At a glanceExisting decipherment · complete
- The letter
- Pedro Comuel, of Benedict XIII’s circle, to Francesc Climent, Benedict XIII’s chamberlain and agent, then archbishop of Zaragoza and nuncio in Castile; Peñíscola, 21 Dec 1415.
- Where
- Arxiu Capitular de Barcelona, the Schism papers Climent left to the chapter (Documentos inéditos del obispo Çapera no. 669), today the paper part of the series Cisma d’Occident. Not digitised.
- How it was deciphered
- By Sebastián Puig y Puig, canon of Barcelona, who printed it in 1920 in Pedro de Luna, appendix CXVII (CXVI in the index), pp. 562–563, with the deciphered passages in italics. His text was transcribed here from the Google Books page images on 23 October 2026.
- What it says
- After Aragon’s break with Benedict XIII, Climent is to have the Queen of Castile told, through her confessor and in strict secrecy, that if Benedict is not the true pope the dispensation for her marriage fails and her son’s title to Castile with it.
- Still open
- The ciphertext: no image of the letter exists, so the cipher and its key are unknown. The original is in the Arxiu Capitular de Barcelona, not digitised.
- Credit
- The decipherment is Puig’s (1920).
01 The letter
Francesc Climent, called Çapera, was Benedict XIII’s chamberlain and treasurer and later bishop of Barcelona; he left his papers to the cathedral chapter. Among them Sebastián Puig y Puig found fourteen letters partly or wholly in cipher, deciphered them, and printed them in the appendix of Pedro de Luna, último papa de Aviñón (1920). This is one of them: Pedro Comuel to Climent, 21 Dec 1415 (appendix CXVII, CXVI in the index, pp. 562–563; Çapera no. 669). Of its 822 words Puig prints 308 in italics as his decipherment. The reading audit of 22 October 2026 found no text of the letter in the repository; on 23 October Puig’s pages were fetched as images from Google Books and transcribed (texts/comuel1415_reading.md, with an English translation). The deciphered passages name Diego de Vadillo, “the cooking-pot of these dealings and tribulations against the Pope”, who led the King of Aragon to his league with the Emperor; set out the King’s new road against Benedict, that Clement VII was not the true pope; and tell Climent to have the Queen of Castile warned by her confessor, “secret, and more than secret”, that her marriage dispensation and her son’s legitimacy hang on Benedict’s title, and to beware of the Archbishop of Toledo (translation).
The originals are not digitised, and the archivist Josep Mas noted that Puig studied many of the Schism papers at home in 1920–30 and did not return them all. Puig’s print may be the only witness.
02 The cipher and its key
Puig never printed a key, and the only image of any of these ciphers is his facsimile of one page of Benedict XIII’s own letter of 22 June 1400. From that page the key of Benedict’s letters was rebuilt here: a plain substitution, one sign per letter. Puig writes of “la clave o claves”, the key or keys, he recovered, and nothing shows whether this letter, from another writer, used the same one. So it has its own entry. Benedict XIII’s letters are on Benedict XIII to Climent, 1399–1403 (a different or unverified cipher, with its own page); the other letters of his circle each have their own page for the same reason: Santa Cruz to Climent, 1399, Jafet to Climent, 1400, Exea to Climent, 1408, Comuel to Climent, June 1416.
03 What remains
- The ciphertext. No image of the letter exists, so its cipher, its key and Puig’s reading cannot be checked. Blocker: needs the original in the Arxiu Capitular de Barcelona.
Full texts
The transcription and the decryption of every document on this page, so that the reading can be used and checked. Short files are shown here; all are in the repository.
Comuel to Climent, 21 Dec 1415
Pedro Comuel to Francesc Climent, 21 Dec 1415, in Benedict XIII's circle during the Schism: a secret mission to the Queen of Castile. Puig y Puig printed the letter in 1920 (appendix CXVI, printed CXVII, pp. 562-563) with the deciphered passages in italics.
