In a comment to a recent post on Alberti & Averlino, ‘infinitii’ asks what my recommendations would be for a Voynich Manuscript reading list… a deceptively hard question.
Apart from the direct literature on the subject (Mary D’Imperio’s “An Elegant Enigma”, my “The Curse of the Voynich”, and perhaps even Kennedy & Churchill’s “The Voynich Manuscript”), probably the best first step would always be to buy yourself a copy of “Le Code Voynich” – not for its prolix French introduction *sigh*, but simply so that you can look at the VMs’ pages in colour. The best guide to the manuscript still remains the evidence of your own eyes. 🙂
All of which is the easy, lazy blogger answer: but the kind of proper answer infinitii alludes to would be much, much harder. I should declare here that the VMs’ life in Bohemia (and beyond) strikes me as merely a footnote to the main story (though admittedly one that has been interminably expanded, mainly for lack of proper research focus).. Given that I’m convinced (a) 1450 is pretty close, date-wise; (b) Northern Italy is pretty close, location-wise; and (c) it’s almost certainly some kind of enciphered book of secrets, then the main subject we should be reading up on is simply Quattrocento books of secrets.
Doubtless there are three or four literature trees on this that I’m completely unaware of (please tell me!): but as a high level starting point, I’d recommend Part One (the first 90 pages, though really only the last few touch on the 15th century) of William Eamon’s “Science and the Secrets of Nature” (1994). Unfortunately for us, Eamon’s main interest is in Renaissance printed books of secrets. “In Nature’s infinite book of secrecy a little I can read” (Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra), indeed. 🙂
From there, you’ll probably have to drill down (as I did) to individual studies of single books. Virtually everything written by Prager and Scaglia fits this bill, such as their “Brunelleschi: Studies of His Technology and Inventions” (1970) and “Mariano Taccola and His Book De Ingeneis” (1972). I recently blogged about Battisti and Battisti’s splendid “Le Macchine Cifrate di Giovanni Fontana” (1984), and that is also definitely one to look at (though being able to read Italian tolerably well would be a distinct help there). I’ve also read articles by Patrizia Catellani on Caterina Sforza’s “Gli Experimenti” (which has a smattering of cipher in its recipes), and read up on the possible origins of Isabella Cortese’s supposed “I Secreti” (which is about as late as I’ve gone). Beyond that, you’re pretty much on your own (sorry).
As general background for what secrets such books might contain, I can yet again (though I know that infinitii will groan) only really point to Lynn Thorndike’s sprawling (but wonderful) “History of Magic & Experimental Science” (particularly Volumes III and IV on the 14th and 15th century), and his little-read “Science and Thought in the XVth Century”. Thorndike’s epic books stand proud in the middle of a largely desolate research plain, somewhat like Kubrick’s black monoliths: if anything else comes close to them, I don’t know of it.
As far as Quattrocento cryptography goes, David Kahn’s “The Codebreakers” is (despite its size) no more than an apéritif to a book that has yet to be written. I found Paolo Preto’s “I Servizi Segreti” very helpful, though limited in scope. For Leon Battista Alberti’s cryptography, Augusto Buonafalce’s exemplary modern translation of “De Cifris” is absolutely essential.
What is missing? There are a few relevant books I’ve been meaning to source but haven’t yet got round to, most notably the century-old (but possibly never surpassed) “Bibliographical Notes on Histories of Inventions & Books of Secrets” by John Ferguson. You can buy an updated version with an index and a preface by William Eamon, for example from here.
In many ways the above is no more than a very personal selection of books, and one obviously based around my own particular research programme / priorities. Yet even though I have tried to cover the ground reasonably well over the last few years, there are doubtless large clusters of (for example Italian-language) papers, books and particularly dissertations I am completely unaware of.
It should be clear that I think the basic research challenge here is to build up a properly modern bibliography of Quattrocento books of secrets, and thereby to map out the larger literature field within which the whole idea of ‘the VMs as an enciphered book of secrets’ can be properly placed. Perhaps I should use this as a test case for open source history?
