Siena no. 19: the envoys kept waiting (1440s)

At a glanceNot solved · text not obtained

The letter: Sienese envoys to the “Magnifici domini” of Siena, written on 9 March: they have pressed the “S. Capitano” for leave, he asks them to wait for his answer, and “domattina partiamo col nome di Dio”. Then cipher to the end.
Where: Archivio di Stato di Siena, Concistoro 2308, fasc. 2 “Lettere in cifra”, no. 19; DECODE R4807 (Concistoro_2308_61), catalogued “1500–1599” with no status.
The cipher: Four lines of digits, letter-like signs, an inverted triangle and B-shaped signs, written upright sign by sign, with clear phrases between the runs. About 37 signs.
How it was tried: The filed keys of the busta were compared with its signs, and the key of no. 8 sign by sign; homophonic annealing was run on it.
Why it resists: 118 signs over some 37 sign types is too short without a key, and there is no gloss or decipherment.
Credit: George Lasry’s report of 17 October 2026 dates it to the 1440s and lists it as not yet deciphered (“names only”).

The other pieces of the Sienese cipher file are listed by key on the Concistoro 2308 index. George Lasry’s heading for the fifteenth-century Sienese ciphers is “one key each”: no. 21, no. 14 and no. 25 are different ciphers, with their own pages.

01The letter

The clear part, six and a half lines in a fast cursive, says that since their last letter of the 6th, sent by a messenger of their own, the envoys have been several times with the S. Capitano and pressed for their departure; he answers that, since they are there, they can wait until he has a reply, which will come very soon, and he said so all of yesterday, “che fumo di octo al presente di marzo”. So the letter was written on 9 March; no year and no place are given, and the letter ends in cipher without a signature. George Lasry dates it to the 1440s; his report does not give the grounds.

Four lines in which clear cursive gives way to upright cipher signs: digits, triangles, B-shapes and letters — The end of the letter: “domattina partiamo col nome di dio”, then the cipher, with the clear phrases “e in effecto afferma”, “per ogni modo e l’altro”, “che venne” and “se altro non nascera” between the runs. Image: Archivio di Stato di Siena, Concistoro 2308 fasc. 2 no. 19, via DECODE R4807.

02How it was tried

The alphabets of the fifteenth-century keys of fascicle 1 were compared by eye with the letter’s signs (24 September 2026): no match.
Homophonic annealing on the short pieces of the bundle: no convergence at this length.
The key of no. 8, the other 1440s cipher of the fascicle, rebuilt on 18 October 2026 from its decipherment: a different sign set (no. 19 has digits and the triangle, no. 8 neither).

03What remains

All 118 cipher signs (George Lasry counts 112). A key, a decipherment, or another letter of the same envoys in the same cipher would be needed.
What “names only” in George Lasry’s report means, and what dates the letter to the 1440s: questions put to him.

04Sources

Archivio di Stato di Siena, Concistoro 2308 fasc. 2 no. 19: DECODE R4807.
George Lasry, “The cipher documents of Concistoro 2308, fasc. 2”, report of 17 October 2026, contents p. 2.

Manuscript rights: Archivio di Stato di Siena.

Transcription and profile: targets/siena19/.