Lope Hurtado de Mendoza at Rome to Charles V and Gattinara, 1523–24

TASK: take a partial decipherment further: Lope Hurtado de Mendoza at Rome to Charles V and Gattinara, 1523–24
This page: https://dbourdeau.github.io/cyphersolver/further/lopehurtado1523.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/lopehurtado1523.html (read it first: how the text was read, the key, the reading)
  Date:       1523–24
  Outcome:    key from adjacent plaintext · partial
  Read now:   66.0% of the deciphered cipher tokens give sense (pieces below may be untouched)
  Files:      https://github.com/dbourdeau/cyphersolver/tree/main/targets/lopehurtado1523 (NOTES.md, key, transcription, reading, scripts)

OPEN GAPS (from NOTES.md, "## Remaining gaps")
  1. [no-key-material: needs a new source] R9667 (5 May 1523), cipher runs decoded, not read - blocker: no-key-material (1523 sign set, no crib); needs-physical-access for the contemporary decipherment CSP 548 used (RAH Salazar A-28)
  2. [no-key-material: needs a new source] R9683 (June 1523), cipher passage decoded, not read - blocker: no-key-material (1523 sign set, no crib)
  3. [no-key-material: needs a new source] R9695 (8 July 1523), decoded, not read - blocker: no-key-material; not attempted further on 22 Oct (struck autograph draft)
  4. [no-key-material: needs a new source] R9867 (4 Jan 1524), decoded, not read (0.389) - blocker: no-key-material (rub, ʃug, tol, xer, xal, xir, ʃal, co, ℮, ʃφ)
  5. [no-key-material: needs a new source] R9866, R9868, R9869: read 22 Oct 2026 (b07); scattered holes on open codes - blocker: no-key-material
  6. [needs-physical-access: needs a new source] R9846 ff. 130v-132v beyond the crib third - blocker: needs-physical-access; f. 133v, the rest of the clerk's clear, is not imaged on DECODE; RAH Biblioteca Digital (bot check), Salazar A-30
  7. [no-key-material: needs a new source] About 20 code groups (rub, ʃug, zid, tol, tid, zib, xer, xir, xal, ʃal, yab, tas, toc, yic, co ...) - blocker: no-key-material; no crib
  8. [illegible: needs a new source] Look-alike signs - mostly resolved word by word on 22 Oct (`_corrections.tsv`); the rest blocker: illegible at DECODE resolution

ALREADY TRIED (from NOTES.md, "## Escalation")
  [x] siblings: all eight records in Salazar 9/28 and 9/30 opened and dated; the 1522 letters (targets/lopehurtado/) used
  [x] clear-pages: R9846 f. 133r clear aligned (key_1524.tsv); R9667's 'Claro' leaf checked and shown to be Najera's
  [x] known-keys: the 1522 key applied; 25 codes and n/e/a/o re-confirmed, tef and L shown to have moved
  [x] print: Bergenroth CSP Spain ii pp. 547-709 grepped by Salazar folio: nos. 548 and 617, the other six not calendared
  [x] key-rebuild: key_1524.tsv (105 values, 65 confirmed) plus 1523/1524 additions from exact-count runs
  [x] retry: 21 Sept merged key and open-code pass (`retry_2026-09-21.md`); 22 Oct sign-by-sign re-read on the images (b07): R9866, R9868, R9869 read; CSP 548 used for R9667 run C only

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/lopehurtado1523/NOTES.md in full, and the
   key, transcription and reading files it names; lang/README.md (shared language models).
   Work in targets/lopehurtado1523/. 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/lopehurtado1523/. 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+lopehurtado1523&page=lopehurtado1523.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.