This is a comprehensive history of the idea of the early-modern ‘secret state’ intelligence and spies in the British late sixteenth to mid-seventeenth centuries. It embraces domestic affairs and wider international contexts, as well as exploring cultural and philosophical questions in the history of intelligence and espionage. Marshall’s investigation leads to a rich understanding of the idea of the early-modern ‘secret state’ in the era. The book also challenges misplaced preconceptions regarding early-modern intelligence and espionage and seeks to offer a balanced assessment of important developments across the early modern period. – .