The other day, I added a cipher of an agent sent by Catherine de Medicis to Tourogne (1577) in "French ciphers during the Reigns of Charles IX and Henry III".
I also made some additions in "Ciphers during the Reign of Queen Elizabeth I" from Cotton MS Caligula B VIII.
21/07/2023
American Peace Commissioners' Instructions Coded for Franklin
Yesterday, papers including the instructions of the Continental Congress for the American peace commissioners were put on auction. The instructions in code appear to be the version for Franklin, and are very interesting for historical cryptography, because they are in John Jay's book code. The same instructions for John Adams were in a polyalphabetic cipher with a key "CR", and it is well-known Adams could not decipher them.
I uploaded a new article about this: "American Peace Commissioners' Instructions in John Jay's Book Code".
I uploaded a new article about this: "American Peace Commissioners' Instructions in John Jay's Book Code".
18/07/2023
Some Links to Papers of Continental Congress (PCC)
The other day, I needed to check John Jay's book codes and revisited my old article, "John Jay's Book Code Formula". I found, however, the links to PCC (Papers of Continental Congress) are no longer valid. (The links to Jay Papers are also dead, but the relevant pages may be reached by searching for ID.)
Since it may take time to overhaul the links, here are my log of comments to PCC. It seems the links are valid only when you are signed in.
https://www.fold3.com/image/4220962/vol-5-vol-5-page-251-continental-congress-papers
Item No.104
Item Title Ltrs from John Adams
Roll 131, p.251
John Adams to John Jay, 2 June 1785
Transcript of the letter in code on Page 469 of Roll 113. The plaintext is on Page 258 of the present roll (Roll 131).
https://www.fold3.com/image/441663/volume-1-page-561-continental-congress-papers
Item No 168
Roll 185 p.561
Coded in WE003 (as classified by Ralph E. Weber)
https://www.fold3.com/image/451493/volume-1-page-21-continental-congress-papers
Item No. 83
Item Title Letters from Arthur Lee, 1776-80
Arthur Lee to Secret Correspondence Committee, 3 June 1776
Printed in Wharton http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hlaw:@field(DOCID+@lit(dc00230)) According to its note, at the end of this letter is a minute explanation of a cipher. It is WE085 as classified by Ralph E. Weber.
https://www.fold3.com/image/397487/volume-1-page-50-continental-congress-papers
Item No. 110
Item Title Ltrs from John Jay
Roll 135 p.50
John Cadiz to Pres. of Cong. 3 March 1780
Book code based on Entick's New Spelling Dictionary is used. For details, see http://cryptiana.web.fc2.com/code/bookcode.htm
https://www.fold3.com/image/399035/volume-1-page-309-continental-congress-papers
Item No. 110
Item Tittle Ltrs from John Jay
Roll 135, p.309
Book code based on Abel Boyer's French Dictionary.
The count replied 509c23[that] 269c14[his] 336b27[maimed?] 557a24[would]
363a19[never] 118b17[consent] to 336c13[majorship?] that 520a36[tremendous?] 510a40 44b13 371a12 373a22 551c7
269b30 24a18 the United States that 509c23 520a36 had been
115a33 79b17 the 227c12 555a11 510a40 313a21 371a12 the King and 555a11
261a11 g 335b20 269b30 510a40 371c25 371a12 being a 386a11 514c13 307a29
...
https://www.fold3.com/image/428699/volume-1-page-51-continental-congress-papers
https://www.fold3.com/image/428701/volume-1-page-52-continental-congress-papers
Item No. 88
Item Title Ltrs from William Carmichael
Roll 116, p.51,52
Book code based on Entick's New Spelling Dictionary is used.
https://www.fold3.com/image/425170/volume-1-page-417-continental-congress-papers
Item No. 79
Item Title Ltrs of Secy of Foreign Aff Livingston
Roll 105, p.417
9 May 1782
Livingston expresses his surprise that Jay could not decipher his letter.
