Jérôme Pasquier (1560–1605) was a French servant of Mary,érô Queen of Scots, involved in writing and deciphering coded letters.
Working for a captive queen
Pasquier is recorded as a groom of the chamber to Mary and master of her wardrobe. The other grooms were Bastian Pagez and Hannibal Stuart. He was described as "young Pasquier". Adam Blackwood described him as "commis et argentier", a clerk and treasurer or purse keeper. The French ambassador also called him a steward or argentier. Pasquier may have been recruited to Mary's service by Albert Fontenay, a brother of Mary's secretary Claude Nau. Fontenay mentioned his friends, Monsieur de l'Aubespine, Arnault, and Pasquier.
Pasquier married Madeleine Champhoun, a daughter of Mary's French administrator Jean Champhuon, sieur du Ruisseau and Claude Nau's sister Claire. On 20 March 1586, at Chartley, Pasquier and Bastian Pagez witnessed a document in which Jacques Gervais, Mary's surgeon, placed his affairs in the hands du Ruisseau.
Pasquier worked with Mary's secretaries Claude Nau and Gilbert Curle managing Mary's correspondence. Letters in cipher from the French ambassador London, Guillaume de l'Aubespine de Châteauneuf, were delivered to him. In May 1586, Mary said, and Gilbert Curle wrote, that she received an infinite number of letters in cipher. Curle translated Mary's French drafts or dictation into English and ciphered them. Nau was in charge of the French correspondence.
In August 1584 Pasquier worked on the deciphering of a long letter to Mary and Claude Nau from Albert Fontenay, a half-brother of Nau, which describes his visit to Scotland and negotiations with James VI. The letter describes the young king and his hobbies and has become an important source for his biography. Pasquier also deciphered Fontenay's despatch of 24 November 1584 which includes the views of James VI on the "Enterprise of England", a plan to make an allegiance with Spain to invade England. Pasquier deciphered a letter to Mary in Spanish from Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma in 1585.
Pasquier may have accompanied Nau to London in November 1584 when Nau acted as Mary's diplomat. They borrowed money from other members of the household. Pasquier said that he had first heard some details of the Throckmorton plot (months after the events) during Nau's trip. In June 1586, Nau sent Pasquier to Amias Paulet to complained that Mary's letters ought to be sent when thet were ready and not depend on the opportunity of a bearer to take them. Nau was concerned about letters relating to Bess Pierrepont.
In August 1571, before Pasquier joined her service, Mary mentioned her practice of writing cipher in a letter to the Archbishop of Glasgow. Outgoing cipher letters were composed from drafts (les minutes de chifres), but for reasons of security these drafts were usually burnt. Letters could be taken on the way, or her papers and coffers might be subject to a surprise search. She did not always keep or have time to make fair copies or "doubles" of the ciphered letters.
Arrested and questioned
As the Babington Plot was investigated and revealed by Francis Walsingham, Pasquier was arrested in August 1586 with Mary's secretaries at the suggestion of Amias Paulet, who observed he was "half a secretary". He was moved to the house of Mr Littleton and the lodging of Thomas Gresley of Drakelow at Chartley. Walsingham told Paulet to send Pasquier to London under "sure guard". Paulet arranged for him to be taken to the Tower of London on 29 August escorted by three men. French diplomats in London heard a rumour the prisoner taken to the Tower was Bess Pierrepont, or Mary herself.
Pasquier was questioned by Owen Hopton, Edward Barker, and the code expert Thomas Phelippes twice in September 1586. They showed him some examples of his code work. His responses are recorded in three surviving documents. Pasquier confessed to writing and transcribing coded letters for Mary. He said that Nau was in charge of the cipher keys or alphabets. The cipher work took place in Nau's chamber. Pasquier delivered completed ciphered and deciphered letters to Mary or Nau. He claimed not to remember the contents of the letters. He did remember encoding a letter in cipher for Mary in 1584 to send to the French ambassador Michel de Castelnau asking him to negotiate a pardon for Francis Throckmorton after his treason trial.