John Somers or Somer or Sommers (died 1585) was an English diplomat, courtier, and cryptographer. He served as joint keeper of Mary, Queen of Scots, at Tutbury Castle with Ralph Sadler.[1] Somers is said to have been Sadler's son-in-law.[2]
The Somers or Somer family lived at High Halstow, and in the 17th-century their estate was sold to the treasurers of the Chatham Chest.
As a diplomat, Somers worked as a secretary for Nicholas Wotton in Paris in 1554, and was available to tutor Wotton's guests in the French language. Wotton sent Somers to report to Mary I of England in March 1557 and ask for funds.[4]
Somers had discussions with the Duke of Guise and Cardinal of Lorraine, an uncle of Mary, Queen of Scots, who was Queen of France at this time.[7][8] Somers looked after Thomas Cecil, eldest son of William Cecil and a student of Gray's Inn, on his first visit to France in June 1559 and taught him some French.[9] Somers also bought books for William Cecil including, in February 1561, a gardening manual,[10] possibly for his new works at Cecil House on the Strand.[11]
In April 1560, Throckmorton sent John Somers and Robert Jones to meet Jane Dormer and the Count of Feria as they were travelling to the Château d'Amboise to meet Francis II of France and Mary, Queen of Scots.[13] In the summer of 1560, Somers tried to meet Mary, Queen of Scots, in France, and obtain her ratification of the Treaty of Edinburgh.[14][15] In September 1561, Somers wished to retire from his work with Throckmorton. Elizabeth had granted him a relatively modesty annuity of £20 in August 1560. Throckmorton recommended that Somers have the office of Clerk of the Signet.[16][17]
Somers gained the office of a Clerk of the Signet as a successor to Gregory Railton (died 1561).[18] Railton, a Marian exile, was a decipherer of coded letters,[19] and a correspondent of John Knox. He was involved in negotiations with the Duke of Châtellerault and his son the Earl of Arran, Protestant leaders in Scotland in 1559.[20] Railton was for many years Ralph Sadler's servant and "inward man".[21] These were all colleagues and acquaintances, Robert Jones wrote a friendly joking letter to a friend at the English court in October 1560, mentioning his colleague Somers as a fellow player of the cithern, and listing their mutual friends including Railton.[22]
In England, Somers showed some antique medals and coins to Cecil and Elizabeth I on approval, and Elizabeth (who was in St James's Park) was disinclined to hear Somers relate news of the Colloquy of Poissy, a conference intended to heal the religious divide in France. Elizabeth showed more interest in the coins, some were thought to be made from an alloy known as "aes Corinthium". They were presented in a gilt box lined with red velvet. Somers noted that Peter Meutas had been sent to Scotland.[23] Meutas, like Somers, was given the fruitless task of requesting a ratification of the Treaty of Edinburgh. Elizabeth decided not to buy the medals.[24] Somers and Jones met Carlo Ubertino Solaro, Count of Moretta, the ambassador from Savoy in November 1561.[25]
Somers was sent to the Low countries in March and April 1583,[31] but declined Walsingham's invitation to join him in an embassy to Scotland in August 1583 due to illness, and in the same month he wrote a will.[32] The historian and genealogist Edmund Lodge (1756–1839) was unable to discover details of Somers' family, and more recent writers have not yet traced his early career. His will mentions that he was born around the year 1525 and his father was Thomas Somers of Halstow, Kent.[33]
Agnes Strickland characterised him as a "honest-hearted country gentleman" as much concerned with the repair of Rochester Bridge as affairs of state.[34][35] Natalie Mears identifies him as a member of closely-knit second tier or "outer ring" of diplomats and advisers trusted to give counsel to Elizabeth I.[36]
Cipher keys and codework
Newlands St Mary Hoo (later rebuilt) was one of the houses on John Somers' estate
Several letters in the National Archives mention Somers' work with ciphers in diplomatic correspondence. In April 1560, Somers deciphered a letter from the Duke and Cardinal of Lorraine to Mary of Guise for Thockmorton. Throckmorton had the text coded in his own usual cipher (or Elizabeth's "Queen's cipher") and sent it to Elizabeth, recommending Somers' codework.[37] Later in the same month, the Duke of Norfolk wrote to William Cecil for a copy of an alphabet or cipher key made by Somers to decrypt French diplomatic correspondence. Norfolk wanted to try the key with intercepted coded letters sent from the French captains at the siege of Leith to Mary of Guise in Edinburgh Castle.[38][39] Mary's half-brother, James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray, a Protestant leader in Scotland, sent intercepted ciphered letters from the Guises to Cecil for decoding.[40]
In May 1560, Throckmorton described Somers' work in Paris with a letter in cipher meant for Mary of Guise, Regent of Scotland. By Somers' diligence "the letter was cunningly made up again" and returned to a messenger. Throckmorton praised Somers and his colleague Robert Jones to Cecil for the decipherment, which "to discover was the crabbedest piece of work I ever saw".[41] Cecil was in Edinburgh in June, in the days after the death of Mary of Guise, working on the Treaty. He forwarded a coded letter from a French secretary in Edinburgh Castle, hoping that Mr Hampton (Bernard Hampton) or "Mr Sommer" could decipher it. Cecil would have paid £100 to have Somers with him.[42]
