To Murder A Queen

By S. M. Revolinski

An espionage adventure about Mary Queen of Scots and Queen Elizabeth I

Having saved Mary Queen of Scots from the executioner’s ax, the accidental time traveler, John Anderson, next organizes a spy ring to thwart an effort to murder Queen Elizabeth.

Having lived through the 16th century events, John returns to his English history classroom, uniquely qualified to discuss the political perils of the time period.  However, he strives to keep the history of his memory separated from that he has rewritten. 

This story uses the narration of the time traveler to delve deeply into the actual life adventures of Queens Mary and Elizabeth as the book explores the religious-political-sexual motives and interactions of among the varied characters plotting to murder the Queen.

Excerpt:

“Indeed, this is frightening.” After a sip of wine, Queen Elizabeth continued, “John, I was anticipating that you could suggest how I might respond,” Elizabeth’s tone suddenly sobered and she met his gaze.  Two years after John Anderson was transported to the 16th century, Elizabeth conscripted him into her service.  Through an error in judgment, John had allowed his skill as a soothsayer to become too widely known, and Elizabeth required his services.

“You must continue to win the mercenary war with the Spanish.  This will keep their soldiers on their own shore.  Soon a…windfall will appear…Spanish gold…”

“Hawkins?” Elizabeth interrupted with exclamation.

“No, Your Highness, unfortunately Sir Hawkins’ flotilla has met with disaster. I was speaking of,” John quickly changed the subject, “a Spanish fleet carrying gold to pay Alba’s army.  It will find its way into your ports.” 

King Phillip II was busy, engaged in war with the Dutch Prince of Orange in the Netherlands.  The Spanish general, Duke of Alba, had not paid his soldiers for quite some time, and Phillip dispatched several ships carrying gold bullion to Antwerp.  However, the French pirates chased the ships into the English harbor in Plymouth.  Here, Elizabeth off loaded the gold and placed it in the Tower of London for - safe keeping, until suitable transport could be arranged, and that never happened. 

“I’m sure that you can find a political means to protect the gold,” John concluded with a sly smile toward Elizabeth.

“Will not Philip then begin open warfare?”

“Not likely, his army, at the moment, is disillusioned, unpaid and unguided.  King Philip will retaliate, but that will only open the door…to allowing you to seize even more Spanish wealth.  For the time being, King Philip will be helpless to invade.”

John realized that he had said too much.  Another unintended consequence of the Hawkins adventures was assisting England in its defense.  The great expenditure Philip would make defending the Spanish Main against an expected onslaught of marauding English slave traders would suppress his funds available for the invasion.  Distraction on these two fronts would keep the Spanish army away.

“Also madam,” John decided to continue, “while Sir Hawkins’ mission will be a failure, you should not give up on the New World.  A change of tactics is in order.  Consider…quietly…sending one very able captain with a small ship to find a means to liberate the gold from the Spanish before it reaches Spain.”  

• Language: English
• Publisher: S. M. Revolinski
• Release date: Aug 17, 2015
• ISBN: 9781516327829

Book preview

To Murder A Queen

By S. M. Revolinski

––––––––

Copyright ©2015 by S. M. Revolinski

All Rights Reserved

No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without prior written permission of S. M. Revolinski. Many of the people, places and events described in this book are historical realities. However, the primary characters and the story weaving these entities together are purely from the author’s imagination.

Cover artwork credits:

© Worldfoto | Dreamstime.com - 16th Century World Map Photo

The portrait of Queen Elizabeth I is credited to the Hatfield House, Hertfordshire, UK.

Table of Contents

Forward

Part I – The Root of All Evil

Part II – The Winds of War

Part III – To Murder a Queen

Forward

This story is a historical fiction adventure tale. However, I intend for it to weigh heavy on the ‘historical’ part. For the most part, the events and people discussed were real, and were only altered or simplified to accommodate my overlying adventure story. Where practical, I have used quotes from historical texts. Rather than invent an espionage incident, and then write a fictional story within the 16th century period, I chose a real event and fictionalized the way I presented the experience. Therefore, only my character John Anderson is fictional. Where the story deviates from recorded history, John provides narration of the true events. While my story doesn’t have the pizzazz of James Bond remember, as you read, that these were real people risking their fortunes and lives for Queen and country.

Those readers who have enjoyed my earlier book, Murder at Holyrood Palace, will recognize some characters and locations.

Part I – The Root of All Evil

Monday, October 6, 2014

"You mean to say that Sir Francis Drake was not a hero?" the blond coed with bright blue eyes seated in the front row of the lecture hall asked.

Such desirable female students were the bane of every young professor, and John Anderson’s gaze drifted into the depth her charms as she eased forward, allowing her blouse to gape open. He had hoped that his recent marriage to the nurse Mary Stuart, and their stimulating sex life, would quell the distraction of such students as Heather Long, but it had not. Thus, he was not the slightest bit annoyed with her interruption of his history lecture concerning the pivotal battle of the Anglo-Spanish War in the second half of the 16th century. Regaining control of his visual cortex, John refocused his eyes upon hers.

