This document discusses using network analysis on metadata from Tudor-era correspondence to map intelligence networks and identify important figures. It finds that Edward Courtenay, Earl of Devon, who was suspected of conspiracy, had unusually high "betweenness" in the network, suggesting he bridged opposed factions and was potentially dangerous. It also identifies the Catholic double agent John Snowden based on his betweenness and correspondence patterns. The analysis shows network properties can predict spies and conspirators by finding those who connect disparate groups.

1. TUDOR INTELLIGENCE
NETWORKS
Ruth Ahnert
Queen Mary University of London

2. 'WE KILL PEOPLE BASED
ON METADATA'

3. WHY IS METADATA
USEFUL?In this context: to reconstruct the networks of some
Americans’ social connections, who they spoke to
and when how often, their locations at specific times,
their travel companions.
Once you have the network mapped, you can begin to
mathematically analyse it which is how important
insights can be gleaned even before wiretapping and
surveillance warrants have been issued.
Metadata thus allows a form of what DH scholars call
‘distant reading,’ telling us where we should be close
reading.

4. TUDOR SURVEILLANCE
• The State Papers (official government records) from
the accession of Henry VIII to the death of Elizabeth I.
• Accessed via State Papers online, which brings
together digital surrogates of these documents with
the ‘Calendars’.
• We focus on the correspondence: over 130,000 items
of correspondence connecting ~22,000 individuals.
• Many of these items connect people across Europe
and beyond.
• We completed 18 months of data cleaning (9 months
of which full time) in February and are now engaged
in the analysis stage.

5. WHAT IS A NETWORK?
Networks consist of
nodes
and edges.
This abstract framework allows us to examine a
wide range of networks with the same tools.

6. CONSTRUCTING A
NETWORK
Gather metadata:
• name of sender (requires disambiguation)
• name of recipient (requires disambiguation)
• date
• place of writing (requires disambiguation)
• unique document identifiers (e.g. Gale
Document Number, Calendar reference, and
manuscript reference)
• content description

7. EXPLORATORY TOOL

10. HUBS
• Hubs have an anomalously high number of edges (high
degree).
• They are influential because of this high number of
connections. In social networks they are the kind of
people make influential business deals, who establish
fashions.
• But this kinds of ‘significance’ is obvious. We can see it
to some extent simply by leafing through an archive.
• Network analysis, however, gives us more
sophisticated ways of measuring significance that goes
beyond counting connections.

11. The betweenness of a node or edge measures how many
shortest paths pass through that node or edge.
High betweenness nodes or edges often act as bridges in
the network.
Getting rid of high betweenness edges is therefore a good
way of fragmenting the network into separate parts.
BETWEENNESS

12. BETWEENNESS TOP 20
1. Mary I
2. William Paulet, Marquess
of Winchester
3. Sir Thomas Saunders
4. William Cecil
5. Privy Council
6. Edward Courtenay, Earl of
Devon
7. Sir William Petre
8. Philip II of Spain
9. Cardinal Reginald Pole
10. Bernard Fresneda,
Confessor Anheim to Philip
II
11. John Mason
12. Sir Thomas Gresham
13. Peter Vannes
14. Sir Francis Englefield
15. Sir Edward Waldegrave
16. Thomas Wharton, Lord
Wharton
17. Stephen Gardiner, Bishop
of Winchester
18. Anthony Browne, Viscount
Montagu
19. William Howard, Baron
Howard of Effingham
20. Richard Rich, Baron Rich
Reign of Mary I

13. BETWEENNESS TOP 20
1. Mary I
2. William Paulet, Marquess
of Winchester
3. Sir Thomas Saunders
4. William Cecil
5. Privy Council
6. Edward Courtenay, Earl of
Devon
7. Sir William Petre
8. Philip II of Spain
9. Cardinal Reginald Pole
10. Bernard Fresneda,
Confessor Anheim to Philip
II
11. John Mason
12. Sir Thomas Gresham
13. Peter Vannes
14. Sir Francis Englefield
15. Sir Edward Waldegrave
16. Thomas Wharton, Lord
Wharton
17. Stephen Gardiner, Bishop
of Winchester
18. Anthony Browne, Viscount
Montagu
19. William Howard, Baron
Howard of Effingham
20. Richard Rich, Baron Rich
Reign of Mary I

