Bond of Association

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. Mary, Queen of Scots, was herself a signatory of the bond, giving her assent at Wingfield Manor on 5 January 1585. In March 1585, the Bond of Association was in part incorporated in the Act for the Queen's Safety. The Bond was a key legal precedent for the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1587. 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. == See also ==