13/10/2024

A Bundle of Ciphers of Lord Digby

It's almost a year since the British Library's computer system was disrupted by a cyber-attack (ransomware) in October 2023, but my links to BL materials do not work yet. It seems rebuilding the whole system to replace the previous patchwork of many legacy systems is taking time to fully recover their services (BL, detailed report as of March 2024 (pdf)). At least, I'm hopeful for future recovery because they say they have secure copies of all the digital collections and related metadata.

I was reminded of this when I saw volumes I studied some years ago in the DECODE database.
One of them is BL Add MS 72438 (a majority of no.8619-no.8645 in DECODE), which I found at https://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?index=3&ref=Add_MS_72438 back in 2021, but the URL does not work now.
This volume contains "Cipher-keys and intercepted royalist correspondence from the papers of Georg Rudolph Weckherlin, government official, 1625-1647."
Georg Rudolph Weckherlin served Charles I in drafting, deciphering, and translating official correspondence, but after the Civil War broke out, he worked for the Parliament (DNB). In particular, he deciphered intercepted royalist letters (cf. n.36 in Philip Beeley, "Breaking the Code. John Wallis and the Politics of Concealment"). When Lord Digby's papers were captured after his defeat at Sherburn in October 1645, the cipher letters were delivered to Weckherlin (and a Mr. Frost), as I quoted in "Charles I's Ciphers".
F.1-f.24 are intercepted royalist letters (some are endorsed by or are in the hand of Weckherlin).
F.25-f.99 are cipher keys captured from Lord Digby's papers in October 1645. This includes the original of what I call "Third Cipher between Charles I and Henrietta-Maria (and Ministers) in Paris (Summer 1644-June 1645)" (f.67-68, DECODE R8687). F.100-101 (R8723) is its partial key (apparently by a codebreaker).
F.110-150 are ciphers used by Weckherlin while he was in the service of Charles I (ca. 1623-1641), partly in Latin and French.
I added two from Add MS 72438 which I believe are undeciphered in "Unsolved Historical Ciphers".

Another volume familiar to me is BL Add MS 18982 (DECODE (R8428-R8454)), which was at https://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?index=0&ref=Add_MS_18982 when I found it before. It contains "Royalist correspondence, primarily addressed to Prince Rupert, 1645-1658."
Most of the undeciphered ciphertexts can be read by using already deciphered letters or with known keys. I added one from Add MS 18982 in "Unsolved Historical Ciphers".

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