During the "lang siege" of Edinburgh Castle in 1573, Henry Killigrew (Somers' former companion in Paris), suggested sending intercepted letters to Somers, if one of the schoolmasters of James VI could not decipher them.[46] Some ciphered letters from the castle found with Archibald Douglas during the Marian Civil War were deciphered by a schoolmaster in Leith, or a Mr Peters.[47]
In July 1581, Walsingham sent Somers an intercepted letter of Mary, Queen of Scots, entirely written in code. Elizabeth had requested that Somers decipher it.[48] In October 1582, Walsingham forwarded another letter for Somers to decipher, sent from Mary to the Archbishop of Glasgow in Paris.[49] Walsingham wrote from Windsor with his request:
To my very loving frend, Mr John Sommers Sir, th'enclosed letter in cipher is, as we doe gesse, from the Q of Scottes to the B. of Glasco, which Hir Majesty would have you to have a speciall care to decypher.[50]
Somers was able to determine from an intercepted ciphered text forwarded to him by Walsingham in April 1584 that its author was Scottish, and used to writing with the orthography of the Scots language, even though the source text was in French. Somers made suggestions or "significative notes" on the meanings of symbols used in the text to identify people. Walsingham had also sent this text to another codeworker Thomas Phelippes.[51] Phelippes valued Somers as a senior colleague,[52] on one occasion writing that "Mr Sommer" would be a judge of his "imperfect lines" deciphered from encrypted faulty Latin.[53] When charges were prepared against Mary, Queen of Scots, for her trial at Fotheringhay in 1586, evidence included her "most despitefull letter" deciphered by "Mr Sommer".[54]
A collection of cipher keys in the National Archives, attributed to John Somers by the archivist Robert Lemon (1800–1867), includes a key for a code used by the French diplomat Antoine de Noailles during Wyatt's rebellion in 1554.[55][56] There are also keys for the correspondence of Mary of Guise and Henri Cleutin during the crisis of the Scottish Reformation and the siege of Leith.[57][58][59][60][61] Robert Lemon was Senior Clerk of the State Paper Office, and involved in arranging the British state papers and the publication of calendars summarising their contents.[62]
Somers was appointed to be Ralph Sadler's assistant as custodian of Mary, Queen of Scots, on 12 August 1584. He called Sadler "Mr Chancellor", referring to his office for the Duchy of Lancaster. They were to take the place of the Earl of Shrewsbury, who was to come to the royal court in London.[63]
In conversation at Sheffield, Somers told Mary that Queen Elizabeth was troubled by Scots landing in Ireland to fight the English, encouraged by "great ones" in Scotland. Somers thought that this was an impediment to Mary and her son James VI receiving Elizabeth's favour. Mary said she knew nothing about the landings, but if James VI knew he had Elizabeth's good will, he would do his best to help and even send troops to support the English in Ireland.[64] The conversation was made in the context of Mary's hopes that she would be recognised as a joint ruler of Scotland with her son, a scheme known as the "Association".[65] Somers wrote to William Cecil, describing Mary's expressions of despair at her long predicament and failing health on their "removing day" from Sheffield.[66]
In September, Somers accompanied Mary, Queen of Scots, as she travelled from Sheffield to Wingfield Manor.[67][68] He wrote a report of their conversations on the way.[69] Somers asked her about the "enterprise", rumoured plans for her rescue and the invasion of England,[70] which were mentioned in the letter he had deciphered for Walsingham back in April.[71] According to Somers, she replied:
"And as to the enterprise you spoke of, by my troth, I knew not nor heard any thing of it; nor so God have my soule, will ever consent any thing that shulde truble this state, wherof I seek the quiet with all my heart; for if any unquietnes shuld happen heere; it wold be layd to my charge, and so I might be in greater danger.[72]
On 7 September, Mary wrote to French ambassador in London, Michel de Castelnau, mentioning that she was pleased that Elizabeth had appointed Sadler and Somers during the Earl of Shrewsbury's absence in London.[73]
Mary's Scottish secretary Gilbert Curle set up a code for correspondence apparently disguising Sadler's name as "the carrier" and Somers as "the carrier's man", the Earl of Shrewsbury was "the peddler".[74] Curle could then write letters to Thomas Baldwin, a servant of the Earl of Shrewsbury, that might pass as unsuspicious mercantile correspondence.[75]
Sadler inspected an intercepted letter in October 1584 and thought the identifications were not entirely correct.[76] Somers seemed to be implicated in the secretary's schemes, and Curle claimed the "carrier" and "carrier's man" disliked Bess of Hardwick. Sadler reported to Walsingham that he and Somers were angry with Curle for letting them down or betraying them, and Somers had not been turned or compromised, but was "a perfect honest faithful and good servant to her majesty (Elizabeth), whereof he hath showed a good proof and trial by his former service".[77]
Baldwin was sent to the Tower of London.[78] His work for the Earl of Shrewsbury had included raising funds for keeping Mary, brokering the Earl's investment in a voyage to America planned by Christopher Carleill, and buying clothes and furnishings. The Earl wrote his name as "Bawdewyn".[79] Baldwin carved graffiti in his cell in Beauchamp's Tower in July 1585. He was released after three years. Baldwin inherited Elsich Manor at Diddlebury.[80]
