More than 50 encoded letters sent by Mary Queen of Scots in the 16th Century have been found and deciphered by an international team of cryptographers.The letters, written during her English captivity, were found in a trawl of online archives at the National Library of France.They are being described as the most important breakthrough on the subject in a century.The letters' existence had long been suspected, but they were thought lost.Decoded with the help of computers, the letters are seen to be a series sent by Mary between 1578 and 1584 to the French ambassador to the court of Queen Elizabeth I in London, Michel de Castelnau Mauvissière.
