The Black Chamber in the Dutch Republic during the war of the spanish succession and its aftermath, 1707-1715

Historical Journal

Volumn 42, Issue 1, 1999, Pages 133-156

  De Leeuw, Karl ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF AMSTERDAM   (Netherlands)

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EID: 77950084400     PISSN: 0018246X     EISSN: 14695103     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0018246X98008292     Document Type: Article

References (137)

1. I should like to express my gratitude to H. J. Hardy, Hans van der Meer and A. J. Veenendaal jr, who all yielded in their own way a vital contribution to the writing of this article.
2. Christopher Andrew, 'The nature of military intelligence', in Keith Nelson and B. J. C. McKercher, eds., Go, spy the land: military intelligence in history (Westport, CT, and London, 1992), pp. 1-16;
3. David Kahn, The codebreakers (New York, 1967), pp. 106-88.
4. Kenneth Ellis, The post office in the eighteenth century (London, 1958), pp. 62-5, 127-31, 138-42.
5. E. Vaillé, Le Cabinet Noir (Paris, 1950), pp. 92-107;
6. F. Stix, 'Zur Geschichte und Organisation der Wiener Geheimen Ziffernkanzlei (von ihren Anfängen bis zum Jahre 1848) ', Mitteitungen des Österreichischen Instituts für Geschichtsforschung, 51 (1937), pp. 132-60.
7. Fairly typical is Derek McKay and H. M. Scott, The rise of the great powers (1648-1815) (London, 1983), p. 203, which only mentions the topic, but does not go any further. The only book that explicitly deals with the issue is J. W. Thompson and S. K. Padover, Secret diplomacy: espionage and cryptography, 1500-1815 (New York, 1965), which contains many amusing anecdotes, but is too superficial to be of any use.
8. For a general survey of the war and its backgrounds see McKay and Scott, Rise of the great powers, pp. 43-66;
9. for its immediate causes, see Mark A. Thomson, 'Louis XIV and the origins of the War of the Spanish Succession', in Ragnild Hatton and J. S. Bromley, eds., William III and Louis XIV: essays 1680-1720 by and for Mark A. Thomson (Liverpool, 1968), pp. 140-61;
10. for diplomatic aspects, see G. C. Gibbs, 'The revolution in foreign policy', in Geoffrey Holmes, ed., Britain after the Glorious Revolution, 1689-1714 (London, 1969); the continuity between the Nine Years War and the War of the Spanish Succession is stressed in M. Lane, 'The diplomatic service under William III, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 4th series, 10 (1927), p. 177.
11. Stephen B. Baxter, William III (London, 1966), p. 162.
12. 'G. M. Trevelyan, England under Queen Anne (3 vols., London, 1936), 11, p. 138.
13. Derek McKay, Prince Eugene of Savoy (London, 1977), pp. 108 ff.;
14. Trevelyan, Queen Anne, 11, pp. 352-74.
15. Mark A. Thomson, 'Louis XIV and the Grand Alliance, 1705-1710', in Hatton and Bromley, eds., William III and Louis XIV, pp. 190-212.
16. Trevelyan, Queen Anne, 11, pp. 395-9.
17. O. Weber, Der Friede von Utrecht (Gotha, 1891), p. 145;
18. Elke Jarmut-Derbolav, Die Österreichische Gesandtschaft in London, 1701-1711 (Bonn, 1972), p. 454.
19. R. Geikie and I. Montgomery, The Dutch Barrier, 1705-1719 (Cambridge, 1930), pp. 334-49;
20. A. J. Veenendaal jr, 'De Republiek voor het laatst als grote mogendheid, 1702-172 7 ', in Algemene Geschiedenis der Nederlanden (15 vols., Bussura, 1980), ix, p. 26;
21. F. J. G. Ten Raa, F. De Bas and J. W. Wijn, Het Staatsche Leger, 1568-1795 (8 vols., Breda and The Hague, 1911-), viii, bk 3, pp. 256-71.
22. Calendar of state papers domestic (CSPD), 1689, pp. 147, 205, 219, 227, Wallis to Nottingham on 1 and 10 Aug.
23. Dictionary of national biography, lix (London, 1899), pp. 142-3.
24. Ellis, Post office, p. 128.
25. Kahn, Codebreakers, p. 167.
26. D. E. Smith, 'John Wallis as a cryptographer' Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society, 24 (1917), pp. 90-1, Wallis to Harbord, London, 15 Aug. 1691;
27. British Library, Add. MSS 32499, fo. 216, Nottingham to Wallis, 13 July 1690.
28. CSPD, 1689, p. 374, Nottingham to Wallis, 31 Dec. 1689;
29. F. J. L. Krämer, ed., Archives ou correspondance inédite de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, 3ième série, 1, 1689-97 (Leiden, 1907), pp. 342-3, letter cclxxix, William to Heinsius, 7 Feb. 1694, Kensington.