Thanks, I have all the ones in your second paragraph, but except for ‘The Codebreakers’ and Thorndike the rest is something for me to explore..however, and I don’t mean to try to monpolize your time or anything, but I recall you mentioning, say Blunt and Raphael’s ‘The Illustrated Herbal’ and Whitfield’s ‘The Mapping of the Heavens’, as being helpful to you for one reason or another. Do you (or anyone else reading this!!) know of any books like that which may not be specifically Voynich related but can help to put certain parts of it into new light? (I myself might also mention ‘Introduction to Manuscript Studies’ by Clemens and Graham in this group).
If the list included titles that have cast flashes of light on aspects of the subject for me (Blunt & Raphael and Peter Whitfield’s various books fall into this category), I’d still be typing in a week’s time. 😮
The challenge is highlighting books that approach the world of the VMs in a reasonably systematic (if parallel) way, and so offer the researcher far more than merely fleeting glimpses of the subject matter. What I’ve suggested above may not be a long list, but it should help construct an initial bibliographic framework for the whole “Voynich Research 2.0” thing.
Rereading it just now, I notice that I haven’t really touched on codicology, palaeography, and indeed any kind of forensic methodology, let alone the academic area in which the VMs has traditionally been placed – late medieval herbals. For the forensic side of things, this omission is largely because the information I have relied on has been plucked as fragments from a multitude of sources – if “Introduction to Manuscript Studies” offers a thorough grounding in these disciplines, it would be a welcome addition. The omission of herbal literature from my list has a somewhat deeper reason: because the scrambled and/or apparently enciphered plant drawings disrupt the visual copying mechanisms herbal researchers rely upon so centrally, the MS falls outside their methodological reach. I believe that we need a fresh start to get anywhere with them!
PS: please put aside any worries about monopolizing my time. Asking good / hard questions is an important skill in itself, and is part of the reason collaborational approaches can work so well in the humanities. Keep commenting! 😉
Nick: Yes, I spotted Paolo Preto’s “I Servizi Segreti” and I will probably want fo check it out.
Mark: I have a oopy of Preto’s book here (somewhere), which I’ll happily dig out for you…
Nick: I don’t want to be a nuisance. I will probably buy a copy or look at the Preto in the Bodleian.
I know Rene and someone else also refers to Costamagna in one of the old email threads; though I think not specifically with regard to his work on ciphers. He seems to have written quite a bit on diplomatic ciphers with a particular though not sole focus on Genoa, so I will definitely follow his writings up.
Thanks for your offer of assistance. I will keep you updated.
Hi Mark,
Costamagna doesn’t ring a bell with me….
Mark, with regard to England’s relations with the continent, I thought this para. might be of interest, though it is perhaps half a century later than the Vms (as indeed are most of the Italian ciphers). It is obvious that ciphers were so little known till then that the record has to explain their purpose.
quote:
A substitution cipher for Perkin Warbeck is recorded. According to the prosecution record of indictment of Earl of Warwick, Perkin Warbeck in prison somehow delivered to his supporter a certain book called ABC, otherwise called “a Crosse Rowe,” and under each letter in the book was written a character or sign so that the supporter could write back to him by those characters or signs. The report recognized that this was for the purpose that “in case any persons unused to such characters should see the said letters, they should not understand their purport.” (53rd Report, p.34; Arthurson, p.149, 151)
end quote.
I have this from
http://cryptiana.web.fc2.com/code/henryvii.htm
Hi Rene
I found references in some of your old emails. Go to->
http://www.voynich.net/Arch/2003/12/msg00126.html
Or google-> Costamagna Voynich
Diane:
Thank you very much for your message.
Whilst I have no specific knowledge of cipher usage in England at that time my impression is that during that period England was somewhat behind the curve in the application of ciphers. However I believe that states like the Duchy of Milan by contrast were in the vanguard of cipher development and usage. I could be wrong about this as it has not been necessary or relevant to my line of research to investigate ciphers in England in the 15th century.
“Die Anfange…” by Meister is available to download from Google Books and has also be kindly provided by Nick.
However I wonder if anyone has looked at:
“Die Geheimschrift im Dienste der Päpstlichen Kurie: Von ihren Anfängen bis zum Ende des XVI. Jahrhunderts” by Aloys Meister.
