The Voynich Ninja

(26-03-2026, 02:44 PM)hatoncat Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

(26-03-2026, 12:40 PM)Mark Knowles Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I have very recently been contacted by two different researchers wanting to look at my very large 15th/14th century cipher archive. However, I would really like to be contacted by researchers wanting to help me expand my cipher archive.

Last year I visit the Milan State Archives to see if I could locate more ciphers. This was interesting, although I was unable to locate any surviving ciphers from a period 1425-1439 that I am particularly interested in. I intend to visit the Biblioteca Bonetta in Pavia and the University Library in Pavia later this year unless someone else does the work beforehand.

I think it would be of value for someone to search the Vatican Apostolic Archives for early 15th century ciphers. I intend to do this at some stage if nobody does it.
There are other archives which may well be worth searching.
Is there anyone else who is up for doing archival research in Italian archives?

I would be, although I am visiting Italy (Torino) for only a few days in late April/early May. I would be open to more long term research, and I do have a place to stay, but am currently unemployed.

It seems as if the Biblioteca di Storia e Cultura del Piemonte “Giuseppe Grosso” in Turin contains within it the Archivio della famiglia Carrone di San Tommaso which contains within it Milanese enciphered letters. The earliest of which seems to be dated to 1455. So this is rather later than I am interested in. However, it does indicate that ciphers can appear in unexpected places.

I will investigate where the best archives/libraries to hunt for early 15th century ciphers in Turin are likely to be. I must confess I am not hugely optimistic about what there is to be found in Turin, but who knows. Feel free to study online inventories to see if you spot anything interesting.

When it comes to archives near Turin I suppose there could be something in Archives in Asti or Vercelli or some other nearby city/town.

(28-03-2026, 11:19 PM)Yavernoxia Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Pavia is a 3 hour drive from me, so yeah not really nearby, but it’s only a 45 minutes drive from Milan (which I do visit often, at least twice a year). Do you have anything specific you’d like to search in Padua? Which archives are worth looking into in your opinion?

There could be something of interest in->

Archivi e fondi | Biblioteche di Padova You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

Although, it doesn't immediately seem promising to me.

There could be something of interest in the Archivio storico diocesano di Padova. In the 15th century religious figures were political figures and they did write letters in cipher. (I  tracked down an enciphered letter in the Archivio Diocesano di Genova from 1421) However, I have no particular reason to suspect there might be enciphered letters in the church archives in Padova.

I believe the Comune Archives in Padua only has material from the 16th century onwards.

Of course, the University of Padua being a great historic university could have ciphers in Library/Archive. I haven't yet investigated the inventories of the university to see if I can see references to anything interesting.

I don't know of anywhere else in Padua to look, but there maybe an archive/library that I haven’t thought of. Of course, there could be private family archives with something of interest, but who knows about them?

Nearby towns like Vicenza or Ferrara could have early 15th ciphers in their archives.

(30-03-2026, 10:44 PM)Mark Knowles Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

(28-03-2026, 11:19 PM)Yavernoxia Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Pavia is a 3 hour drive from me, so yeah not really nearby, but it’s only a 45 minutes drive from Milan (which I do visit often, at least twice a year). Do you have anything specific you’d like to search in Padua? Which archives are worth looking into in your opinion?

There could be something of interest in->

Archivi e fondi | Biblioteche di Padova You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

Although, it doesn't immediately seem promising to me.

There could be something of interest in the Archivio storico diocesano di Padova. In the 15th century religious figures were political figures and they did write letters in cipher. (I  tracked down an enciphered letter in the Archivio Diocesano di Genova from 1421) However, I have no particular reason to suspect there might be enciphered letters in the church archives in Padova.

I believe the Comune Archives in Padua only has material from the 16th century onwards.

Of course, the University of Padua being a great historic university could have ciphers in Library/Archive. I haven't yet investigated the inventories of the university to see if I can see references to anything interesting.

I don't know of anywhere else in Padua to look, but there maybe an archive/library that I haven’t thought of. Of course, there could be private family archives with something of interest, but who knows about them?