Not my point at all. The thirty-something English history professor at Duke University diverted his attention away from his lecture, and his gaze away from Heather’s cleavage. Looking to a blank spot on the back wall, he continued, My point is that – in war – the victors get to write the history. To get to the actual truth of a historical event...in this case the root cause of the war...and the source of the English’s victory... one must dig deep beyond the surface descriptions of events.

No one could dig deeper into the actual events of the 16th century than Professor John Anderson – he was there.

Oh, I see your point, a male student injected into the conversation from three rows back. "You are saying that we, as descendants of the British Empire, are taught that those who created the empire, via their military victories, are de facto defined heroes. Had things turned out differently, had the Spanish won the war, then we might be speaking Spanish and would never know of Drake’s existence."

Indeed, this is approximately to my point. Thank you, Mr. Blake, John said, call the student by name. John prided himself on remembering as many of the names of his students as possible. In the past couple of years, John’s classes had become some of the most popular within the History Department.  While the Dean applauded John’s skill, the other professors envied his ability to bring English history to life within the minds of his students. However, the size of his classes had swelled to the point that he could no longer remember the names of all of his students.

Much – or maybe all – of John’s uncanny skill at bringing a personal meaning to these ancient events, came from his personal experience. Fearing incarceration in an asylum, he had told no one of the nine years he had lived in the 16th century. John Anderson had fallen from a sailboat cruising in the Bermuda triangle. When he resurfaced from beneath the waves, he had been transported from the year 2012 to 1562. Therefore, John knew all about rewriting history. He was the one human alive who knew the alternate – or more accurately the original - history of Mary Queen of Scots. John always laughed along when colleagues joked about how an English professor named John Anderson married a woman named Mary Stuart. John alone knew that Mary Queen of Scots had not originally taken a commoner named John Anderson as her third husband. Additionally, he never spoke of the many other parallels between the two young couples living 450 years apart.

For example, John continued lecturing, no one discusses the name of the Spanish admiral...who lost his armada in the war of 1588. John stated what was in truth a question, and then he waited. Soon several students caught is meaning and began leafing through their textbooks.

Duke of Medina Sidonia, the blue-eyed siren in the front row soon responded.

"Yes, thank you, Miss Long. Francis Drake was a hero of the English Navy only because random factors intervened to make his campaign a success. Granted, he was a skilled navigator and seaman, thus he was in a position to capitalize on the bad weather, and other misgivings of the Spanish. However, had luck gone the other way...had the much more powerful Spanish Armada beaten the English...then Sir Drake, if he were remembered at all, would be remembered as a pirate."

"A pirate?" a third student reflected his surprise.

"Indeed. Queen of England, Mary the First, had decimated the navy built by her father, King Henry the Eighth. Thus, when Elizabeth the First acceded to the throne, she had no navy with which to protect the English shores from invasion. King Phillip the Second of Spain had been Mary the First’s husband. And, he still believed that he was the rightful king of England. To capture this throne he, first, tried to marry Elizabeth. And then, when she refused him, he, second, plotted to overthrow and assassinate her. Her sole protection was the heavily armed English merchant fleet. The captains of these ships became her Sea Dogs. They were her privateers... and they ransacked most every ship that dared to sail within the English Channel. They kept the majority of the bootie for themselves, and paid a tribute to Queen Elizabeth... much like the mafia.

"When John Hawkins... and Francis Drake began invading the Spanish slave trade with the New World, tension exceeded the boiling point, and the war with Spain began. However, they were nothing more than... pirates," Professor Anderson concluded his remarks for the day.

Slave trade? Heather Long continued questioning John. This specific class was always scheduled as the last class of the day to use the large lecture hall. Four o’clock had come and gone, but many students remained to continue the discussion. With John’s stimulating accounts of English history, this was not an unusual occurrence.

"Yes. For centuries, wool was the primary English export, and the merchant ships sold most of this to the European continent through the Dutch port of Antwerp. The Spanish and Portuguese were the principle sea powers until mid-16th century. Following Columbus’s voyages, Spain aggressively explored and colonized the New World. The vast land mass of South America, Central America, Mexico, Florida and most of the Caribbean Islands were known as the Spanish Main.

"With the huge influx of wealth, Spain turned their aggression upon Europe. They began by conquering the Dutch, and then in an effort to control England, the Spanish closed the port of Antwerp to English ships. They were starving out the English.

"Elizabeth and her Sea Dogs retaliated by pirating merchant Spanish ships. The Catholic Spanish struck back by declaring the Protestant English seamen to be heretics, and sending all that they captured to be tortured by the papal Inquisition. Thus, this undeclared merchant war continued.

"With the backing of Queen Elizabeth,