30. CSPD, 1690-1, 488, Sidney to Wallis, 16 Aug. 1691;
31. British Library, Add. MSS 32499, fo. 170, Béthune to Croissy, 1 Dec. 1689, and fos. 257-60, copy of a letter by Castagnères de Chatauneuf, French ambassador at Constantinople to the French king, found in a captured, French vessel in the Mediterranean.
32. Kahn, Codebreakers, pp. 168-9;
33. Smith, 'Wallis as a cryptographer', pp. 89-90, Wallis to Nottingham, Oxford, 20 Feb. 1690.
34. N. Japikse, Prins Willem 111: de Stadhouder-Koning (2 vols., Amsterdam, 1930-3), 11, pp. 139-41;
35. S. P. Oakley, 'The interception of posts in Celle, 1694-1700', in Hatton and Bromley, eds., William III and Louis XIV, pp. 95-116;
36. for William's strong personal interest in the mail interception in northern Germany, see: Krämer, ed., Archives ou correspondance inédite de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, letter cclxxix, William III to Heinsius, Kensington, 7 Feb. 1694.
37. Anton Ernstberger, 'Post und Politik: zur Abwehrkampf Kaiser Leopold I gegen König Ludwig XIV, in Sitzungsberichte der Bayrische Akademie der Wissenschaften (phil.-hist. klasse) (1960), pp. 5-12.
38. Albin Franz Scherhaufer, 'Der Kaiserliche Dechiffriersekretär Johann Joseph von Neuff (1677-1734) ', Wiener Geschichtsblätter, 17 (1962), pp. 46-51;
39. Klaus Müller, Das Kaiserliche Gesandschaftwesen im Jahrhundert nath dem Westfälischen Frieden, 1648-1740 (Bonn, 1976), pp. 40-1.
40. Georg Schnath, Geschichle Hannovers im Zeitalter der Neunten Kur und der englischen Sukzession 1674-1714 (3 vols., Hildesheim, 1976), 11, pp. 318, 354-7.
41. Ibid., p. 355;
42. Smith, 'Wallis as a cryptographer', p. 84: Wallis to Tilson, Oxford, 20 Mar. 1701;
43. Gerhard F. Strasser, 'Diplomatic cryptology and universal languages in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries', in Nelson and McKercher, eds., Go, spy the land, p. 82.
44. Schnath, Geschichte Hannovers, 11, pp. 354-7.
45. Oakley, 'Interception of posts', pp. 105-7.
46. Lucien Bély, Espions et ambassadeurs au temps de Louis XIV (Paris, 1990), pp. 155-7, 160-2.
47. Schnath, Geschichte Hannovers, 11, pp. 354-7.
48. E. Vaillé, 'De Post der Spaanse Nederlanden onder het opeenvolgende bestuur van Pajot, Pachter der Posterijen in Frankrijk en van Jaupain, Directeur-Generaal, 1701-1721', Tijdschrift der Belgische Posterijen, 1 (1951), pp. 13-16.
49. Niedersächsisches Hauptstaatsarchiv, Cal. Br. 24/3117, Burgomasters of Amsterdam to Georg Ludwig, 24 May 1704.
50. Bély, Espions et ambassadeurs, p. 162.
51. Paul S. Fritz, The English ministers and Jacobitism between the rebellions of 1715 and 1745 (Toronto and Buffalo, 1975), p. 115.
52. A. J. Veenendaal jr, De briefwisseling van Anthonie Heinsius, 1702-1720 (17 vols., The Hague, 1976-97), 111, letter 1047 by Ouwerkerk, 13 Oct. 1704 in the camp at Borgloon. Jaupain is not mentioned here by name, but who else could have been meant by 'our man at the post office in Brussels'?
53. British Library, Blenheim papers, Add. MSS 61567, Jaupain to Sunderland, Brussels, 31 Dec. 1706.
54. Ibid., Add. MSS 61568, fos. 91-113.
55. Vaille, 'Post der Spaanse Nederlanden', pp. 16-19.
56. British Library, Blenheim papers, Add. MSS 61567, for instance Jaupain's letters to Sunderland from Brussels on 14 and 19 Jan., 24 and 28 Feb., 12, 24, 28, and 31 Mar. 1707, accompanying intercepts from Malknecht and Rouillé and similar intercepts from later dates in Add. MSS 61568.