Translated as “The secret writing in the service of the papal Curia: from its beginnings until the end of the XVI century”
Side note David Kahn is wrong when he says:
“not until the mid 1500s did consonants get homophones”
In Meister we see the “In Milano” cipher alphabet dated to 1435 listed under Modena has a very complete set of at least 3 homophones for each letter of the alphabet including consonants.
We also see multiple homophones for consonants in the 1424 Florence cipher alphabet listed in Meister.
There is even some evidence of this in a 1414 Florence cipher in Meister. (I haven’t looked for other examples, but I am sure there are more.)
I wonder if his statement is a reflection of an underestimate of the sophistication of early 15th century ciphers.
I note that
Manuale di Crittografia by Luigi Sacco
includes the 3 pages of the Urbino cipher alphabets
D’imperio also appears to use this book as a source for the 1414 Venetian cipher alphabet that she refers to in her book aswell as the earlier Parma cipher alphabet.
Has anyone looked to see if there are other cipher alphabets in this book?
Nick: The bibliography of the Paolo Preto book is very complete. It includes:
Costamagna
Sacco
Cerioni
Meister
and other texts which pertain to cryptography. I suppose I will need to study the bibliography carefully to see if there are any other texts worth exploring.
Nick: I spotted that you have covered some of this on your Codice Urbinate page on your site, so sorry for not noticing earlier.
Hi Mark,
I see what you mean about Costamagna. It’s a left-over in a thread title, but the posts are about a different topic.
Mark:
Sacco’s manuale (chapt. 133) also contains a Venetian cipher key from 1411 used by the Doge Michele Steno. Letter and key are shown here: http://www.crittologia.eu/storia/ducaleMicheleSteno.html
Hi Rene,
I think the thread may start here:
http://www.voynich.net/Arch/2003/12/msg00028.html
However it appears the discussion relates to Costamagna’s writings on medieval abbreviations rather than his writings on diplomatic ciphers. It is true that it looks like you did not initiate the discussion and it may have diverged from the original topic.
I plan to check out Costamagna’s writings on diplomatic ciphers.
He seems to have been someone who wrote quite a bit on subjects of interest to Voynich researchers.
Nick: As a point of interest the enciphered letter you spotted in the catalogue of Storia Patria Genova was translated by someone called Dino Puncuh who was a colleague of Costamagna, who was himself director of the Genoa State Archives.
I think, having been in touch with someone there, I will be able to persuade Storia Patria Genova to find and email me the letter before they have found a new home for the archive; I have tried to avoid hassling them.
I hope that Costamagna will lead me to other enciphered letters maybe in the Genoa State Archives or other letters in the Storia Patria Genova archive or maybe in other places.
Rene: Regarding
“Die Geheimschrift im Dienste der Päpstlichen Kurie: Von ihren Anfängen bis zum Ende des XVI. Jahrhunderts” by Aloys Meister
which I see is on your book list on your website. Are there any enciphered letters or cipher alphabets shown in this book? I note there are cipher alphabets in “Die Anfange…”, so I would hope that they are cipher alphabets related to the Papacy in this book.
Mark: you have to be careful about dated cipher keys, because many were reused and extended over time (the Urbino ledger has numerous examples of this). :-/
Nick: I will mention it here regarding the eagle which Dana Scott identifies as being associated with Novara. Whilst the association with Novara certainly fits my analysis, I have to say that the black eagle occurs in other places and to what extent it can always be said to be linked to the Holy Roman Emperor I would have to investigate. (I believe the double headed eagle is also tied to the Holy Roman Emperor.) Also both the black eagle as well as the snake eating a man are both emblems we see with later Visconti such as GIan Galeazzo I think(I would need to check precisely when this emerged). However I am not sure that Sergio Toresella caution, you describe in your bibliography, regarding the symbol being used for Novara only in modern times is not wholly justified. I know for a fact that it was a very important symbol for a prominent Novara family for well before the 15th century.
Nick: You make a very good, but somewhat troubling point. This could potentially pose a problem with determining when cipher features were first applied and also when specific characters were first used.
My understanding is that cipher keys were replaced/updated regularly and so you can trust the date within a limited range. However I don’t know what the actual frequency at which they were replaced was, so this could present a problem.
