Alt ending: Queen Elizabeth I’s holograph spiral-locked letter to Henry III, England (1570s)(UH0131)
Channel: Letterlocking videos
Date: 13/12/2021

Letterlocking: Alternate ending:Queen Elizabeth I’s holograph spiral-locked letter to Henry III, King of France, England (1570s) 

Modelled after the Harry Ransom Center, Medieval and Early Modern Manuscript Collection, Letters of British Royalty, HRC 57. 

Model found in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Libraries (MIT), Unlocking History Research Group archive, MC 0760. 

Queen Elizabeth I writes this letter in her own hand to her “dear brother and cousin” Henry III, King of France. They discuss the possible marriage between the Queen to the King's younger brother François, Duc d’Alencon. Queen Elizabeth expresses her surprise at the revisited prospect of a French marriage, as this is an old offer, and she “does not forget” how divisive the proposal was previously in her Court. The Queen seems to end all further discussion of this match, calling it an “abandoned cause.”

A spiral lock, one that offers high built-in security with or without adhesive, was the closure of choice for this intimate letter to King Henry III. There appears to be no evidence of adhesive, unless sealing wax was carefully dropped onto the recursively-perforated self stabbing spiral lock and torn away when the letter was opened. 

This video shows how to achieve the lock with six slits. See alternative ending video with five slits, “Queen Elizabeth I’s holograph spiral-locked letter to Henry III, King of France, England (1570s).”

Spiral locks can be found on Mary Queen of Scots, Queen consort of France Catherine de’ Medici, and Joseph Scaliger's letters. See videos: UH0078 Letterlocking: Joseph Scaliger’s spiral-locked letter to Francisco Donzà, Europe (c.1593–1606) and UH0135 Letterlocking: Mary Queen of Scots’ last letter, a spiral lock, England (1587).

Compare with video UH0094 Letterlocking: Robert Devereux’s spiral-locked letter to Queen Elizabeth I, England, England (c. 1590). Did this letter by Elizabeth influence Essex’s letter to her? Devereux’s letter has similar slits along the fore-edge, however, a portion of the lock was not attached to the letter as it was in Elizabeth’s. 

Produced by MIT Video Production. Researched, directed, and demonstrated by Jana Dambrogio. 

Funded by the Seaver Institute and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Libraries in support of our project, “Unlocking History.” Special thanks to Harry Ransom reading room staff, Laura Bergemann, Dr Nadine Akkerman, Ayako Letizia, and MIT Video Production staff.

Citation information: Authors: Jana Dambrogio, Daniel Starza Smith, and the Unlocking History Research Group. Title: Alternate ending: Queen Elizabeth I’s holograph spiral-locked letter to Henry III, King of France, England (1570s)," Letterlocking Instructional Videos. Unlocking History number 0131/Letterlocking Unique Video number: 180. Date filmed: November 2017. Duration: 8:49. Date posted: December 2017. Video URL: [Insert URL]. Date accessed: [Date].

Copyright 2017–present. Jana Dambrogio, the Unlocking History Research Group, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). All rights reserved. The following copyrighted material is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. Contact the MIT Technology Licensing Office for any other licensing inquiries.

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