Claude Nau or Claude Nau de la Boisseliere (d. 1605) was a confidential secretary of Mary, Queen of Scots, in England from 1575 to 1586. He was involved in coding Mary's letters with cipher keys.A. Labanoff, Lettres de Marie Stuart, vol. 5 (London, 1852), p. 263: George Lasry, Norbert Biermann, Satoshi Tomokiyo, "Deciphering Mary Stuart’s lost letters from 1578-1584", Cryptologia, 47:2 (February 2023), p. 91 fn. 350.
Career Nau was a successful lawyer practising in Paris. He was recruited by the Guise family in 1574 to be Mary's secretary. Jean Champhuon, sieur du Ruisseau, an advocate who married Nau's sister Claire in 1563, also joined Mary's service.Katy Gibbons, English Catholic Exiles in Late Sixteenth-century Paris (Boydell, 2011), p. 79: Fanny Cosandey, Dire et vivre l'ordre social en France sous l'Ancien Régime (Paris, 2005), p. 109.Jade Scott, 'Editing the Letters of Mary, Queen of Scots: The Challenges of Authorship', Woman's Writing, 30:4 (2023), p. 354. William Barclay Turnbull, Letters of Mary Stuart (London, 1845), p. 345. An account of the death of Mary, Queen of Scots, mentions that Ruisseau was Claude Nau's brother-in-law, a beau frere, and Albert Fontenay was Claude Nau's brother or half brother.Samuel Jebb, De Vita Et Rebus Gestis Serenissimae Principis Mariae Scotorum (London, 1725), p. 626: Sheila R. Richards, Secret Writing in the Public Records (HMSO, 1974), pp. 21, 28: George Akrigg, Letters of King James VI & I (University of California, 1984), p. 55.
Nau was presented by the Duke of Guise, Mary's nephew, to Henry III of France. The King gave him diplomatic accreditation and sent him to Elizabeth I of England. On 29 March 1575, Elizabeth gave him a letter of introduction to the Earl of Shrewsbury the Scottish Queen's keeper at Sheffield Castle. Nau was a replacement for the secretary Augustine Raullet.Retha M. Warnicke, Mary Queen of Scots (Routledge, 2006), p. 201: Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 5 (Edinburgh, 1907), p. 113 no. 110: Henry Ellis, Original Letters, series 1 vol. 2 (London, 1824), pp. 277–279. He was known to Mary's ally in France, James Beaton, Archbishop of Glasgow.Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 5 (Edinburgh, 1907), p. 183 no. 190. Nau was frequently mentioned in Mary's correspondence, and many of his own letters survive. In January 1577, Nau sent cipher code keys to his brother-in-law the treasurer Jean de Champhuon, sieur du Ruisseau, to Mr Douglas, to John Lesley, Bishop of Ross, and to Ralph Lygon, for use in their correspondence with Mary.William Barclay Turnbull, Letters of Mary Stuart (London, 1845), p. 251.
Sheffield portrait In August 1577 Nau added a postscript to one of Mary's letters to her ally in France, James Beaton, Archbishop of Glasgow, that he intended to send him the queen's portrait, but the painter working at Sheffield Castle had not completed the work to perfection.David A. H. B. Taylor, "Damnatio Memoriae: Mary, Queen of Scots' Iconography", Steven J. Reid, Afterlife of Mary Queen of Scots (Edinburgh, 2024), pp. 41–45: Alexandre Labanoff, Lettres de Marie Stuart, vol. 4 (London, 1852), p. 390William Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland, 1574–1581, 5 (Edinburgh, 1907), p. 241 no. 272 At this time, Mary was contemplating marriage with John of Austria, a brother of Philip II of Spain, and the Archbishop was her negotiator.John Daniel Leader, Mary Queen of Scots in Captivity (Sheffield, 1880), pp. 399, 403. Although the artist Nicholas Hilliard had painted Mary's portrait, at this time he was in France.Elizabeth Goldring, Nicholas Hilliard: Life of an artist (Yale, 2019), p. 131. A surviving miniature portrait of Mary, in a later setting, the Blairs jewel, may date from this period and is associated with Elizabeth Curle, the sister of Mary's Scottish secretary Gilbert Curle.The Blairs Jewel: Mary Queen of Scots Miniature Reliquary
