At a glanceNot a cipher
- The letter
- Beatrice d’Aragona, widow of Matthias Corvinus, to her nephew Cardinal Ippolito d’Este, Naples, 29 May 1505.
- Where
- Archivio di Stato di Modena, Carteggio Principi Esteri, 1623, b. 2/7, 11 (not b. 2/2); DECODE R1154, dated there 1504. Catalogue item 160.
- The document
- Ordinary Italian chancery writing with its usual abbreviations, no substituted signs; printed by Berzeviczy (1914) no. CCCII.
- What it says
- Letters for the cardinal of Esztergom are to go by a trusted messenger; she writes no more, “per non havere cifra”.
Catalogue item 160 grouped five letters of Beatrice d’Aragona, Queen of Hungary, to Ferrara; since 14 October 2026 each cipher, and the plain letter, has its own page: the 1482 letters, 8 March 1486, 2 May 1486 and the plain letter of 1505.
01 “We have no cipher”
R1154 is ordinary Italian chancery writing. Beatrice asks Ippolito to send a trusted messenger with letters for the cardinal of Esztergom, giving the journey the appearance of Ippolito’s own business. She then explains why she will not write more:
Et per non esser certa che le littere pervengano secure, et per non havere cifra: non ce extendemo altramente per questa
“Because we are not certain the letters will arrive safely, and because we have no cipher, we do not go into further detail in this letter.” Berzeviczy prints it as no. CCCII. The manuscript’s final dating clause, M° quingentesimo quinto, agrees with its docket and photograph label: 1505, not 1504.
02 Sources
- Albert Berzeviczy, ed., Aragoniai Beatrix magyar királyné életére vonatkozó okiratok (1914), no. CCCII, pp. 423–424.
- Archivio di Stato di Modena, Carteggio Principi Esteri, via DECODE R1154; photographs downloaded for private research.
OCR extract of the printed source: targets/beatrice1505/.