In the situation where you have an enciphered letter that has a concrete specific date and from which a cipher key has been derived in decipherment, you would therefore expect to be able to date the key accurately. This would also be true if you can associate a known cipher key with a given dated letter.
Also if one sees the same features or characters in independent cipher keys for a given time period and geographical area then it seems more reasonable to infer a link between them. So for example the 4o character is seen in a Florentine cipher key dated 1424, a Modena “In Milano” cipher key dated 1435 and the Urbino ledger dated 1440, therefore as an example it would seem strange to argue that the first usage of the 4o was after 1450. Clearly having enough data to be able to aggregate is an advantage.
As a question over what time period do the changes extend in the Urbino? What do you think the date range on a cipher key could be? Could you be more specific?
Mark,
I only have the same scans of Meister (1906) as you have, namely the ones posted here recently by Nick, and made years ago by Petr Kazil. There’s a hint that there could be lots of details in the (long) Appendices.
Rene:
Don’t worry. I have ordered a copy of “Die Geheimschrift…”, so hopefully I should receive the book over the next 2 weeks.
It is worth noting that “Die Anfange…” is downloadable for free as an Ebook on Google Books, which is where I first found it.
If I find something of interest in “Die Geheimschrift…” then I will scan and share it.
It is clear that there are quite a few old cipher books which may be of interest to me, but I guess without looking in them I will not know. Hopefully the Bodleian library in Oxford, where I live, will be able to fill these gaps.
Meister’s Geheimschrift is available online: https://archive.org/details/diegeheimschrift00meis
I suppose you are looking for Meister, Die geheimschrift im dienste der Päpstlichen kurie von ihren anfängen bis zum ende des XVI. Jahrhunderts, 1906. it is online
https://archive.org/details/diegeheimschrift00meis
Thanks, Thomas & Helmut!
Luigi Pasini – “Chiavi di cifra” seems like it could possibly be a useful text to refer to.
Nick: I may email Paolo Preto to explain what I am up to and see if he has any pointers. His bibliography really looks to be very thorough.
The Bibliography to Chapter 13 of the Paolo Preto’s “I Servizi Segreti” seems to include references to sources that include all the cipher alphabets that I have seen so far. (There is a cipher alphabet from Bologna 1412 in “Die Geheimschrift” as well as many from the 16th century.) In fact it looks like the bibliography to Chapter 13 is the most important part of this book for me. So I hope some of the many other references in this bibliography will provide me with more cipher alphabets and archives to investigate. Potentially I can contact Professor Paolo Preto who I believe is now at the University of Padua to see if he has more ideas as to where to look for the cipher alphabets I seek.
Exploring the landscape of cipher alphabets by time and place to see from which state and when the cipher alphabets have the most in common with the Voynich is my goal. My hypothesis, as I have previously stated, is that the most in common cipher alphabets originate from the Duchy of Milan in the reign of Filippo Maria Visconti between the years 1415-1435. So it is my task is to compile as many cipher alphabets as I can which will help me verify or disprove my theory as best I can.
Nick: I have spoken with Professor Paolo Preto (he doesn’t bother much with email ) and I have explained what I am about. He seems to think he can help, so fingers crossed he can. I will write to him by normal post, as he prefers that, elaborating as to what precisely I am looking for.
Any comments on:
“Un primato italiano: La crittografia nei secoli XV e XVI” by Luigi Sacco
Below I have listed 2 quite specific references which may turn out to be of interest to people looking for 15th century cipher alphabets:
Gabriella Airaldi, Paleografia e criptografia nella storia genovese del Quattrocento, in Studi e documenti su Genova e l’oltremare, Genova 1974, pp. 113-152
Luigi Volpicella, Una chiave di cifra del secolo xv nell’archivio di stato di Napoli, in «Rivista delle biblioteche e degli archivi», xv (1905), nn. 11-12, pp. 177-184
There are quite a few other texts from the Preto bibliography which I hope will be of real value; not to mention Professor Preto’s help as well. (Some of the authors appear to have been archivists for state archives themselves.)
