At a glanceKey from adjacent plaintext · complete
- The letter
- Niccolò Ferducci (Nicolaus Verducius), Ferdinand I’s agent at Fiume (Rijeka), to Ferdinand I, King of the Romans, of Hungary and of Bohemia, 19 July 1532. A report in clear Italian in which only names, places, the month, the year and the signature are in code.
- Where
- Austrian State Archives, Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv, StAbt Türkei I 2-2-19, fols. 60–61. The online inventory lists the sender as “N.N.”, because the signature is in code. It was catalogue item 498 here, with the rest of the 1530–32 Ragusa reports.
- The cipher
- A small nomenclator: three-figure numbers for names and words, Q19 with a barred Q for Ragusa, and D with a number for the month and the year.
- How the key was found
- Two other Ferducci letters in the same bundle, of 2 June and 18 September 1532, carry the decipherment written over the groups at the time. The values were taken from them, fixed, and then applied to this letter, which has none. The two glossed letters never disagree, and a table of 1542 by the same writer agrees on all six groups they share.
- What it says
- A brigantine from Ragusa has brought “gran nove”, sent on at once to Ljubljana; and if the King wishes, Ferducci will take ten or twelve armed men to sea, pretending to go fishing, to seize the French ambassador on his way back from the Sultan.
- Credit
- Brice Dudout, Europe chiffrée, “Ferducci to Ferdinand I, Fiume, 19 July 1532” (2026), with Claude: transcription, the table from the glosses, the Italian text and the translation. The code values are the glosses written in 1532 over two sibling letters.
- Still open
- No code group. Four words of the clear text are doubtful in the hand (Lanbergher, a peschara, a divotione, ve se avisarà), and the ambassador is not named.
01 The letter
Fols. 60–61 of the Ottoman section of the Vienna state archives hold a single letter on two leaves, addressed on the back “Invictissimo Ferdinando … et Boemie”. It opens in Latin, “Ser.me Rex atque invictissime princeps”, and continues in Venetian Italian. The writer dates it “a dì 19” and writes the month and the year in code; the archive’s dockets give “1532. 19/7” and “19. Juli 1532”. He signs in code too, which is why the inventory has no sender.
The letter belongs to the reports Ferdinand received from his informants on the Adriatic during Süleyman’s campaign of 1532, when the Sultan was marching on Vienna; he was halted in August before Güns (Kőszeg). The bundles hold about fifteen such pieces from Ragusa and Fiume, by Angelo Caraffa, Michael Bucignola, the Conte da Ella, Martino Lucio and Ferducci. Nearly all carry a decipherment, interlinear or attached, made at the time or in the nineteenth century; this letter has none.
The letter cannot be shown here. The Austrian State Archives charge a fee for each original reproduced in a publication, the web included (fee schedule of 9 July 2026, section 2), and their online images carry no open licence. The three views are free to consult in the archive’s online inventory. In their place, the eight groups as they stand in the letter, in order:
| # | group | context in the clear text |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 547 | con la inchiusa dal loro servitore … |
| 2 | Q19 (barred Q) | è gionto qui el bregantino da … |
| 3 | 520 | di aver nelle mane … |
| 4 | 521 | … de … al suo ritorno |
| 5 | 518 | Datta … |
| 6 | D7 | a dì 19 … |
| 7 | D19 | (after the month) |
| 8 | 543 | humil servo … (the signature) |
02 The code and its key
The code is a small nomenclator of the kind Ferdinand’s chancery issued to its agents: numbers in the 500s for persons, places and a few words, a letter with a number for the commonest places, and D with a number for months and years. Nothing in this letter is enciphered letter by letter.
The values come from Ferducci’s own letters. Two others in the same bundle, 2-2-9 of 2 June 1532 and 2-2-24 of 18 September 1532, have the meaning written over each group by a reader of the time. Brice Dudout built the table from those two letters only and fixed it before applying it to 2-2-19. Seven of the eight groups are glossed directly; the month follows from the rule that the glosses show for D-groups.