Nearby towns like Vicenza or Ferrara could have early 15th ciphers in their archives.

I had an idea today, somewhat related to my previous metadata concept of using digitization to co-locate keywords or names, to create a universal identifier for each document in a rare document archive whenever a document gets checked out and scanned. The researcher can opt-in, along with the library, and choose to add a new digital tag to the document (or documents) before they are returned to the archive. The tag wouldn't be on the physical document itself, but in the library's computer system. This could allow it to link up to a worldwide index and database of documents that might not be related originally to the topic of the researcher's choosing, but can later be found using similar unique identifiers. So if I were looking for mentions of a person, and an individual in the 1400s travelled to one city in 1435, but the only record is in that town's archives, that new information can be added to the unique identifier (it can include things like page number, book title (if any), date written, city published or written in, author(s), and what cities the document had previously been in. While this would be quite an undertaking, it might simplify some research and also allow other topics to be discovered in parallel.

Edit: Things like URI exist You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. but I had something like an ORCID for historical individuals in mind and for objects.

Edit 2: While it might sound a bit like Borge's Library of Babel, there are some database systems that are optimized for large systems You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. is used by Facebook, although there are others: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. A GraphDB could also help identify relationships, but moreso on known networks (references might be inaccurate).

(30-03-2026, 10:13 PM)Mark Knowles Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

(26-03-2026, 02:44 PM)hatoncat Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I would be, although I am visiting Italy (Torino) for only a few days in late April/early May. I would be open to more long term research, and I do have a place to stay, but am currently unemployed.

It seems as if the Biblioteca di Storia e Cultura del Piemonte “Giuseppe Grosso” in Turin contains within it the Archivio della famiglia Carrone di San Tommaso which contains within it Milanese enciphered letters. The earliest of which seems to be dated to 1455. So this is rather later than I am interested in. However, it does indicate that ciphers can appear in unexpected places.

I will investigate where the best archives/libraries to hunt for early 15th century ciphers in Turin are likely to be. I must confess I am not hugely optimistic about what there is to be found in Turin, but who knows. Feel free to study online inventories to see if you spot anything interesting.

When it comes to archives near Turin I suppose there could be something in Archives in Asti or Vercelli or some other nearby city/town.

If you look in:

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

It lists various enciphered letters from 1455 onwards in their archive. Search in the document for "cifr" then you can find the various letters. Of course, in Italian cifrata means enciphered. (That at the time "zifra" was the most common spelling of the word "cipher", but spelling wasn't very consistent so "cyfra", "ziffera" and a variety of other variants could be used to spell the word "cipher"/"cifrario")

If these letters were from 20 years earlier(1435+) they would be like gold dust to me, but being from 1455+ makes them much less interesting to me.

The most interesting letter of these appears to be:

"Lettera in gran parte cifrata di Giovanni Filippo Fieschi al duca di Genova."

All the other letters are in communication with the Milanese. However this letter is in communication with the Genoese. There are lots of examples of Milanese ciphers from the 2nd half of the 15th century. However there are very very few examples of Genoese ciphers from the 15th century. So, there might be some interest in this letter.

This is an example of a nice inventory as 1) it lists every document 2) it is in a digital form so you can search inside it. Unfortunately, lots of inventories are 1) much more vague just listing the period covered and a rough idea of the kind of documents contained there 2) are not in digital form even handwritten in some cases, so without OCRing the document oneself one cannot search inside it for references to ciphers. The fact that the inventory is nice explains why I was able to locate the letters within it.

However, maybe you can find some earlier enciphered letters in Turin with luck. You might want to study the inventories to see if you can find something interesting.

(31-03-2026, 08:14 PM)hatoncat Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

(30-03-2026, 10:44 PM)Mark Knowles Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

(28-03-2026, 11:19 PM)Yavernoxia Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Pavia is a 3 hour drive from me, so yeah not really nearby, but it’s only a 45 minutes drive from Milan (which I do visit often, at least twice a year). Do you have anything specific you’d like to search in Padua? Which archives are worth looking into in your opinion?