Mark: according to my quick scan, archive.org has volumes XIV and XVI of “Rivista delle biblioteche e degli archivi”, but appears not to have volume XV. 🙁
Other possibly interesting texts:
Nozioni di crittografia by Luigi Sacco
Le scritture segrete usate dalla diplomazia della Repubblica di Genova by Giorgio Costamagna
Scritture segrete e cifrari della cancelleria della Serenissima Repubblica di Genova, in by Giorgio Costamagna «Bollettino Ligustico», IX (1957), pp. 20-29
Un’ottima applicazione quattrocentesca del sistema cifrante monoalfabetico by Giorgio Costamagna, in «Studi di Storia Medioevale e di Diplomatica», 2 (1977), pp. 353-358
Le scritture segrete dei ceti dirigenti a Genova alla fine del medioevo by Giorgio Costamagna, in La storia dei Genovesi, II, Genova 1982, pp. 35-45
Le scritture segrete della cancelleria genovese nell’età del re Sole by Giorgio Costamagna, in La storia dei Genovesi, VI, Genova 1986, pp. 127-136
Note:
Preto’s bibliography also includes “Les règles de Cicco Simonetta pour le déchiffrement des écritures secrètes”, so it does seem to cover all the bases.
More:
Gli ultimi cifrari della Cancelleria della Repubblica di Genova by Giorgio Costamagna, in La storia dei Genovesi, VII, Genova 1987, pp. 253-260
Delle scritture in cifra usate nella Repubblica Veneta by
Luigi Pasini, in Archivio generale di Venezia pp. 289- 327 (Focus seems to be on 16th century ciphers)
Note:
Giorgio Costamagna was the director of the State Archive of Genoa
Luigi Pasini was the director of the State Archive of Venice
There are quite a few other books in the Preto bibliography that I have not listed here which could well have something of interest, but it is less clear from the title what they contain; however of course they may have nothing of interest.
So to restate the names of the authors that strike me as being most significant when it comes to cipher alphabets in the 15th century:
Aloys Meister, Lydia Cerioni, Luigi Sacco, Giorgio Costmagna and Luigi Pasini
Nick: Whilst I have no clear idea of how much or how little of interest will come out of this specific line of enquiry, vis a vis Paolo Preto and his bibliography, I have some degree of confidence that if the cipher records that I am looking for survive somewhere in some archives then with time, effort and diligence I will find them; how much time, effort and diligence will be required I, obviously, do not know.
Nevertheless even if the Preto well is dry, this line of enquiry has now generated and may well to come generate new threads for me to follow.
So I feel confident overall that there are more lines of enquiry to explore, including emailing the numerous archives directly to see if they know if they have anything of interest to me in their archive. Then there remains the option of searching archives on the ground once I have a very clearly defined plan of action as to how best to use my time by deciding which archives would be the most fruitful to visit and in precisely what section of each archive I should be searching; I want to avoid dithering and ensure I am as productive as possible with the finite time I have there.
Note: Preto makes reference to specific parts of given archives as sources for material, so these may be of interest.
The following might be interesting to someone:
PETRUCCI NARDELLI, Franca: Il testo e la cifra. Per lo di di modo di trasmissione ‘disturbato’. (Due messaggi cifrati diretti and Francesco Sforza)
Nick: In the Bibliography to the Curse regarding:
“Uno mundo de carta”: Forme e strutture della diplomazia sforzesca by Francesco Senatore
you say:
“For the Tranchedino ledger, Cerioni is excellent, though there is more recent research in Senatore (for example pp.400-403)”
I was wondering whether it is worth me borrowing the Senatore book or not. Can you possibly elaborate on your comment?
Mark Knowles: I’ll dig up my copy and scan the pages for you. But as I recall, the core of the discussion in Senatore was about the three different versions of the cipher ledger (the one we have is the third and final version), but I don’t recall what (if anything) was in his supporting bibliography for that section, which is I guess what you would be interested in. 🙂
Nick: Thanks so much! I just want to make sure I haven’t missed a relevant text in the context of the narrow and specific line of research that I am currently undertaking.
I have emailed the Archivio Storica Lombardo and the Archivio Stato Milano regarding the letter mentioned in Cerioni that I am interested in, so with luck I will hear back relatively soon. As far as the Genova Storia Patria letter goes I contacted them last week and was told the Archive is still boxed up and they don’t yet know where and when it will be moved.
