Intelligencer Simeon Foxe’s Dagger-Trap Pleated Letter sent from Venice, Italy (1601) (UH0072)

Описание: Modelled after Simeon Foxe’s letter to Sir Robert Cecil but addressed to Thomas Wilson (29 August 1601), the National Archives (TNA), Kew Gardens, England, SP 101/81 fols. 344/345.

Model found in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Libraries (MIT), Unlocking History Research Group archive, MC 0760.

This letter is one of the most secure, complicated, and time-consuming letterlocking variations we have reverse-engineered and modelled. It has a hidden attached paper lock that "trips" upon opening. On the outside, the letter passes as an unassuming pleated letter, an intimate format. Inside, there are several anti-tamper devices that "self-destruct" as the letter opens. To open the letter, the attached "dagger"-shaped paper lock tears apart at its polar ends—the base of the attached lock at the point where its locked with sealing wax and at the opposite end where the narrow tip of the paper lock is secured shut with silk floss and a second wax seal.

Samuli Kaislaniemi tells us, "The letters survive in the TNA SP 101/81 which are designated "newsletters" from Venice – but the volumes contain diverse material, from 'proper' newsletters to (more or less) personal correspondence, notes, drafts, reports, and intelligence/spy letters. Simeon Foxe's letters fall in this last category. One could call them intelligence letters (rather than spy letters), since Foxe was not in Italy primarily to spy, and the letters contain general news (compiled from various sources) rather than inside reports of court intrigue, or the like. Foxe was recruited by Sir Robert Cecil in summer 1601 and sent to Italy – or possibly he was going to Italy anyway, and was hired to write intelligence reports from thence. He spent time in Venice and Padua, coming back to England in 1605. Although the letters are addressed to Thomas Wilson, this was in fact a ruse – that is to say, Wilson's name was used as misdirection. Foxe's letters are endorsed by Levinus Munck, who was the secretary of Sir Robert Cecil, and the endorsements make it clear that the letters were intended for Cecil. This evidence is supported by the fact that Wilson was in Italy when many of the letters were written (1601–2) (he also definitely met up with Foxe in Italy)."

The dagger-trap historical manuscripts at the TNA differ from standard flossed pleated letters in that they have sealing wax applied over the floss on only one of the letterpacket outer panels. Typical pleated letters tend to have two wax seals applied over the floss, one on each outer panel of the letterpacket. Perhaps the "Portrait of Constantijn Huygens and his (?) Clerk" (1627, Thomas de Keyser, The National Gallery, UK) shows Huygens receiving from his clerk a dagger-trap locked letter instead of an undressed pleated letter since the letter pictured lacks a seal over the floss.

Produced by MIT Video Production. Directed and demonstrated by Jana Dambrogio. Funded by the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Libraries in support of our project, “Unlocking History.” Special thanks to Samuli Kaislaniemi for bringing the letter to our attention and for providing the background information about Foxe and Wilson’s correspondence, Ayako Letizia, Annie Dunn, Emily Hishta Cohen, MIT Video Production staff, Mary Uthuppuru, Brien Beidler, and Daniel Starza Smith.

Citation information: Authors: Jana Dambrogio and the Unlocking History Research Group. Title: "Intelligencer Simeon Foxe’s Dagger-Trap Pleated Letter Sent from Venice ( 1601)," Letterlocking Instructional Videos. Unlocking History number 0072/Letterlocking Unique Video number: 072. Date filmed: October 2016. Duration: 12:11. Date posted: October 2016. Video URL: [Insert URL]. Date accessed: [Date].

Copyright 2016–present. Jana Dambrogio, the Unlocking History Research Group, and theMassachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). All rights reserved. The following copyrighted material is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/.... Contact the MIT Technology Licensing Office for any other licensing inquiries.

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