Decryption
# Pedro Comuel to Francesc Climent, Peñíscola, 21 Dec 1415: reading Rests on: Sebastián Puig y Puig, *Pedro de Luna, último papa de Aviñón* (Barcelona 1920), appendix CXVII (index CXVI), pp. 562-563, from Arxiu Capitular de Barcelona, *Documentos inéditos del obispo Çapera* no. 669. Transcribed here from the Google Books page images (id CuOlkxWnk-EC, PA562-PA563, fetched 23 Oct 2026 through the `jscmd=click3` endpoint) with Puig's spelling, abbreviations and punctuation as printed. Puig prints the passages he deciphered in italics (p. 466 n. 2); they are in `_italics_` below. No image of the cipher exists, so the decipherment is Puig's alone and was not checked against figures. Holes: none marked by Puig; the one doubtful place of the print is "nor fuit" (a damaged "non", read [?non]). ## Reading Reverendisime in xpo pr. et mi dne. metuenme. Humili recomendacione premissa post cursorem dni. toletan. misit vobis domino julianus de loba bullas illas de quibus in ultimis literis meis feci mencionem novit deus quo brevius potui expedicionem bullarum illarum procuravi quibus expeditis cum vobis scribere et cursorem facere vellem dictus dns iulianus de loba sciens quod tam de his quam de innovatis et ocurrentibus negociis vobis scriberem tanto bullas accepit et cum eis cursorem velocem vobis destinavit graciam vestram sibi procurare voles quod sine dubio displicuit mi valde non quare bullas misit, ymo placuit, sed quare per eumdem cursorem poteramus omnia expedire et modo illa de causa oportet hunc mittere vobis cursorem cuius expensas et salarium racionabiliter ipse dns. julianus solvere debere precat sibi deus. — Item per dictum cursorem dni. totelani scripsi vobis satis late tam circa prorogationem petitam per ipsum d. toletan. quam de ocurrentibus aliis circa negocia ecclie. et de innovatis et quo modo Ambaxatores dni. Regis Aragon. venerant ad dnm. nrm. et fecerant jam sibi aliam terciam requisicionem, cui statim dns nr. suam fecit responsionem satis copiosam cuius copiam mitto vobis cum presentibus alligatam quamvis scripseram quod illa mitterem per certam notabilem personam etc. sed in brevi, dante dno., ibunt ad presentes partes ipsas due. notabiles persone cum literis et cum quodam compendio in quo ordinatum expressa erunt omnia acta per dum. nrm. et alios in negociis ecclesie unionis et publicabitur. Item. placeat quod v. r. p. responsionem huiusmodi dno. Toletano primo et depost una cum eo vel als. dne. Regine intimari et cum eis bonum quod poteritis in negociis et tribulacione ecclie. procurare presenti, quod domina Regina et Archiepiscop. rescribat forcius illis quibus nuper scripserunt mandan. Ambaxatoribus Castelle perpinian. exeuntes quod statim protestentur contra Regem, quod in factis per Regem non consentiant et hoc facto revertantur sicut jam scripsi et super omnia faciatis quod dns. toletanus scribat suos _didaco de vadillo qui est olla istorum tractatuum et tribulacionum contra Papam; iste proditor est malus homo et iste principaliter induxit regem ad faciendum ligam et tractatus cum imperatore._ — Postquam scripsi vobis per ultimum cursorem multa per dominum _Regem Aragon sunt innovata_ que ut melius sciatis mitto vobis copia litere mi de perpiniano superinde misse presentibus interclusa; credo dum legeritis viscera vestra