Read further · read 99.9% · key from adjacent plaintext · partial

Łaski’s cipher: four letters to the Dukes of Bavaria, 1529–1531

Four letters of Hieronymus Łaski and King John Zápolya to the Bavarian court, bound in the Munich key volume, are in one graphic cipher with word signs for the two kings. Its key was recovered from glosses written at the time over two of them (adjacent plaintext) and deciphers all four, the 1531 letter with e and r exchanged: 1,184 of 1,243 words (95.3%); four faint lines of a short note stay open.

Date
1529–1531
Read now
99.9% of the cipher tokens give sense
Write-up
kaa4591b.html
Files
targets/kaa4591b
Open gaps
hard to read on the scan ×3no key known ×2

Hand this page to your AI agent

Give your agent (Claude, ChatGPT or any assistant that can open web pages) this address and ask it to do the task on the page:

https://dbourdeau.github.io/cyphersolver/further/kaa4591b.html

Or copy the block below into the chat. It is the whole task: the reading, every open gap, what has been tried, the steps, and how to report back.

TASK: take a partial decipherment further: Łaski’s cipher: four letters to the Dukes of Bavaria, 1529–1531
This page: https://dbourdeau.github.io/cyphersolver/further/kaa4591b.html

You are helping a public research project finish reading historical cipher letters. This one is read in part:
the key works, but some pieces are still open. Your job is to close one or more of the open gaps below.

THE READING
  Write-up:   https://dbourdeau.github.io/cyphersolver/kaa4591b.html (read it first: how the text was read, the key, the reading)
  Date:       1529–1531
  Outcome:    key from adjacent plaintext · partial
  Read now:   99.9% of the deciphered cipher tokens give sense (pieces below may be untouched)
  Files:      https://github.com/dbourdeau/cyphersolver/tree/main/targets/kaa4591b (NOTES.md, key, transcription, reading, scripts)

OPEN GAPS (from NOTES.md, "## Remaining gaps")
  1. [illegible: needs a new source] R9323 l. 10, two words before "ducere noluit" - blocker: illegible; faint signs
  2. [no-key-material: needs a new source] R9417 the owl word sign (P2 l. 27), "queiter" (l. 16), [?anestris], [?sies], the 6-shaped sign read k - blocker: no-key-material; one occurrence each, the gloss stops at l. 14
  3. [no-key-material: needs a new source] FLW word sign (R9322, R9323) - blocker: no-key-material; probably King John's title, three occurrences, no gloss or key sheet
  4. [illegible: needs a new source] R9403 P3 l.11 "[?]orator", P3 l.12 "[?]meus", small insertion on P1 l.4 - blocker: illegible; cramped signs on the image
  5. [illegible: needs a new source] R9322 16 words with doubtful signs - blocker: illegible; '?' signs in the transcription

ALREADY TRIED (from NOTES.md, "## Escalation")
  [x] siblings: R9404-R9407 and R9418-R9422 viewed (other letters or other systems); R9423 key register checked in kaa4591; no other System B letter was found among the records viewed
  [x] clear-pages: glosses used on R9322, R9323, R9417 and R9403; they are the source of the key
  [x] known-keys: System A′ (R9427 gloss key) and R9369 (Augurelio's 1531 cipher) do not fit; the gloss key fits all four with the e/r exchange on R9403
  [x] print: web searches 21 and 22 Sept 2026 (Łaski 1529-31, Zápolya letters to the Bavarian dukes, KAA 4591) found no edition; Acta Tomiciana t. 8 (1530-32) is the Polish chancery's record and was not searched page by page
  [x] key-rebuild: key rebuilt from 153 glossed word pairs; DAG and BIGX fixed by context
  [x] retry: (23 Oct 2026, b20): R9417 lines 15-29 and P1 and all of R9323 re-read at the image; both letters read

STEPS
0. Set up. If you can run a shell, fork and clone the repository and work inside it:
     git clone https://github.com/dbourdeau/cyphersolver.git
   Then read, in this order: CONTRIBUTING.md (how a contribution is sent and credited); README.md, sections
   "Repository layout" and "Conventions" (how readings are measured and named); targets/kaa4591b/NOTES.md in full, and the
   key, transcription and reading files it names; lang/README.md (shared language models).
   Work in targets/kaa4591b/. Add your findings to NOTES.md under a dated heading without rewriting what is there, and
   update the "## Remaining gaps" line of every gap you close. Keep WORKLOG.md there: one dated line per step
   (hypothesis, value tried, solver run, crib, control), failures included. Do not edit docs/ (the site is generated).
   If you cannot run a shell, fetch the files from the links above and keep your work in files you send with the issue.
1. Pick a gap. Start with the ones marked "doable now" (open-codes, not-attempted, left-open): the images and the key
   are online, so they need only work. A gap marked "needs a new source" (no-key-material, too-short, illegible,
   needs-physical-access) can be closed only by something new: a key
   or a deciphered sibling found elsewhere, a better image, a printed edition or calendar, a photograph from the archive.
   For those, search for that material first, and say where you looked even when you find nothing.
2. Start from the existing key and transcription in the folder. Do not rebuild the key from scratch, and do not
   re-read parts that are already read unless you find an error in them.
3. For a code group or sign value: list every place the group occurs, show how each reads with the value you propose,
   and say what still does not fit. For a passage: re-read it at the image and give the folio and line. For a missing
   letter or leaf: say where it is held and how it can be reached.
4. Measure again. Apply the key to the whole text, write the reading file, and count the share of cipher tokens that
   give sense (not an estimate). The reading is "complete" only when (1) at least 95% of its cipher tokens give sense;
   (2) no gap is left untried; (3) every letter in it is covered; (4) what stays open is scattered code groups or names,
   or pieces blocked from outside. Otherwise it stays "partial": say which gaps are still open and why.
5. Be honest. Mark every uncertain word with [?], leave unread groups as their numbers or signs, and never fill a gap
   with a plausible guess. A gap retried and still open, with what was ruled out, is worth reporting.

REPORT BACK
With a clone: open a pull request with your changes to targets/kaa4591b/. Say in the description which gaps you worked on,
  the share read before and after, and how you want to be credited (name, initials or handle, and a link).
Without one: open an issue: https://github.com/dbourdeau/cyphersolver/issues/new?template=further-reading.yml&title=Further+reading%3A+kaa4591b&page=kaa4591b.html
  Give the write-up, the gap you worked on (its line in Remaining gaps, or the code group, folio and line), what you
  propose, the evidence (every occurrence, the images or sources), the share read before and after, your step log,
  and the tools and AI model you used.
If you cannot open issues or pull requests, write this report for your human to send. Credit goes to the person who sends it.

Open gaps

gold can be done now: the images and the key are online, it needs only work. grey needs a new source first: a key, a better scan, an edition or the archive.

Already tried

Send a result

One closed gap counts: a code group valued, a passage re-read, a key or clear copy found elsewhere. It is credited to you on the write-up.

Open a further-reading issueOther kinds of reportHow credit works← All partial readings