cryptanalysis. Although their cipher would have been sufficient protection against the prying eyes of an amateur, it stood no chance against an expert in frequency analysis. In the spectators’ gallery sat Phelippes, quietly watching the presentation of the evidence that he had conjured from the enciphered letters.
    The trial went into a second day, and Mary continued to deny any knowledge of the Babington Plot. When the trial finished, she left the judges to decide her fate, pardoning them in advance for the inevitable decision. Ten days later, the Star Chamber met in Westminster and concluded that Mary had been guilty of “compassing and imagining since June 1 st matters tending to the death and destruction of the Queen of England.” They recommended the death penalty, and Elizabeth signed the death warrant.
    On February 8, 1587, in the Great Hall of Fotheringhay Castle, an audience of three hundred gathered to watch the beheading. Walsingham was determined to minimize Mary’s influence as a martyr, and he ordered that the block, Mary’s clothing, and everything else relating to the execution be burned in order to avoid the creation of any holy relics. He also planned a lavish funeral procession for his son-in-law, Sir Philip Sidney, to take place the following week. Sidney, a popular and heroic figure, had died fighting Catholics in the Netherlands, and Walsingham believed that a magnificent parade in his honor would dampen sympathy for Mary. However, Mary was equally determined that her final appearance should be a defiant gesture, an opportunity to reaffirm her Catholic faith and inspire her followers.
    While the Dean of Peterborough led the prayers, Mary spoke aloud her own prayers for the salvation of the English Catholic Church, for her son and for Elizabeth. With her family motto, “In my end is my beginning,” in her mind, she composed herself and approached the block. The executioners requested her forgiveness, and she replied, “I forgive you with all my heart, for now I hope you shall make an end of all my troubles.” Richard Wingfield, in his Narration of the Last Days of the Queen of Scots , describes her final moments:
Then she laide herself upon the blocke most quietlie, & stretching out her armes & legges cryed out In manus tuas domine three or foure times, & at the laste while one of the executioners held her slightlie with one of his handes, the other gave two strokes with an axe before he cutt of her head, & yet lefte a little gristle behinde at which time she made verie small noyse & stirred not any parte of herself from the place where she laye … Her lipps stirred up & downe almost a