Spycraft - Tricks Tools of Dangerous Trade From Elizabeth I to Restoration

A fascinating exploration of the devious tricks and ingenious tools used by early modern spies-from ciphers to counterfeiting, invisible inks to assassination. Early modern Europe was a hotbed of espionage, where spies, spy-catchers, and conspirators pitted their wits against each other in deadly games of hide and seek. Theirs was a dangerous trade-only those who mastered the latest techniques would survive. In this engaging, accessible account, Nadine Akkerman and Pete Langman explore the methods spies actually used in the period, including disguises, invisible inks, and even poisons. Drawing on a vast array of archival sources, they show how understanding the tricks and tools of espionage allows us to re-imagine well-known stories such as the Babington and Gunpowder plots. Exposing the murky world of spies, they demonstrate how the technological innovations of petty criminals, secretaries, and other hitherto invisible actors shaped the fate of some of history's most iconic figures. Spycraft explains how early modern spies sought to protect their own secrets while exposing those of their enemies, showing the reader how to follow in their footsteps.

About the author

Nadine Akkerman is professor of early modern literature and culture at Leiden University and author of the acclaimed Invisible Agents. Pete Langman is an academic, OED bibliographer, author of Killing Beauties, and manuscript editor for Early Modern Low Countries Journal.

Product details

• Authors: Nadine Akkerman, Nadine Langman Akkerman, Akkerman Nadine, Pete Langman
• Publisher: Yale University Press Ltd
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 14.10.2025
• EAN: 9780300284270
• ISBN: 978-0-300-28427-0
• No. of pages: 368
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Modern era up to 1918; Europe, European History, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Intelligence & Espionage, POLITICAL SCIENCE / World / European, HISTORY / Europe / Great Britain / Stuart Era (1603-1714), British & Irish history, United Kingdom, Great Britain, Espionage & secret services, Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700, Espionage and secret services, c 1500 to c 1600, C 1600 To C 1700, 1485–1603 (Tudor period), 1660 to 1714 (Restoration and the Later Stuart period), 1603–1649 (Jacobean and Early Stuart period)