At a glanceNot solved · text not obtained
- The letters
- Two undated letters signed by Fabrizio Ruffo, principe di Castelcicala, Neapolitan ambassador in London and Paris, to Naples; no number, address or date survives on either.
- Where
- Archivio di Stato di Napoli, Ministero degli affari esteri, busta 2337; DECODE R9586 (catalogue item 167) and R9588 (catalogue item 166).
- The cipher
- A numeric code with groups mostly from 100 to 1100 and a few higher ones (1405, 1698, 1858, 1930); many groups carry short overbars. Castelcicala’s other despatches use the Segreteria di Stato code, whose groups run mostly from 1350 to 2450.
- How far it got
- Both letters were transcribed (537 and 432 groups) with the rest of the busta and recognised as a separate system. No key has been tried and no attack run.
- What might finish it
- Faint pencil syllabic glosses over a few runs (“ba li, che non effett in o la sol tan za”) are a possible crib; aligning them with their groups is the next step.
- Other ciphers
- Castelcicala’s despatches in the Segreteria di Stato code are deciphered in part on their own page.
01 The letters
- R9586: three pages, no number, address or date visible, signed “Castelcicala”; 537 groups, 240 distinct.
- R9588: two pages, no number, Eccellenza or date, signed “Il Principe di Castelcicala”; 432 groups, 220 distinct; the top four lines of the second page were photographed blurred.
The two letters share their frequent groups (224, 1043, 1698, 294, 319) and almost none of the 1400–2450 groups that dominate the Segreteria di Stato code of the other twenty-five letters in the busta, so they are one system and a different one. The images carry the archive’s notice on DECODE that publishing them needs its permission, so no crop is shown here.
02 The pencil glosses
A later hand wrote a few syllables in faint pencil over some runs. Transcribed so far: on R9586 p. 2, “se dell … cam bia … an … cut … ver” over eight groups, “ba li, che non effett in o la sol tan za”, “tta con … si … ri … chi … ed ella” and “ei di san”; on R9588, “tal … in che stato”. Their placement over the groups is not yet fixed, so no value is claimed.
03 What would finish it
Aligning the glosses with their groups on the images, extending the values through repeats in the two letters, and trying the other codes of busta 2337 and of the Neapolitan legations. The work is in progress; for now the letters are attempted, not solved.
04 Sources
- DECODE (de-crypt.org) records R9586 and R9588 (Archivio di Stato di Napoli, Ministero degli affari esteri, busta 2337; images by login, publication only with the archive’s permission).
Transcriptions with the glosses: targets/r9586/ in the repository. Split on 14 October 2026 from the Castelcicala page, whose letters are in another code.