Ciphers, Disguise, and Invisible Ink: Tools of the Trade with Pete Langman & Nadine Akkerman

SpyCast

Summary

Pete Langman and Nadine Akkerman join Andrew to discuss espionage in Elizabethan England. Pete and Nadine are authors of the new book Spycraft: Tricks and Tools of the Dangerous Trade from Elizabeth I to the Restoration.

What You’ll Learn

Intelligence

• Spymasters of the Elizabethan era
• Techniques in forgeries, invisible inks, and seal-making
• The impact of spies on important historical events like the Spanish Armada
• The connections between espionage and religious tension

Reflections

• Creativity & Innovation
• The risks and dangers of early espionage

And much, much more …

Quotes of the Week

“Spies are involved with bribery. They cheat and they lie, so it’s immoral, and often there are things that are just illegal in other instances, such as forgery of documents. Other people would get their ears clipped or their noses slit if they forged documents.If you are a spy, you are being asked to do that on the job. So it's a dangerous game and the lines are very thin.” – Nadine Akkerman.

Resources

SURFACE SKIM

*Spotlight Resource*

• Spycraft: Tricks and Tools of the Dangerous Trade from Elizabeth I to the Restoration, N. Akkerman & P. Langman (Yale University Press, 2024)

*SpyCasts*

• The British Monarchy and Secret Intelligence with Rory Cormac and Richard Aldrich (2024)
• Espionage and the Two Queens with Kent Tiernan (2023)
• The Information Battlespace – Foreign Denial and Deception with Bill Parquette (2022)
• So, You Want to Be a Codebreaker? with Elonka Dunin and Klaus Schmeh (2021)

DEEPER DIVE

Primary Sources

• Natural magick, Smithsonian Digital Library (1658)
• Page of Ciphers Used by Mary Queen of Scots, UK National Archives (1586)
• Letter from Mary, Queen of Scots in Sheffield Castle to Elizabeth I, British Library (1582)
• Mary, Queen of Scots to Sir William Cecil, UK National Archives (1570)
• De Furtivis Literarum notis (1563)

*Wildcard Resource*

• Use this invisible ink recipe from the UK National Archives to send your own secret messages.
• You may recognize this heat method from one of Erin’s favorite movies, National Treasure (2004), where a secret message is revealed on the back of the Declaration of Independence.

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