Independently Enciphered Duplicates

Important dispatches were often sent in duplicates to ensure the delivery of a message. When the message is in cipher, it would be easy to make a copy of an enciphered dispatch. But there are cases in which duplicates are independently enciphered. I added such examples in "Finding the Keys to Philip II's Cipher Letters to Juan de Vargas Mexia".

Practice in Use of Ciphers in the Time of Catherine de Medici

I added a section "References to Cipher in the Correspondence of Catherine de Medici" in my article about French ciphers during the reigns of Charles IX and Henry III. It consists of excerpts of Catherine de Medici's letters mentioning a cipher. They are about instructions to use a cipher, delivery of a cipher, handling a cipher personally, forwarding of letters deciphered or to be deciphered, etc. They may be nothing new, but may allow a glimpse of practice in use of ciphers.

Trevanion's Cipher Still being Sought

Sir John Trevanion was a prisoner at the Colchester Castle during the English Civil War, but managed to escape thanks to a letter which hided a message "PANEL AT EAST END OF CHAPEL SLIDES", which showed him an escape route.
Although this episode is famous as a spectacular feat of steganography, nobody seems to know a primary source of this episode, as I pointed out in 2012 in "Quest for 'Trevanion's Cipher'".
I made some additions to the page (references from 1878 and 1925 and some peripheral information).

Zodiac Killer's Cipher Z340 Broken after 51 Years

Earlier this month (December 2020), Zodiac Killer's Cipher known as Z340 was solved by David Oranchak, Sam Blake, and Jarl Van Eycke. Although I have not paid much attention to this cipher, the puzzle is so well-known that I felt obliged to cover it in a new article in Japanese. (In English, I believe there will be plenty of articles out there.) I also added an entry for this in "Unsolved Historical Ciphers.", which also covers recently solved ciphers. 

 

Ciphers in Catherine de Medici's Correspondence

Some weeks ago, I added ciphers used in the correspondence of Catherine de Medici. (When I said it was the first time I came across ciphers used in her correspondence, I did not remember I already described in the same article a cipher used in a letter from Foix to Catherine de Medici in the reign of Henry III.) Now, I added more ciphers used in letters of the Queen Mother during the reign of Charles IX. As for as the specimens I encountered this time, the Queen Mother used the same cipher as Charles IX. (Not that they did the ciphering themselves. The letters are undersigned by a secretary of state.)
I also made one addition (Tournon?) in "French Ciphers during the Reign of Henry II of France" and another [Hurault?] in "Unsolved Historical Ciphers".