Somers himself wrote to Walsingham, as a conceit taking on the persona of the "carrier's man" and entering his soul. In his letter, Somers described his discussion with Mary in the Great Chamber at Wingfield, on various topics including sending her French secretary Claude Nau as her diplomat to the English court, and the potential marriage of James VI to candidates including the "second daughter of Lorraine" (Antonia of Lorraine rather than Christina of Lorraine) and other possible brides.[81]
Mary found her bedding at Tutbury was old and stained, and she exchanged her mattress with Somers.[82] He was involved in furnishing a bedchamber for Mary. He wrote to William Cecil about the requirements. Mary wanted a pavillon, which was a tent of tapestry over her bed, "doble lyned with canvas for her chamber", presumably for warmth and to guard against draughts.[83] There was some confusion in their correspondence over this tapestry tent and the French words Mary used for it. Somers drew a diagram of the room for Cecil.[84][85] The bed chamber, heated by a fireplace to the left of Mary's bed, was at the top of timber-framed building built against the curtain wall with a view over the internal court. It no longer exists.[86]
Somers bought a plain hard-wearing wool and linen fabric called dornick or dornix at Coventry in February 1584 for hangings and curtains in the lodgings.[87] The cloth was suitable to cover a billiard table for Mary.[88] He created a garden for Mary at Tutbury, an enclosure made with wooden palings. Mary complained to the diplomats Castelnau and Châteauneuf that Somers's work was more like a pig run than anything that might be called a garden, "plus propre à garder des pourceaux qu'à porter le nom de jardin".[89][90]
In March 1585, Somers, (or Sadler),[91] delivered a letter to Mary brought from Scotland by Lewis Bellenden, in which her son James VI declined to join her in the "Association", a plan for her to return to power with him as a joint ruler.[92][93]
Sadler and Somers both wrote to Walsingham in March, defending their decision to allow Mary to ride and fly her hawks outside the castle.[94] In April, Walsingham wrote to Somers reminding him of the need to intercept and examine letters arriving at Tutbury, especially from Scotland. Somers replied that carriers delivering letters were searched. Mary's French secretary Claude Nau inspected the seals of incoming packets of letters, to check if they had been tampered with. Somers obtained and deciphered at least one outgoing letter from Mary considered to be incriminating.[95][96]
While he remained at Tutbury, Somers gave the new keeper Amias Paulet details of routines and the backgrounds of the servants, including the three English laundrywomen.[97] Somers received the brunt of Mary's more serious complaints as Paulet began to make changes in April 1585.[98] Mary's servants told him that she suffered by Paulet's "rigours and alterations", including the removal of her cloth of estate, symbolic of majesty, from the Great Chamber used for dining.[99][100][101]
Paulet wrote to Walsingham that he had discussed the cloth of estate with Claude Nau in the presence of John Somers, and offered that Mary could have it set up in the dining room she regularly used,[102] (which was next to her attic bed chamber).[103] Paulet wrote that the blame for the controversy lay with himself, "Mr Somer beareth the blame in words, but the grudge and displeasure is against me".[104]
Fleet Street
Somers left Tutbury on 10 May 1585.[105] In June, Paulet was amused to find a letter from Castelnau to Mary that mentioned Walsingham and Somers as "friendly furtherers" of her cause.[106] Somers seems to have been in London, where he owned a house on Fleet Street, analysing the French ambassador's correspondence.[107]
Somers died later in 1585, the exact date is unknown, and his will was proved in November. Thomas Phelippes joined the custodians of Mary, Queen of Scots, at Chartley.[108]
Death
Somers seems also to have been involved with Amias Paulet in making an inventory of Mary's jewels and apparel, according to an endorsement on a letter of Paulet's.[109]
John Somer's will was proved in November 1585. Somers left half a dozen spoons with big knops to the diplomat Thomas Randolph.[110] John Somers was buried at Rochester Cathedral.[111]John Manningham noted some details from the inscription of the now destroyed tomb.[112]
John Somers had a brother, William, who died in 1607 and was buried at Halstow. His sister Mary or Marian married Richard Watts (died 1579), and secondly Thomas Paget or Pagitt (died 1599). Richard Watts, who was victualler of the navy, founded by his will an almshouse in Rochester, situated from 1586 in The Six Poor Travellers House.[113][114][115] One document of the charity explains that it was "devised by Mr Watts and assured by Mr Tho. Pagitt and Maryan their wyfe".[116]
Somers married Martine Ridge,[117] daughter of Edward Ridge (died 1570) and widow of Thomas Colepeper. Her sister Margaret was married to Derrick Anthony of Chertsey. John Somers had two daughters who survived to be co-heirs of the family estate at Halstow and St Mary Hoo, and a house on Fleet Street inherited from their grandfather Edward Ridge:
Frances Somers (died 1597), who married James Cromer of Tunstall (died 1613), their daughter Frances Cromer married Sir Matthew Carew, the younger, a brother of the poet Thomas Carew.[118]
The Babington Plot was a plan in 1586 to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I, a Protestant, and put Mary, Queen of Scots, her Catholic cousin, on the English throne. It led to Mary's execution, a result of a letter sent by Mary in which she consented to the assassination of Elizabeth.
