London, UK: Decoded letters from Mary Queen of Scots, who was held captive by her cousin Queen Elizabeth I in England, have been discovered. According to experts, the work of the codebreakers is an essential finding regarding Mary in the last 100 years.
The letters’ contents were thought to be lost for many years. That is, until Satoshi Tomokiyo, a physicist, and George Lasry, a computer scientist and cryptographer, discovered them in the Bibliotheque Nationale de France (BnF), along with Norbert Biermann, a pianist and music professor.
The letters were written between 1578 and 1584, just before Mary was executed on 8th February in 1587, 436 years ago. Her complaints about her ill health and living conditions in captivity, as well as her talks with Queen Elizabeth I for her release, which she believed were not done in good faith, are major issues in the communication.
The 57 letters also detail her anger towards Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, an Elizabethan favourite, as well as her distress over the kidnapping of her son James (later King James I of England) in August 1582, her belief that France has abandoned them, and her mistrust of Sir Francis Walsingham, the monarch’s spymaster.
At the French national library, Bibliotheque nationale de France, the letters were uncovered by computer scientist and cryptographer George Lasry, musician and music professor Norbert Biermann, and physicist Satoshi Tomokiyo. The trio deciphered the messages that were encrypted by Mary, Queen of Scots while she was imprisoned.
The French ambassador to England, Michel de Castelnau de Mauvissiere, who supported Mary the Catholic, is the recipient of the majority of the letters. Elizabeth I’s cousin was Mary Queen of Scots. For 19 years, she was held captive in numerous English castles. Mary was determined to be scheming against Elizabeth after letters she had written in code were discovered. She was found to be guilty of treason and put to death in 1587.
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