972Unsolved Historical Ciphers
β y P ꝛ Π · Ω y Ɔ · A y Ɔ o Π ꝛ C σ
Kendi ter perfidus

Transylvania → King Ferdinand I · homophonic cipher of graphic signs and digits, Latin · c. 1556

Pál Bornemisza to Ferdinand I on the Kendi treason, Transylvania, c. 1556

Ferdinand I
toFerdinand I

Österreichisches Staatsarchiv, HHStA, Staatskanzlei Interiora, Chiffrenschlüssel Kt. 13, Fasc. 20, ff. 38–39; DECODE R1212. Catalogued as a Latin letter from an unknown sender to “Paulo Borne?”. It is a report written in the cipher of Pál Bornemisza, Bishop of Transylvania, and in his own voice, to “Your Sacred Majesty”, King Ferdinand I: Ferenc Kendi, “three times a traitor”, has lost the kingdom of Transylvania to the king. A contemporary hand deciphered nearly every run between the lines; the key is the next DECODE record, R1211, and every run was decrypted again with it (95.8% of the cipher tokens).

Daniel Bourdeau · posted · updated

Method: read with known key · Extent: complete

Summary. The four pages of R1212 mix clear Latin with runs of graphic signs, and a contemporary hand has written the Latin over almost every run. The docket on p. 4 reads “Sibenbürgische Ziffern(?) das ist mit dem Bischof daselbst dno Paulo Bornemißa”: the Transylvanian cipher used with the bishop there, Pál Bornemisza (bishop 1553–1556). The key is the next leaf of the volume, DECODE R1211 (f. 37): a homophonic alphabet of 21 letters in signs and digits, with two name codes, 34 Transsylvania and 27 Petrovics. With that key every cipher run was deciphered afresh from the signs and compared with the old gloss. The gloss holds; the signs correct it in a dozen places (ipse, nisi, maledictum, inflammavit, vexillum, in celo) and supply the few words left unglossed. Pages 3–4 are in the first person of the bishop: Kendi urged him to give up Alba and live in the castle of Gyalu, and “these are the words of Ferenc Kendi to me at Vásárhely at the diet”. So the sender is Bornemisza himself. Of 288 cipher tokens, 276 give sense (95.8%). Open are nine number codes that the key does not contain (24, 15, 10; 41·70·55·78·18; 52) and three signs that are illegible.

01 The record and the key

R1212 is two leaves, ff. 38–39, in the Vienna collection of cipher keys, a volume whose DECODE dates (1540–1774) are the span of the whole box. Pages 1–2 and 3–4 are two reports under the same head, “D[omi]no … Thur. Prim.” and “Practica Thur. Prim.”, each opening with the enciphered words horum omnium motuum, “of all these disturbances”. The foot of p. 4 carries two rows of signs with faint pencil letters over them: an inventory of the signs in the order they first occur in that heading. The key is on a separate leaf.

The key is R1211, f. 37, the leaf filed just before the letter: A = Δ 3 5, B = L, C = 9, D = ꝛ, E = y M 2, F = o, G = B, H = #, I = Π Ꝛ ~ k, K = β, L = L 4, M = Ϙ Λ, N = P, O = φ x v, P = A, Q = Ҁ, R = Ɔ, S = σ, T = Ω, U = C Λ ɧ, X = π, and the codes 34 Transsylvania and 27 Petrovics. R1210 (f. 36), also labelled for Bornemisza, is an older numerical key of about 1540 (Rex Joannes, Frater Georgius, Verbőczy) and does not fit this letter.

The writer is loose with the key: x and v stand for u as well as o, ~ for u and o as well as i, 9 (c) for t in prodicionem, nacionum, comiciis; the barred Π is his h, and β serves for c and h as well as k. A pair of digits in a run usually stands for two letters (34 in alias, aliquando, alliciebat).

02 The decipherment

Clear words as written, deciphered words in italics, codes in braces. Spelling as enciphered.