| group | value | gloss of 1532 (sibling letter) | 1542 table (catalogue 499) | grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 543 | Niccolò Ferducci | “Nicolaus Verducius” (2-2-9, 2-2-24) | S43 = Ferducci | C |
| 547 | Martino Lucio | “Martino lucio Ragusa” (2-2-9); “da martinolucio da Ragusa” (2-2-24) | — | C |
| Q19 | Ragusa | “Ragusa” (2-2-9 twice, 2-2-24) | Q19 = Ragusa | C |
| 518 | S. Vito, that is Fiume | “S. Veit” (2-2-9); “Data a S.to Vito” (2-2-24) | — | C |
| 520 | ambasciatore | “Ambasciator” (2-2-9) | S20 = ambasciatore | C |
| 521 | Francia | “Ambasciator del Re di Fran[cia]” (2-2-9) | S21 = Francia | C |
| D7 | luglio (July) | D6 “Junij” (2-2-9), D9 “Septembre” (2-2-24) | D3, D5, D6 = months | I |
| D19 | 1532, the current year | “D6 D19” glossed “1532” (2-2-9) | D19 glossed “42” | C |
Grades as in the project’s conventions: C, from a letter whose plaintext is known (here the glossed siblings); I, inferred from position in the code. D7 has no gloss of its own; D6 is June and D9 September, and the docket on the letter says July. In 1542 the same writer’s D19 is glossed “42”: the group means the current year, not 1532 as such. Dudout also built a table independently from Ferducci’s glossed letters of 1542 (catalogue 499); it writes S43, S20 and S21 for 543, 520 and 521, and on the six groups the two tables share they agree.
03 The letter deciphered
Brice Dudout’s text. Words from code groups in square brackets; probable readings of the hand in braces; spelling of the letter kept.
L’ultima mia fu de 24 del passato, con la inchiusa dal loro servitore [Martino Lucio], sotto littere del signore Andrea {Lanbergher}. La cagion di questa sie per dinottare a vostra Maestà Serenissima come in questa hora a tardi è gionto qui el bregantino da [Ragusa] con le presente ligatte in questa; e per esere in esse gran nove, subitto subitto ho meso un mio servo ha cavallo per le poste e mandatollo a Lubiana, e scritto al signore Andrea {Lanbergher} che senza nullo ritegnio le manda a vostra Maestà Serenissima. La cosa di Chlisa è cosa certissima; similiter di monsignore gardinal Colona.
Si vostra Maestà ha a piacere di aver nelle mane [l’ambasciatore] de [Francia] al suo ritorno, che verà per mare in qualche bregantino, io andarò in persona con 10 o 12 compagni harmati; si fengiremo d’andare {a peschara}, e secretto modo si sforzaremo di averllo, per aviso da vostra Maestà Serenissima.
El gardinal di Medici fa gente a gran furia per la Marcha e per la Romagnia; si dici per el volgo che viene {a divotione} di vostra Maestà. … Datta [S. Vito] a dì 19 [luglio] [1532]. De vostra Maestà Serenissima humil servo [Niccolò Ferducci].
My last letter was of the 24th of last month, with the enclosed letter from your servant [Martino Lucio], under cover of Signor Andrea Lamberger. […] This evening, late, the brigantine from [Ragusa] arrived here with the letters enclosed with this one; and since they contain great news, I at once, in all haste, put one of my servants on horseback by the post and sent him to Ljubljana […]. The matter of Clissa is quite certain; likewise that of Monsignor Cardinal Colonna.
If Your Majesty would like to have [the ambassador] of [France] in your hands on his return, which will be by sea on some brigantine, I will go in person with ten or twelve armed companions; we shall pretend to go fishing, and secretly we shall do our best to take him, on word from Your Most Serene Majesty.
The Cardinal de’ Medici is raising troops in great haste in the Marche and in Romagna; the common people say he is coming to Your Majesty’s service. […] Given at [San Vito, that is Fiume], the 19th of [July] [1532]. Your Most Serene Majesty’s humble servant [Niccolò Ferducci].
The complete Italian text and translation are under Full texts below. Without the codes the letter is a report of unnamed people arriving from an unnamed port; with them it names its own writer, his informant at Ragusa, the date, and the man to be kidnapped.
04 Who and what
- Ferducci and his relays. Fiume was a Habsburg port on the Kvarner, and the “S. Vito” of the code is its patron saint (German Sankt Veit am Flaum). Ferducci forwarded what came by sea from Ragusa (Dubrovnik) to Ljubljana, where Andrea “Lanbergher” sent it on to the King. The name ends in -gher in both places; he was probably of the Carniolan Lamberg family, in an office the letter does not give. Martino Lucio, “of Ragusa” in the glosses, is one of the network’s writers in the same bundle.
