why are condoms also referred to as a"french letter"?

Answer 1

All matters sexual were commonly labeled French - as the French were the enemies of the English!.
Syphilis had arrived in England around 1500 and immediately it was blamed on the French, being known as the French pox.
English 17th century tourists, travelling through France on their pilgrimage to Rome, came across the town of Condom in southwestern France. It is said that there they made contact with ingenious French shepherds who were making condoms from sheep gut. A trade then ensued, whereby the English gentry would eagerly await their letters from France - French Letters - with a fresh supply of condoms. The French aristocracy then learned of these useful items from their English friends and called them "Capote Anglaise" - English Raincoats. Thus the condom came full circle, being made in France, being used in London, latterly in Paris, and finally being adopted by the Germans as a Pariser.

The English phrase "French letter" expresses the old image (or prejudice) that anything coming from France is decadent and has to do with sex. According to British military history, a Britain's Royal Guards Colonel named Condum, in seventeenth century (when Anglo-French enmity was at its mutual height) devised the French letter to protect his troops from the French by using it.

Answer 2

A hygenic sort of chap called Colonel Condum popularised this as a means of method of protecting his troops from the French ;~)

Answer 3

I dont know, but I do know the French refer to them as "English Cap" lol..;