https://www.fold3.com/image/425187/volume-1-page-427-continental-congress-papers
Item No. 79
Item Title Ltrs of Secy of Foreign Aff Livingston
Roll 105, p.427
to Mr. Adams, who will take means to forward it to you by a safe hand. I am in great pain on account of your / letter of the 28th of July, a duplicate of which is arrived. The / original has miscarried. Should it have fallen into improper / hand it may do us very essential injury. I need not tell you / how impatient I shall be to hear that this has reached you, since I / can not use my cypher till I receive a line from you written in it, nor can I write with freedom to you till I have a cypher.
station. As you will have much leisure on hand, I must beg / you to write weekly to this office in cypher and to write with / freedom whatever it may be useful for us to know, particularly / all changes that may take place in the administration and / the measures of Russia. I will not repeat what I have said / on this subject in my last, a quadruplicate of which is / enclosed, as is also a cypher. This letter will be consigned /
https://www.fold3.com/image/425010/volume-1-page-334-continental-congress-papers
Item No. 79
Item Title Ltrs of Secy of Foreign Aff Livingston
Roll 105, p.334
13 December 1781
Code WE007 (as classified by Ralph E. Weber) is used.
https://www.fold3.com/image/419076/july-16-1783-nov-30-1785-vol-5-page-518-continental-congress-papers
Item No. 84
Item Title Ltrs from John Adams
Roll 113, p.518
20 June 1785
Adams-Jefferson code (THE=994) is used. See http://cryptiana.web.fc2.com/code/jeffersn.htm
https://www.fold3.com/image/256963/volume-1-vol-1-page-5-continental-congress-papers
Item No. 87
Item Title Ltrs from Thomas Jefferson
Roll 115, p.5
11 May 1785
Jefferson to Jay
Jefferson sent Jay a code (THE=224; see http://cryptiana.web.fc2.com/code/jeffersn.htm). Its use can be found on Roll 115, Page 47, Page 438, and Page 504.
https://www.fold3.com/image/407600/1775-1781-vol-1-page-705-continental-congress-papers
Item No. 51
Item Title Intercepted Letters - British
Roll 65, p.705
23 July 1781
James H. Craig to Lord Cornwallis
The cipher is a simple substition of the 25 letters of the alphabet by numbers 10-39. For details, see http://cryptiana.web.fc2.com/code/cornwals.htm
https://www.fold3.com/image/407130/1775-1781-vol-1-page-529-continental-congress-papers
Item No. 51
Item Title Intercepted Letters - British
Roll 65, p.529
7 October 1780
Cornwallis to James Wemyss
The cipher is a simple substition of the 25 letters of the alphabet by numbers 1-29. In higher numbers, only the right-side digit is valid. For details, see http://cryptiana.web.fc2.com/code/cornwals.htm
https://www.fold3.com/image/400467/volume-2-page-77-continental-congress-papers
Item No. 110
Item Title Ltrs from John Jay
Roll 135, p.77
The cipher passage is coded with WE006. The translation is printed in Wharton.
https://www.fold3.com/image/399111/volume-3-page-19-continental-congress-papers
Item No. 102
Item Title Ltrs from US to France
Roll 128, p.19
27 April 1779
Arthur Lee to John Bondfield
I send you a cypher by which we may corres- / pond without risque. I have seen enough of particular per- / sons to know not there is more danger to our country / from them than from the British army. The Chevalier
https://www.fold3.com/image/259572/volume-1-1776-84-vol-1-page-44-continental-congress-papers
Item No. 93
Item Title Ltrs from Charles WF Dumas
Roll 121, p.44
30 June 1776
Dumas to unknown
A letter in part in Dumas' cipher (see Roll 72, Vol. 1, Page 117). One portion reads: 613 [h] 2 [o] 17 [r] 15 [t] 19 [a] 4 [l] 5 [e] 414 [z] 207 [,] 424 [h] 69 [a] 1 [v] 16 [i] 14 [n] 104 [g] 11 [s] 9 [o] 76 [m] 13 [e] 33 [t] 613 [h] 21 [i] 27 [n] 238 [g] 34 [t] 50 [o] 51 [n] 24 [e] 476 [g] 67 [o] 52 [t] 53 [i] 75 [a] 57 [t] 26 [e] 22 [f] 94 [o] 25 [r] 61 [t] 424 [h] 29 [e] 28 [c] 9 [o] 54 [n] 561 [g] 46 [r] 32 [e] 12 [s] 39 [s] 226 [z] (Hortalez, having something to negotiate for the Congress)
