Two Further Uses of Spanish Ciphers under Philip II

I updated "Spanish Ciphers during the Reign of Philip II" by Bernard Allaire, "Le décodage de la correspondance chiffrée des diplomates espagnols au XVIe siècle" and Jacques de Monts de Savasse, "Les chiffres de la correspondance diplomatique des ambassadeurs d'Henri IV, en l'année 1590", in Correspondre jadis et naguère. In particular, the former shows use of the cipher Cp.30 earlier than what was considered to be the issuance date of 1581.

Klausis Krypto Kolumne

Klausis Krypto Kolumne is a cryptology blog by Kauss Schmeh. It introduces various topics of cryptology, in particular, unsolved cryptograms including historical ones. I have mentioned it many times, and now added more references in:
"Unsolved Historical Ciphers"
"How to Break a Code (Not a Cipher)"
"Nonsecret Code: An Overview of Early Telegraph Codes"
"『大脱走』の暗号　Cipher behind The Great Escape" (in Japanese)

Duke of Manchester's Code

I updated "Diplomatic Codes after the Glorious Revolution" by adding a section "Reconstructed Version". I found a photocopy of a reconstructed code from a book that has been in the paper stack on my desk for many years is substantially the same as one preserved in Manchster Papers.

Codebreaking without Knowing the Language

I uploaded "Is Codebreaking Possible without Knowing the Language?".
I also updated "John Davys and the Art of Deciphering" mentioned therein (by mainly correcting grammar and adding links).

Ciphers in the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella

A substantial update have been made in "Spanish Ciphers during the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella". My understanding of Bergenroth needed corrections in view of the original ciphertexts in the Spanish archives now available online. (It should be noted that Bergenroth describes combined use of cipher and nomenclature as using "two different keys"; there is reason to justify such a treatment.) Although the most important changes are done, the overhaul is still ongoing and further updates may be reported here.

Three Vatican Ciphers Solved

My new article "Identifying Italian ciphers from continuous-figure ciphertexts (1593)" has been released online (Cryptologia). For the time being, you can get it free here.
I added a reference to this in related articles:
"Variable-Length Symbols in Italian Numerical Ciphers"
"Unsolved Historical Ciphers"
"Ciphertext-only Attack on "Vatican Challenge" Ciphers (1625, 1628)"

My solution is only preliminary. I hope someone will complete the solution and tell me what is written.

Recently Solved Ciphers

I added some achievements (by me as well as by others) in 2018 in "Unsolved Historical Ciphers".

Andrea Doria's Cipher (1528)

I updated the article "Ciphers during the Reign of Emperor Charles V" by adding a section of a cipher used by Genoese Admiral Andrea Doria in writing to Emperor Charles V.
This is the oldest vowel indicator system that I know. (Hence, I also updated "Tracing the Origin of Vowel Indicators in Spanish Ciphers" by mentioning the Doria-Charles V Cipher (1528).)

Catherine of Aragon's undecipherd letter

I found Catherine of Aragon's letter in cipher (3 November 1509) to her father, King Ferdinand of Spain, in the Spanish archives online. Unable to decipher it myself, I submitted it as a challenge at MTC3. To my pleasant surprise, two people have already solve it (which will be reflected on the MTC3 page soon). (Since the challenge is still open, I refrain from disclosing the solution.)

Since Catherine of Aragon was among the first who used cipher in the English court ("Earliest English Diplomatic Ciphers"), I have been looking for her ciphers. It is known that the Spanish archives have her letters in cipher.

For example, Catherine's first letter in cipher appears to have been that of 7 September 1507 (Bergenroth p.426), preserved in S.E.T.c.I. [i.e., Archivo General en Simancas, Estado, Tratados con Inglaterra] L.5.f.57. but I could not locate it online. Catherine's letters of the same date are found at
http://pares.mcu.es/ParesBusquedas20/catalogo/description/2208086
http://pares.mcu.es/ParesBusquedas20/catalogo/description/2208087
but these seem to be different.

As another example,
Bergenroth Suppl. p.33 has a letter originally deciphered by Almazan (20 March 1509), preserved in Archivo General de Simancas Patronato Real Tratados con Inglaterra, Legajo No.5 fo.60.


As yet another example, Catherine's letter of 29 July 1509, preserved in Britain, has a short passage in cipher (Brewer).

If any further cipher material related to Catherine of Aragon is available, please let me know.

Philip II's First Cipher (1543)

I uploaded "Philip II's First Cipher (1543)", which shows a reconstruction of Prince Philip's cipher when he was only sixteen. (Probably, the cipher was handled by a secretary.)
I also added a subsection for this cipher in "Ciphers during the Reign of Emperor Charles V".

Two ciphers used in the first year of the reign of Philip II of Spain

I updated “Spanish Ciphers during the Reign of Philip II”. Specifically, I found examples of use of two ciphers before Cg.1. Both (“Suarez de Figueroa Cipher (1556)” and “Imperial Cipher of 1555”) turned out to be ones printed in Meister.
The earliest example I found of the Imperial Cipher of 1555 is from November 1555, after accession of Philip II. Since this is before Philip II expressed his resolution on 24 May 1556 to change the cipher of his father’s reign, I still think the Imperial Cipher of 1555 was inherited from Charles V’s reign. But there remains a possibility that this was created upon the new reign.
As for the Suarez de Figueroa Cipher (1556), both my reconstruction and the version printed in Meister are incomplete. Since there are undeciphered paragraphs in this cipher, further symbols may be identified by those versed in Spanish. (The struckout over the ciphertext shows it was deciphered by the recipient (or her clerk). A deciphered copy may be found somewhere in the archives.)

New specimens of ciphered letters of Charles V’s time

I updated “Ciphers during the Reign of Emperor Charles V”.
Additional specimens I found in the Spanish archives necessitated the change in my appellations:
(old) the Imperial Cipher of 1547-1553
(new) the Imperial Cipher of 1544-1554
(old) the Imperial Cipher of 1548
(new) the Doria-Figueroa-Philip Cipher (1548)
As for the latter, the new specimens of this period seem to show this was not used widely. So I demoted the name.
When there are so many different ciphers, it is difficult to think of names to unambiguously specify particular ciphers. Ideally, I would like a name such as Leyva’s Cipher of 1536 if the creator’s name and date of creation were known. Alternatively, a name like Charles V-Prince Philip Cipher (1543-1544) is fine if the users and period of use were known and if information is not sufficient, the name is inevitably a provisional one. If a reasonably exhaustive catalogue can be made, simply the catalogue number may suffice.