Despite Walsingham’s network of spies and back channels determined to expose Mary Stuart’s information network, Mary’s clandestine letters to Castelnau remained undiscovered for ten years. It was not until 1583 Walsingham managed to plant a mole in Castelnau’s embassy in London. These letters have been presumed lost for the past 436 years until now.

Tudors Dynasty is happy to present to you this episode on the most recent discovery on Mary, Queen of Scots. Historian and guest host Mell Taylor chats with Dr. George Lasry about the discover that he and his colleagues Norbert Bierman and Satoshi Tomokiyo

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Credits:

Host: Melanie "Mell" V. Taylor

Guest: Dr George Lasry

Edited by: Rebecca Larson 

Voice Over: David Black

Music: Ketsa, Alexander Nakarada, and Winnie the Moog

Feature Image Credit: 5 O’Clock Tea by David Comba Adamson (1859-1926), n.d. © Dundee Art Gallery and Museum

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Suggested Reading list: 

Bossy, John: Under the Molehill: an Elizabethan Spy Story; Yale University Press; 2001 

Cooper, John; The Queen’s Agent; Faber & Faber; 2012 

Fraser; Antonia; Mary Queen of Scots; W&N; 2018 

Guy, John; My Heart is my Own; The Life of Mary Queen of Scots; Fourth Estate; 2004. 

Hutchinson, R; Elizabeth’s Spymaster; W&N; 2006 

Porter, Linda; Crown of Thistles; Lume; 2023 

A really interesting website for those interested in cyphers http://cryptiana.web.fc2.com/code/crypto.htm The link to the Open Access article: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01611194.2022.2160677