57. Ibid., Add. MSS 615687, fos. 22-3, intercept from 26 Feb. 1707.
58. London, Public Record Office (PRO), State Papers 107/ic, D. van Heck to Tilson, Leiden, 25 Oct. 1723.
59. Kahn, Codebreakers, p. 169.
60. B. van het Hoff, ed., The correspondence of John Churchill, 1st duke of Marlborough and Anthonie Heinsius (Utrecht, 1951), letter 174, Marlborough to Heinsius, 27 May 1704, from the camp of Brouback; Winston Churchill, Marlborough, his life and times (4 vols., London, 1934-8), 11, pp. 319-20;
61. in British Library, Add. MSS 32258, fos. 37-40, however, an unsolved letter can be found by Villars to Chamillard written in Dillingen on 6 Aug. 1703.
62. British Library, Add. MSS 32, 306, 'French Ministers Letterbook 1702-1712', tables of contents on fos. 49-50, 79, 112; two of the letters prior to 1707 were written by the marquis d'Usson in March and April 1702 and one of them was an anonymous intercept made at Rhinberg in November of the same year.
63. A. J. Veenendaal, 'Het Engels-Nederlandse Condominium in de Zuidelijke Nederlanden tijdens de Spaanse Successieoorlog, 1706-1716 (D. Phil, thesis, Utrecht, 1945), pp. xiv-xv, 20-8.
64. Churchill, Marlborough, iv, pp. 18-19.
65. W. J. M. Benschop, Het Postwezen van '-Gravenhage in derdehalve eeuw (The Hague, 1951), pp. 60-4.
66. Veenendaal, ed., Briefwisseling, 1, pp. xxvii-xxx, and ibid., v, letter 118, Heinsius to Buys, The Hague, 9 Feb. 1706, and letter 152, Buys to Heinsius, London, 19 Feb. 1706;
67. for more information on Heinsius's dealings with postmasters, see Benschop, Postwezen, pp. 122, 138-9
68. and J. G. Stork Penning, Het Grote Werk: Vredesonderhandelingen gedurende de Spaanse Successieoorlog 1705-1710 (Groningen, 1958), p. 345.
69. Veenendaal, ed., Briefwisseling, v, letter 128, Bothmer to Heinsius on 10 Apr. 1706 from The Hague.
70. Oakley, 'Interception of posts', pp. 114-16.
71. Veenendaal, ed., Briefwisseling, 1, letter 874, Robethon to Heinsius on 19 Sept. 1702 from Celle;
72. J. F. Chance, 'John de Robethon and the Robethon papers', English Historical Review, 13 (1898), pp. 55-70.
73. Veenendaal, ed., Briefwisseling, v, letter 335, Bothmer to Heinsius on 12 Apr. 1706 from The Hague.
74. Ibid., v, letter 1350, Ferdinand van Collen to Heinsius, Amsterdam, 3 Dec. 1706;
75. ibid., letter 1355, Heinsius's reply, The Hague, 5 Dec. 1706;
76. ibid., letter 1357, Bothmer to Heinsius, The Hague, 6 Dec. 1706;
77. ibid., letter 1358, van Collen to Heinsius, Amsterdam, 6 Dec. 1706.
78. Ibid., vi, letter 286, Haersolte, Leipzig, 12 Mar, 1707 (footnote);
79. ibid., letter 44, Bothmer to Heinsius, The Hague, 11 Jan. 1707;
80. ibid., letter 186, Bothmer to Heinsius, The Hague, 15 Feb. 1707;
81. ibid., letter 320, Bothmer to Heinsius, The Hague, 22 Mar. 1707.
82. Ibid., vi, letter 1208, Bothmer to Heinsius, The Hague, 25 Oct. 1707.
83. Ibid., vii, letter 884, Neubourg to Heinsius, Hanover, 27 July 1708.
84. Ibid., xi, letters 206, 251, 282, 296, and 369, Neubourg to Heinsius, Hanover, 2, 9, 16, 19, 30 Sept. 1710.
85. Ibid., xi, letter 866, Neubourg to Heinsius, Hanover, 6Jan. 1711.
86. Ibid., vii, letter 775, Neubourg to Heinsius, Hanover, 6 July 1708;
87. ibid., x, letter 751, Neubourg to Heinsius, 27 May 1710;
88. ibid., xii, letter 380, Neubourg to Heinsius, Hanover, 21 July 1711.
89. J. Aalbers, De Republiek en de Vrede van Europa (Groningen, 1980), pp. 155-65.
90. Schnath, Geschichte Hannovers, 11, p. 357.
91. Hanover, Niedersächsisches Hauptstaatsarchiv, Cal. Br.24/3162, fos. 202-3, Robethon to Georg Ludwig, The Hague, 16 June 1711.