- The “gran nove”. Probably the Conte da Ella’s letters to Ferducci of 11 and 12 July, filed in the same bundle (2-2-17). The next piece, 2-2-18, is Süleyman’s letter to Ferdinand of 12 July.
- Clissa and Colonna. Clissa (Klis) is Petar Kružić’s fortress above Split, held against the Ottomans; the September letter’s gloss spells it the same way. What news of it was “certissima” is not said. Cardinal Pompeo Colonna, viceroy of Naples, died on 28 June 1532, and that is probably the other certain matter.
- The French ambassador. Not named. Francis I’s envoy to Süleyman in 1532 was Antonio Rincon. A Spanish report of April 1532 had him travelling by Sebenico and Ragusa, and on 21 June the Conte da Ella wrote from Ragusa (2-2-13) that a man said to be the King of France’s ambassador was leaving for Belgrade. Gévay has Rincon bringing a copy of Süleyman’s letter of 12 July to Venice on 20 August, so he did come back up the Adriatic, as Ferducci expected. Nothing is known of the plan being carried out. Rincon was killed near Pavia in July 1541 by men of the Marquis del Vasto.
- “A peschara”. The letters are certain. Dudout reads it as Venetian andar a pescar, going fishing, a natural cover for a dozen armed men in a boat. Pescara, the Abruzzo port, was Habsburg territory, so there was nothing to pretend about in going there.
- The Cardinal de’ Medici. Ippolito de’ Medici, appointed legate, left Rome on 8 July 1532 to join Charles V and Ferdinand against the Turks: “a divotione di vostra Maestà”, to the King’s service, fits.
05 What remains uncertain
- No code group is open. Seven values are attested in the 1532 glosses (grade C); D7, July, is inferred from the order of the month groups and agrees with the docket (grade I).
- Four words of the clear text are doubtful readings of the hand, not of the code: Lanbergher (the first vowel may be a or o), a peschara (sense), a divotione (the hand has a d, three minims, o, a tall looped letter, then ione), and ve se avisarà (an earlier reading, vostra [Maestà] sarà avisata, assumed an abbreviation that is not there).
- The identification of the ambassador as Rincon, and of the “cosa certissima” about Colonna as his death, are inferences from the dates.
- The profile records no check of a passage against the images by a person working without AI, and the text was not compared with the AIS views here.
No earlier reading was found: the item was open in this catalogue, and Cryptiana and a web search on 27 October 2026 gave nothing; the letter is not printed in Gévay’s Urkunden und Actenstücke. The other Ragusa reports of 1530–32 have their decipherments of the time, and Ferducci’s letters of 1542–43 are a separate catalogue item (499).
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.
Ferducci to Ferdinand I, Fiume, 19 July 1532 (HHStA Türkei I 2-2-19)
A spy’s letter from the Ragusa network during Süleyman’s campaign: written in clear, it enciphers only eight words — names of people and places, the date and the signature. Once these groups are read, it reveals a plan: to seize the French ambassador at sea on his way back from the sultan.
Transcription
# HHStA StAbt Türkei I 2-2-19, fols. 60-61. Clear Italian; the eight cipher groups are given as written. # Order of the text; clear text elided with "...". 547 Q19 520 521 518 D7 D19 543
Decryption
# code value evidence (contemporary glosses, 1532) 1542 table (catalogue 499) 543 Niccolò Ferducci 2-2-9, 2-2-24 : « Nicolaus Verducius » S43 = Ferducci 547 Martino Lucio 2-2-9 : « Martino lucio Ragusa » ; 2-2-24 : « da martinolucio da Ragusa » — Q19 Ragusa 2-2-9 (twice), 2-2-24 : « Ragusa » Q19 = Ragusa 518 S. Vito (Fiume) 2-2-9 : « S. Veit » ; 2-2-24 : « Data a S.to Vito » — 520 ambasciatore 2-2-9 : « Ambasciator » S20 = ambasciatore 521 Francia 2-2-9 : « Ambasciator del Re di Fran[cia] » S21 = Francia D7 luglio Dn rule: D6 « Junij » (2-2-9), D9 « Septembre » (2-2-24) D3, D5, D6 = months D19 1532 (current year) 2-2-9 : « D6 D19 » glossed « 1532 » D19 glossed « 42 » in 1542
Reading
# Ferducci to Ferdinand I, Fiume, 19 July 1532: established text
Conventions: [word] = cipher group resolved by the table (codes in decryption.txt); {x} probable reading; ‹x› unresolved.