There could be something of interest in->

Archivi e fondi | Biblioteche di Padova You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

Although, it doesn't immediately seem promising to me.

There could be something of interest in the Archivio storico diocesano di Padova. In the 15th century religious figures were political figures and they did write letters in cipher. (I  tracked down an enciphered letter in the Archivio Diocesano di Genova from 1421) However, I have no particular reason to suspect there might be enciphered letters in the church archives in Padova.

I believe the Comune Archives in Padua only has material from the 16th century onwards.

Of course, the University of Padua being a great historic university could have ciphers in Library/Archive. I haven't yet investigated the inventories of the university to see if I can see references to anything interesting.

I don't know of anywhere else in Padua to look, but there maybe an archive/library that I haven’t thought of. Of course, there could be private family archives with something of interest, but who knows about them?

Nearby towns like Vicenza or Ferrara could have early 15th ciphers in their archives.

I had an idea today, somewhat related to my previous metadata concept of using digitization to co-locate keywords or names, to create a universal identifier for each document in a rare document archive whenever a document gets checked out and scanned. The researcher can opt-in, along with the library, and choose to add a new digital tag to the document (or documents) before they are returned to the archive. The tag wouldn't be on the physical document itself, but in the library's computer system. This could allow it to link up to a worldwide index and database of documents that might not be related originally to the topic of the researcher's choosing, but can later be found using similar unique identifiers. So if I were looking for mentions of a person, and an individual in the 1400s travelled to one city in 1435, but the only record is in that town's archives, that new information can be added to the unique identifier (it can include things like page number, book title (if any), date written, city published or written in, author(s), and what cities the document had previously been in. While this would be quite an undertaking, it might simplify some research and also allow other topics to be discovered in parallel.

Edit: Things like URI exist You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. but I had something like an ORCID for historical individuals in mind and for objects.

Edit 2: While it might sound a bit like Borge's Library of Babel, there are some database systems that are optimized for large systems You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. is used by Facebook, although there are others: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. A GraphDB could also help identify relationships, but moreso on known networks (references might be inaccurate).

If you live near Yale you might want to look in Vincent Ilardi's microfilms in Yale University Library. There are lots of ciphers there and maybe some that I don't know about.

(31-03-2026, 08:33 PM)Mark Knowles Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.If you look in:

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

It lists various enciphered letters from 1455 onwards in their archive. Search in the document for "cifr" then you can find the various letters. Of course, in Italian cifrata means enciphered. (That at the time "zifra" was the most common spelling of the word "cipher", but spelling wasn't very consistent so "cyfra", "ziffera" and a variety of other variants could be used to spell the word "cipher"/"cifrario")

If these letters were from 20 years earlier(1435+) they would be like gold dust to me, but being from 1455+ makes them much less interesting to me.

The most interesting letter of these appears to be:

"Lettera in gran parte cifrata di Giovanni Filippo Fieschi al duca di Genova."

All the other letters are in communication with the Milanese. However this letter is in communication with the Genoese. There are lots of examples of Milanese ciphers from the 2nd half of the 15th century. However there are very very few examples of Genoese ciphers from the 15th century. So, there might be some interest in this letter.

However, maybe you can find some earlier enciphered letters in Turin with luck. You might want to study the inventories to see if you can find something interesting.

I like this approach. there were 14 results for "cifr". I didn't include all of the variant spellings or all 14 "cifr_". The first contains both Italian and a French word, chère, which means "dear" as in "My dear Gabrielle":

(1/14):
41. Letter signed F.F. Addressed to “Mademoiselle Agathe Pasero,
cook to H.E. the Marquis de Saint Thomas, Minister of
Foreign Affairs to His Majesty.”
Pinerolo (1816?), February 19, to Turin.
(In the letter, the sender addresses a “ma chère Gabrielle.”
It appears to be a coded letter.)
2 leaves

(2/14):
57. Chanulieu (?) Due sono le firme, delle quali una, assolutamente indecifrabile. Friburgo 1842, 22 febbraio a (Torino).

57. Chanulieu (?)
There are two signatures, one of which is absolutely indecipherable.
Fribourg, February 22, 1842, to (Turin).