92. The Hague, Algemeen Rijksarchief (ARA), Legatiearchief Barbarije, inv. nr 17. The folder was identified in the course of a general survey of all code material in Dutch archives.
93. This attribution was first made by A. J. Veenendaal jr and subsequently corroborated by H. J. Hardy, a specialist in the field of identification of handwriting working at the Forensic Laboratory of the Justice Department.
94. Robert Fruin, ed., Overblyfsels van Geheugchenis da besonderster voorvallen uit het leeven van den Heere Contract Droste (Leiden, 1879), pp. 442-3.
95. Veenendaal, Briefwisseling, 1, letter 16, Robethon to Heinsius, London, 21 Mar. 1702, footnote;
96. ibid., letter 1173, Robertson to Heinsius, Goehr, 4 Dec. 1702, footnote;
97. ibid., 11, letter 43, Robethon to Heinsius, Celle, 12 Jan. 1703;
98. N. Japikse, ed., Correspondentie van Willem III en van Hans Willem Bentinck, eersten graaf van Portland (2 parts with 5 vols., The Hague, 1927-8), part 1 bk 2, letter 391, Heinsius to Bentinck, The Hague, 7 Apr. 1702.
99. K. Heeringa, ed., 'Gedenkschriften van Adriaan van Borssele van der Hooghe, heer van Geldermalsen', in Archief. Vroegere en latere Meededelingen voomamelijk in betrekking tot Zeeland, uitgegeven door het Zeeuwsch Genootschap der Wetenschappen (Middelburg, 1916), pp. 97-9.
100. Japikse, De Stadhouder-Koning, 11, p. 132;
101. Japiske, ed., Correspondentie van Willem III en van Hans Willem Bentinck, part 11 bk 2, letter 697, Bevil Skelton to William III, The Hague, 28 Oct. 1685.
102. John Macky, Memoirs du Sieur Jean Macky...publiés sur le manuscrit original de l'auteur (Rotterdam, 1735), pp. 3-7.
103. Journalen van Constantijn Huygens, den Zoon (2 vols., Utrecht, 1881-8), 1, p. 98 (22 Mar. 1689) and p. 329 (8 Sept. 1690);
104. CSPD, 1689, 12 Apr., warrant to Major John Wildman to take possession of the general post office; on Wildman, see Alan Marshall, Intelligence and espionage in the reign of Charles II, 1660-1685 (Cambridge, 1994), p. 79, and Maurice Ashley, John Wildman, plotter and postmaster (London, 1947).
105. G. E. Kurtz, Willem III en Amsterdam, 1683-1685 (Utrecht, 1928), pp. 95, 98, 107-9;
106. Négociations de monsieur le Comte d'Avaux en Hollande, depuis 1679 jusque'en 1684 (6 vols., Paris, 1752-3), 11, pp. 121-4, 206, 212-13.
107. J. Wagenaar, Vaderlandsche historie (21 vols., Amsterdam, 1752-9), xv, p. 180.
108. Apparently, the Spanish governor in Brussels had someone at his disposal who could do the job. See J. P. Devos and H. Seeligman, eds., L'art de deschiffrer: traité de déchiffrement du XVIIe siècle de la secrelairerie d'état et de Guerre Espagnol (Louvain, 1967), p. vi.
109. The alternative would be that the letter had been decoded in Celle or Hanover. This possibility cannot be ruled out either, as there were regular contacts between William and Georg Wilhelm at the time concerning the delivery of troops to fight in the southern Netherlands. There is no evidence, however, that any codebreaking was done in Celle or Hanover prior to 1693. Moreover, in the archives of the Dutch royal family, a fully coded copy of the letter can still be found. This is difficult to explain if the work had been done elsewhere.
110. See The Hague, Royal Archives, Stadholder William III, inv. nr xiii-i.
111. Veenendaal, Briefwisseling, vi, letter 564, Sicco van Goslinga to Heinsius on 23 May 1707 from the Camp de Hal.
112. ARA, Antonie Heinsius, inv. nr 2315, sheet beginning with the remark 'tous ces nombres signifies des nulls'.
113. British Library, Blenheim papers, Add. MSS 61567, fos. 26 (b)-27 (a).
114. For an example of this method, see Karl de Leeuw and Hans van der Meer, 'A homophonic substitution in the archives of the last grand pensionary of Holland', Cryptologia. Quarterly Journal Devoted to Cryptology, 17 (1993), pp. 225-36.
