Archive Proximity

[Mark Knowles]

There are possibly other examples of Venetian ciphers that survive. In the Cipher Ledger of Paolo Guinigi, Lord of Lucca, which is in the Lucca State Archives, there is a cipher key which was used in communication with Venetian Republic envoys which I suspect may have been designed by the Venetian envoys. I also recall a cipher key in the Tranchedino Cipher Ledger which I suspect may have been Venetian in origin. If you want more information on these you can ask.

Thank you Mark. I have been mining your archive and not yet seen it, so any pointers greatly appreciated.

There is a cipher key for Marino Caravello, Zaccaria Trevisano and Bernardo de Dandolo who were representatives of the Republic of Venice. If my memory serves me correctly it dates from 1408. It was used in negotiations between the Pope and Antipope.

It can also be found in Meister's book "Die Anfänge der modernen diplomatischen Geheimschrift".

Hi Mark,

Can you remember which folio it is? I've processed the first 2/3rds and I may have missed it.

Just uploaded it above in my previous comment. The only thing that is unusual are the substitutions for numbers(And the substitution for Anticardinals). One doesn't see that in most cipher keys.

I remember the possible Venetian cipher in the Tranchedino was unusual only in that it contained an unusually large of homophones for individual letters of the alphabet. But it dated from the 1460s if my memory serves me well.