Tanzanite's Castle Full of Books

Monday Mosaic has been on an unofficial hiatus recently, but it's back!  I recently finished reading All the Queen's Players by Jane Feather (review hopefully tomorrow) which features Sir Francis Walsingham as one of its key characters so he is today's mosaic.

Born in 1530, Francis spent his childhood in a family connected to Mary Boleyn's son, Henry Carey and at the age of 16 entered King's College.  A staunch Protestant, he went into exile during the reign of Mary I and during that time he built the foundation of what would later become his elaborate system of gathering information from both abroad and at home.  He later became the principal secretary of state for Queen Elizabeth and spent much of his personal fortune in her service and gathering intelligence for use in defending the queen and the country.  Walsingham died in 1590.   Later that year, his daughter Frances secretly married the Queen's favorite at the time - Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex.