Who does not know Lady de Winter, the femme fatale from the Three Musketeers? She is based on Lady Carlisle, a real female double agent from the seventeenth century. And this lady was far from an exception, according to the recently released book Invisible agents .
Spying is a man's job, was the idea in the seventeenth century. Women were untrustworthy and gossip-sick, couldn't keep secrets, and weren't emotionally stable enough. This image has been in vogue for centuries and has become so entrenched that female spies have been overlooked by historians.
And then there was Nadine Akkerman, English literary and cultural historian at Leiden University. She accidentally discovered the important role of the female spy. After years of research into spies, her public book Invisible Agents is published this week. Women and Espionage in Seventeenth-Century Britain .
Keep stupid
During her research into the correspondence of the English Elizabeth Stuart, the exiled Queen of Bohemia who lived in The Hague, Akkerman came across something strange. Elizabeth wrote that her letters to the homeland were by land. This single sentence set off alarm bells. Overland to England? Why not about water? Akkerman dove in and found out that a postmistress in Brussels had Elizabeth's letters smuggled into England.
The English ambassador in Brussels had made a note about the suspicious practices of the postmistress for his successor. He couldn't believe that a woman could think and act politically at all, let alone spy. “And it was precisely that attitude that the women used at the time,” says Akkerman. “When they were suspected of espionage, they were stupid during the interrogations. They were out in no time, unlike their male accomplices. They were hanged immediately.”
No unique cases
Akkerman spent years in English archives and libraries for her research on female spies. Thousands of letters passed through her hands, as well as many diaries, news pamphlets, court documents and bills paid by parliament. “Male spies were simply on the payroll of the then existing Secret Service. Women, on the other hand, were not officially hired because of their gender.”
Akkerman proves that they were there:she managed to track down sixty spies, while only two were known so far. They were seen as unique cases. Akkerman unmasks one of them, playwright Aphra Behn. “She worked as a spy for a while, but encountered a setback and started making things up.”
Lost resources
More startling, Akkerman finds the ladies who have remained under the radar for centuries, such as Susan Hyde. This sister of the important politician Edward Hyde passed on classified political information. Brother and sister wrote each other letters in coded language, for example about 'providing the shop in Brussels properly with twenty pieces of cloth'. Akkerman could sense in her clogs that this was not about a fabric shop-on-the-side…
“We didn't even know that the political figure Hyde had a sister. If we've already missed her, who else? Until the nineteenth century, most of the correspondence from women was not preserved or archived, simply because the content was not considered important. We have lost a lot of important source material in this way.”
Incredible women
The loss of source material made quantitative research difficult. That is why Akkerman opted for case studies in her book. She shows the rise of the spies in the politically troubled times of the English Civil Wars (1639-1651), how women from all walks of life worked and the mistrust they encountered.
“The women forged or copied letters. For this they used code language or wrote in invisible ink. Or they were the messengers of the letters. Washerwomen who could not read or write could not read the contents of secret letters, which was so safe.”
Because women were considered incapable of thinking about politics because of their gender, they were not easily suspected of espionage. They were the ideal spies according to Akkerman, except that their womanhood also caused mistrust in the client. Because women couldn't keep secrets, of course.
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The temptress?
One of the women highlighted by Akkerman, Elizabeth Murray, was suspected of being the mistress of the rising statesman Oliver Cromwell. Cromwell's political supporters and opponents therefore kept a close eye on her. “Murray was indeed a spider in a secret information network and everyone assumes that she got her information through the bedroom. However, there is no evidence whatsoever that she had an affair with Cromwell," said Akkerman.
Akkerman aims to disprove this stereotype of the seductive spy in her book. “Sexuality must have played a role, although it's hard to pinpoint. A general will not be so quick to put in his memoirs that he has been seduced and passed on state secrets. In any case, temptation was certainly not the only means.” Lying, cheating, pretending to be someone else, eavesdropping, intercepting secret correspondence:women were not inferior to male spies in cunning.
Change
Although women were not officially employed, they were employed by both the king's and parliament's side. These two sides faced each other during the civil wars, which left many men fighting, imprisoned or fleeing to the continent. Women then initiated espionage and often collaborated in networks.
According to Akkerman, all these women had in common that they wanted to achieve something. “Often the women had political or religious motives. For example, when the king was imprisoned in 1647, a group of women began smuggling secret messages inside. Let them try to get the son of the executed Charles I on the throne.”
Money could also be a reason:women offered their services in the hope of getting paid. And some, like the aforementioned Lady Carlisle, seemed to do it purely for adventure. They have all provided beautiful stories, which have now finally been researched and written down.