01 The letter
| Shelfmark | BnF Français 3142 · Du Bellay, ff60–61 |
|---|---|
| Sender | Jean, cardinal Du Bellay |
| Recipient | The Constable |
| Date | 1555 |
| Language | French |
| Report status | 3/3 pages transcribed in part; 3/3 pages deciphered in part |
| Ciphertext | 193 elements transcribed, 109 identified; remaining ciphertext not fully transcribed |
02 The key
17 letter signs
03 The decipherment
f60v, three consecutive cipher rows (legacy A2–A4)
toutes leurs espiez soubz couleur de [?] des Lutheriens et le
Translation. all their spies, under the guise of [?], of the Lutherans, and the
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
- Historical decipherment of the ff60–61 memorandum at ff62r–v.
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: none (no Gallica link; fr. 3142 ark not resolvable offline)
- Folio matches the report: unclear; cipher present: yes
- What we checked: his f60v crop, row 1: ψ π a ψ — + = t o u t e s ("toutes") with his table, then signs consistent with "leurs espiez"; only ~6-10 signs readable at crop resolution
- Verdict: partly confirmed (method read from existing decipherment, extent partial). The check is a sample, not a re-solution.
- Notes: Historical decipherment of the memorandum at ff62r-v (same volume), so reading rests on it; only 109/193 transcribed elements identified, ciphertext not fully transcribed. Date 1555 unverified.
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. 105; his other items are listed on his contributor card.
- The working folder:
targets/dubellay1555/(his entry as extracted from the report, our spot-check,profile.json).