conmovebuntur, et ut videbitis in copia litere huiusmodi _ad hoc non habuisti capitula seu copiam capitulorum concordie regis cum imperatore, veritas est quod ante concordiam istam rex atemptaverat substraccionem facere sed quia determinatum fuit locum non habere nec illam facere posse, deliberavit per aliam viam contra Papam intrare et procedere recipiendo pro fundamento quod papa Clement predecessor suus [?non] fuit verus papa et Rex sibi non est obediendum etc. et quedam corolaria iniqua, scilicet ex quo potestis dicere domine Regine in quantum periculum ponit eam Rex Aragonum et filium suum regis et regnum Castelle, nam dicta dna Regina ut scitis non poterat contrahere cum rege Castelle patre istius etc. et Papa ut scitis dispensavit cum eis in matrimonio ex quibus procreatus est rex Castelle qui nunc est. Videat ergo domina regina periculum quod si dominus noster non est verus papa non valet dispensationem eum cum rege et regina facta ut prefertur et per consequens Rex Castelle non est legitimus sed bastardus et si non est legitimus, Regnum non pertinet ad eum sed ad regem Aragonum et per istam Rex Aragonum dispossidebit regem Castelle de regno et ipse erit Rex Spanie amore dei. De istis secretissime avisabitis dominam reginam sicut scribo et forcius ita ut impremptetur in ea aliquid diabolicum contra regem Aragon. et provocetur contra eum et faciatis omnino quod confessor domine regine sibi dicat in confessione et foro consciencie ita quod hoc sit secretum inter eos et caveatis quod non senciat hoc sed sit secretum et plus quam secretum inter vos et confessorem et reginam._ Ideo faciatis omnino quod hec _confessor dicat regine et non vos sed caveatis de Archiepiscopo toletano et cum istis iuduci facietis reginam contra regem, postquam Rex iam est discopertum contra Papam terribiliter._ — Mercurii preteriti que fuit XVIII Decembris in publico consistorio fuit petitum pallium pro vobis quod illico concessit dns. nr. Et subsequenter in eodem consistorio secreto tamen filius dni. Didaci de Astunyega fuit factus Episcopus placentinus in form. et dns pacen translatus ad ecclesiam Cartaginen et de ecclia. pacen. contemplacione dne. regine fuit provisum dno. archidiacono de gordon capellano maiori dni. Regis Castelle. Nichilominus de ecclia. dertusen. fuit provisum dno. Othoni de Montecatheno. Hec q. hucusque ocurrere. dum ulteriora ocurrent quamvis peiora statim rescribam V. R. P. quam Altissimus dei filius feliciter et votive conservare dignetur in longitudine dierum. Script. festinanter paniscole XXI Decembris. — Cursor lator presentium vocatus Alfonsus Dalmasanci debet ire ad vos in sex diebus. Arripit iter hodie sabbati XXI decembris hora IX ante meridiem rescribatis si compleverit etc. — V. R. P. filius et servitor humilis. — P. Comollis etc. subdiaconus etc. — Reverendisimo in xpo pr. et dno. meo metuendissimo dno. ff. archiepo. Cesaraugust. in partibus Castelle nuncio Ap. Sedis. ## Notes - Puig's footnotes: (1) dns pacen = Diego de Bedan, O.M.; (2) archidiacono de gordon = Juan, archdeacon of Gordón in the church of Oviedo. - "Comollis etc. subdiaconus etc." in the subscription is italic in Puig (the signature), not a deciphered passage; it is in roman here. - Deciphered (italic) words: 308 of the letter's 822 (word count of the reading body, this file).
