Alvise Mocenigo to the Doge, Rome 1558

Until 14 October 2026 this despatch shared an entry with R1871, Sebastiano Foscarini’s Paris despatch of 1680: a different cipher, with its own page.

01 The record

The six images of R1873 (folios 4–6) show a despatch headed “Duplicato”, dated “Di Roma alli 25 d’April 1558” and signed by Alvise Mocenigo, knight, Venetian ambassador to Paul IV. The clear Italian deals with Cardinal Carlo Carafa, the bishoprics of Cyprus and Brescia (Bernardo Navagero, “mio precessor”), and the envoy of the Duke of Urbino. Four passages on pages 3, 4 and 5 are in cipher.

DECODE lists the record with an unnamed sender and an unknown recipient; catalogue 264 gave the pair “England?” and 1555, metadata that seems to come from the neighbouring record R1872 (Giovanni Michiel, Brussels, 1555). The despatch is not calendared in CSP Venice vi, which for April 1558 prints only despatches touching England.

The DECODE images are not in the public domain and may be published only with the archive’s permission, so none are reproduced here. The line in the strip above is the opening of Bonavoglia’s transcription.

02 The cipher

Every cipher sign is a letter with a second letter written above it (Bonavoglia writes them as pairs: ee Ey ts ao Lo…). The four passages hold 176 signs, 89 of them different; the commonest are nx (9 times) and ca (7). The table covers single letters, syllables and a list of words. Bonavoglia places it in the family of the Venetian “Cifra n. 3” of 1577, and compares it with the cipher Michel Surian used in England in 1557.

03 The decipherment

Bonavoglia’s decipherment opens:

Sua Santità quando principiai parlare di questo lo uidi alquanto mutare nella facia et nelli ochi…

In English: when Mocenigo began to speak of the matter, the Pope’s face changed and he answered coldly, so Mocenigo expected no good office from “sua signoria”. It was common talk that this lord would do anything to obtain the bishopric of Brescia (“il uescouado di Bressa”), and that the will of Cardinal Carafa would prevail. Mocenigo suspected that the Carafa nephews, because of these bishoprics, did not want him heard by the Pope so soon.

The text is Bonavoglia’s, saved from the Wayback Machine’s copy of his page (22 June 2025; the live page returned an error in September 2026). It was not re-checked here against the images sign by sign.

04 What remains open

• The key. Bonavoglia’s transcription and decipherment have not been aligned sign by sign here, so no table of values is published with this page.

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.

R1873, Alvise Mocenigo, Rome, 25 April 1558 (Paolo Bonavoglia's transcription and decipherment)

A duplicate despatch of Alvise Mocenigo, Venetian ambassador in Rome (the later Doge Alvise I), to Doge Lorenzo Priuli: the four cipher passages tell how Paul IV's face changed when Mocenigo raised the matter, and concern the Carafa nephews and the bishopric of Brescia; Mocenigo fears the Carafa will keep the Pope from hearing him soon. Read by Paolo Bonavoglia (crittologia.eu).

ee Ey ts ao Lo ac ft ca eo Lu nx az as eo nt rd nx rx fc ca rc dn Lr nr cx ri rc mr nx cu ai eo ca fa gt Ld cx ax ao zm co ds nx ce aa mt cm Zt Ld co di zi ts es cx ct gi ce nx zq ao zo nx ri Lu nx df ab re mo at rx rc ae ab dn Lr ad em at nn ar Za ot ui dm ab re tm La ai fo ca fa gt ma eb ni eo oa ca ax on eb rn ad ft re rs ce fc un dd nx Le ad Lr nx ce aa mt ca fi ua rb mx Zt ru ae Lu ao zi ao Le ad Lr Lt ro ne zo ai Le cp nn eo Lu ao gt ma eb zo cm dp ea mc cx mo ca ae at na on fi ai rb db tn Zt ru mt fu cp eo ui co dr

Decryption: venezia_nomenclatore.html

<!-- Reading of R1873 (Claude Opus 5.5, 23 Oct 2026): Paolo Bonavoglia's decipherment of the four cipher passages, as copied into r1873_bonavoglia.txt from crittologia.eu (Wayback 20250622115926). An excerpt: the despatch is clear Italian with four cipher passages; only the passages are here, run together as Bonavoglia gives them. His text verbatim except two letters lost to an encoding fault in the copy ("perch?", "Santit?"), restored in [ ]. -->

# R1873, Alvise Mocenigo to Doge Lorenzo Priuli, Rome, 25 April 1558: the cipher passages (Bonavoglia's decipherment)

## Reading

Sua Santità, quando principiai parlare di questo, lo uidi alquanto mutare nella facia et nelli ochi, per dire il uero assai fredamente; onde io non spero da sua signoria n a alcun bon offitio, et questo perch[é] e uoce comune che ella fara ogni cosa, come ho scritto altre uolte, per hauere il uescouado di Bressa; preualera la uolunta del ill.mo carafa; onde io resto con il sospetto che questi signori carafa sui nipoti, per causa di questi uescouati, non habbiano piacere che cosi presto per il suo rispetto io sia udito da Sua Santit[à].

<!-- English translation of texts/R1873_reading.md (Claude Opus 5.5, 23 Oct 2026): Paolo Bonavoglia's decipherment of the four cipher passages of R1873. An excerpt: the clear Italian of the despatch is not in the repository. -->

# R1873, Alvise Mocenigo to Doge Lorenzo Priuli, Rome, 25 April 1558: the cipher passages, English translation

His Holiness, when I began to speak of this, I saw change somewhat in his face and in his eyes, [answering], to tell
the truth, rather coldly; so I hope for no good office at all from His Lordship, and this because it is common talk
that he will do everything, as I have written at other times, to have the bishopric of Brescia; the will of the most
illustrious Carafa will prevail. So I remain with the suspicion that these lords Carafa, his nephews, because of these
bishoprics, are not pleased that I should be heard so soon by His Holiness on his account.

05 Sources

• DECODE R1873 (6 images, login).
• Paolo Bonavoglia, “Decifra dispacci veneziani”, crittologia.eu (Wayback copy of 22 June 2025): transcription and decipherment.
• Satoshi Tomokiyo’s note on DECODE R1872, which points to Bonavoglia’s decipherments.
• Calendar of State Papers, Venice vi, April 1558 (British History Online): not calendared.

Notes and the saved decipherment: targets/r1873/ in the repository.