04/08/2023

A Cipher Letter to Henry VII from John Stile

John Stile was among the first to use cipher in English diplomatic correspondence. In "Earliest English Diplomatic Ciphers", I said he wrote many cipher letters at the end of Henry VII's reign, but my source was a secondary source. The other day, I reconstructed Stile's cipher from manuscript of his letters to Henry VIII. Now, I confirmed his cipher letter dated 26 April 1509 was addressed to Henry VII (the news of the death of Henry VII had not yet reached Spain).
Although the letter is known in calendared text, the printed text is much shorter than the plaintext deciphered from the cipher letter.

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