14. BETWEENNESS TOP 20
1. Mary I
2. William Paulet, Marquess
of Winchester
3. Sir Thomas Saunders
4. William Cecil
5. Privy Council
6. Edward Courtenay, Earl of
Devon
7. Sir William Petre
8. Philip II of Spain
9. Cardinal Reginald Pole
10. Bernard Fresneda,
Confessor Anheim to Philip
II
11. John Mason
12. Sir Thomas Gresham
13. Peter Vannes
14. Sir Francis Englefield
15. Sir Edward Waldegrave
16. Thomas Wharton, Lord
Wharton
17. Stephen Gardiner, Bishop
of Winchester
18. Anthony Browne, Viscount
Montagu
19. William Howard, Baron
Howard of Effingham
20. Richard Rich, Baron Rich
Reign of Mary I

15. BETWEENNESS TOP 20
1. Mary I
2. William Paulet, Marquess
of Winchester
3. Sir Thomas Saunders
4. William Cecil
5. Privy Council
6. Edward Courtenay, Earl of
Devon
7. Sir William Petre
8. Philip II of Spain
9. Cardinal Reginald Pole
10. Bernard Fresneda,
Confessor Anheim to Philip
II
11. John Mason
12. Sir Thomas Gresham
13. Peter Vannes
14. Sir Francis Englefield
15. Sir Edward Waldegrave
16. Thomas Wharton, Lord
Wharton
17. Stephen Gardiner, Bishop
of Winchester
18. Anthony Browne, Viscount
Montagu
19. William Howard, Baron
Howard of Effingham
20. Richard Rich, Baron Rich
Reign of Mary I

16. BETWEENNESS TOP 20
1. Mary I
2. William Paulet, Marquess
of Winchester
3. Sir Thomas Saunders
4. William Cecil
5. Privy Council
6. Edward Courtenay, Earl of
Devon
7. Sir William Petre
8. Philip II of Spain
9. Cardinal Reginald Pole
10. Bernard Fresneda,
Confessor Anheim to Philip
II
11. John Mason
12. Sir Thomas Gresham
13. Peter Vannes
14. Sir Francis Englefield
15. Sir Edward Waldegrave
16. Thomas Wharton, Lord
Wharton
17. Stephen Gardiner, Bishop
of Winchester
18. Anthony Browne, Viscount
Montagu
19. William Howard, Baron
Howard of Effingham
20. Richard Rich, Baron Rich
Reign of Mary I

17. EDWARD COURTENAY, EARL OF DEVON
(C. 1527 – 18 SEPTEMBER 1556)
• The great-grandson of Edward IV.
• First imprisoned in 1538 (aged 12) following his father’s
involvement in the Exeter conspiracy against Henry VIII.
• His father was executed on 9 December 1538, but Courtenay
remained in prison because he was perceived as a serious
dynastic threat.
• Finally freed at Mary I’s accession (1553), and his fate looked
set to change: created Earl of Devon, made Knight of the Bath,
and mooted as possible spouse for the new monarch.
• But following her engagement to Philip II he was suspected of
involvement in the Wyatt rebellion (a plot to dethrone Mary),
imprisoned, and exiled (1555). He died on the continent one
year later.

18. Anomalies: unexpected
bursts in activity.
All bar one of his letters
sent during his exile: from
his 16 months on the
continent we have 137
letters.
Over 85% of those sent by
him are intercept copies,
made by English or
Imperial postmasters or
spies.
Most of the remainder
entered the archive when
they were taken by Mary’s
government after his death.

19. I perceive by a letter from Master [Anthony] Kempe
answering one of myne which I sent hym in a packet
for England and the same was oppened in Flaunders
whereof I somewhat mervaill. I pray you yf the packet
were opened by the master of the post you will do me
the pleasure to fynd the means that those inclosed
lettres may be conveied as they are directed for oon
of them being to my mother and others to certain of
the counsell and other my other frendes about the
queen the delivery of them now sholde do me
pleasure.
(TNA SP 11/9
f.30)

20. REPORTED INTERACTIONS
Courtenay’s letters narrate a number of meetings and
interactions with people suspected by the government of
dissidence. These are mentioned freely in letters to
people loyal to the queen.
For example, he refers to:
• a plan to meet Philip Hoby (who was suspected of
complicity in a new conspiracy against Queen Mary)
• communication with Sir Peter Carew (who had been
part of the Wyatt rebellion)
• 2 visits to the Duke of Ferrara (the leader of the anti-
Habsburg alliance in Italy)