115. ARA, Anthonie Heinsius, inv. nr 1649, letters from Namur on 2 Oct., 1, 4, 8, 14, 18, 25, 27, 29 Nov., 6, 13, 16, 19, 23, 30 Dec, and inv. nr 1737, letters from Namur on 10, 19, 23, 27 Jan., 2, 6, 9, 16 Feb. 1712. The remark on the packets for the queen and Strafford is contained in a letter dated 27 Dec. 1711.
116. The name David van Putten does not occur in O. Schutte, Repertorium der buitenlandse tertegenwoordigers, residerende in Nederland 1584-1810 (The Hague, 1983). The name is likely to be false, because no David van Putten can be found in the well-kept notarial records at the municipal archive of Rotterdam either, as would certainly have been the case if he really had been active as a businessman in that city.
117. Stadarchiv Hannover, inv. nr 16694, fo. 478, Robethon to Bernstorff, The Hague, 13 June 1711;
118. on Norff, see Repertorium der diplomatischen Vertreler aller Länder seit dem Westfälischen Frieden (3 vols., Oldenburg, Zürich, and Graz, 1950-76), 1, pp. 278 and 343.
119. O. Weber, Der Friede von Utrecht: Vtrhandlungen zwischen England, Frankreich dem Kaiser und den Generalstaaten 1710-1713 (Gotha, 1891), pp. 86-8.
120. Niedersächsisches Hauptstaatsarchiv, Cal. Br. 24/3155, Cos. 61-3, Georg Ludwig to Bothmer on 14 Mar. 1710 from Hanover. I should like to thank Dr Cristoph Gieschen of the Lower-Saxonian State Archive for his help and for the making of a transcript of this letter in particular.
121. British Library, Add. MSS 32, 306, 'French Ministers Letterbook, 1702-1712', Malknecht to van Putten on January 6, 9, 13, 17, 27, 30 Jan. and 9, 16 Feb. 1712;
122. PRO, SP 87/4 fos. 645-69, copies of the same letters and two more letters written on 23 and 27 Dec. 1711.
123. D'Alonne's worksheet on this code in the Archive of the Dutch Legation in Turkey bears the heading 'Chiffre de Malknecht a Van Putten, ag.t. de l'Elect. de Bavière' which was crossed out. The codenames Vivarier and van der Starke are added at the end of the list.
124. What else can one make of 'Nouv. chif de Bon avec L. & T.' or 'Chiffre de Besl. avec L. & T.' or 'Chiffre de L. & T. avec Bal.' or 'Chiffre de Bnc. et Grssy avec Bnrpx'. There is no way to be sure, however, because the archives of the Black Chamber in Hanover are lost and the same goes for the intercepted letters in the Heinsius archives.
125. The compilations could be based on solutions, sent back from Hanover, with the originals (see n. 50).
126. British Library, Stowe MS 222, fos. 142, 162-9, 178, 180, 186, 200, 312, 364, and MS 224, fos. 148, 237, and MS 230, fos. 147, 154, 272.
127. The letters by Rossi to Torcy from Brussels are dated: 30 Jan., 16 and 26 Feb, 8, 19, and 29 Mar., and 2 and 5 Apr. 1715 and by Torcy to Rossi from Versailles 31 Jan. and 11 Apr. 1715. The originals are to be found at the Ministère des Affaires Etrangers, Correspondance Politique: Pays Bas Espagnols, inv. nr 68, fos. 128-32, 146-9, 167-72, 189-92, 204-6, 209-11, 214-19, 220-4, and inv. nr 73, fos. 10-11 and 12-14.
128. Bély, Espions et ambassadeurs, p. 101.
129. Veenendaal, ed., Briefwisseling, volume forthcoming, letter 691, Johan van de Bergh to Heinsius from Brussels on 31 Dec. 1714;
130. letter 708, Heinsius's answer on 3 Jan. 1715 from The Hague; letter 723, van den Bergh to Heinsius on 7 Jan. 1715 from Brussels;
131. letter 729, B. van der Dussen to Heinsius on 8Jan. 1715 from Antwerp;
132. letter 736, idem to idem on 10 Jan. 1715;
133. letter 760, van den Bergh on 17 Jan. 1715 from Antwerp.
134. ARA, Heinsius, inv. nr 1889, van den Bergh to Heinsius from Brussels on 7 Feb. and 11 and 18 Mar. 1715.
135. ARA, Heinsius, inv. nr 1899, van der Dussen to Heinsius from Antwerp on 24 Jan. 1715.
136. ARA, Heinsius, inv. nr 1931, Jaupain to d'Alonne on 15 Apr. 1715 from Brussels.
137. ARA The Hague, Heinsius, inv. nr 1889, van den Bergh to Heinsius on 28 Feb. 1715.