01 The letter
| Shelfmark | BnF Français 4687 · ff5v–7v |
|---|---|
| Sender | Marguerite Paléologue (catalogue attribution for ff1 onward) |
| Recipient | Louis de Gonzague, duke of Nevers (catalogue attribution) |
| Date | 1562–1564 (catalogue group; individual dates unchecked) |
| Language | Italian |
| Report status | 4/4 pages transcribed in part; 2/4 pages deciphered in part |
| Ciphertext | f5v/f6r: 241 elements transcribed and deciphered. f6v/f7v: 356 base signs transcribed, none deciphered; code groups unresolved. |
02 The key
17 numerical code classes; some written forms remain uncertain. The key was recovered from the ciphertext alone.
03 The decipherment
f6r, cipher rows 8–10
Averia dat volontier a cuatr cento mila scudi per aver cuel stato et pareva ? ascoltase ? parla
Translation. [He] would willingly have given four hundred thousand scudi to obtain that state, and it seemed ? would listen ? speaks.
04 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 A. Image checked: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b90075058/f8.item
- Folio matches the report: yes; cipher present: yes
- What we checked: f6r bottom 3 numeric rows on Gallica are exactly his crop (4 9 3 20 5 4 8 4 ... / 17 22 9 8 5 73 ... / 2 4 4 4 18 6 4 17 22 ...); no key table in the PDF, so "averia dat volontier a cuatr cento mila scudi" could not be re-derived
- Verdict: partly confirmed (method key recovered from ciphertext-only, extent partial). The check is a sample, not a re-solution.
- Notes: Mixed Italian clear+numeric letter. Margins of f6r carry contemporary interlinear-style glosses ("questo e quello ...", "Sera ... che segui"), i.e. partial adjacent plaintext he may not have used. Only 2/4 pages in part; attribution from catalogue.
05 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. 33; his other items are listed on his contributor card.
- The working folder:
targets/paleologue1562/(his entry as extracted from the report, our spot-check,profile.json).