Sir Amias Paulet of Hinton St. George, Somerset, was an English diplomat, Governor of Jersey, and the gaoler for a period of Mary, Queen of Scots.
James Hamilton, 3rd Earl of Arran (1537–1609) was a Scottish nobleman and soldier who opposed the French-dominated regency during the Scottish Reformation. He was the eldest son of James Hamilton, Duke of Châtellerault, sometime regent of Scotland. He was of royal descent, and at times was third or fourth in succession to the Scottish crown; several royal marriages were proposed for him, but he eventually never married. He went to France with Mary, Queen of Scots, where he commanded the Scots Guards. After returning to Scotland, he became a leader of the Protestant party against Mary and her French supporters. However, he went insane in 1562 and was confined for the rest of his life.
The Lords of the Congregation, originally styling themselves the Faithful, were a group of Protestant Scottish nobles who in the mid-16th century favoured a reformation of the Catholic church according to Protestant principles and a Scottish-English alliance.
Michel de Castelnau, Sieur de la Mauvissière was a French soldier and diplomat, ambassador to Queen Elizabeth. He wrote a memoir covering the period between 1559 and 1570.
Berwick Pursuivant of Arms in Ordinary was an English office of arms created around 1460 for service on the Scottish Marches based at Berwick-upon-Tweed. In the 16th century there was also a Herald or Pursuivant based at Carlisle on the west border.
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Thomas Phelippes (1556–1625), also known as Thomas Phillips was a linguist, who was employed as a forger and intelligence gatherer. He served mainly under Sir Francis Walsingham, in the time of Elizabeth I, and most notably deciphered the coded letters of Babington Plot conspirators.
Thomas Randolph (1523–1590) was an English ambassador serving Elizabeth I of England. Most of his professional life he spent in Scotland at the courts of Mary, Queen of Scots, and her son James VI. While in Scotland, he was embroiled in marriage projects and several upheavals. In 1568-1569 he was sent on a special embassy to Russia, visiting the court of Ivan the Terrible.
The Treaty of Berwick was negotiated on 27 February 1560 at Berwick-upon-Tweed. It was an agreement made by the representative of Queen Elizabeth I of England, the Duke of Norfolk, and the group of Scottish nobles known as the Scottish Lords of the Congregation. The purpose was to agree the terms under which an English fleet and army would come to Scotland to expel the French troops who were defending the Regency of Mary of Guise. The Lords were trying both to expel the French and to effect the Scottish Reformation, and this led to rioting and armed conflict.
Sir Henry Killigrew was a diplomat and an ambassador for the Kingdom of England in the sixteenth century. He was several times employed by Elizabeth I in Scottish affairs and served as one of the English appointees to the Council of State of the Netherlands in the United Provinces in 1586 and 1587–1589. He served as a Member of Parliament for Newport & Launceston in 1553, for Saltash in 1563, and for Truro in 1571–2.
The siege of Leith ended a twelve-year encampment of French troops at Leith, the port near Edinburgh, Scotland. French troops arrived in Scotland by invitation in 1548. In 1560 the French soldiers opposed Scottish supporters of religious reformation, and an English army arrived to besiege the French garrison at Leith. The town was not taken by force and the French troops finally left peacefully under the terms of a treaty signed by Scotland, England and France.
