Charles II, King of England’s Coded Letters to the Duke of Ormond, England (1640s) (UH0076)

Modelled after Charles II, King of England’s letter to the Duke of Ormond (1640s), Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, MS Clarendon 98, fols. 94/95. Model found in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Libraries (MIT), Unlocking History Research Group archive, MC 0760. The Bodleian Library retains a cache of thirty-six letters sent from King Charles II of England to the Duke of Ormonde between the years 1641 and 1646/47. Charles II wrote in plain text or numerically coded messages, as shown in the example here. This letter, which features an edge fold, perhaps to create a margin, was folded into a rectangle and was sent in a separate blank piece of paper, or “wrapper.” The wrapper functions similarly to the modern-day gummed envelope, but unlike its prefabricated counterpart, it would have been folded around the letter and sealed with wax for a custom fit. Twenty-three of the Bodleian’s cache of Charles II’s letters retain their original paper wrappers. Produced by MIT Video Production. Directed and demonstrated by Jana Dambrogio. Funded by the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Libraries in support of our project, “Unlocking History.” Special thanks to Andrew Honey, Mike Webb, Michelle Chew, Alexandra Franklin, Bodleian Libraries reading room staff, Chris Fletcher, Martin Kauffmann, Ayako Letizia, Annie Dunn, Emily Hishta Cohen, Jennifer Pellecchia, MIT Video Production staff, Mary Uthuppuru, Brien Beidler, and Daniel Starza Smith. Citation information: Authors: Jana Dambrogio and the Unlocking History Research Group. Title: "Charles II, King of England’s Coded Letters to the Duke of Ormond, England (1640s)," Letterlocking Instructional Videos. Unlocking History number 0076/Letterlocking Unique Video number: 076. Date filmed: September 2016. Duration: 4:43. Date posted: October 2016. Video URL: [Insert URL]. Date accessed: [Date]. Copyright 2016–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/.... Contact the MIT Technology Licensing Office for any other licensing inquiries. NB: Letterlock responsibly. Be mindful of open flames or hot tools. To find out more about letterlocking, visit http://letterlocking.org and follow us on social media @letterlocking. YouTube URL: http://bit.ly/LetterInWrapper or    • Charles II, King of England’s Coded Letter...