[Music] hi there guys today we're going to be having a look at the three plots so that's the rodolfi morton and babington plots i wanted to put all three of these together because i think this is a really confusing issue for lots of you loads of you get them mixed up and find it really difficult to identify the differences between them so today we're going to spend some time looking at the similarities and differences between these absolutely crucial events i want to start with a timeline which we're going to add to as we go along so that we can see where these plots happen and what their effects are i'm going to start my timeline right at the beginning with mary queen of scots arriving in england in may 1568. if you're not sure why this happened or who merry queen scott's is please check out my previous video on this as we've previously discussed mary's arrival in england stirs up trouble for elizabeth many catholics in england see mary as their opportunity to make england catholic again all of this leads to the revolt of the northern earls just six months later despite the failure of this revolt this doesn't actually stop catholics continuing to try to overthrow elizabeth and replace her with mary with and without mary's knowledge so the causes of the plots are largely the same as the revolt of the northern earth catholics are not happy with elizabeth's more protestant leadership and want to return to the strict catholicism of mary first they are also being replaced at court in positions of power by elizabeth's friends who are also protestants and so are worried for their own wealth and their positions so the three plots have some key elements in common as we're going to see as we go through them it's worth learning i think two similarities and at least one difference in all of the plots so that you can write with confidence about them i'm going to fill in a table as we go through you might want to make yourself a version of this as it will help you with your own revision the first of the plots to kick off is known as the rodolfi plot which takes place not long after the revolt of the northern earls in 1571. roberto rodolfi was an italian banker who lived in england and worked as a spy for the pope he wanted to kill elizabeth cause a spanish invasion and make mary queen of scots the english queen after which she would marry the duke of norfolk who was an english catholic who you might remember was also involved in the northern earls rebellion rodolfi traveled to the netherlands which was at that time owned by spain to meet with philip ii king of spain and the duke of alba who was a powerful nobleman who ran the netherlands on behalf of the spanish rodolfi took with him a letter from the duke of norfolk saying that he would support a rebellion at the meeting phillips said that he would prepare 10 000 troops ready to invade england however william cecil chief minister found out about the plot and norfolk was arrested rodolfi never returned to england so avoided arrest parliament was furious and demanded the execution of mary queen of scots and the duke of norfolk elizabeth did not want to execute mary for reasons we will go into next time but she signed the death warrant for the duke of norfolk and he was executed in 1572 although nothing actually happened to elizabeth in this plot it showed elizabeth some key things it showed her that english catholics and mary queen of scots couldn't be trusted it confirmed to her that spain was a real threat and made her begin trying to improve english relationships with france so that she could have an ally against spain with the mounting threat from the english catholics in 1581 elizabeth passes two key laws which limits the actions of catholics it becomes illegal to shelter catholic priests in english homes and families can be fined for doing so and it now became treason for trying to convert others to catholicism and the offender could be executed for doing that despite these measures in 1583 elizabeth faces another serious threat to her reign and her life this time the plot was organized by the duke of geese a french nobleman who was also related to mary queen of scots he saw this as an opportunity to make england catholic again i'm going to get a hat for that i swear and to increase his family's power philip ii of spain again was willing to support the plot this time providing money to pay for soldiers and weapons but not actually his own soldiers and the pope sent a letter confirming he approved of the plot they recruited a young english catholic called francis throckmorton to pass letters between the plotters and mary queen of scots however the plot was found out by francis wallsingham's spies and in november 1583 he proved the plot using letters he found in throttmorton's house throttlemorton was arrested tortured and eventually executed this threat confirmed to elizabeth that the english catholics and queen of scots were significant threats this time there was also clear evidence of english and mary's involvement it also reinforced the threat from spain however this time it shows elizabeth that france is likely to be a threat also remember these are the two most powerful nations in europe and if they were to unite in war against elizabeth england would stand no chance elizabeth was more concerned about the threat from the enemy within she became worried that she could not trust even her own people so in 1585 she raised the stakes now sheltering a priest in one's home risked execution rather than just a fine overall 11 000 catholics were imprisoned placed under surveillance or placed under house arrest in this period finally we come to the babington plot and this is probably the one you remember best although it probably brought elizabeth the least threat it was the final straw for elizabeth again the plan was for the duke of geese to invade england murder elizabeth and put mary queen of scots on the throne again he had the support of philip ii and the pope although philip didn't back up his support on this occasion another english catholic anthony babington was tasked to pass letters this time in a clever way he hid the letters inside sealed wax envelopes inside beer barrels however despite his cleverness it was not long before waltzinger and his spies found the plot out babington was arrested tortured and finally was hanged drawn and quartered for treason in september 1586. elizabeth cracked down even harder on english catholics following the badminton plot in 1586 31 catholic priests were executed english relations with france and spain broke down completely and england was in a virtual state of war with both nations this time elizabeth was finally persuaded to end the threat from mary queen of scots once and for all and mary was executed by beheading in february 1587. so as you can see there are a lot of similarities between the three plots so it's easy to get them confused however there are also some key things to remember unlike the other two plots the rodolfi plot did not overtly involve france nor was there evidence of mary's involvement although the morton and babington plots are very similar they take place five years apart and the babington plot is the one that leads to mary queen of scots execution i hope that's cleared things up a bit for you remember you can always comment with any questions below and i do try to reply as quickly as possible it is a good idea to practice exam questions as often as you can when revising you could have a four marker for this topic identify two key features of the babington plot obviously i can't mark your answers but i know if you send them to your own teachers not only will you make them the happiest history teachers in the world but they will also send you some feedback in the meantime i look forward to seeing you next time