George Seton V, 7th Lord Seton (1531–1586), was a Lord of the Parliament of Scotland, Master of the Household of Mary, Queen of Scots, and Provost of Edinburgh. He was the eldest son of George Seton, 6th Lord Seton, and Elizabeth Hay, a daughter of John Hay, 3rd Lord Hay of Yester. His childhood and schooling were in France.
Claude Nau or Claude Nau de la Boisseliere was a confidential secretary of Mary, Queen of Scots, in England from 1575 to 1586. He was involved in coding Mary's letters with cipher keys.
Thomas Fowler was an English lawyer, diplomat, courtier, spy, servant of the Countess of Lennox, broker of the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots and Lord Darnley, steward of the Earl of Leicester, advisor to James VI of Scotland and the Scottish ambassador in London, Archibald Douglas.
Elizabeth or Bess Pierrepont (1568–1648) was a gentlewoman in household of Mary, Queen of Scots. Mary hoped that she could be trained to join the household of Queen Elizabeth, and prevented her marrying as her father wished.
Gilbert Curle or Curll was a Scottish secretary who served Mary, Queen of Scots during her captivity in England. He married Barbara Mowbray, one of three sisters serving Mary.
Jérôme Pasquier (1560–1605) was a French servant of Mary, Queen of Scots, involved in writing and deciphering coded letters.
Gregory Railton or Raylton was an English administrator and Clerk of the Signet. As a Protestant, Railton went into exile during the reign of Mary I of England.
Robert Jones was an English diplomat, from April 1558 a Clerk of the Privy Seal, and keeper of the council chamber.
References
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↑ John Guy, The Life of Mary Queen of Scots (Fourth Estate, 2009), p. 455.
↑ Tracey A. Sowerby, "Tudor Diplomatic Secretaries", Florian Kühnel & Christine Vogel, Zwischen Domestik und Staatsdiener (Köln, 2021), pp. 59–60, 65–67: William B. Turnbull, Calendar State Papers Foreign, Mary (London: Longman, 1861), pp. 138 no. 292, 292-293 nos. 583, 588, 298 no. 593.
↑ Nadine Akkerman & Pete Langman, Spycraft: Tricks and Tools of the Dangerous Trade from Elizabeth I to the Restoration (Yale, 2024), p. 70: Christopher Andrew, The Secret World: A History of Intelligence (London: Allen Lane, 2018), pp. 162–164: Gary M. Bell, A Handlist of British Diplomatic Representatives: 1509–1688 (London, 1990), p. 85: E. John B. Allen, Post and Courier Service in the Diplomacy of Early Modern Europe (Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1972), p. 110.
↑ Joseph Stevenson, Calendar State Papers Foreign Elizabeth, 1558–1559 (London: Longman, 1863), p. 540 no. 1316: Patrick Forbes, Full View, 1 (London: Bettenham, 1740), pp. 222, 470: Philip Yorke, Miscellaneous State Papers, vol. 1 (London, 1778), pp. 126–128.
↑ Tracey A. Sowerby, "Tudor Diplomatic Secretaries", Florian Kühnel & Christine Vogel, Zwischen Domestik und Staatsdiener (Köln, 2021), p. 67.
↑ Stephen Alford, Burghley: William Cecil at the Court of Elizabeth I (Yale, 2011), p. 113: Patrick Forbes, Full View, 1, p. 124: Joseph Stevenson, Calendar State Papers Foreign Elizabeth, 1559–1560, (London: Longman, 1863), pp. 308 no. 831, 368 no. 962.
↑ Joseph Stevenson, Calendar State Papers Foreign Elizabeth, 1560–1561 (London: Longman, 1865), p. 584 no. 1035.
↑ Manolo Guerci, London's Golden Mile: The Great Houses of the Strand (Yale, 2021), pp. 99-100: Jill Husselby & Paula Henderson, "Location, Location, Location! Cecil House in the Strand", Architectural History, 45 (2002), pp. 176-178.
↑ Joseph Stevenson, Calendar State Papers Foreign Elizabeth, 1559–1560, (London: Longman, 1863), pp. 26–28.
↑ Joseph Stevenson, Calendar State Papers Foreign Elizabeth, 1559–1560, (London: Longman, 1863), p. 594 no. 1082.
↑ Armel Dubois-Nayt and Valérie Nachef, "Developing the Art of Secret Writing across Borders: The Journey of Marie de Guise's Ciphers between France and Scotland", 37 Études Épistémè (2020). doi:10.4000/episteme.6713
↑ Joseph Stevenson, Calendar State Papers Foreign Elizabeth, 1561–1562 (London: Longmans, 1866), p. 303 no. 496: The annuity is mentioned in his will, and Calendar State Papers Domestic, Addenda 1547–1565, no. 70.
↑ Tracey A. Sowerby, "Tudor Diplomatic Secretaries", Florian Kühnel & Christine Vogel, Zwischen Domestik und Staatsdiener (Köln, 2021), pp. 57, 75.
