01 The letter
| Shelfmark | BnF Français 3516 · Villeroy / royal cipher |
|---|---|
| Sender | Villeroy; Henri IV |
| Recipient | Pierre Jeannin and fellow envoys |
| Date | 1607 |
| Language | French |
| Report status | 2/15 pages transcribed; 2 more in part; 2/15 pages deciphered; 2 more in part |
| Ciphertext | Transcribed passages: 1,145 elements, 1,099 identified |
02 The key
110 symbols: 35 letter signs, 74 in nomenclature, 1 repetition sign.
03 The decipherment
f86r, cipher lines 8–11
comme à tous ceux qui affectionnent ceste union, sans toutefois par trop vous fonder ou confier aux belles parrolles de son agent, ny des autres qui penchent de son coste, car ilz sont tous trompeurs. Mais si nous
Translation. as to all those who favour this union, without however relying too much on or trusting the fine words of his agent or of the others who lean to his side, for they are all deceitful. But if we
04 Plaintext and other sources
Where a decipherment or clear copy already existed, as George Lasry gives it:
- Interlinear plaintext
- Interlinear plaintext at ff86r–86v and 112r.
05 Our check
This result is George Lasry’s. This project did not re-solve the cipher: it checked one sample against the Gallica image and recorded what it found.
- Batch B. Image checked: https://openapi.bnf.fr/iiif/image/v3/ark:/12148/btv1b9059630p/f148/full/1600,/0/default.jpg
- Folio matches the report: yes; cipher present: yes
- What we checked: f86r cipher lines 8-11: contemporary interlinear reads "comme a tous ceux qui affectionnent ceste union sans toutesfois par trop vous fonder ou confier aux belles parolles de son agent ny des autres qui penchent de son coste car ilz sont tous trompeurs Mais si nous" = his excerpt; no own sign-by-sign decode (key table not checked)
- Verdict: confirmed (method key recovered based on adjacent plaintext, extent partial). The check is a sample, not a re-solution.
- Notes: Only 2/15 pages deciphered (+2 in part). Interlinear on ff86 and 112. Jeannin negotiations 1607 printed (Negociations du president Jeannin, 1656) - likely in print.
06 Notes and corrections
Probably printed in Jeannin's Négociations (1656; 1875 edition); the two siblings in Fr. 3516 (berny1607, laboderie1608) are.
07 Sources
- George Lasry, with ChatGPT Astra 6 and Anthropic Opus 5.5, BnF cipher research, 10 October 2026 (sent to Daniel Bourdeau on 13 October 2026 for publication here), p. 84; his other items are listed on his contributor card.
- image checked in the spot-check
- The working folder:
targets/jeannin1607/(his entry as extracted from the report, our spot-check,profile.json).