Editing Babington Plot (section)

===Infiltration===

[[File:Mary-cipher-code.jpg|thumb|right|The cipher code of Mary, Queen of Scots]]
After the [[Throckmorton Plot]], Queen Elizabeth had issued a decree in July 1584, which prevented all communication to and from Mary. However, Walsingham and Cecil realised that that decree also impaired their ability to entrap Mary. They needed evidence for which she could be executed based on their Bond of Association tenets. Thus Walsingham established a new line of communication, one which he could carefully control without incurring any suspicion from Mary. Gifford approached the French ambassador to England, [[Guillaume de l'Aubespine de Châteauneuf|Guillaume de l'Aubespine]], Baron de Châteauneuf-sur-Cher, and described the new correspondence arrangement that had been designed by Walsingham. Gifford and jailer Paulet had arranged for a local brewer to facilitate the movement of messages between Queen Mary and her supporters by placing them in a watertight box inside a beer barrel.<ref>[[Robert Hutchinson (historian)|Robert Hutchinson]], ''Elizabeth's Spymaster: Francis Walsingham and the Secret War that saved England'' (London: Phoenix, 2007), p. 121.</ref><ref>[[John Hosack]], ''Mary, Queen of Scots, and her Accusers'', 2 (Edinburgh: Blackwood, 1874), p. 337.</ref> [[Thomas Phelippes]], a cipher and language expert in Walsingham's employ, was then quartered at Chartley Hall to receive the messages, decode them and send them to Walsingham. Gifford submitted a code table (supplied by Walsingham) to Chateauneuf and requested the first message be sent to Mary.<ref>John Hosack, ''Mary, Queen of Scots, and her Accusers'', 2 (Edinburgh: Blackwood, 1874), p. 338.</ref>

All subsequent messages to Mary would be sent via diplomatic packets to Chateauneuf, who then passed them on to Gifford. Gifford would pass them on to Walsingham, who would confide them to Phelippes. The cipher used was a [[Substitution cipher#Nomenclator|nomenclator cipher]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dooley |first1=John F. |title=A Brief History of Cryptology and Cryptographic Algorithms |date=2013 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-3-319-01628-3 |page=21 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d2O4BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA21 |language=en}}</ref> Phelippes would decode and make a copy of the letter. The letter was then resealed and given back to Gifford, who would pass it on to the brewer. The brewer would then smuggle the letter to Mary. If Mary sent a letter to her supporters, it would go through the reverse process. In short order, every message coming to and from Chartley was intercepted and read by Walsingham.<ref>Conyers Read, ''Mr Secretary Walsingham and the policy of Queen Elizabeth'', vol. 3 (Archon, 1967), p. 10.</ref>