Ser.me Rex atque invictissime princeps, domine colendissime, post servitiorum meorum humillimam commendationem.
L’ultima mia fu de 24 del passato, con la inchiusa dal loro servitore [Martino Lucio], sotto littere del signore Andrea {Lanbergher}. La cagion di questa sie per dinottare a vostra Maestà Serenissima come in questa hora a tardi è gionto qui el bregantino da [Ragusa] con le presente ligatte in questa; e per esere in esse gran nove, subitto subitto ho meso un mio servo ha cavallo per le poste e mandatollo a Lubiana, e scritto al signore Andrea {Lanbergher} che senza nullo ritegnio le manda a vostra Maestà Serenissima. La cosa di Chlisa è cosa certissima; similiter di monsignore gardinal Colona.
Si vostra Maestà ha a piacere di aver nelle mane [l’ambasciatore] de [Francia] al suo ritorno, che verà per mare in qualche bregantino, io andarò in persona con 10 o 12 compagni harmati; si fengiremo d’andare {a peschara}, e secretto modo si sforzaremo di averllo, per aviso da vostra Maestà Serenissima.
El gardinal di Medici fa gente a gran furia per la Marcha e per la Romagnia; si dici per el volgo che viene {a divotione} di vostra Maestà. Staremo vigilanti, e facendo altro subitto {ve se avisarà}; el simille di altro che s’intenderà. Per hora no avemo altro. A vostra Maestà Serenissima humilmente mi richomando. Datta [S. Vito] a dì 19 [luglio] [1532].
De vostra Maestà Serenissima humil servo [Niccolò Ferducci].Translation
# English translation Deciphered words in [brackets]. Most serene King and most invincible prince, my most honoured lord, after the humble commendation of my services. My last letter was of the 24th of last month, with the enclosed letter from your servant [Martino Lucio], under cover of Signor Andrea Lamberger. The purpose of this one is to let Your Most Serene Majesty know that this evening, late, the brigantine from [Ragusa] arrived here with the letters enclosed with this one; and since they contain great news, I at once, in all haste, put one of my servants on horseback by the post and sent him to Ljubljana, and I wrote to Signor Andrea Lamberger to forward them to Your Most Serene Majesty without any delay. The matter of Clissa is quite certain; likewise that of Monsignor Cardinal Colonna. If Your Majesty would like to have [the ambassador] of [France] in your hands on his return, which will be by sea on some brigantine, I will go in person with ten or twelve armed companions; we shall pretend to go fishing, and secretly we shall do our best to take him, on word from Your Most Serene Majesty. The Cardinal de’ Medici is raising troops in great haste in the Marche and in Romagna; the common people say he is coming to Your Majesty’s service. We shall stay vigilant, and if anything else happens you will be told at once, and likewise of any other news we hear. For now we have nothing else. I humbly commend myself to Your Most Serene Majesty. Given at [San Vito, that is Fiume], the 19th of [July] [1532]. Your Most Serene Majesty’s humble servant [Niccolò Ferducci].
Key: decryption.txt
06 Sources
- Österreichisches Staatsarchiv, HHStA, StAbt Türkei I 2-2-19, fols. 60–61: AIS record and three views.
- The glossed siblings: 2-2-9 (Ferducci, 2 June 1532) and 2-2-24 (Ferducci, 18 September 1532).
- Brice Dudout, Europe chiffrée: Ferducci to Ferdinand I, Fiume, 19 July 1532 (2026): text, translation and notes.
- Anton von Gévay, Urkunden und Actenstücke zur Geschichte der Verhältnisse zwischen Österreich, Ungern und der Pforte im XVI. und XVII. Jahrhunderte (Vienna, 1838–42), for Rincon’s return in August 1532.
- Österreichisches Staatsarchiv, Entgelte (fee schedule), 9 July 2026, section 2, Publications.
Folder: targets/ferducci1532/ (notes, the eight groups, the table with its evidence, the Italian text and the English translation, as contributed by Brice Dudout).