More than 100 letters were sent to French sailors by their wives, fiancees, siblings, and parents. However, these letters never reached their intended recipients. Now, they have been opened, read, and studied for the first time since they were written and sent.
Over 100 Confiscated Love Letters Opened, Read After 265 Years
The messages shed rare light on the lives, loves, and family feuds of various people, from peasants to wives of wealthy officers. They were initially confiscated by the Royal Navy of Britain during the Seven Years' War. They were brought to the Admiralty in London and were never opened.
The collection of letters is now kept in the National Archives in Kew. They offer evidence regarding French laborers and women. They also shed light on fresh literacy forms.
Professor Renaud Morieux, who is from Pembroke College and the History Faculty of Cambridge University, spent a couple of months decoding the letters that were wildly written and spelled. There was also no capitalization and punctuation, while words filled each inch of the paper.
Morieux explains that he ordered the box only out of curiosity. There were three letter piles that were tied together with a ribbon. They were all small and sealed. Morieux sought permission if the letters could be opened, which he was granted. He then realized that he was the first one to read personal messages ever since they were written more than 200 years ago.
He notes that the letter captured the universal experiences of humans, stressign that they are not unique to the 18th century or to France. During this time, letters were all that people had. Nevertheless, their sentiments are still quite familiar.
Difficult Communication During the Seven Years' War
Back in the historic Seven Years' War, France governed some of the finest ships in the world. However, they lacked sailors with experience. Britain then capitalized on this by imprisoning French sailors during the war.
In the year 1758, among 60,137 French sailors, 19,632 were held in Britain. Throughout the entire Seven Years' War, 64,373 French sailors were imprisoned in Britain.
Some of them ended up dying due to malnutrition and disease, while there were also several others that were eventually released.
As this took place, the families of these individuals waited for them and tried to reach out to them and get news from them.
Back then, delivering letters from France all the way to a ship was remarkably hard and unreliable. At times, people sent various copies of letters to different ports with hopes that the letters would reach the sailors. Relatives also asked crewmate families to insert some messages in their letters.
Morieux was able to find remarkable evidence of such practices in Galatée letters, which were also never able to reach their intended recipients.
The letters reveal both familial and romantic love. However, they also shed rare light on family quarrels and tension during a period of prolonged absence and war. More than half of all letters were signed by women. They offer insight regarding the experiences, social networks, and literacy of women during this war period.
Overall, the study calls for literacy to have a more inclusive definition, as Morieux notes that one could participate in the culture of writing even without knowing how to read or write. Most of the individuals behind the letters had a scribe pen them down or depended on others to read the messages out loud.
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