(4/14):
19. “Montobio” 1455, 20 ottobre
Lettera in gran parte cifrata di Giovanni Filippo Fieschi al duca di
Genova.
19. “Montobio,” October 20, 1455
Largely ciphered letter from Giovanni Filippo Fieschi to the Duke of
Genoa.

(6/14)
11. Genova 1456, 29 aprile Lettera, con alcuni brani cifrati, di Corrado Stanga al duca di Milano. (Informazioni sul comportamento di personaggi genovesi). cc. 2

11. Genoa, April 29, 1456
Letter, containing some ciphered passages, from Corrado Stanga to the Duke of
Milan.
(Information regarding the conduct of prominent Genoese figures).
2 folios

(7/14)
"28. Castelletto 1456, 7 luglio Antonio Lanzo a Guglielmo suo fratello. (Due esemplari). (Arresto di un corriere del Doge che si reva in Francia con lettere, capitoli e documenti cifrati). c. 1

28. Castelletto, July 7, 1456
Antonio Lanzo to Guglielmo, his brother.
(Two copies). (Arrest of a courier of the Doge traveling to
France with letters, articles, and ciphered documents).
fol. 1

(8/14):
20. Genova 1456, 27 settembre Pietro Cotta a Cico Simoneta di Calabria, segretario del duca di Milano. (Protesta per gli errori commessi dagli estensori dei messaggi cifrati).

20. Genoa 1456, September 27
Pietro Cotta to Cico Simoneta of Calabria, secretary to the Duke of
Milan.
(Protest over the errors made by the writers of the
encrypted messages).

(9/14):
25. Genova 1456, 5 ottobre
Pietro Cott al duca di Milano
(Comunicazioni cifrate relative al possibile accordo tra i Francesi e
il Doge).

25. Genoa, October 5, 1456
Pietro Cott to the Duke of Milan
(Coded dispatches concerning the possible agreement between the French and
the Doge).
2 folios

(10/14):
26. Genova 1456, 6 ottobre
Lettera cifrata di Pietro Cotta al duca di Milano
(Notizie sulle pratiche francesi in Genova).
c. 1

26. Genoa, October 6, 1456
Coded letter from Pietro Cotta to the Duke of Milan
(Information regarding French intrigues in Genoa).
fol. 1

(11/14):
30. Genova 1456, 16 ottobre
Lettera cifrata di Pietro Cotta e di Giovanni della Guardia al duca
di Milano.
(Notizie in genere sulla situazione in Genova).
c. 1

30. Genoa, October 16, 1456
Coded letter from Pietro Cotta and Giovanni della Guardia to the Duke
of Milan.
(General intelligence regarding the situation in Genoa).
fol. 1

(12/14):
40. Genova 1456, 12 novembre Lettera cifrata di Pietro Cotta al duca di Milano. (Il Re d'Aragona arma 13 navi per l'impresa di Genova. I Doria e gli Adorno alleati contro il Doge). c. 1

40. Genoa, November 12, 1456
Coded letter from Pietro Cotta to the Duke of Milan.
(The King of Aragon is arming 13 ships for the expedition against Genoa. The Doria and Adorno families are allied against the Doge.)
c. 1

(13/14):
41. Genova 1456, 12 novembre “hora 4 noctis”
Lettera cifrata di Pietro Cotta al duca di Milano.
(Relazione d'un colloquio avuto col Doge).
c. 1

41. Genoa, November 12, 1456, “at the fourth hour of the night”
Coded letter from Pietro Cotta to the Duke of Milan.
(Account of a conversation held with the Doge).
fol. 1

(14/14):
49. Genova 1456, 28 novembre Lettera cifrata di Pietro Cotta al duca di Milano (Il Doge invia segretamente il proprio fratello a trattare col Re d'Aragona).