↑ Simon Adams, Ian Archer, George W. Bernard, "A Journall of Matters of State", Religion, Politics, and Society in Sixteenth-Century England (Cambridge: Camden Society, 2003), p. 61 fn. 43: James Gairdner & R. H. Brodie, Letters & Papers, Henry VIII, 20:1 (London, 1905), p. 331 no. 631.
↑ Joseph Stevenson, Calendar State Papers Foreign Elizabeth, 1562, (London: Longman, 1867), no. 1433.
↑ Hirofumi Horie, "The Lutheran Influence on the Elizabethan Settlement, 1558–1563", The Historical Journal, 34:3 (September 1991), p. 528: Calendar State Papers Foreign Elizabeth, 1561–1562, pp. 333–334 nos. 540, 568.
↑ Joseph Bain, Calendar State Papers Scotland, 1 (Edinburgh, 1898), p. 553 no. 1019.
↑ Joseph Stevenson, Calendar State Papers Foreign, Elizabeth 1561–1562 (London, 1867), p. 412 no. 679.
↑ Arthur John Butler, Calendar State Papers Foreign, Elizabeth, 1578–1579 (London: HMSO, 1903) pp. 88–89 no. 109.
↑ Arthur John Butler, Calendar State Papers Foreign, Elizabeth, 1578–1579 (London: HMSO, 1903) pp. 55 no. 77, 195 no. 255:John Gage, The History and Antiquities of Suffolk: Thingoe Hundred (London: Bentley, 1836), pp. 189–193.
↑ Natalie Mears, Queenship and Political Discourse in the Elizabethan Realms (Cambridge, 2005), p. 44: Edmund Lodge, Illustrations of British History, 2 (London, 1791), p. 308 footnote citing Dudley Digges, The Compleat Ambassador (London, 1655), pp. 378–384, 397, 400, 410, 441.
↑ Arthur John Butler, Calendar of State Papers Foreign: Elizabeth, 1581–1582, 15 (London, 1915), no. 303.
↑ Charles Trice Martin, "Journal of Sir Francis Walsingham", Camden Miscellany, 6 (London, 1871), p. 48.
↑ Natalie Mears, Queenship and Political Discourse in the Elizabethan Realms (Cambridge, 2005), p. 46: William K. Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland, 6 (Edinburgh, 1910), p. 576 no. 593: TNA PROB 11/68/621.
↑ Edmund Lodge, Illustrations of British History, 2 (London, 1791), p. 308 footnote: Armel Dubois-Nayt and Valérie Nachef, "Developing the Art of Secret Writing across Borders: The Journey of Marie de Guise's Ciphers between France and Scotland", 37 Études Épistémè (2020), fn. 31. doi:10.4000/episteme.6713
↑ Agnes Strickland, Letters of Mary Queen of Scots, 2 (London, 1844), pp. 99–106.
↑ Nigel Yates & James M. Gibson, "The Elizabethan Statutes", Traffic and Politics: The Construction and Management of Rochester Bridge (Boydell, 1994), p. 150.
↑ Natalie Mears, Queenship and Political Discourse in the Elizabethan Realms (Cambridge, 2005), p. 50: Natalie Mears, "The Council", Susan Doran & Norman Jones, The Elizabethan World (Routledge, 2014), p. 63.
↑ Joseph Stevenson, Calendar State Papers Foreign, Elizabeth 1559–1560 (London: Longman, 1865), pp. 533, 535 nos. 992, 994, 582 no. 1066.
↑ Joseph Stevenson, Calendar State Papers Foreign, Elizabeth 1559–1560 (London: Longman, 1865), p. 571 no. 1050.
↑ Joseph Stevenson, Calendar State Papers Foreign, Elizabeth 1559–1560 (London: Longman, 1865), pp. 458 no. 873, 460–461 no. 879.
↑ Joseph Stevenson, Calendar State Papers Foreign Elizabeth, 1560–1561 (London: Longman, 1865), pp. 9–10 no. 17, 73–74 no. 116: Patrick Forbes, Full View, 1, p. 427.
↑ Joseph Stevenson, Calendar State Papers Foreign Elizabeth, 1560–1561, no. 206.
↑ Carole Levin, The Reign and Life of Queen Elizabeth I: Politics, Culture, and Society (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022), p. 25: Mears, Queenship and Political Discourse, pp. 35, 70: Dennis E. Rhodes, "Barnard Hampton and His Books", The Library, 15:3 (August 2014), pp. 343-346. doi:10.1093/library/15.3.343
↑ Stephen Alford, The Early Elizabethan Polity: William Cecil and the British Succession Crisis, 1558–1569 (Cambridge, 2002), pp. 51, 168.
