A long-forgotten document from 1596, unearthed in the National Archives by historian Stephen Alford, has has reveled an espionage network led by Robert Cecil, spymaster to Queen Elizabeth I, believing it to be the “the first English secret service”.
The 428-year-old dossier, titled “The names of the Intelligencers,” reveals Cecil’s covert operations to monitor European monarchs and safeguard the English throne.Alford’s meticulous reconstruction of the network over the past 15 years shows that this clandestine network’s was so vast that Alford believes it was “the first properly organised secret service” in England, according a report by British daily newspaper The Guardian.
Alford, early modern British history professor at the University of Leeds said that, “There were lots of names listed – some I recognised, people in or close to the privy council of Elizabeth I, and lots I didn’t know. Eventually, I realised that the numbers next to their names were folio numbers and that this was really a contents page. That was a lightbulb moment.”
Alford has written a book on his discoveries titled “All His Spies: The Secret World of Robert Cecil,” which is being published by Penguin. The overlooked document, which Alford believes Cecil began writing in 1596, had been placed in a “miscellaneous” folder by Victorian archivists.
“I think I was probably the first scholar to take an interest in it,” added Alford to his statement. “The Victorians had a habit, where if they came across papers that didn’t make sense to them, that were a little mysterious and couldn’t be filed away in a neat and tidy way, they would scratch their heads and then stick them in a miscellaneous folder and ignore them. And that’s where historians now find really interesting stuff.”
Alford embarked on the task of scouring the archives for any paper that appeared relevant and had “a little number in the corner” matching the intelligencer’s number on the contents page. He noted, “I just had to hope that the edges of the paper hadn’t been torn. And because the manuscripts were so poorly kept before the 19th century – often stuffed into the chambers in the Tower of London – rats and mice got to some as well. Often, they were stained, sometimes you see teeth marks. It’s a miracle these papers survived at all.”
As he began to reconstruct each intelligencer’s folio, a discernible pattern emerged. “Each was like an office file, I think. It was on hand in Cecil’s office for when reports came in, or to keep a record of payments made.”
Alford found that most 16th-century spies worked for courtiers and were usually “a bunch of rogues” who presented information on an ad hoc basis. However, the intelligencers on Cecil’s list were different. “These were serious individuals, a lot of them international merchants, who were on the payroll.”
Previously, scholars believed Cecil, whose official role was secretary of state to Elizabeth, had only “a few spies, here and there.” Alford’s research indicates he managed an organized network of more than 20 spies located in places like Lisbon, Calais, Brussels, Seville, Rome, Amsterdam, Scotland, and Sweden, among other unspecified locations. “He chose merchants because they travel, can read and write, speak European languages and have networks of their own.”
Each agent was paid to send coded reports to Cecil secretly. Cecil then decrypted these reports using individual, bespoke cyphers recorded in each of their files. The files also contained a record of payments and all secret communications. “By modern standards, the cyphers are pretty unsophisticated – they’ll suggest different letters for letters of the alphabets, or symbols or diagrams for the Queen or King of Spain, for example,” Alford elaborated.
Cecil’s concerns about a second Spanish naval attack in the 1590s, following the Spanish Armada of 1588, led him to rely heavily on this espionage network. “There’s one crew of spies – two brothers – keeping an eye on the Atlantic coast, somewhere near Biarritz, to see if there are any Spanish ships sailing in a new armada or making military and naval preparations. They pretended they were shipping contraband goods between France and Spain, but actually they were going into ports and making reports on naval activity, counting ships and working out what was going on.”
The handwriting in the different files suggests that Cecil relied on a small “trusted group of individuals” to help him manage his clandestine operations.
“Cecil was running a well-funded, organised system and that makes an enormous difference to how he is able to operate politically – it really gives him proper information, not haphazard news or gossip,” said Alford.
The 428-year-old dossier, titled “The names of the Intelligencers,” reveals Cecil’s covert operations to monitor European monarchs and safeguard the English throne.Alford’s meticulous reconstruction of the network over the past 15 years shows that this clandestine network’s was so vast that Alford believes it was “the first properly organised secret service” in England, according a report by British daily newspaper The Guardian.
Alford, early modern British history professor at the University of Leeds said that, “There were lots of names listed – some I recognised, people in or close to the privy council of Elizabeth I, and lots I didn’t know. Eventually, I realised that the numbers next to their names were folio numbers and that this was really a contents page. That was a lightbulb moment.”
Alford has written a book on his discoveries titled “All His Spies: The Secret World of Robert Cecil,” which is being published by Penguin. The overlooked document, which Alford believes Cecil began writing in 1596, had been placed in a “miscellaneous” folder by Victorian archivists.
“I think I was probably the first scholar to take an interest in it,” added Alford to his statement. “The Victorians had a habit, where if they came across papers that didn’t make sense to them, that were a little mysterious and couldn’t be filed away in a neat and tidy way, they would scratch their heads and then stick them in a miscellaneous folder and ignore them. And that’s where historians now find really interesting stuff.”
Alford embarked on the task of scouring the archives for any paper that appeared relevant and had “a little number in the corner” matching the intelligencer’s number on the contents page. He noted, “I just had to hope that the edges of the paper hadn’t been torn. And because the manuscripts were so poorly kept before the 19th century – often stuffed into the chambers in the Tower of London – rats and mice got to some as well. Often, they were stained, sometimes you see teeth marks. It’s a miracle these papers survived at all.”
As he began to reconstruct each intelligencer’s folio, a discernible pattern emerged. “Each was like an office file, I think. It was on hand in Cecil’s office for when reports came in, or to keep a record of payments made.”
Alford found that most 16th-century spies worked for courtiers and were usually “a bunch of rogues” who presented information on an ad hoc basis. However, the intelligencers on Cecil’s list were different. “These were serious individuals, a lot of them international merchants, who were on the payroll.”
Previously, scholars believed Cecil, whose official role was secretary of state to Elizabeth, had only “a few spies, here and there.” Alford’s research indicates he managed an organized network of more than 20 spies located in places like Lisbon, Calais, Brussels, Seville, Rome, Amsterdam, Scotland, and Sweden, among other unspecified locations. “He chose merchants because they travel, can read and write, speak European languages and have networks of their own.”
Each agent was paid to send coded reports to Cecil secretly. Cecil then decrypted these reports using individual, bespoke cyphers recorded in each of their files. The files also contained a record of payments and all secret communications. “By modern standards, the cyphers are pretty unsophisticated – they’ll suggest different letters for letters of the alphabets, or symbols or diagrams for the Queen or King of Spain, for example,” Alford elaborated.
Cecil’s concerns about a second Spanish naval attack in the 1590s, following the Spanish Armada of 1588, led him to rely heavily on this espionage network. “There’s one crew of spies – two brothers – keeping an eye on the Atlantic coast, somewhere near Biarritz, to see if there are any Spanish ships sailing in a new armada or making military and naval preparations. They pretended they were shipping contraband goods between France and Spain, but actually they were going into ports and making reports on naval activity, counting ships and working out what was going on.”
The handwriting in the different files suggests that Cecil relied on a small “trusted group of individuals” to help him manage his clandestine operations.
“Cecil was running a well-funded, organised system and that makes an enormous difference to how he is able to operate politically – it really gives him proper information, not haphazard news or gossip,” said Alford.