In the same month, Claude Nau wrote twice to his brother, du Ruisseau, using cipher codes.William Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland, 1574–1581, 5 (Edinburgh, 1907), pp. 234–235 no. 263, 241 no. 273. He hoped that du Ruisseau could be promoted to be treasurer of Mary's French dowry in place of René Dolu, and that du Ruisseau would speak to his own advantage at the French court. Nau also asked him to buy some jewellery: a locket with a catch or a sealed box (une petite boite fermee et cachetee), a pair of bracelets made in the latest fashion, and a diamond or emerald shaped like a heart or triangle.John Daniel Leader, Mary Queen of Scots in Captivity (Sheffield, 1880), pp. 398–399 citing British Library Cotton Caligula CIII, 499 & 500. A case for a miniature portrait was sometimes known as a "picture box" in English, as une boîte à portrait in French, and in Spanish, a caxa or caxilla, although Nau was probably referring to the packaging of the bracelets and stone "closed-up in a small box under seal".Almudena Pérez de Tudela Gabaldón, "Medals, Cameos, and Miniatures: Small Format Female Portraits at the Court of Philip II", Noelia García Pérez, Portraiture, Gender, and Power in Sixteenth-Century Art: Creating and Promoting the Public Image of Early Modern Women (Routledge, 2024): "Framing Miniatures in the 17th Century", Celine Cachaud et Philip Mould Nau advised that the precious stone would cost less from a specialist lapidary than from a goldsmith, and prices were cheaper because of the wars in France.John Daniel Leader, Mary Queen of Scots in Captivity (Sheffield, 1880), p. 399. Mary considered other candidates to replace Dolu in October 1579, including the father-in-law of the writer Adam Blackwood.George Lasry, Norbert Biermann, Satoshi Tomokiyo, "Deciphering Mary Stuart's lost letters from 1578-1584", Cryptologia, 47:2 (8 February 2023), p. 139.
Negotiations in Scotland and London In June 1579, Mary sent Nau as her ambassador to her son, James VI of Scotland, instead of John Lesley, Bishop of Ross.Steven J. Reid, The Early Life of James VI, A Long Apprenticeship (Edinburgh: John Donald, 2023), p. 116. She wrote to George Bowes at Berwick-upon-Tweed at the border asking him to assist Nau's journey.Cuthbert Sharp, Memorials of the Rebellion of 1569 (London, 1840), p. 379: Alexandre Labanoff, Lettres de Marie Stuart, 5 (London: Dolman, 1844), pp. 81–82. However, the Scottish court at Stirling Castle would not allow him an audience, apparently because Mary's letter was addressed to her son, not the King.James Dennistoun, Memoirs of the Affairs of the Scotland by David Moysie (Edinburgh: Maitland Club, 1830), p. 23 Although Francis Walsingham had directed Nicolas Errington, Provost Marshal of Berwick, to accompany Nau to the Scottish court, he had no papers from Elizabeth. The Privy Council of Scotland issued a proclamation that he deserved punishment and should be commanded to depart.Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, vol. 3 (Edinburgh, 1880), pp. 185-6 Errington reported that few spoke to Nau except old servants requesting payment.Stevenson 1883, pp. lx–lxii.
Mary mentioned in a letter to the Countess of Atholl that Nau had brought "tokens", gifts for her supporters, and a picture and a book for James.William Fraser, The Lennox, 2 (Edinburgh, 1874), pp. 414–415. Some accounts say that Nau tried to deliver a gift of valuable jewels and a vest that she had embroidered for James.Mark Napier, Memoirs of John Napier of Merchiston (Edinburgh: Blackwood, 1834), p. 141: William Robertson, History of Scotland, 2 (London, 1771), p. 59: David Crawfurd, Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1767), pp. 314–315. The chronicle known as The Historie of James the Sext describes the gift as "certain jewels and ornaments to his body".Historie of King James the Sext (Edinburgh, 1825), p. 176. Errington wrote to Francis Walsingham that Nau had been unable to deliver Mary's tokens.Joseph Stevenson, The history of Mary Stewart, from the murder of Riccio until her flight into England (Edinburgh: William Paterson, 1883), p. lxi. Nau wrote that he had not been allowed to see James VI in a postscript to Mary's letter of 4 July 1579 to the Archbishop of Glasgow.Alexandre Labanoff, Lettres de Marie Stuart, 5 (London: Dolman, 1844), p. 88. James eventually wrote an apology to Mary for Nau's frosty reception.Steven J. Reid, The Early Life of James VI: A Long Apprenticeship, 1566–1585 (Edinburgh: John Donald, 2023), pp. 178–179.
