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Barbavara Ciphers

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Barbavara Ciphers

Mark Knowles > 18-06-2026, 01:50 PM

Francesco I Barbavara's cipher key in the Archivio di Stato di Mantova

His 6 nephews, the brothers->

Marcolino Barbavara's enciphered letters in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in the Library of Paris

Francesco II Barbavara intercepted letter referring to ciphers that he sent in the Archivio di Stato di Firenze

Bishop Giovanni Barbavara's cipher key in the Archivio Diocesano di Tortona

Abbot Antonio Barbavara who I associated with the authorship of the Voynich manuscript on the basis of a cartographic theory long before I knew of any connection of his family to cryptography

Nicolino Barbavara, Mayor of Vercelli(No known surviving ciphers)

Pietro Barbavara, Apostolic Protonotary(No known surviving ciphers)

Son of Marcolino->

Scipione Barbavara's cipher key in the Tranchedino Cipher Ledger in the Austrian Library in Vienna

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I am most focused now in locating ciphers written by Francesco II Barbavara.

Unfortunately, I haven't yet seen any surviving document in cipher or not in cipher written by Abbot Antonio. Although, I know a certain amount about him from various sources including his great interest in and collection of varieties of plants as the plaque in the Abbey where he was Abbot states.

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Surviving evidence shows that the chancellery of Milan was responsible for producing the most advanced and innovative ciphers in the world at the time from which the Voynich manuscript was dated. See, in particular, the 1424 intercepted Milanese enciphered letters in the Archivio di Stato di Firenze.

And the Barbavara family were at the centre of Milanese cryptography. Francesco I Barbavara is credited with having created the first modern foreign office under Duke of Milan, Gian Galeazzo Visconti. Francesco II Barbavara was Ducal Secretary and Head of the chancellery of Duke of Milan, Filippo Maria Visconti. Marcolino Barbavara was a prominent diplomat in the government of Filippo Maria Visconti.
RE: Barbavara Ciphers

Mark Knowles > 19-06-2026, 09:39 AM

Why I am particularly interested in locating ciphers used by Francesco II Barbavara?

He was Ducal Secretary and ran the Visconti chancellery from 1425 to 1433. I am particularly interested in seeing Milanese ciphers from this period.

Where do I hope that I might find an example of these ciphers?

It is hard to know. Maybe in the Vatican Apostolic Archives as there were Milanese enciphered letters intercepted by the Papacy in 1431. Maybe in the Archivio di Stato di Firenze there may be more examples of early 15th-century Milanese intercepted ciphers. Maybe in the Biblioteca Bonetta in Pavia where there are many early 15th century Lettere Ducali. Maybe somewhere else? Como or Lucca or ....

How do I expect to find out more about Abbot Antonio Barbavara?

The main source that I have about him is the guide book about the Abbazia di Santi Nazzaro e Celso. However the authors did not provide sources for much of the information about him in the book. I have been in contact with the authors and they don’t remember which sources that they used. One of the sources is a earlier book written by Aina which I have a copy of. I have focused my research at the moment on collecting more early 15th century ciphers rather than tracking down information on the Abbot which I suspect would require considerable time on the ground in Piedmont and Lombardy as the Abbey had no archive of its own, so one would have to look in the archives of Borgomanero, Novara, Vercelli, Alessandria, Milan, Vatican and who knows which other archives.
RE: Barbavara Ciphers

Mark Knowles > 19-06-2026, 02:12 PM

This is the main text about the Abbey which includes quite a bit of biographical information about Abbot Antonio Barbavara who was the most important Abbot in the abbey's history. (Unfortunately, with few footnotes indicating the sources for the information.)
RE: Barbavara Ciphers

Mark Knowles > 19-06-2026, 02:15 PM

This is an earlier book which was used as a source for the later book (above).
RE: Barbavara Ciphers

Mark Knowles > 19-06-2026, 02:18 PM

Neither of these books is available digitally. And whilst I do have a digital copy of the later book I have been asked by one of the authors not to share it.
RE: Barbavara Ciphers

Mark Knowles > 19-06-2026, 10:14 PM

I first hypothesised that Abbot Antonio Barbavara was the author of the Voynich manuscript in March 2017, so over 9 years ago now.

This was as I identified the bottom right rosette of folio 86v as representing the Abbazia di Santi Nazzaro e Celso by the Sesia river and Antonio Barbavara was the Abbot from 1428 to 1469. I identified this rosette with that location based on its appearance and geographical location relative to my other cartographic identifications on that folio. I have described that theory in more detail elsewhere on this forum, although if you wish to see the full theory you will have to contact me.