↑ Alexandra Gajda, "A Wall of Defence unto this Realm: William Cecil, Conformity and the Protestant State in Early Elizabethan England", The English Historical Review, 139:596 (February 2024), pp. 60–93. doi:10.1093/ehr/cead215
↑ Allan James Crosby, Calendar State Papers Foreign Elizabeth, 1572–1574 (London: Longman, 1876), pp. 280 no. 826, 305 no. 876.
↑ Christopher Andrew, The Secret World: A History of Intelligence (London: Allen Lane, 2018), pp. 162–164: Calendar State Papers Scotland, 4, pp. 255 no. 268, 520 no. 586.
↑ Nadine Akkerman & Pete Langman, Spycraft: Tricks and Tools of the Dangerous Trade from Elizabeth I to the Restoration (Yale, 2024), pp. 70 & 276 fns. 20, 21: Stephen Alford, All His Spies: The Secret World of Robert Cecil (Allen Lane, 2024), p. 23.
↑ Sheila R. Richards, Secret Writing in the Public Records (HMSO, 1974), pp. 18–19, SP 53/23 f.2: William K. Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland, 9 (Edinburgh, 1915), no. 605 (2).
↑ Armel Dubois-Nayt and Valérie Nachef, "Developing the Art of Secret Writing across Borders: The Journey of Marie de Guise's Ciphers between France and Scotland", 37 Études Épistémè (2020). doi:10.4000/episteme.6713
↑ George Lasry, Norbert Biermann, Satoshi Tomokiyo, "Deciphering Mary Stuart's lost letters from 1578-1584", Cryptologia 47:2 (February 2023), p. 109. doi:10.1080/01611194.2022.2160677
↑ Lisa M. Barksdale-Shaw, "That You Are Both Decipher'd: Revealing Espionage and Staging Written Evidence in Early Modern England", Katherine Ellison & Susan Kim, A Material History of Medieval and Early Modern Ciphers: Cryptography and the History of Literacy (Routledge, 2017), pp. 118–136. doi:10.4324/9781315267449
↑ Valérie Nachef, Jacques Patarin, Armel Dubois-Nayt, "Mary of Guise's Enciphered Letters", Peter Y. A. Ryan, David Naccache, Jean-Jacques Quisquater, The New Codebreakers: Essays Dedicated to David Kahn (Springer, 2016), pp. 1–24. doi:10.1007/978-3-662-49301-4_1
↑ Robert Hutchinson, Elizabeth's Spymaster: Francis Walsingham and the secret war that saved England (Daedalus, 2006), pp. 34, 290.
↑ Antonia Fraser, Mary Queen of Scots (London: Phoenix Press, 2002), p. 589: John Daniel Leader, Mary Queen of Scots in Captivity (Sheffield, 1880), pp. 584–585.
↑ Arthur Clifford, Sadler State Papers, 2, pp. 380, 386.
↑ Steven J. Reid, The Early Life of James VI: A Long Apprenticeship, 1566–1585 (Edinburgh: John Donald, 2023), pp. 257–258.
↑ William K. Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland, 7 (Edinburgh, 1913), pp. 308–309 no. 291.
↑ David Templeman, Mary, Queen of Scots: The Captive Queen in England (Exeter: 2016), pp. 205–206.
↑ Thomas Finlayson Henderson, Mary Queen of Scots: Her Environment and Tragedy, 2 (London: Hutchinson, 1905), p. 583.
↑ William K. Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland, 7 (Edinburgh, 1913), pp. 313–317 no. 295.
↑ John Daniel Leader, Mary Queen of Scots in Captivity (Sheffield, 1880), pp. 592–597: John Hosack, Mary, Queen of Scots, and her Accusers, 2 (Edinburgh: Blackwood, 1874), pp. 287–288.
↑ Agnes Strickland, Letters of Mary Queen of Scots, 2 (London, 1844), pp. 99–106.
↑ William K. Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland, 1584-1585, vol. 7 (Edinburgh, 1913), p. 315 no. 295: John Daniel Leader, Mary Queen of Scots in Captivity (Sheffield, 1880), p. 594: Arthur Clifford, Sadler State Papers, 2, pp. 389–394 at 390.
↑ Arthur Clifford, Sadler State Papers, 2, pp. 402–403.
↑ James Daybell, "Secret Letters in Elizabethan England", James Daybell & Peter Hinds, Material Readings of Early Modern Culture (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010), p. 53: James Daybell, The Material Letter in Early Modern England: Manuscript Letters and the Culture and Practice of Letter Writing (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), p. 158.
↑ William K. Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland, 7 (Edinburgh, 1913), pp. 368 no. 342, 373 no. 347.
↑ Arthur Clifford, Sadler State Papers, 2, pp. 422–423.
↑ Nadine Akkerman & Pete Langman, Spycraft: Tricks and Tools of the Dangerous Trade from Elizabeth I to the Restoration (Yale, 2024), p. 115.
