Thomas Phelippes

Thomas Phelippes, also known as Thomas Phillips, lived from 1556 to 1625 and worked in the time of Elizabeth I as a linguist, forger and intelligence gatherer, serving mainly under Sir Francis Walsingham. He was the son of a cloth merchant and is believed to have entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1569 and to have taken a Bachelor of Arts in 1574. He spoke French, Italian, Spanish, Latin and German, and his language skills helped him master ciphers and win a high reputation as a cryptographer. He joined the embassy of Amias Paulet in Paris in 1578. He is best remembered for deciphering the coded letters of the Babington Plot conspirators, and for the postscript he added to the letter that Mary, Queen of Scots, sent to Anthony Babington, which asked Babington for the names of the plotters.