26-08-2022, 10:45 PM
Mark: the 15th century history of cryptography is a topic I find fascinating, though I do find it annoying how dominant the "arms race" account of the period (most widely popularized by David Kahn) has become, particularly among those people who like to lecture others on it.
The central problem with that is that it relies on an absurdly flawed view of technological history as an inevitable progression that only ever ratchets forward, where knowledge percolates instantly, and where techniques are incrementally perfected. So be mindful that Kahn is merely the first word on this, not the last.
As an aside, I'm somewhat in awe of your resilience and persistence in finding so many 1400-1450 ciphers - the reference books I'd read were unanimous in asserting that there were almost none, but clearly they were wrong.
Reconstructing the secret history of cryptography in this half-century remains a huge challenge (one that I've tried to contribute towards in my own way), but the ciphers you've found surely make this more achievable.
The central problem with that is that it relies on an absurdly flawed view of technological history as an inevitable progression that only ever ratchets forward, where knowledge percolates instantly, and where techniques are incrementally perfected. So be mindful that Kahn is merely the first word on this, not the last.
As an aside, I'm somewhat in awe of your resilience and persistence in finding so many 1400-1450 ciphers - the reference books I'd read were unanimous in asserting that there were almost none, but clearly they were wrong.
Reconstructing the secret history of cryptography in this half-century remains a huge challenge (one that I've tried to contribute towards in my own way), but the ciphers you've found surely make this more achievable.