01 The letter
| Shelfmark | BnF Italien 2061 · ff72v–73r, 95v–96r, 97v–98r |
|---|---|
| Sender | Antonio Bianchi (XXIII); Piero Lusco (XXXI), as written in the visible subscriptions |
| Recipient | Signor Castrino / Castrini, as written |
| Date | XXIII: Venice, 3 February 1610; XXXI: Ferrara, 3 August 1610 |
| Language | Italian |
| Report status | 6/6 pages transcribed; 6/6 pages deciphered |
| Ciphertext | 256 elements, 254 identified (99.2%) |
02 The key
95 accepted codes: 20 letter codes, 68 word/month codes, 7 nulls
- Key in the same volume
- Original matching codebook in the same volume, PDF 129–131 (Gallica views 126–128).
03 The decipherment
f73r, first five complete body lines
per questa volta, et dirli con queste sole parole Che Dal Villeroy et Dal Amb.r Del Re Qui E Con querimonia Che F.P. Communica Con Riformati Di Francia causa Perche Non scriue Di sua mano resto tutto
Translation. For this occasion, I will say only this: Villeroy and the king’s ambassador here complain that F.P. communicates with the Reformed in France; this is why he does not write in his own hand. I remain wholly …
04 Plaintext and other sources
Where a decipherment or clear copy already existed, as George Lasry gives it:
- Plaintext in another folio of the same volume
- Corresponding historical plaintext for letter XXIII, f131r (PDF 136, right face).
05 Our check
This result is George Lasry’s. This project did not re-solve the cipher: it checked one sample against the Gallica image and recorded what it found.
- Batch B. Image checked: https://openapi.bnf.fr/iiif/image/v3/ark:/12148/btv1b10033498f/f74/full/1600,/0/default.jpg
- Folio matches the report: yes; cipher present: yes
- What we checked: f73r: after clear "per questa volta et dirli con queste sole parole": u35 u32 / m13 u2 u32 t41 u31 t38 u18 -> Che Dal / [Villeroy] et Dal [Amb.] Del [Re] Qui; u-codes checked against the original codebook page in his crop (u2 et, u18 Qui, u31 Del, u32 Dal, u35 Che) = his excerpt
- Verdict: confirmed (method read with known key, extent complete). The check is a sample, not a re-solution.
- Notes: Original codebook in the same volume (views 126-128) and a clear copy of letter XXIII at f131r; signed Antonio Bianchi, Venice 3 Feb 1610, to Castrino. 99.2%.
06 Sources
- George Lasry, with ChatGPT Astra 6 and Anthropic Opus 5.5, BnF cipher research, 10 October 2026 (sent to Daniel Bourdeau on 13 October 2026 for publication here), p. 126; his other items are listed on his contributor card.
- image checked in the spot-check
- The working folder:
targets/bianchi/(his entry as extracted from the report, our spot-check,profile.json).