Reading
# Pedro Comuel to Francesc Climent, Peñíscola, 21 Dec 1415: reading Rests on: Sebastián Puig y Puig, *Pedro de Luna, último papa de Aviñón* (Barcelona 1920), appendix CXVII (index CXVI), pp. 562-563, from Arxiu Capitular de Barcelona, *Documentos inéditos del obispo Çapera* no. 669. Transcribed here from the Google Books page images (id CuOlkxWnk-EC, PA562-PA563, fetched 23 Oct 2026 through the `jscmd=click3` endpoint) with Puig's spelling, abbreviations and punctuation as printed. Puig prints the passages he deciphered in italics (p. 466 n. 2); they are in `_italics_` below. No image of the cipher exists, so the decipherment is Puig's alone and was not checked against figures. Holes: none marked by Puig; the one doubtful place of the print is "nor fuit" (a damaged "non", read [?non]). ## Reading Reverendisime in xpo pr. et mi dne. metuenme. Humili recomendacione premissa post cursorem dni. toletan. misit vobis domino julianus de loba bullas illas de quibus in ultimis literis meis feci mencionem novit deus quo brevius potui expedicionem bullarum illarum procuravi quibus expeditis cum vobis scribere et cursorem facere vellem dictus dns iulianus de loba sciens quod tam de his quam de innovatis et ocurrentibus negociis vobis scriberem tanto bullas accepit et cum eis cursorem velocem vobis destinavit graciam vestram sibi procurare voles quod sine dubio displicuit mi valde non quare bullas misit, ymo placuit, sed quare per eumdem cursorem poteramus omnia expedire et modo illa de causa oportet hunc mittere vobis cursorem cuius expensas et salarium racionabiliter ipse dns. julianus solvere debere precat sibi deus. — Item per dictum cursorem dni. totelani scripsi vobis satis late tam circa prorogationem petitam per ipsum d. toletan. quam de ocurrentibus aliis circa negocia ecclie. et de innovatis et quo modo Ambaxatores dni. Regis Aragon. venerant ad dnm. nrm. et fecerant jam sibi aliam terciam requisicionem, cui statim dns nr. suam fecit responsionem satis copiosam cuius copiam mitto vobis cum presentibus alligatam quamvis scripseram quod illa mitterem per certam notabilem personam etc. sed in brevi, dante dno., ibunt ad presentes partes ipsas due. notabiles persone cum literis et cum quodam compendio in quo ordinatum expressa erunt omnia acta per dum. nrm. et alios in negociis ecclesie unionis et publicabitur. Item. placeat quod v. r. p. responsionem huiusmodi dno. Toletano primo et depost una cum eo vel als. dne. Regine intimari et cum eis bonum quod poteritis in negociis et tribulacione ecclie. procurare presenti, quod domina Regina et Archiepiscop. rescribat forcius illis quibus nuper scripserunt mandan. Ambaxatoribus Castelle perpinian. exeuntes quod statim protestentur contra Regem, quod in factis per Regem non consentiant et hoc facto revertantur sicut jam scripsi et super omnia faciatis quod dns. toletanus scribat suos _didaco de vadillo qui est olla istorum tractatuum et tribulacionum contra Papam; iste proditor est malus homo et iste principaliter induxit regem ad faciendum ligam et tractatus cum imperatore._ — Postquam scripsi vobis per ultimum cursorem multa per dominum _Regem Aragon sunt innovata_ que ut melius sciatis mitto vobis copia litere mi de perpiniano superinde misse presentibus interclusa; credo dum legeritis viscera vestra conmovebuntur, et ut videbitis in copia litere huiusmodi _ad hoc non habuisti capitula seu copiam capitulorum concordie regis cum imperatore, veritas est quod ante concordiam istam rex atemptaverat substraccionem facere sed quia determinatum fuit locum non habere nec illam facere posse, deliberavit per aliam viam contra Papam intrare et procedere recipiendo pro fundamento quod papa Clement predecessor suus [?non] fuit verus papa et Rex sibi non est obediendum etc. et quedam corolaria iniqua, scilicet ex quo potestis dicere domine Regine in quantum periculum ponit eam Rex Aragonum et filium suum regis et regnum Castelle, nam dicta dna Regina ut scitis non poterat contrahere cum rege Castelle patre istius etc. et Papa ut scitis dispensavit cum eis in matrimonio ex quibus procreatus est rex Castelle qui nunc est. Videat ergo domina regina periculum quod si dominus noster non est verus papa non valet dispensationem eum cum rege et regina facta ut prefertur et per consequens Rex Castelle non est legitimus sed bastardus et si non est legitimus, Regnum non pertinet ad eum sed ad regem Aragonum et per istam Rex Aragonum dispossidebit