Bond of Association

This article is about the 1584 document. For the banking term, see 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. Its purpose was to deter attempts to assassinate Elizabeth I.^[1][2]

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 response to the assassination of William the Silent in July 1584, and the continuing threat posed to Elizabeth I by the supporters of Mary, Queen of Scots as a rival claimant to the English throne, in the aftermath of the discovery of the Throckmorton Plot.^[3][4]

Mary, Queen of Scots, was herself a signatory of the bond, giving her assent at Wingfield Manor on 5 January 1585.^[5] In March 1585, the Bond of Association was in part incorporated in the Act for the Queen's Safety.^[6]

The Bond was a key legal precedent for the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1587.^[7] 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.^[8][9]

See also

• Association of Mary, Queen of Scots, and James VI