Researchers decipher ancient secret letters from Queen Mary Stuart

Researchers have deciphered ancient secret letters written by former Scottish Queen Mary Stuart from captivity and uncovered unknown writings. “This is a truly exciting discovery”said lead author George Lasry, according to a release. “We’ve deciphered other ciphers from kings and queens and they’ve been interesting, but with Mary Stuart it’s extraordinary that we’ve been able to decipher so many unpublished letters because she’s so famous.”

In deciphering the letters, the team, which included the cryptographer Lasry, the music professor Norbert Biermann and the physicist Satoshi Tomokiyo, discovered about 50 previously unknown writings. Mary Stuart used it to communicate from her captivity with the then French Ambassador to England, Michel de Castelnau de Mauvissiere, as a key ally. She often wrote about her poor prison conditions, health problems or negotiations with Queen Elizabeth I about a possible release.

During her lifetime, Stuart was first in line to the English throne after her cousin Queen Elizabeth I. She had her cousin imprisoned for over 18 years because she considered her a threat. Finally, at the age of 44, she was even killed because she was accused of being involved in a murder plot.

The research team, which published its findings Wednesday in the journal Cryptologia, came across the letters in a French online archive. It was only after they deciphered the elaborate script in the 57 letters using manual and digital techniques that they identified former Scottish Queen Mary Stuart as the author. The writings date from the years 1578 to 1584, a few years before her beheading in 1587. The decoding of the writings also shows how long this contact with the outside world lasted. (saw/sda/dpa)