Ambrogio Bizozola to Maximilian Sforza, Bologna, 4 November 1529

Summary. Catalogue item 176 is a letter from Ambrogio Bizozola to Maximilian Sforza. Maximilian was Duke of Milan until 1515 and lived in France until his death in 1530. On DECODE the letter has no decipherment (“Non-decrypted”), and its images are behind a login. Tomokiyo’s page on the ciphers of the Montmorency volumes shows a key table for it, signed by George Lasry on 5 November 2023: one invented sign per letter, A to V, and five signs left unknown. The volume is digitised on Gallica (ark btv1b90600370, views 246–251). Every line of the first page and some later lines were cut from the full-resolution scans and transcribed, and Lasry’s table decrypted them to Italian at once. The text itself forced a few homophones: one sign serves for a and u, and the long s serves for both f and s. The first page reports, from “a man worthy of faith”, that the Emperor’s council had several times discussed dividing the state of Milan: pieces for the Duke of Savoy, the Marquis of Monferrato, the Marquis of Mantua and the Duke of Ferrara, and Milan itself for a duke whose name is not yet clear. The second page reports that the Emperor is at the Certosa a mile outside the town, that “tomorrow is the entry”, and that the cardinals and the ambassadors of Venice and Milan went out to meet him. The date line on the last page reads “Bologna, quattro del … novembre”, and Charles V entered Bologna on 5 November 1529. The sign that Lasry left as unknown, ꝏ, is a line-end filler. A second pass at double scale settled the doubtful lines: the Archbishop of Bari’s opinion was that Milan should rather go to Duke Maximilian, “che di ragione li viene”, the recipient himself; the others named are Alessandro Attavante and Iacopo Salviati. 54 of 1907 signs stay doubtful (97% deciphered), among them the numerals of the date line.

The head of f. 156r: the clear salutation and the first lines of invented signs — BnF fr. 3034 f. 156r (Gallica view 246): the clear salutation *Ill.mo mio sig.or sempre cordiall.mo* and the first cipher lines, *per le mie ultime di Cremona… intese molte cose*. Image: Bibliothèque nationale de France, fr. 3034 f. 156r, via Gallica (view 246).

01 The letter and the key

The letter is no. 69 of fr. 3034, one of the Montmorency volumes of Italian despatches. It fills ff. 156r–157v. The salutation, the closing (D. V. Ill.ma Ex.tia … sig.ria) and the signature (Humil.e Ser.or Ambrosio Bizozola) are in clear, and everything else is in cipher. The address is on the following leaf: Allo Ill.mo et Ex.mo Principe Il S. Maximiliano Sforza … patron suo osser.mo … In Franza, Ala Corte. DECODE dates it 1520/1529. The clear parts carry no date. The cipher does: the last lines read Bologna, quattro del … novembre, and the letter describes the eve of the Emperor’s entry into the town. Charles V entered Bologna on 5 November 1529, so the letter is of 4 November 1529. The year is inferred, not written.

Lasry’s table gives one sign for each letter: A ʒ, B 7, C a 9 with a tail, D 1, E ꝗ, F ʃ, G 2, H 6, I 8, L ʓ, M ε, N Γ, O 11, P a tall cross, Q Ꝗ, R a T-shaped stroke, S ɗ, T and V two further signs. Words are separated by spaces. The text adds four refinements. A long-looped sign that is not drawn in the table as published stands for t, as molte, intese and rotta require. ʒ is used for u as well as a (aolte = volte, daca = duca). The long s is used for f and for s (fatti, consiglio). In the postscript a small cross stands for e. Lasry’s “unknown” ꝏ occurs only at the ends of lines, where a word runs on (al duca ꝏ / di Savoia), so it is a filler. Two or three other unknown signs occur only in the date line and are probably its numerals.

02 The decipherment

f. 156r, normalised; square brackets mark stretches not yet secure.

Per le mie ultime di Cremona et far[..] [ꝏ] e de qui [..] intese molte cose de le actione de misere [..] i figli[..], come sono passato li [..] con lo imperatore, et che molte volte si è misso ogni cosa in rotta. Qua ho saputo per uno omo degno di fede che per questi rumori che il consiglio del imperatore più volte hanno fatti di grandi discorsi sopra il ducato [..], dicendo che [..] Francesco [..] uno altro [..] di fare molte parte dil stato: al duca [ꝏ] di Savoia, al marchese di Monferrato, al marchese di Mantua, al duca di Ferrara, et Milano al duca Alisandro; in questo ragionamento dise l’arciepiscopo di Baro: meglio io seria darlo al duca Maximiliano, che di ragione li viene …

(f. 156v, ll. 13–17) … domane sarà l’intrata. Non di meno oggi li è andato incontra tutti li cardinali et ambassatori; quello di Venecia et de Milano hanno parlato [a] Sua Maiestà cossì a cavallo.

(postscript, f. 157v) Sono molti giorni non ho vostre littere; avere il recepto di questa …

The rest of f. 156v weighs whether Duke Francesco would have to be satisfied and what his brother should have, and says that the writer has written to the Pope. f. 157r concerns “misere Iulio”, a negotiation together with the Venetians, waiting to see whether the duke will come, Trivulzio, and the promise of a cardinal’s hat. f. 157v hopes that the affair of misere Iulio will pass into the Pope’s power, mentions ten thousand scudi of income a year, and ends with the date line. The decoder output, line by line, is reading_raw.txt in the repository.

In English, f. 156r: “By my last from Cremona … Here I have learned from a man worthy of faith that the Emperor’s council has several times held great discussions about the duchy … of making many parts of the state: to the Duke of Savoy, to the Marquis of Monferrato, to the Marquis of Mantua, to the Duke of Ferrara, and Milan to the duke …; in this discussion the Archbishop of Bari said … I believe that if this were done, Duke Francesco would have to be satisfied …”

Three lines of f. 156r listing the beneficiaries of the partition — f. 156r, lines 15–17: *marchese di Mantua al duca di Ferrara / et Milano al duca … in questo / ragionamento …* Image: Bibliothèque nationale de France, fr. 3034 f. 156r, lines 15–17, via Gallica (view 246).

03 Method

A grep of Tomokiyo’s saved page for “3034” turned up the section and Lasry’s key image. The Gallica SRU query dc.source adj "Français 3034" returned the volume, and a contact sheet of views 240–251 located the letter. The full-resolution natives were cut into lines by a horizontal ink projection. Each line was transcribed by eye into shape codes (codes.txt), and decode.py applied the key. The homophones listed above came from words that the plain table left one letter off.

04 What remains

The numerals in the date line (f. 157v ll. 9–10): three signs with no second occurrence.
About 35 signs in four lines (listed in doubtful.txt) that do not resolve on the Gallica scan.
Confirmation: Sanuto’s Diarii for November 1529 should record the partition talk and the ambassadors’ meeting with the Emperor.

05 Sources

BnF, Français 3034, ff. 156–158: Gallica btv1b90600370, views 246–251.
DECODE R4224 (images behind login).
George Lasry, key table “BNF Francais 3034-156 Italian”, 5 November 2023, shown on S. Tomokiyo, cryptiana, GL.htm.

Transcription, key notes and decoder: bizozola1520/ in the repository.