invisible agents women and espionage in seventeenth century britain

Hyde was part of the secret royalist organization the Sealed Knot and was, as revealed by her letters, in direct contact with the exiled royal claimant Charles II, who in the organization used the alias 'Francis Edwards'.

Hyde's career as a spy began in the aftermath of the English Civil War (1642–1651), which saw the English monarchy being overthrown and replaced by a republic headed by Oliver Cromwell. It is more likely that Hyde remained unmarried throughout her life. This information is considered questionable since contemporary documents suggest that Kympton and Diana were siblings, not father and daughter.

Burke's Peerage states that Susan married Kympton Mabbott, son of the journalist and publisher Gilbert Mabbot, and had a daughter, Diana, with him. Susan was the sister of Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, an important English statesman in the seventeenth century. Her father was the politician Henry Hyde and her mother was Mary Langford. Hyde was captured in September 1656 and died after being subjected to psychological and perhaps physical torture. She worked as an intelligence-gatherer for the exiled royal claimant Charles II as part of the secret organization the Sealed Knot and was instrumental in organizing communication between England and its members. Hyde was active during the time of the Protectorate after the English monarchy had been overthrown in the English Civil War (1642–1651). July 1607 – 23 September 1656) was an English noblewoman and spy.

Invisible agents women and espionage in seventeenth century britain