The secret tricks of Mary Queen of Scots and the women who kept her secrets

Mary, Queen of Scots was imprisoned for about 20 years. She was held in various locations across England from 1568 until her execution on February 8, 1587. As I explain in my new book, The Captive Queen: The Deciphered History of Mary, Queen of Scots, she relied on letters to maintain her status during this period. Her goal is to return to support Scotland, encourage international allies to join her cause, and foster loyalty in England.
Mary knew that her letters would be read regularly by the guards and scrutinized by Elizabeth I’s inner circle, especially William Cecil. Sometimes she had to resort to secret techniques such as writing with invisible ink. She wrote, “Such techniques are extremely dangerous and vulgar, but could be useful in cases of great need.”
Less technical means of secretly transmitting communications also proved useful. Letters were regularly passed secretly in clothing. They can also be tucked under the sleeves of women’s gowns, sewn into doublets, or stuffed into the heels of shoes.
In 1572, George Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, Mary’s longest-serving guardian, reported that he had discovered that Mary had left a letter hidden under a stone in her garden. These were later collected by servants and removed from the premises to avoid unwanted attention.
Mary also used complex codes to hide the contents of her communications, especially when she wanted to discuss a plot to free her. Hundreds of her encrypted letters survive in various forms (copies, translations, originals), many of which date from 1586 with the aim of assassinating Elizabeth I and replacing her with Mary. from supporters directly involved in schemes such as the Babington Plot.
Women with Mary’s secrets
The role of women in Mary’s coded communications is often overlooked. Still, she relied on female supporters to ensure that a secret network was maintained during her confinement.
Lady Anne Percy, Countess of Northumberland, was one of the central figures in the transcontinental network of Catholic exiles and went to great lengths to maintain secret lines of communication between Mary and Mary.
In August 1571, Mary’s chief secretary in Scotland, William Maitland of Lethington, wrote to Mary. He explained that he shared the new code so that Lady Percy could write letters to Mary in secret. Years later, Mary admitted that she still writes letters to Mrs. Percy in code and receives such letters in reply.
Similarly, Mary used codes to communicate with Scottish aristocratic women. Agnes Fleming, also known as Lady Livingstone, left for England with Mary in late 1568 and remained with her as a prisoner of war until her return to Scotland in 1572. We know that she communicated with Mary using encrypted letters because in 1573 Lethington warned her to stop using ordinary codes.
He explained that the bearer of the letter had been arrested and that the code was likely “known to the enemy.” Mrs. Livingstone remained a loyal supporter of Mary after her return to Scotland. She was even briefly imprisoned in Dalkeith by the Scottish Regent James Morton for sharing news and information through secret messages.
Jean Scott, also known as Lady Fernyhurst, also created coded communications to help the Queen of Scots survive the scrutiny and scrutiny she was subjected to in England. Her husband, Sir Thomas Kerr, Lord of Fernyhurst, was exiled in 1573 after trying to hold Edinburgh Castle on Mary’s behalf. This meant that Lady Fernyhurst was crucial to the survival of the network of Scottish nobles who campaigned for Mary’s recovery in the 1580s.
She regularly acted as an intermediary between Mary and James VI, allowing at least some of their communications to evade English detection. Some of Lady Fernyhurst’s own coded letters to Mary survive, many of which were intercepted and deciphered by modern agents seeking evidence of Mary’s conspiracy.
In 1578, Mary asked Lady Fernyhurst’s 13-year-old daughter to join her family in England. Queen Elizabeth I, who knew of the secret correspondence between the two women, refused this request. Elizabeth I suspected that Lady Fernyhurst’s daughter would ensure that further encrypted letters were delivered from Mary to her supporters.
The correspondence of Mary’s female supporters reveals the skill with which early modern women navigated political crises. By highlighting examples of women like Mrs Percy, Mrs Livingstone and Mrs Fernyhurst, we challenge the gender-based assumptions that have led to women being undervalued and ignored throughout history.
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