Jafet to Climent, 1400 — Read in part, in print

At a glanceExisting decipherment · complete

The letter: P. Jafet, of Benedict XIII’s circle, to Francesc Climent, Benedict XIII’s chamberlain and agent, 15 Sep 1400.
Where: Arxiu Capitular de Barcelona, the Schism papers Climent left to the chapter (doc. 1043), today the paper part of the series Cisma d’Occident. Not digitised.
How it was deciphered: By Sebastián Puig y Puig, canon of Barcelona, who printed it in 1920 in Pedro de Luna, appendix XXXVII n. 2, pp. 477 n. 2, with the deciphered passages in italics.
What it says: Only one deciphered sentence is printed, in a footnote: some of Climent’s letters sunt intercepte hodie et recuperate, were intercepted that day and recovered.
Still open: The rest of the letter, which Puig cites but does not print, and the ciphertext itself. The original is in the Arxiu Capitular de Barcelona, not digitised.
Credit: The decipherment is Puig’s (1920).

01 The letter

Francesc Climent, called Çapera, was Benedict XIII’s chamberlain and treasurer and later bishop of Barcelona; he left his papers to the cathedral chapter. Among them Sebastián Puig y Puig found fourteen letters partly or wholly in cipher, deciphered them, and printed them in the appendix of Pedro de Luna, último papa de Aviñón (1920). This is one of them: P. Jafet to Climent, 15 Sep 1400 (appendix XXXVII n. 2, pp. 477 n. 2; doc. 1043). Puig prints about 14 deciphered words. Only one deciphered sentence is printed, in a footnote: some of Climent’s letters sunt intercepte hodie et recuperate, were intercepted that day and recovered.

The originals are not digitised, and the archivist Josep Mas noted that Puig studied many of the Schism papers at home in 1920–30 and did not return them all. Puig’s print may be the only witness.

02 The cipher and its key

Puig never printed a key, and the only image of any of these ciphers is his facsimile of one page of Benedict XIII’s own letter of 22 June 1400. From that page the key of Benedict’s letters was rebuilt here: a plain substitution, one sign per letter. Puig writes of “la clave o claves”, the key or keys, he recovered, and nothing shows whether this letter, from another writer, used the same one. So it has its own entry. Benedict XIII’s letters are on Benedict XIII to Climent, 1399–1403 (a different or unverified cipher, with its own page); the other letters of his circle each have their own page for the same reason: Santa Cruz to Climent, 1399, Exea to Climent, 1408, Comuel to Climent, December 1415, Comuel to Climent, June 1416.

03 What remains

The ciphertext. No image of the letter exists, so its cipher, its key and Puig’s reading cannot be checked. Blocker: needs the original in the Arxiu Capitular de Barcelona.
The rest of the letter (doc. 1043), which Puig cites but does not print. Blocker: needs the original. Not printed; the ACB original is not digitised, and may be among the papers Puig did not return.

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.

P. Jafet to Francesc Climent, 15 Sep 1400 (Puig y Puig's printed decipherment) read in part

A cipher letter of P. Jafet, of Benedict XIII's circle, to Francesc Climent, Benedict XIII's chamberlain and agent, among Climent's Schism papers in the Arxiu Capitular de Barcelona. Puig y Puig deciphered and printed it in 1920; the one deciphered sentence he prints says that some of Climent's letters 'sunt intercepte hodie et recuperate'.

Builds coherent sentences, but under the read bar of 95% of words read as sense (100% here); the holes are marked in the reading.

Decryption

jafet1400_decryption.md

Jafet to Climent, 15 Sep 1400: what is in the repository of Puig y Puig's printed decipherment (Pedro de Luna, 1920, appendix XXXVII n. 2; p. 466 n. 2). Copied verbatim from NOTES.md, 22 Oct 2026. Puig's full printed passage (about 14 words) is not copied here; his book is on Google Books (CuOlkxWnk-EC).

- Deciphered words printed: ~ 14 (estimate from printed lines). Only one deciphered sentence printed: some of Climent's letters 'sunt intercepte hodie et recuperate'.

Decryption: books?id=CuOlkxWnk-EC

Reading

jafet1400_decryption.md

Jafet to Climent, 15 Sep 1400: what is in the repository of Puig y Puig's printed decipherment (Pedro de Luna, 1920, appendix XXXVII n. 2; p. 466 n. 2). Copied verbatim from NOTES.md, 22 Oct 2026. Puig's full printed passage (about 14 words) is not copied here; his book is on Google Books (CuOlkxWnk-EC).

- Deciphered words printed: ~ 14 (estimate from printed lines). Only one deciphered sentence printed: some of Climent's letters 'sunt intercepte hodie et recuperate'.

Translation

jafet1400_en.md

# Jafet to Climent, 15 Sep 1400: English of the printed fragment

English of the one deciphered sentence held in texts/jafet1400_decryption.md (Puig y Puig 1920, p. 466 n. 2); the rest of Puig's printed passage is not in the repository.

Some of [Climent's] letters "were intercepted today and recovered" (sunt intercepte hodie et recuperate).

04 Sources

S. Puig y Puig, Pedro de Luna, último papa de Aviñón (1387–1430), Barcelona 1920, appendix XXXVII n. 2, pp. 477 n. 2; p. 466 n. 2 on the italics. Full view on Google Books (CuOlkxWnk-EC).
J. Baucells i Reig, El fons Cisma d’Occident de l’Arxiu Capitular de la Catedral de Barcelona, Barcelona 1978, pp. 11–13.

Notes and profile: targets/jafet1400/; the list of all fourteen cipher items is in targets/benedict1399/NOTES.md.