Stuart monarchs were repeatedly challenged by dangerous threats – a gunpowder plot, a civil war and political revolution. As a result, by the restoration of Charles II in 1660, the English government had come to rely on a shadowy trade of secrets for gathering domestic and international intelligence.
But with secrecy their modus operandi, how can modern-day historians identify these Stuart sleuths? A glance at the enormous record of archived correspondence of the British state reveals a good starting point for investigating the espionage trade. Hidden among these papers are small, but invaluable traces of agents, informants and spies.
By investigating the state papers, myself and other researchers have begun to slowly piece together evidence of a proactive network of spies whose task it was to assist in the gathering of intelligence.
