26/01/2020

Another Specimen of a Vatican Cipher with Ambiguous Reading Frames (1551)

I found another specimen of a cipher with ambiguous reading frames when Googling without purpose. J. Lestocquoy (1966), Correspondance des nonces en France: Dandino, Della Torre et Trivultio (1546-1551) (Google), p.43, presents a reconstruction of a cipher of papal nuncio Montemerlo in his correspondence with the Farneses in 1551. It represents letters with one or two digits: 0(-) 1(L) 2(N) 3(O) 4(A) 5(U/V) 6(I) 7(M) 8(B) 9(H) 17(D) 18(Q) 19(P) 21(T) 27(Z) 28(F) 29(C) 71(G) 72(E) 82(S) 87(R) and provides for some names (the pope, the emperor, the king, V.Exc.=Octave Farnese, ...). The author points out the ambiguity of reading frames with an example 387213=3(O)87(R)21(T)3(O) or 3(O)8(B)72(E)1(L)3(O). This cipher is somewhat similar to "Cifra con mons. Aurelio" and "Cifra con mons. Arnoldo di Maguntia" in Meister (1906), p.183, 184. See also "Variable-Length Symbols in Italian Numerical Ciphers" for similar ciphers.

Lestocquoy (1966) also presents a reconstruction of a cipher used by Dandino in 1546. It is a polyphonic cipher printed in Meister (1906), p.177. See "Polyphonic Substitution in Italian Numerical Ciphers" for examples of Vatican polyphonic ciphers.

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