The present article presents solution of some undeciphered letters in SP53 (a collection of papers related to Mary, Queen of Scots) mentioned in another article. For the solution of Mary's letters found in the French archives, see George Lasry, Norbert Biermann, Satoshi Tomokiyo (2023), "Deciphering Mary Stuart’s Lost Letters from 1578-1584", Cryptologia.
This is a letter from Walsingham to his codebreaker John Somers (21 July 1581) and encloses a letter in cipher found in Mary's intercepted letter. The enclosure (no.50I) is entirely in cipher. Here is my transcription.
It was solved by Norbert Biermann and George Lasry in 2023.
The plaintext begins with "__The beirar is domestik servand to the erle of shrevisbvry__ ...."
Some symbols remain to be identified.
Of the five ciphertexts in no.28, this is the only one not marked "Decifred" in the manuscript. (The other four are Fontenay to Mary, Fontenay to Nau, and Denis to Mary.) Addressed to "ff". Here is my transcription.
It was solved by George Lasry and supplemented by Norbert Biermann in 2023.
The plaintext begins with "_____ madam _ my good _ soveraigne _ gods _ knowlth _ whether _ any _ of ovr _ former _ letters _ may _...." and dated "the _ fift _ of febrvary _ at _ remes".
After the solution, Norbert found the plaintext in SP53/17/74 (calendared in CSP). He proposes that the author was William Allen at Rheims and that, judging from similar language, SP53/16/29(3) below, which he had deciphered before, is also from the same author.
I solved this in 2023. It begins "Monsieur[?] Morgan[?] est pri[s]onnie[r] en la Bastille que la nuict du premier dimenche de ...." Thus, this is information from France.
Some symbols remain to be identified.
Marked "Decifred", but the contemporary decipherment is probably lost. Some symbols look like those of the Mary-Fontenay Cipher. Here is my transcription.
It was solved by Norbert Biermann in 2023.
Some symbols remain to be identified.
Norbert, admitting that it is speculative in some places, summarizes the overall picture as follows.
- The writer warns that Thomas Morgan is going to betray Mary and the Catholic cause in England
- No member of the Catholic League is willing to cooperate with Morgan anymore
- Only Mary still firmly believes in his fidelity
- The reason is that letters warning her about him are withheld from her
- Which the sender blames on the recipient personally.
Anonymous letter in cipher to Mr. Tempest, an English priest resident at Paris. Cleartext lines are in French. Endorsed by Phelippes. Not deciphered. Here is my transcription.
Another anonymous letter in cipher in the same handwriting with no. 78 (copyist's?), addressed to Doctor Barret, President of the English seminary at Rheims. Endorsed by Phelippes. Here is my transcription.
"To Fulgeame" (known in various spellings: Fuljambe, Fullgham, or Foulgiam). Marked "Decifred 21 Julye 1586" but the contemporary decipherment appears to be lost.
It was solved by George Lasry and Norbert Biermann in 2023. The plaintext seems to be SP53/18/26(2). Comparison will reveal the remaining symbols.
