01 The letter and the key
The letter is written in clear German, and the sensitive words and phrases are in figures separated by points. The alphabet has 22 letters with one to eight values each: E has eight (8, 30, 31, 61, 100, 110, 120, 200) and H six, while K and P have one each. The values run from 2 to 202, and nothing marks word divisions inside a run. Three-digit numbers from 147 to 808 stand for persons and places. The key file on the record lists 47 under both O and U.
| Record | DECODE status | Images |
|---|---|---|
| R4332 | Partially decrypted, 5 pp.; key and plaintext attached | P1, P2, P3 |
| R3816 | Non-decrypted, 3 pp., “not solved” | P1 = R4332 P1; P2 = R4332 P3; P3 = R4332 P2 (identical MD5) |
02 The decipherment
The plaintext is Waldispühl and Kopal’s. Heusner has fallen out with Field Marshal Banér and, warned about Franz Heinrich of Saxe-Lauenburg “wegen der Hamburger sache”, has withdrawn to 164. The Kassel court has turned away from Sweden:
So erfahre ich aber das HERR UND KNECHT SEHR GEENDERT UND AM GANZEN HOFE AUSSER DER 503. NICHT EINER MEHR UFFRECHT SCHWEDISCH, IA DER 628. FAUORISIRET vnd CARESSIRET alzo die so in SEINEM ABWESEN dem 503. ZUWIEDER GEWESEN vnd die 764. UBERGEBEN wollen
A campaign is talked of, “WOHIN IST STILL”, but the force is not there. Then comes the secret war material:
Man hat hier in der aller größen geheimb etlich 385. CENTNER METALLISCHE SPEISSE ZUSAMMEN GESCHMELZET vnd solche verdecket auf 147 geführet, daselbst etliche schon hierzu gemachte STUCKE ZU TAUSCHEN
Johan von Uffeln is to be commandant of 571, and Gunterot is to take the field. The letter ends “CASSEL den 15. May 1637”.
03 The check made here
The figures on letter page 2 (259 tokens with the clear-text breaks) were transcribed from the scan without using the published plaintext. The published homophone table turns them into ZUWIEDER GEWESEN … UBERGEBEN … NEGOCIIREN … FORCE … BASTANT … AUS DEM LANDT ZU TREIBEN … BESTALLUNG … GELDER … GROSSES HERANTZ … RECHT IM DIRECTORIO FASSEN, the published decipherment. Three single figures differ (SOHL for SOLL, FEOD for FELD, CLAM for CLAR), and each is a slip in the new transcription.
04 What stays open
- The codes 147, 164, 184, 255, 289, 321, 384, 385, 503, 571, 617, 628, 703, 708, 747 and 764, left as numbers by Waldispühl and Kopal. 747 is in their plaintext but not in their key file.
- From context alone, 503 is the one person at the court still loyal to Sweden, who “SOLL IN DAS FELD”, most likely Landgrave Wilhelm V of Hesse-Kassel (grade M). 147 is where the guns are cast, and 764 a place some wanted to surrender. The Hessian correspondence of 1637 would settle these.
05 Sources
- DECODE R4332 (images, key file, plaintext) and R3816 (the same images). Riksarkivet, Stockholm.
- Waldispühl, M. & Kopal, N. 2024. Decipherment of a German encrypted letter sent from Sigismund Heusner von Wandersleben to Axel Oxenstierna in 1637. In Proceedings of HistoCrypt 2024, 249–253. Tartu.
Notes, profile and the page-2 transcription: heusner1637/ in the repository.