Bond of Association

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

This article is about the 1584 document. For the banking term, see Bond of association.

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 last case, the document 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 the English throne. Ironically, Mary herself was a signatory of the Bond.

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.

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