Mary, Queen of Scots, used the ‘spiral lock’ technique to preserve the secret of the last letter before its execution

(CNN) – Mary, the Queen of Scots, used a “spiral locking” technique to seal the last letter she wrote before her execution, indicating that she wanted the content to remain secret, according to research published in the Electronic British Library Journal.

An example of letter blocking, where people duplicated letters as envelopes to ensure the security of a document, the fallen monarch used a spiral locking process to seal a message that was “a last will and testament and a wager on the martyrdom, “says published research.

Maria was involved in a political controversy during her life. She was next in line to the throne after the sons of Henry VIII, and was attacked by conspirators under the reign of her English cousin, Elizabeth I. Mary was interned for 19 years, after which she was executed at the age of 44 years old, according to the royal family website.

‘Powerful and moving’

Maria wrote the letter, which was addressed to her brother-in-law, Henry III of France, on the morning of his execution at Fotheringhay Castle in 1587, according to the investigation.

It used a series of intricate folding and cutting techniques to close the letter, which the researchers describe as “one of the most spectacular examples of spiral locking” in the paper.

The Queen’s Message

A “powerful and moving” testimony, the letter was likely folded by the monarch herself while in her prison cell. There are also stains on the letter, which some historians suggest could be evidence that Maria’s tears stained the paper, according to the research.

“Lord, my brother-in-law, having been thrown by the will of God, for my sins I believe, into the power of the Queen my cousin, in whose hands I have suffered much for almost twenty years, I have finally been condemned to death for her and her states” the letter says, according to an English translation at the National Library of Scotland.

“I have asked for my papers, which have been taken from me, to be able to make my will, but I have not been able to recover anything that will serve me, not even to obtain permission to make my will freely or to have my Body transported after my death, as I wish, to your kingdom where I had the honor of being queen, your sister and former ally, ”the letter says.

“They will execute me like a criminal at eight in the morning,” the letter added.

Since Maria did not have access to most of her possessions at the time, including her letter writing utensils, she would have had to cut the letter with an alternate blade, and was perhaps aided by her companions Jane Kennedy and Elizabeth. Curle.

Card blocking

Maria became a political target under the reign of Elizabeth I and was executed at the age of 44. Credit: World History Archive / Getty Images

Letter blocking was widely used in early modern Europe and was an essential process for ensuring the security of letters before the mass-produced gummed envelopes were manufactured in the 19th century.

It played a crucial role in the “history of secret systems,” enabling “global correspondence in the early modern period as fundamentally as computer encoding underpins digital communication today,” the research paper says.

The research, which is part of the exhibition Elizabeth and Mary: Royal Cousins, Rival Queens at the British Library in London, also reveals the use of the spiral lock by other famous European monarchs, such as Queen Elizabeth I in 1573 and Catherine de Medici in 1570.