21. stand I pray you work
with them to make as
least as catholick as you
are. But what should I
write to you in this matter
whose soule I fear is
spotted with like spottes.
For my lady
And if you will, work with
my lady in remembrans
to work with him day and
night. I would you were
suche one as I which
werke [...] to persuade
him to be perfectly
catholike but both of you
being stained with the
like spot. I will pray for
you bothe.
Courtenay to Hoby,
30 December 1555, SP 11/6 f.127r

22. COURTENAY’S
BETWEENNESS• The contents of the surviving letters are inconclusive
concerning Devon’s guilt
• However, the metadata - specifically his high betweenness -
suggests that he was potentially very dangerous to the Tudor
government.
• He corresponds with a range of individuals that were not only
from different, but actively opposed, communities.
• A government asset with that kind of social network would
make a valuable intelligencer or diplomat.
• The difference, however, is that Devon's true allegiances were
never resolved. In the absence of evidence to prove his
innocence, the only sensible response was to place him under
surveillance, and perhaps to take the ultimate step of having
him assassinated.

23. BETWEENNESS TOP 20
1. Mary I
2. William Paulet, Marquess
of Winchester
3. Sir Thomas Saunders
4. William Cecil
5. Privy Council
6. Edward Courtenay, Earl of
Devon
7. Sir William Petre
8. Philip II of Spain
9. Cardinal Reginald Pole
10. Bernard Fresneda,
Confessor Anheim to Philip
II
11. John Mason
12. Sir Thomas Gresham
13. Peter Vannes
14. Sir Francis Englefield
15. Sir Edward Waldegrave
16. Thomas Wharton, Lord
Wharton
17. Stephen Gardiner, Bishop
of Winchester
18. Anthony Browne, Viscount
Montagu
19. William Howard, Baron
Howard of Effingham
20. Richard Rich, Baron Rich
Reign of Mary I

24. HUBS VERSUS BRIDGES
Hubs are:
• Nodes with anomalously
large number of edges
• Rare, but highly
influential
• Social hubs create trends
and fads
• Create short paths
between other nodes ➔
Bridges:
• May not have many
edges
• But those they do have
are infrastructurally
important (sometimes
called weak ties)
• Cross structural holes
• Create short paths

28. THE OTHER SNOWDEN
• John Snowden (alias of John Cecil) is a clear example of why
spies and conspirators have high betweenness:
• After being educated at Trinity College, Oxford, in 1583 he
and several other scholars attended the English Catholic
seminary at Rheims. He the worked in the service of William
Allen, and Robert Persons.
• He was sent as a spy to England, but his ship was intercepted
and he was imprisoned and interrogated by William Cecil,
Lord Burghley. As a priest, he stood to be tried for treason.
• However, to avoid this fate he provided Burghley with
information on the plans of Persons and Allen, and offered
himself as a secret agent for the crown. Thus, Snowden
became a Catholic double agent.

29. Snowden’s statement to Burghley, 23 May 1591
(SP 12/238 f.257r-v)
…hyt is not so impossible as it is comonly taken to be a
good subiecte and a good catholique…
…to persuade all men [I.e. Catholics] from favouring
foraine invasions, from practices of treason against her
Majestie from exasperatinge the superior authoritie or
such like violente proceadiges, but to suffer with humility
the crosse that God doth laye. To make hit evydente to
al Catholiques both at home and abrode that nether the
King of Spayne meaneth them any good by his invasions
pretendes[,] nor the Cardinal [Allen] or Par[sons] have
eny respecte or remorse of the poor Catholique
afflictions at home[.]

30. Sends 17 letters to 5 people:
• Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley [30478] (8)
• Sir Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury [29809] (6)
• Robert Parsons [26791] (1)
• Doctor William Allen [6215] (1)
• Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex [26529] (1)
Receives 1 letters from 1 people:
• Sir Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury [29809] (1)

32. PREDICTION

35. QUESTIONS
• Is there a specific kind of network profile for spies,
conspirators and double agents?
• If so why is there an overlap between these types of
people?
• Why do they look similar?

37. CONCLUSIONS• By co-opting the surveillance methods of one
government body (the NSA), we are able to uncover
the surveillance methods of another government.
• The methods allows is to find overarching patterns and
trends, and also to identify anomalies that require
closer analysis.
• We are able to discover that there are network
properties of intelligencers and conspirators, and
therefore to make predictions about about people who
might also fill these roles.
• As such it can lead to new discoveries, and the
reframing of known histories.