↑ Edmund Lodge, Illustrations of British History, 2 (London: John Chidley, 1838), pp. 185, 241–243.
↑ John Burke, Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain, 3 (London: Henry Colburn, 1836), pp. 196–197.
↑ William K. Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland, 7 (Edinburgh, 1913), p. 374 no. 348.
↑ Agnes Strickland, Lives of the Queens of Scotland, 7 (Edinburgh: William Blackwood, 1858), p. 386: George Chalmers, The Life of Mary, Queen of Scots: Drawn from the State Papers, 1, p. 299.
↑ Clive Edwards, "Pavilion", Encyclopedia of Furnishing Textiles, Floorcoverings and Home Furnishing Practices, 1200–1950 (Lund Humphreys, 2007), p. 158: Agnes Strickland, Life of Mary Queen of Scots, 2 (London: George Bell, 1873), p. 388: Arthur Clifford, Sadler State Papers, 2, p. 503.
↑ Michael Pearce, "Chapel beds in 16th-century Scottish inventories", Regional Furniture, 27 (2013), pp. 87–88, Somer's sketch, TNA SP 53/15 f.48.
↑ Howard Colvin, The History of the King's Works, 3:1 (London: HMSO, 1975), p. 296.
↑ Clive Edwards, "Dornix", Encyclopedia of Furnishing Textiles, Floorcoverings and Home Furnishing Practices, 1200–1950 (Lund Humphreys, 2007), p. 79: Agnes Strickland, Lives of the Queens of Scotland, 7 (Edinburgh: William Blackwood, 1858), p. 359.
↑ Jade Scott, Captive Queen: The Decrypted History of Mary, Queen of Scots (London: Michael O'Mara Books, 2024), p. 144: William K. Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland, 7 (Edinburgh, 1913), pp. 551―552 no. 526, "brode dornex, most greene": Arthur Clifford, Sadler State Papers, 2, pp. 511–512
↑ Agnes Strickland, Lives of the Queens of Scotland, 7 (Edinburgh: William Blackwood, 1858), p. 379: Alexandre Labanoff, Lettres de Marie Stuart, 6 (London: Dolman, 1844), pp. 217–218.
↑ William K. Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland, 7 (Edinburgh, 1913), p. 595 no. 573.
↑ Agnes Strickland, Lives of the Queens of Scotland, 7 (Edinburgh: William Blackwood, 1858), pp. 367–368: Alexandre Labanoff, Lettres de Marie Stuart, 6 (London: Dolman, 1844), pp. 125–131: Agnes Strickland, Letters of Mary Stuart, vol. 2 (London, 1842), p. 66.
↑ David Templeman, Mary, Queen of Scots: The Captive Queen in England (Exeter: 2016), p. 214: John Guy, The Life of Mary Queen of Scots (Fourth Estate, 2009), p. 456: William K. Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland, 7 (Edinburgh, 1913), nos. 578, 580.
↑ Conyers Read, The Bardon Papers: Documents relating to the imprisonment and trial of Mary Queen of Scots (London: Camden Society, 1909), p. 72: Arthur Clifford, Sadler State Papers, 2, pp. 541–542
↑ Nadine Akkerman & Pete Langman, Spycraft: Tricks and Tools of the Dangerous Trade from Elizabeth I to the Restoration (Yale, 2024), pp. 85, 277 fn. 50.
↑ Thomas Finlayson Henderson, Mary Queen of Scots: Her Environment and Tragedy, 2 (London: Hutchinson, 1905), p. 596.
↑ Jade Scott, Captive Queen: The Decrypted History of Mary, Queen of Scots (London: Michael O'Mara Books, 2024), p. 238: Clare Hunter, Embroidering Her Truth: Mary, Queen of Scots and the Language of Power (Sceptre, 2023), pp. 290–291.
↑ Elizabeth Goldring, Faith Eales, Elizabeth Clarke, Jayne Elisabeth Archer, John Nichols's The Progresses and Public Processions of Queen Elizabeth, (Oxford, 2014), p. 343 fn. 278: Michael Bath, Emblems for A Queen: The Needlework of Mary, Queen of Scots (London: Archetype, 2008), p. 5.
↑ John Guy, The Life of Mary Queen of Scots (Fourth Estate, 2009), p. 457.
↑ William K. Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland, 7 (Edinburgh, 1913), p. 624 nos. 598.
↑ John Daniel Leader, Mary Queen of Scots in Captivity (Sheffield, 1880), p. 615.
↑ William K. Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland, 7 (Edinburgh, 1913), p. 667 no. 635.
↑ Nadine Akkerman & Pete Langman, Spycraft: Tricks and Tools of the Dangerous Trade from Elizabeth I to the Restoration (Yale, 2024), pp. 89, 278 fn. 70.
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