https://www.fold3.com/image/379527/apr-30-1781-apr-29-1783-vol-2-page-206-continental-congress-papers
Item No. 101
Item Title Ltrs to Dumas from Franklin and others
Roll 127, p.206
A letter dated August 16, 1781, from Franklin to Dumas (not found in Wharton). The cipher is Dumas' cipher (see Roll 72, Page 117). The paragraph in cipher reads as follows: I have just received a neuu comi- issjon joining me uuit h M adams in ne- gociaions fo- r peace but this is not likely to afford me much em- pley at prese- nt
https://www.fold3.com/image/379444/jan-27-1780-apr-19-1781-vol-1-page-126-continental-congress-papers
Item No. 101
Item Title Ltrs to Dumas from Franklin and others
Roll 127, p.126
3 December 1780
Two phrases are in cipher and left blank in Wharton (see http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hlaw:@field(DOCID+@lit(dc004122)) for an electronic text). Ralph E. Weber (United States Diplomatic Cods and Ciphers, p.78, WE004) decoded them. The first one 873 373 657y reads "The Great Pention-y", that is, The Grand Pensionary. In the second instance, Wharton omits a whole sentence: "I remember of but one, which went with a copy of 873 897y 948 337." The cipher reads "The Treat-y with France".
Since it may take time to overhaul the links, here are my log of comments to PCC. It seems the links are valid only when you are signed in.
https://www.fold3.com/image/4220962/vol-5-vol-5-page-251-continental-congress-papers
Item No.104
Item Title Ltrs from John Adams
Roll 131, p.251
John Adams to John Jay, 2 June 1785
Transcript of the letter in code on Page 469 of Roll 113. The plaintext is on Page 258 of the present roll (Roll 131).
https://www.fold3.com/image/441663/volume-1-page-561-continental-congress-papers
Item No 168
Roll 185 p.561
Coded in WE003 (as classified by Ralph E. Weber)
https://www.fold3.com/image/451493/volume-1-page-21-continental-congress-papers
Item No. 83
Item Title Letters from Arthur Lee, 1776-80
Arthur Lee to Secret Correspondence Committee, 3 June 1776
Printed in Wharton http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hlaw:@field(DOCID+@lit(dc00230)) According to its note, at the end of this letter is a minute explanation of a cipher. It is WE085 as classified by Ralph E. Weber.
https://www.fold3.com/image/397487/volume-1-page-50-continental-congress-papers
Item No. 110
Item Title Ltrs from John Jay
Roll 135 p.50
John Cadiz to Pres. of Cong. 3 March 1780
Book code based on Entick's New Spelling Dictionary is used. For details, see http://cryptiana.web.fc2.com/code/bookcode.htm
https://www.fold3.com/image/399035/volume-1-page-309-continental-congress-papers
Item No. 110
Item Tittle Ltrs from John Jay
Roll 135, p.309
Book code based on Abel Boyer's French Dictionary.
The count replied 509c23[that] 269c14[his] 336b27[maimed?] 557a24[would]
363a19[never] 118b17[consent] to 336c13[majorship?] that 520a36[tremendous?] 510a40 44b13 371a12 373a22 551c7
269b30 24a18 the United States that 509c23 520a36 had been
115a33 79b17 the 227c12 555a11 510a40 313a21 371a12 the King and 555a11
261a11 g 335b20 269b30 510a40 371c25 371a12 being a 386a11 514c13 307a29
...
https://www.fold3.com/image/428699/volume-1-page-51-continental-congress-papers
https://www.fold3.com/image/428701/volume-1-page-52-continental-congress-papers
Item No. 88
Item Title Ltrs from William Carmichael
Roll 116, p.51,52
Book code based on Entick's New Spelling Dictionary is used.
https://www.fold3.com/image/425170/volume-1-page-417-continental-congress-papers
Item No. 79
Item Title Ltrs of Secy of Foreign Aff Livingston
Roll 105, p.417
9 May 1782
Livingston expresses his surprise that Jay could not decipher his letter.