49. Genoa, November 28, 1456
Ciphered letter from Pietro Cotta to the Duke of Milan
(The Doge secretly dispatches his own brother to negotiate with the King
of Aragon).
c. 1

(31-03-2026, 09:18 PM)hatoncat Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

(31-03-2026, 08:33 PM)Mark Knowles Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.If you look in:

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

It lists various enciphered letters from 1455 onwards in their archive. Search in the document for "cifr" then you can find the various letters. Of course, in Italian cifrata means enciphered. (That at the time "zifra" was the most common spelling of the word "cipher", but spelling wasn't very consistent so "cyfra", "ziffera" and a variety of other variants could be used to spell the word "cipher"/"cifrario")

If these letters were from 20 years earlier(1435+) they would be like gold dust to me, but being from 1455+ makes them much less interesting to me.

The most interesting letter of these appears to be:

"Lettera in gran parte cifrata di Giovanni Filippo Fieschi al duca di Genova."

All the other letters are in communication with the Milanese. However this letter is in communication with the Genoese. There are lots of examples of Milanese ciphers from the 2nd half of the 15th century. However there are very very few examples of Genoese ciphers from the 15th century. So, there might be some interest in this letter.

However, maybe you can find some earlier enciphered letters in Turin with luck. You might want to study the inventories to see if you can find something interesting.

(4/14):
19. “Montobio” 1455, 20 ottobre
Lettera in gran parte cifrata di Giovanni Filippo Fieschi al duca di
Genova.
19. “Montobio,” October 20, 1455
Largely ciphered letter from Giovanni Filippo Fieschi to the Duke of
Genoa.

This has some interesting background: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. (doesnt mention him but the family?)

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Edit: there are multiple names, one is in the 16th century, but this appears to be in the 15th: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

(31-03-2026, 09:18 PM)hatoncat Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I like this approach. there were 14 results for "cifr". I didn't include all of the variant spellings or all 14 "cifr_".

(4/14):
19. “Montobio” 1455, 20 ottobre
Lettera in gran parte cifrata di Giovanni Filippo Fieschi al duca di
Genova.
19. “Montobio,” October 20, 1455
Largely ciphered letter from Giovanni Filippo Fieschi to the Duke of
Genoa.

(6/14)
11. Genova 1456, 29 aprile Lettera, con alcuni brani cifrati, di Corrado Stanga al duca di Milano. (Informazioni sul comportamento di personaggi genovesi). cc. 2

11. Genoa, April 29, 1456
Letter, containing some ciphered passages, from Corrado Stanga to the Duke of
Milan.
(Information regarding the conduct of prominent Genoese figures).
2 folios

(7/14)
"28. Castelletto 1456, 7 luglio Antonio Lanzo a Guglielmo suo fratello. (Due esemplari). (Arresto di un corriere del Doge che si reva in Francia con lettere, capitoli e documenti cifrati). c. 1

28. Castelletto, July 7, 1456
Antonio Lanzo to Guglielmo, his brother.
(Two copies). (Arrest of a courier of the Doge traveling to
France with letters, articles, and ciphered documents).
fol. 1

(8/14):
20. Genova 1456, 27 settembre Pietro Cotta a Cico Simoneta di Calabria, segretario del duca di Milano. (Protesta per gli errori commessi dagli estensori dei messaggi cifrati).

20. Genoa 1456, September 27
Pietro Cotta to Cico Simoneta of Calabria, secretary to the Duke of
Milan.
(Protest over the errors made by the writers of the
encrypted messages).

(9/14):
25. Genova 1456, 5 ottobre
Pietro Cott al duca di Milano
(Comunicazioni cifrate relative al possibile accordo tra i Francesi e
il Doge).

