01 The letter
| Shelfmark | BnF Français 20991 · Renard, ff217v–218r |
|---|---|
| Sender | Renard |
| Recipient | King of Spain |
| Date | 14 December 1556 |
| Language | French |
| Report status | 2/2 pages transcribed in part; 2/2 cipher pages deciphered in part |
| Ciphertext | 456 elements, 346 identified (75.9%) |
02 The key
66 recovered forms: 24 letter signs, 40 syllables, 2 word codes
- Key in the same volume
- Same volume, f218r: original alphabet fragment; A, C, D and E match the running cipher.
03 The decipherment
f218r, lines 1–3 — historical decipherment; f218r — cipher lines 1–3
[de Sel]va et de Lansac. Sur lequel advis led[it] s[ieu]r Roy manda querir le nonce du pappe estant pardeça, et se plaignit à luy de ces desseins, et qu’il trou[voit].
Translation. [De Sel]va and de Lansac. On receiving this information, the King summoned the papal nuncio, who was here, complained to him about these plans, and said that he found…
04 Plaintext and other sources
Where a decipherment or clear copy already existed, as George Lasry gives it:
- Plaintext in the margin or below
- Contemporary decipherment below the cipher on f218r.
- Plaintext in another folio of the same volume
- Same volume, f218v: continuation of the corresponding decipherment.
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/btv1b90643415/f351/full/1600,/0/default.jpg
- Folio matches the report: yes; cipher present: yes
- What we checked: f217v: heading "Double dune depesche de lambassadeur Renard ... au Roy" and margin "cest une partie de la lre en chiffre dud. Renard dont le dechiffre est apres", followed by 6 rows of mixed letter/syllable signs (que, fo, ma, ta...); excerpt rests on the contemporary decipherment on f218r, which I did not fetch; no sign-level decode done
- Verdict: partly confirmed (method read from existing decipherment, extent partial). The check is a sample, not a re-solution.
- Notes: Simon Renard, imperial/Spanish ambassador in France 1556; contemporary decipherment on f218r-v. 75.9% of signs identified. Possibly calendared in CSP Spain XIII (Tomokiyo lists Renard 1556).
06 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. 130; his other items are listed on his contributor card.
- image checked in the spot-check
- The working folder:
targets/renard1556/(his entry as extracted from the report, our spot-check,profile.json).