regem Castelle de regno et ipse erit Rex Spanie amore dei. De istis secretissime avisabitis dominam reginam sicut scribo et forcius ita ut impremptetur in ea aliquid diabolicum contra regem Aragon. et provocetur contra eum et faciatis omnino quod confessor domine regine sibi dicat in confessione et foro consciencie ita quod hoc sit secretum inter eos et caveatis quod non senciat hoc sed sit secretum et plus quam secretum inter vos et confessorem et reginam._ Ideo faciatis omnino quod hec _confessor dicat regine et non vos sed caveatis de Archiepiscopo toletano et cum istis iuduci facietis reginam contra regem, postquam Rex iam est discopertum contra Papam terribiliter._ — Mercurii preteriti que fuit XVIII Decembris in publico consistorio fuit petitum pallium pro vobis quod illico concessit dns. nr. Et subsequenter in eodem consistorio secreto tamen filius dni. Didaci de Astunyega fuit factus Episcopus placentinus in form. et dns pacen translatus ad ecclesiam Cartaginen et de ecclia. pacen. contemplacione dne. regine fuit provisum dno. archidiacono de gordon capellano maiori dni. Regis Castelle. Nichilominus de ecclia. dertusen. fuit provisum dno. Othoni de Montecatheno. Hec q. hucusque ocurrere. dum ulteriora ocurrent quamvis peiora statim rescribam V. R. P. quam Altissimus dei filius feliciter et votive conservare dignetur in longitudine dierum. Script. festinanter paniscole XXI Decembris. — Cursor lator presentium vocatus Alfonsus Dalmasanci debet ire ad vos in sex diebus. Arripit iter hodie sabbati XXI decembris hora IX ante meridiem rescribatis si compleverit etc. — V. R. P. filius et servitor humilis. — P. Comollis etc. subdiaconus etc. — Reverendisimo in xpo pr. et dno. meo metuendissimo dno. ff. archiepo. Cesaraugust. in partibus Castelle nuncio Ap. Sedis. ## Notes - Puig's footnotes: (1) dns pacen = Diego de Bedan, O.M.; (2) archidiacono de gordon = Juan, archdeacon of Gordón in the church of Oviedo. - "Comollis etc. subdiaconus etc." in the subscription is italic in Puig (the signature), not a deciphered passage; it is in roman here. - Deciphered (italic) words: 308 of the letter's 822 (word count of the reading body, this file).
Translation
# Pedro Comuel to Francesc Climent, Peñíscola, 21 Dec 1415: English Translation of `comuel1415_reading.md` (Puig y Puig 1920, app. CXVII). The passages Puig deciphered are in _italics_. Names modernised here only. Holes: one doubtful word, [?not], as in the reading. ## Translation Most reverend father in Christ and my most dread lord. With humble commendation first made: after the courier of the lord of Toledo, Don Julián de Loba sent you those bulls I mentioned in my last letters. God knows I procured the dispatch of those bulls as quickly as I could; once they were dispatched, when I meant to write to you and send a courier, the said Don Julián de Loba, knowing that I would write to you both about these and about the new and current business, took the bulls and sent them to you by a fast courier, wishing to win your favour for himself. This certainly displeased me greatly, not because he sent the bulls (indeed that pleased me) but because we could have dispatched everything by that same courier; and now for that reason I must send you this courier, whose costs and wage Don Julián himself should in reason pay, God pray for him. — Item, by the said courier of the lord of Toledo I wrote to you at length both about the prorogation the lord of Toledo asked for and about other current matters of the Church and the news, and how the ambassadors of the lord King of Aragon had come to our lord and had already made him another, third, requisition, to which our lord at once made a full answer, a copy of which I send you attached to this, although I had written that I would send it by a certain notable person, etc.; but shortly, God granting, those two notable persons will go to your parts with letters and with a compendium in which all the acts of our lord and of others in the business of the union of the Church will be set out in order, and it will be published. Item, may it please Your Reverend Paternity to make this answer known first to the lord of Toledo and afterwards, together with him or otherwise, to the lady Queen, and with them to procure what good you can in the business and tribulation of the present Church: that the lady Queen and the Archbishop write more strongly to those to whom they lately wrote, ordering