Medieval Information

Spies were very common during the Middle Ages. They were used for many purposes and sometimes they had to climb trees or use stealth in order to acknowledge sensitive information.

It is a well documented fact that spies very often carried poison with them for two purposes. First, if they were caught, they were told by the person who hired them to commit suicide.

Secondly, if a spy was ordered to kill an enemy army or soldier, poison very often made things easier because spies were sometimes hired to infiltrate an enemy's camp and poison the enemy's supplies.

Unfortunately for spies, they were often caught and punishments varied, but they were almost invariantly related to death. Torture was often used - and more surprisingly, when caught by an attacking army, spies were often used as a projectile for a catapult (in order to spread diseases).

The tools used by spies included daggers, lock picks, poison, etc. Medieval armies were so afraid of spies that security had to be very tight in order to prevent them.