My job today is to follow up with Professor Preto. I hadn’t send a letter/emailed him yet as I spent some time on a somewhat detailed write up as I think ideally he would appreciate a clear explanation of my research specifically with my ideas to why I associate the Voynich with the Chancellery of Filippo Maria Visconti given the common symbols in the Tranchedino ledger and the “In Milano” Modena cipher and also given the Carbon dating..
I obviously have other lines of research aimed primarily at potentially identifying sources of relevant enciphered letters/ledgers.
So my research is moving forward, but not as fast as I would ideally like.
Nick: As a further point I have contemptated drawing up a spreadsheet listing in which ciphers or cipher keys symbols common with the Voynich occur and which character the symbol corresponds to in each case. Obviously this information could be used to determine other patterns as well as more formally assess/prove the degree of commonality. I think as long as we can be confident that a specific symbol occurs in the Voynich the frequency of that symbol in the Voynich becomes relatively unimportant. I say this as some rare symbols in the Voynich correspond exactly to symbols in the Tranchedino. As long as we can be confident of a one to one correspondence of a symbol from the Voynich to a cipher alphabet, which I think we can be in many cases then I think this is sufficient. For example I can think of a very distinctive rare symbol shared between the Voynich and many cipher keys.
In fact there are quite a lot of distinctive shared cipher characters between the Voynich and Tranchedino. Despite its frequency in the Voynich the “4o” symbol is I think only a part of the commonality. It is difficult to illustrate in text the common symbols here.
This might be of interest to someone:
Fifteenth-Century Diplomatic Documents in Western European Archives and Libraries (I450-I494) by Vincent Ilardi
Unfortunately for me it focusses on the latter half of the 15th century, as is so often the case with many books and articles, but it has many cipher references. Despite the dating it may represent the basis for finding articles from the “Primo Quattrocentro”.
The following could be interesting though it may be difficult to track down:
Ambasciatori e ambascerie al tempo di Filippo Maria Visconti : 1412-1426 by Gigliola Soldi Rondinini
I want to get a better insight into the diplomatic process in the Visconti years.
In:
“THE FIRST RESIDENT EMBASSIES: MEDIAEVAL ITALIAN ORIGINS OF MODERN DIPLOMACY BY GARRETT MATTINGLY”
It says:
“In ‘Documenti Diplomatici tratti dagli Archivi Milanesi (Milan, 1864)’ by Archivist Luigi Osio, Volumes Ii and III afford a very complete picture of the organization of the chancery under Francesco Barbavara, and of Filippo Maria’s diplomatic activities.”
Mark: Documenti Diplomatici tratti dagli Archivi Milanesi sounds like an excellent document to build up the broader background picture of the chancery in the period you’re interested in. 🙂
Mark: I now have managed to dig up my copy of Senatore’s book, and will send through the relevant scanned pages to you in the next couple of days. But – as I thought I had previously flagged – please be aware that Senatore is particularly interested in the area intersecting (1) Francesco Sforza’s Milanese regime, (2) how the new post-1450 class of ambassadors worked in practice, and (3) the crypto-technicalia of enciphered ambassadorial messages (specifically those of Antonio da Trezzo). And so there will probably be fairly slim pickings for your pre-1450 quest there, though possibly some bibliographical wheat to be had from the cloud of chaff. :-/
Nick: Not that it matters a lot, but I thought I would did up that Volpicella article about a cipher key in the Naples archive. (I thought I would look at it before getting in touch with Prof Senatore who is based at the University of Naples and give him an update on my research and pick his brains for ideas.)
On February 24, 2018 at 10:46 pm you said:
“Mark: according to my quick scan, archive.org has volumes XIV and XVI of ‘Rivista delle biblioteche e degli archivi’, but appears not to have volume XV.”
I have had a look and volume XIV contains XIV and then following it Volume XV.
I written this just so that anyone who might be interested in the future knows this not to be critical.
I now need to see if I can find an edition of the 1899 Archivio Storico Lombardo available online.
The truth is that I am lucky, probably if I can’t find it online and I am really bothered I can try to Bodleian.