25. Genoa, October 5, 1456
Pietro Cott to the Duke of Milan
(Coded dispatches concerning the possible agreement between the French and
the Doge).
2 folios

(10/14):
26. Genova 1456, 6 ottobre
Lettera cifrata di Pietro Cotta al duca di Milano
(Notizie sulle pratiche francesi in Genova).
c. 1

26. Genoa, October 6, 1456
Coded letter from Pietro Cotta to the Duke of Milan
(Information regarding French intrigues in Genoa).
fol. 1

(11/14):
30. Genova 1456, 16 ottobre
Lettera cifrata di Pietro Cotta e di Giovanni della Guardia al duca
di Milano.
(Notizie in genere sulla situazione in Genova).
c. 1

30. Genoa, October 16, 1456
Coded letter from Pietro Cotta and Giovanni della Guardia to the Duke
of Milan.
(General intelligence regarding the situation in Genoa).
fol. 1

(12/14):
40. Genova 1456, 12 novembre Lettera cifrata di Pietro Cotta al duca di Milano. (Il Re d'Aragona arma 13 navi per l'impresa di Genova. I Doria e gli Adorno alleati contro il Doge). c. 1

40. Genoa, November 12, 1456
Coded letter from Pietro Cotta to the Duke of Milan.
(The King of Aragon is arming 13 ships for the expedition against Genoa. The Doria and Adorno families are allied against the Doge.)
c. 1

(13/14):
41. Genova 1456, 12 novembre “hora 4 noctis”
Lettera cifrata di Pietro Cotta al duca di Milano.
(Relazione d'un colloquio avuto col Doge).
c. 1

41. Genoa, November 12, 1456, “at the fourth hour of the night”
Coded letter from Pietro Cotta to the Duke of Milan.
(Account of a conversation held with the Doge).
fol. 1

(14/14):
49. Genova 1456, 28 novembre Lettera cifrata di Pietro Cotta al duca di Milano (Il Doge invia segretamente il proprio fratello a trattare col Re d'Aragona).

49. Genoa, November 28, 1456
Ciphered letter from Pietro Cotta to the Duke of Milan
(The Doge secretly dispatches his own brother to negotiate with the King
of Aragon).
c. 1

The problem with those letters is the date. We have great riches of examples of Milanese ciphers from the 2nd half of the 15th century. We have lots of enciphered letters in the Archivio di Stato di Milano and we have the Tranchedino Cipher Ledger in Vienna(and the Albertoni Cipher Ledger in Cremona). However, in large part due to the 1447 fire in the Chancellery in Milan we have a poverty of examples of Milanese ciphers from the first half the 15th century. There are a few examples, but you can count them on the fingers of at most 2 hands. I suspect also that ciphers were probably used less often in the Milanese chancellery in the 1st half of the 15th century than in the 2nd half of the 15th century when Francesco Sforza became Duke and Cicco Simonetta his chancellor. The examples we have from the first half of the 15th century are: the 1397 enciphered letter in the Sercambi book, the 1424 enciphered letters in the Florence Archives and a few from 1440 onwards. I am very interested in seeing examples of Milanese ciphers from between 1425 and 1439 especially from the period 1425 to 1433 when Francesco Barbavara was head of the Milan Chancellery given that I associate the Barbavara with the Voynich. The sophistication of the 1424 cipher justifies an interest in Milanese ciphers of this period.

(31-03-2026, 09:51 PM)Mark Knowles Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.The problem with those letters is the date. We have great riches of examples of Milanese ciphers from the 2nd half of the 15th century. We have lots of enciphered letters in the Archivio di Stato di Milano and we have the Tranchedino Cipher Ledger in Vienna(and the Albertoni Cipher Ledger in Cremona). However, in large part due to the 1447 fire in the Chancellery in Milan we have a poverty of examples of Milanese ciphers from the first half the 15th century. There are a few examples, but you can count them on the fingers of at most 2 hands. I suspect also that ciphers were probably used less often in the Milanese chancellery in the 1st half of the 15th century than in the 2nd half of the 15th century when Francesco Sforza became Duke and Cicco Simonetta his chancellor. The examples we have from the first half of the 15th century are: the 1397 enciphered letter in the Sercambi book, the 1424 enciphered letters in the Florence Archives and a few from 1440 onwards. I am very interested in seeing examples of Milanese ciphers from between 1425 and 1439 especially from the period 1425 to 1433 when Francesco Barbavara was head of the Milan Chancellery given that I associate the Barbavara with the Voynich. The sophistication of the 1424 cipher justifies an interest in Milanese ciphers of this period.

