Bond of Association
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
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
In the latter case, it also made it obligatory for the signatories to hunt down the killer.
Royal approval
Elizabeth authorised the Bond to achieve statutory authority.
Implications
The Bond of Association was a key legal precedent for the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1587. Walsingham discovered alleged evidence that Mary, in a letter to Anthony Babington, had given her approval to a plot to assassinate Elizabeth and by Right of Succession take English throne. Ironically, Mary herself was a signatory of the Bond.
References
Ridley, Jasper (1987). Elizabeth I: The Shrewdness of Virtue. Fromm International. pp. p. 254.
O'Day, Rosemary (1995). The Tudor Age. England: Longman Group Limited.