In the XVII century, spying was much more interesting than you might think.
Women spies in those years used one of the most exciting methods to protect information. Secret agents, was operating at that time in Europe, used an ingenious Arsenal of available tools, such as eggs and artichokes, to get their secrets.
Elizabeth Stuart, during his exile in the Hague, sent letters, filled with cryptography, ciphers, codes and invisible ink.
Historian Dr. Ackerman, by studying the letters of a fugitive Queen of Bohemia Elizabeth Stuart (Elizabeth Stuart) at the time of its expulsion from the country, found that many of them were filled with secret codes. Delivered through official correspondence contained either false or largely superficial information. Reports and letters sent by messengers through Belgium and Holland, were filled with codes and even invisible ink.
Dr. Ackerman was intrigued why the Queen was required this secret correspondence. It was her first meeting with female spies of the XVII century.
AFRA Ben, British novelist, playwright, poet and spy XVII century.
She began to identify and investigate potential women spies that came the words “adventurer” or “royalist heroine”. These terms in many cases was a euphemism for spies. They could be anybody: nurses, wives of shopkeepers, maids of honour, or in many cases, noblewomen. Women were able to gather information undetected, because they were not considered politically active. While men spies if caught were hanged, women were threatened with only a three-month stay in the tower of London.
My lady of the classic film “the Three Musketeers”.
In his research, Dr. Ackerman found about 60 secret agents are female in the XVII century. The British playwright and poet Ben AFRA (Aphra Behn) was one of these spies. King Charles hired her to conduct political espionage in Antwerp. Your reports she has signed a code-named “Astrea” and “Agent 160”.
Ackerman has created a fascinating video that recreate some of the ingenious methods used by the women spies for his secret correspondence.
In 1656, a female scout wrote a letter to his brother, requesting him to communicate with it using an artichoke. Dr. Ackerman felt the juice of an artichoke, and found that it can be used as invisible ink. And read the message by using candles.
Another method is to put a small message in raw egg. In the process of preparing an egg dipped in vinegar to soften the shell. When it becomes soft, the egg is incised with a knife, making a small gap into which you can stick a leaf with a secret message. When then the egg is put into cold water, shell re-hardens. Although the method is quite simple, the idea is brilliant: who will inspect the basket of eggs?