https://www.fold3.com/image/425187/volume-1-page-427-continental-congress-papers
Item No. 79
Item Title Ltrs of Secy of Foreign Aff Livingston
Roll 105, p.427
to Mr. Adams, who will take means to forward it to you by a safe hand. I am in great pain on account of your / letter of the 28th of July, a duplicate of which is arrived. The / original has miscarried. Should it have fallen into improper / hand it may do us very essential injury. I need not tell you / how impatient I shall be to hear that this has reached you, since I / can not use my cypher till I receive a line from you written in it, nor can I write with freedom to you till I have a cypher.
station. As you will have much leisure on hand, I must beg / you to write weekly to this office in cypher and to write with / freedom whatever it may be useful for us to know, particularly / all changes that may take place in the administration and / the measures of Russia. I will not repeat what I have said / on this subject in my last, a quadruplicate of which is / enclosed, as is also a cypher. This letter will be consigned /
https://www.fold3.com/image/425010/volume-1-page-334-continental-congress-papers
Item No. 79
Item Title Ltrs of Secy of Foreign Aff Livingston
Roll 105, p.334
13 December 1781
Code WE007 (as classified by Ralph E. Weber) is used.
https://www.fold3.com/image/419076/july-16-1783-nov-30-1785-vol-5-page-518-continental-congress-papers
Item No. 84
Item Title Ltrs from John Adams
Roll 113, p.518
20 June 1785
Adams-Jefferson code (THE=994) is used. See http://cryptiana.web.fc2.com/code/jeffersn.htm
https://www.fold3.com/image/256963/volume-1-vol-1-page-5-continental-congress-papers
Item No. 87
Item Title Ltrs from Thomas Jefferson
Roll 115, p.5
11 May 1785
Jefferson to Jay
Jefferson sent Jay a code (THE=224; see http://cryptiana.web.fc2.com/code/jeffersn.htm). Its use can be found on Roll 115, Page 47, Page 438, and Page 504.
https://www.fold3.com/image/407600/1775-1781-vol-1-page-705-continental-congress-papers
Item No. 51
Item Title Intercepted Letters - British
Roll 65, p.705
23 July 1781
James H. Craig to Lord Cornwallis
The cipher is a simple substition of the 25 letters of the alphabet by numbers 10-39. For details, see http://cryptiana.web.fc2.com/code/cornwals.htm
https://www.fold3.com/image/407130/1775-1781-vol-1-page-529-continental-congress-papers
Item No. 51
Item Title Intercepted Letters - British
Roll 65, p.529
7 October 1780
Cornwallis to James Wemyss
The cipher is a simple substition of the 25 letters of the alphabet by numbers 1-29. In higher numbers, only the right-side digit is valid. For details, see http://cryptiana.web.fc2.com/code/cornwals.htm
https://www.fold3.com/image/400467/volume-2-page-77-continental-congress-papers
Item No. 110
Item Title Ltrs from John Jay
Roll 135, p.77
The cipher passage is coded with WE006. The translation is printed in Wharton.
