Bond of Association
The Bond of Association appears in 694. Elizabeth I vs The Catholics: A Treacherous Conspiracy (Part 4) as the political security instrument William Cecil / Lord Burleigh and Francis Walsingham drew up after Francis Throckmorton’s execution. It stated that anyone responsible for Elizabeth I’s death would be ineligible to succeed her.
The episode says a later provision allowed such a person to be put to death even if they did not know about the assassination plot. Mary, Queen of Scots was not named, but the hosts treat the bond as clearly aimed at her because her succession claim made every assassination or invasion scheme politically explosive.
Thousands of loyal subjects signed the bond, and Mary herself signed it on 5 January 1585. In the wiki, the bond bridges the Throckmorton Plot and the later Act for the Queen’s Safety by turning claimant danger into a broader loyalty and exclusion framework.
Connections
- Elizabeth I, Mary, Queen of Scots, William Cecil / Lord Burleigh, and Francis Walsingham - target, claimant, and designers.
- Throckmorton Plot, Francis Throckmorton, and Act for the Queen’s Safety - sequence from conspiracy to legal-political instrument.
- Tudor Succession Crisis, Royal Execution Legitimacy, and Confessional Invasion Conspiracy - concepts clarified by the bond.