Pages 1–2

[horum omnium motuum]. Commendavi hactenus semper Vestrae Sacratissimae Maiestati hominem de bonis omnibus … perfidia acusare debeo merito. Nullus enim alius causa est istius tumultus nisi Franciscus Kendi, ter perfidus; ipse ad hoc induxit Antonium Kendi et Melchiorem Balassa aliosque non multos ex nobilibus … fecit autem perfidus homo hanc prodicionem ex pusillanimitate … et desperacione nimia. Terra caelumque obruant hunc maledictum proditorem Copiae, qui perdidit hoc Regnum a Maiestate Vestra sacra; nemo alius. {24} {15} et {10} ultra portam solicitantur ut in hoc regnum veniant, porro proh dolor. Haec Vestrae Sacratissimae Maiestati brevibus perscripsi sed vere, in qua re nullum est dubium. {41}.{70}.{55}.{78}.{18} interfecti sunt; adhuc ad Sacram Maiestatem Vestram expectant … auxilium a sacra Maiestate … sed non diu; si gentes plures nunc adessent cum bono Capitaneo, vulnus adhuc sanabile esset.

… feliciter Regia Maiestas: dicam iterum quod solus Franciscus Kendi perdidit regnum a Maiestate Vestra, nemo alius. Profligati sunt hostes. Hoc ita verum est sicut Evangelium Christi. Sine ordine nequaquam; absque eius consilio nihil fit in hoc regno; ergo ipse alios hos tumultus excitare inflammavit, alias non evenisset manifestum excidium. Quamvis horribiles querelae contra insolenciam militum Transflumen Vaiuodarum passim fuere de virginum tenerarum defloracionibus, et hoc in publica trium nacionum presente conventu … multae coniugatarum violaciones. Profligati sunt hostes; ultra alia spolia multa, proh dolor, quae enumerare homo non possit Transflumen.

“No one else is the cause of this revolt but Ferenc Kendi, three times a traitor; he drew Antal Kendi and Menyhért Balassa and some others of the nobles into it … out of cowardice and too much despair. May earth and heaven overwhelm this cursed traitor, who has lost this kingdom to Your Sacred Majesty … I say again: Ferenc Kendi alone lost the kingdom; nothing is done in this realm without his counsel … horrible complaints of the voivodes’ soldiers beyond the river, of young virgins deflowered, and that in public before the assembly of the three nations.”

Pages 3–4

[horum omnium motuum et perniciosarum factionum] feudatarius unicus author … Buda et certissimus est … Franciscus Hungarus Kendi … pro certo desperatus de defensione … posteaquam intellexerunt terra recursiones arces Babolchia et alias amissas esse, qui nunc sperat ab {27} … pro principatu Transsylvaniae excursiones habiturum … et me sub quodam praetextu insidiose {34} alliciebat blandiciis suis … Episcopatu debere permanere uno tantum defectu, sed quod Albam cederem … filio {52} multa milia, et ego in arce Gialu residerem … et aliquando Albae in domo Prepositi … Hec sunt verba Francisci Kendi ad me in Vasarhel sub comiciis, trans flumen ultra pontem, in conclavi ambobus tantum existentibus … si non constasset hanc defeccionem regni a Maiestate vestra Franciscus Kendi {34}. Proh dolor, nullus motus talis in hoc regno nunc fuisset; porro non est dubium … propterea est hoc ita verum sicut Deus in celo.

“… and he enticed me with his flatteries, under some pretext, to remain in the bishopric with one condition only, that I give up Alba … and that I live in the castle of Gyalu … These are the words of Ferenc Kendi to me at Vásárhely during the diet, the two of us alone in a room … Had Ferenc Kendi not stood for this defection of the realm from Your Majesty, there would be no such movement in this kingdom now; this is as true as God is in heaven.”

03 Method

The four DECODE images were transcribed in horizontal bands, first at half and then at full resolution, one pass per pair of pages. Each cipher run was deciphered from its signs with the R1211 key before the gloss was consulted, and every disagreement was settled on the image. The gloss is right in substance throughout; where the signs differ they give the better text (ipse for the gloss’s apparent esse, nisi for nostri, maledictum for maledicti, evenisset for evenissent, inflammavit for inflamare, intellexerunt for intellexerat, perniciosarum for perniciosam, in celo for in celis, vexillum(?) for auxilium). Apparent codes 0399, 134 and several 34s dissolved into letters. Counts: 288 cipher tokens (274 words and 14 codes); 257 words decrypted securely, 14 uncertain but in sense, 3 not decrypted; 5 codes in the key, 9 not.

04 What remains open

05 Sources

Decryptions, line notes and the first-pass transcriptions are in the repository folder r1212/.