https://www.fold3.com/image/399111/volume-3-page-19-continental-congress-papers
Item No. 102
Item Title Ltrs from US to France
Roll 128, p.19
27 April 1779
Arthur Lee to John Bondfield
I send you a cypher by which we may corres- / pond without risque. I have seen enough of particular per- / sons to know not there is more danger to our country / from them than from the British army. The Chevalier
https://www.fold3.com/image/259572/volume-1-1776-84-vol-1-page-44-continental-congress-papers
Item No. 93
Item Title Ltrs from Charles WF Dumas
Roll 121, p.44
30 June 1776
Dumas to unknown
A letter in part in Dumas' cipher (see Roll 72, Vol. 1, Page 117). One portion reads: 613 [h] 2 [o] 17 [r] 15 [t] 19 [a] 4 [l] 5 [e] 414 [z] 207 [,] 424 [h] 69 [a] 1 [v] 16 [i] 14 [n] 104 [g] 11 [s] 9 [o] 76 [m] 13 [e] 33 [t] 613 [h] 21 [i] 27 [n] 238 [g] 34 [t] 50 [o] 51 [n] 24 [e] 476 [g] 67 [o] 52 [t] 53 [i] 75 [a] 57 [t] 26 [e] 22 [f] 94 [o] 25 [r] 61 [t] 424 [h] 29 [e] 28 [c] 9 [o] 54 [n] 561 [g] 46 [r] 32 [e] 12 [s] 39 [s] 226 [z] (Hortalez, having something to negotiate for the Congress)
https://www.fold3.com/image/379527/apr-30-1781-apr-29-1783-vol-2-page-206-continental-congress-papers
Item No. 101
Item Title Ltrs to Dumas from Franklin and others
Roll 127, p.206
A letter dated August 16, 1781, from Franklin to Dumas (not found in Wharton). The cipher is Dumas' cipher (see Roll 72, Page 117). The paragraph in cipher reads as follows: I have just received a neuu comi- issjon joining me uuit h M adams in ne- gociaions fo- r peace but this is not likely to afford me much em- pley at prese- nt
https://www.fold3.com/image/379444/jan-27-1780-apr-19-1781-vol-1-page-126-continental-congress-papers
Item No. 101
Item Title Ltrs to Dumas from Franklin and others
Roll 127, p.126
3 December 1780
Two phrases are in cipher and left blank in Wharton (see http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hlaw:@field(DOCID+@lit(dc004122)) for an electronic text). Ralph E. Weber (United States Diplomatic Cods and Ciphers, p.78, WE004) decoded them. The first one 873 373 657y reads "The Great Pention-y", that is, The Grand Pensionary. In the second instance, Wharton omits a whole sentence: "I remember of but one, which went with a copy of 873 897y 948 337." The cipher reads "The Treat-y with France".
17/07/2023
Two More Enciphered Letters of Mary, Queen of Scots
Two enciphered letters (already attributed to Mary, Queen of Scots in the book catalogue) are in Cotton MS, Caligula B IX.
I identified the keys used in these letters from among the keys I reconstructed.
One is the Mary-Hamilton Cipher. Thus, the recipient is probably John Hamilton, Archbishop of St. Andrews.
The other is the Mary-Norfolk Cipher. (Right after uploading this update, I found the deciphered text, with normalized spelling, is printed in Labanoff.)
These updates are now in "Ciphers of Mary, Queen of Scots".
I identified the keys used in these letters from among the keys I reconstructed.
One is the Mary-Hamilton Cipher. Thus, the recipient is probably John Hamilton, Archbishop of St. Andrews.
The other is the Mary-Norfolk Cipher. (Right after uploading this update, I found the deciphered text, with normalized spelling, is printed in Labanoff.)
These updates are now in "Ciphers of Mary, Queen of Scots".
10/07/2023
Agostino Amadi's Treatise on Cipher
I uploaded a new article: "Agostino Amadi's Treatise on Cipher". It is still like a stub, hopefully to be expanded someday if I can find more materials.
I thank DPJA Scheers for drawing my attention to this topic.
I thank DPJA Scheers for drawing my attention to this topic.
01/07/2023
Galileo's Anagrams and Gergo (Jargon)
Galileo Galilei was involved in secret communication by means of gergo (jargon). I learned it in a paper by Hannah Marcus and Paula Findlen (2019). (I thank DPJA Scheers for drawing my attention to this paper.)
Apart from gergo, the paper also discusses the famous anagrams Galileo composed to claim his astronomical discovery without disclosing the content. Interestingly, Johannes Kepler came up with his solutions, which were wrong, but are interesting because they are as if Keplar coincidentally predicted the moons of Mars and the Great Red Spot of Jupiter. These are covered by a new article, "Anagram and Gergo (Jargon): Galileo's Secret Communication".
Apart from gergo, the paper also discusses the famous anagrams Galileo composed to claim his astronomical discovery without disclosing the content. Interestingly, Johannes Kepler came up with his solutions, which were wrong, but are interesting because they are as if Keplar coincidentally predicted the moons of Mars and the Great Red Spot of Jupiter. These are covered by a new article, "Anagram and Gergo (Jargon): Galileo's Secret Communication".
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