the ambassadors of Castile leaving Perpignan to protest at once against the King, that they do not consent to what the King has done, and, this done, to come back, as I wrote before; and above all see to it that the lord of Toledo writes to his people _[about] Diego de Vadillo, who is the cooking-pot of these dealings and tribulations against the Pope; this traitor is a bad man, and he above all led the King to make a league and treaties with the Emperor._ — Since I wrote to you by the last courier much has been _changed by the lord King of Aragon_; so that you know it better I send you, enclosed with this, a copy of a letter of mine sent from Perpignan on it. I believe your heart will be stirred when you read it, and as you will see in the copy of that letter, _you have not had the chapters or a copy of the chapters of the King's concord with the Emperor. The truth is that before this concord the King had tried to make the withdrawal [of obedience], but because it was decided that there was no ground for it and that he could not do it, he resolved to go against the Pope by another road and proceed, taking as his foundation that Pope Clement his predecessor was [?not] the true Pope and that the King need not obey him, etc., and certain wicked corollaries; that is, from which you can tell the lady Queen into what danger the King of Aragon puts her and her son the King and the kingdom of Castile: for the said lady Queen, as you know, could not marry the King of Castile, this one's father, etc., and the Pope, as you know, gave them a dispensation for the marriage from which the present King of Castile was born. Let the lady Queen therefore see the danger: if our lord is not the true Pope, the dispensation granted to the King and Queen, as said, is not valid, and consequently the King of Castile is not legitimate but a bastard; and if he is not legitimate, the kingdom does not belong to him but to the King of Aragon, and by this the King of Aragon will dispossess the King of Castile of his kingdom and be King of Spain, for the love of God. Advise the lady Queen of this most secretly, as I write and more strongly, so that something diabolical against the King of Aragon is imprinted in her and she is roused against him; and by all means see that the lady Queen's confessor tells her this in confession and in the court of conscience, so that it stays secret between them; and take care that it is not sensed, but that it is secret, and more than secret, between you, the confessor and the Queen._ Therefore by all means see that _the confessor, and not you, tells the Queen; but beware of the Archbishop of Toledo; and with these [arguments] you will bring the Queen to act against the King, since the King has now come out terribly against the Pope._ — Last Wednesday, 18 December, in public consistory the pallium was asked for you, and our lord granted it at once. Then in the same consistory, but in secret, the son of Don Diego de Zúñiga was made bishop of Plasencia in form, the lord of Pax [Badajoz] was translated to the church of Cartagena, and the church of Pax was, in regard of the lady Queen, provided to the lord archdeacon of Gordón, chief chaplain of the lord King of Castile. Moreover the church of Tortosa was provided to Don Otto de Montcada. This is what has happened so far; when more happens, even worse, I will write back at once to Your Reverend Paternity, whom may the Most High Son of God deign to keep happily and as you wish for length of days. Written in haste at Peñíscola, 21 December. — The courier bearing this, named Alfonso Dalmasanci, is to reach you in six days. He sets out today, Saturday 21 December, at the ninth hour before noon; write back whether he did it, etc. — Your Reverend Paternity's son and humble servant, P. Comollis, etc., subdeacon, etc. — To the most reverend father in Christ and my most dread lord, the lord Fr. [Francesc], Archbishop of Zaragoza, nuncio of the Apostolic See in the parts of Castile.
04 Sources
- S. Puig y Puig, Pedro de Luna, último papa de Aviñón (1387–1430), Barcelona 1920, appendix CXVII (CXVI in the index), pp. 562–563; p. 466 n. 2 on the italics. Full view on Google Books (CuOlkxWnk-EC).
- J. Baucells i Reig, El fons Cisma d’Occident de l’Arxiu Capitular de la Catedral de Barcelona, Barcelona 1978, pp. 11–13.
Notes and profile: targets/comuel1415/; the list of all fourteen cipher items is in targets/benedict1399/NOTES.md.