Mary wanted Nau to go to Scotland again in 1582, and asked the ambassador Michel de Castelnau to get permissions.George Lasry, Norbert Biermann, Satoshi Tomokiyo, "Deciphering Mary Stuart's lost letters from 1578-1584", Cryptologia, 47:2 (8 February 2023), p. 148. Claude's brother-in-law, the Sieur de Fontenay, sent from France, had more success. Fontenay was able to meet James VI in August 1584. Fontenay wrote to Claude Nau about his good reception, James had met him in his cabinet at Holyroodhouse, and lent him a horse to join the hunting at Falkland Palace.HMC Manuscripts of the Marquis of Salisbury at Hatfield, vol. 3 (London, 1889), pp. 47-62. On 15 November 1584, Nau came to London as Mary's ambassador and was lodged in a house belonging to Ralph Sadler.Sadler State Papers, 3, p. 209 He spoke with Elizabeth, on the subject of Mary's allegations against Bess of Hardwick. Mary wanted Bess of Hardwick and her sons to acknowledge before the French ambassador that rumours about her were untrue. Nau also hoped to put forward the idea of the "association", a scheme to return Mary to Scotland as joint ruler with her son.Sophie Crawford Lomas, Calendar State Papers Foreign Elizabeth, vol. 19 (London, 1916), pp. 38–39, 161. However, James VI and another Scottish diplomat, the Master of Gray, made it known that James was not about to accept joint rule.Conyers Read, Mr. Secretary Walsingham and the policy of Queen Elizabeth, vol. 2 (Clarendon Press, 1925), pp. 238-9. Nau was informed of plans to move Mary to another lodging, at Tutbury Castle.Sadler State Papers, 3, pp. 212–213, 215
While Fontenay was still in Edinburgh, in March 1585, he warned Nau that a rumour was circulating at the Scottish court that Mary made him sleep with her (que sa majeste vous faisoit coucher avec elle), and so they should modify their familiar behaviour when the Master of Gray visited.Sheila R. Richards, Secret Writing in the Public Records (London: HMSO, 1974), p. 29.
Windows at Buxton Nau sometimes used the name "Jacques". When Mary went to Buxton, Latin verses were inscribed on the windows of her lodging, now the Old Hall Hotel. Two verses, engraved in praise of Mary and Buxton's well, which no longer survive but were copied down, were signed "Jac: Nau facieb."Mike Langham, "Things writtin in the glasse windowes at Buxstons", Derbyshire Miscellany, 15:1 (Spring 1998), pp. 9–20
Pierrepont Nau had a relationship with a young woman in Mary's household, Bess or Elizabeth Pierrepont.Rosalind K. Marshall, Queen Mary's Women: Female Relatives, Servants, Friends and Enemies of Mary Queen of Scots (Edinburgh: Birlinn, 2006), p. 179. In April 1586 he sent a friend to discuss marriage with her father Henry Pierrepont.William Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1585-1586, vol. 8 (Edinburgh, 1914), p. 278 no. 307, 296 no. 321. According to the French ambassador in London, Guillaume de l'Aubespine de Châteauneuf, Gilbert Gifford was involved in the discussions and Mary did not approve.Teulet, Relations Politiques, 4, pp. 91-104: Labanoff, Lettres, 6, pp. 275–293.William Turnbull, Letters of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland (London: Pickering, 1845), p. 350.
Mary became to approve of Nau's marriage, but it seems her father had other ideas and removed her from the household.William Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1585-1586, vol. 8 (Edinburgh, 1914), pp. 341-2 no. 366.Jade Scott, Captive Queen: The Decrypted History of Mary, Queen of Scots (London: Michael O'Mara Books, 2024), pp. 141–142.