I can look into Barbavera. Just a cursory search and selecting two top results, I found a JStor article and a Wikipedia entry on a possibly different Barbavera from the late 1300s but died before 1415:
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Same article in: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
"The most revealing of these materials is the dedication of the Supple-
mentum to Francesco Barbavara (died c. 1445), secretary of Filippo Maria
Visconti (1392-1447), duke of Milan."

It's possible the Wikipedia entry has it incorrect if it's not a different one. There is only a single language, so notes may be limited. 

Edit: This covers the minister of Milan: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

(01-04-2026, 05:04 PM)hatoncat Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

(31-03-2026, 09:51 PM)Mark Knowles Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.The problem with those letters is the date. We have great riches of examples of Milanese ciphers from the 2nd half of the 15th century. We have lots of enciphered letters in the Archivio di Stato di Milano and we have the Tranchedino Cipher Ledger in Vienna(and the Albertoni Cipher Ledger in Cremona). However, in large part due to the 1447 fire in the Chancellery in Milan we have a poverty of examples of Milanese ciphers from the first half the 15th century. There are a few examples, but you can count them on the fingers of at most 2 hands. I suspect also that ciphers were probably used less often in the Milanese chancellery in the 1st half of the 15th century than in the 2nd half of the 15th century when Francesco Sforza became Duke and Cicco Simonetta his chancellor. The examples we have from the first half of the 15th century are: the 1397 enciphered letter in the Sercambi book, the 1424 enciphered letters in the Florence Archives and a few from 1440 onwards. I am very interested in seeing examples of Milanese ciphers from between 1425 and 1439 especially from the period 1425 to 1433 when Francesco Barbavara was head of the Milan Chancellery given that I associate the Barbavara with the Voynich. The sophistication of the 1424 cipher justifies an interest in Milanese ciphers of this period.

I can look into Barbavera. Just a cursory search and selecting two top results, I found a JStor article and a Wikipedia entry on a possibly different Barbavera from the late 1300s but died before 1415:
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"The most revealing of these materials is the dedication of the Supple-
mentum to Francesco Barbavara (died c. 1445), secretary of Filippo Maria
Visconti (1392-1447), duke of Milan."

It's possible the Wikipedia entry has it incorrect if it's not a different one. There is only a single language, so notes may be limited. 

Edit: This covers the minister of Milan: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

I know a lot about the Barbavara family. In fact I have met the surviving members of this family. There are two different Francesco Barbavaras from the 15th century. The first ran the government of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Duke of Milan. There is a cipher key in the Cipher Ledger of Francesco Gonzaga in Mantova headed "Francesco Barbavara" from around 1400(I forgot to mention this). The second and the person I am more interested in was Ducal Secretary and Head of the Chancellery to Filippo Maria Visconti, Duke of Milan, from 1425 to 1433. One can also find enciphered letters written by his brother Marcolino Barbavara from the 1440s in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in the Library in Paris. Of course, the ciphers I refer to here can be found in my archive. I particularly associate the Voynich manuscript with another brother Abbot Antonio Barbavara who collected rare plants and had an interest in medical and scientific matters.(The first Francesco Barbavara was the uncle of the second Francesco Barbavara.)

I really appreciate your assistance. I think the most useful things you could do, in my opinion, would be to study the inventories available online for the Turin archives and/or any other archives in towns/cities you might be able to visit nearby. You might then be able to determine if they have early 15th century documents than might include ciphers.

Alternatively, I increasingly think a useful exercise would be to go through the cipher ledgers for Lucca and Mantova in my archive and identify who all the correspondents were and who those correspondents worked for. These involves the difficult, but not impossible task of, trying to read the handwriting and then researching who that person was. For example, as I said, one of the cipher keys in the Mantova Ledger is headed "Francesco Barbavara" if I didn't know who that was I could research him with Google and discover that he worked for the Duke of Milan.

Anyway, anything you can do to advance our knowledge of early 15th century cryptography would be of value. However, I daresay you have other responsibilities to take your time, so you must not do more than is feasible for you.

Also, if you need any support or help in this research let me know and I will do my best to be of assistance.