I recently identified a cipher key originally photographed by Marco Ponzi in the Cathedral Archives in Tortona as being dated to the early 1440s and being one used by Bishop Giovanni Barbavara who was Bishop of Tortona from 1437 to 1460. I dated the cipher key on the basis of the references to individuals in the nomenclature. (Marco Ponzi originally said that he thought that the cipher key was late 15th century, so I was less interested in it at that time.) Given the rarity of early 15th century ciphers this is another little piece of evidence of the cryptographic skills of the brothers and wider family of Abbot Antonio Barbavara. And also given its early 1440s date another piece of evidence about early 15th century Milanese cryptography.
RE: Barbavara Ciphers

Mark Knowles > 19-06-2026, 10:28 PM

I have posted links elsewhere on the forum to an article and presentations that I have done on early 15th century cryptography.
RE: Barbavara Ciphers

nickpelling > 20-06-2026, 04:42 PM

Hi Mark,

For the f20 cipher key you sent me, the nomenclatura offers a few hints:

- It mentions “Antipapa” in the third column: the last antipope was Felix (aka Duke Amadeus VIII of Savoy), who died in 1449.
- It also includes (I’m reasonably sure) Cardinal di Flisco, which I think means Cardinal Giorgio Fieschi, who was made a cardinal in 1439..
- If the reference on the last verso line of the nomenclator is to John IV, Count of Armagnac, I suspect that would probably date the key to 1444 at the latest. This was when Jean was captured at L’Isle-Jourdain in Gascony, and then imprisoned for three years in Carcassonne. I believe his international intrigue and dabbling happened prior to 1444 (he died in 1450), but I could be wrong.

So I'd say the dating from the nomenclature would seem to indicate a solid range of 1439-1449, but perhaps 1439-1444.

Hope this helps!, Nick
RE: Barbavara Ciphers

Mark Knowles > 24-06-2026, 01:15 PM

Hi Nick,

That was very helpful as always.

I didn't manage to read it myself, but I bet you are right about Cardinal Fieschi.

Your dating fits with my own, but on a somewhat different basis. So, that is very encouraging.

I read the following:

Comes Urbinatis = Count of Urbino (In 1443 he became the Duke of Urbino “Dux Urbinatis “)

Rex Ladislaus = Maybe Ladislaus the Posthumous (who became King in 1440)

Baptista Luxiardus = Maybe Baptista De Franchi Luxardus

Imperator Antiquus = Old Holy Roman Emperor(Albert II)

Imperator Novus = New Holy Roman Emperor(Frederick III)

Papa = Pope

Collegium Cardinalinis = College of Cardinals

Comes Papiae = Count of Pavia (Normally the male heir to the Duchy of Milan)

Rex Aragonum = King of Aragon (Who was a major player in Italian politics due to his control of Sardinia, Sicily and later Kingdom of Naples after 1442)

Legatus Bononie = Legate of Bologna

Marchio Monferratis = Marquis of Monferrat

Sigismondus Hungarica = Sigismund of Hungary

Rex Angliae = King of England

Rex Franciae = King of France

Rex Yspania = King of Spain (As distinct from the the King of Aragon)

Cardinalis Ariminei(Maybe)

As far as titles go we have:

Rex = King
Cardinalinus = Cardinal
Dux = Duke
Comes = Count
Imperator = Emperor

Roma = Rome

Neapolis = Naples

Venetie = Venice

Florentia = Florence

Mediolanum = Milan

Papiae = Pavia

Janua = Genoa

Tordona = Tortona

Aste = Asti

Padua = Padua

Ferrara = Ferrara

Occidentalis = West

Orientalis = East

Bononie = Bologna

Now one other title we is something like: “dns~”. I think this is “Dominus”.

The fact that Giovanni Barbavara was Bishop of Tortona from 1437 to 1460 and that the key is dated to the early 1440s and is in the Bishop’s Archive makes it very tempting to believe that it must have been used by Bishop Giovanni Barbavara, however that doesn’t yet prove beyond any doubt that it was his cipher key.

What is most interesting is the title and last line of the cipher key which I am having difficulty reading. This presumably is the correspondent with whom the cipher key is to be used. In fact this person occurs 3 times: once in the title of the cipher, once in the last line of the cipher key and once in the nomenclature.
RE: Barbavara Ciphers

Rafal > 24-06-2026, 01:30 PM

Rex Ladislaus is probably Polish king Ladislaus of Varna. He died in battle of Varna in 1444. He is mentioned in many Italian diplomatic sources as Italian states were together with him invlolved in war with Turks.
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