George Lasry’s decipherment
George Lasry’s report on this item, as he sent it on 24 October 2026 (PDF), in its own order and wording. The decipherment, the translation and the reconstruction of the key are his, made with ChatGPT Astra 6 and Anthropic Opus 5.5. This project’s own checks follow under Verification.
Français 3142 — Du Bellay, ff60–61
Contents: Memorandum to the Constable, including discussion of a promotion; a historical decipherment survives at ff62r–v.
3/3 pages transcribed in part; 3/3 pages deciphered in part
- Ciphertext-only:
- No
- Sender:
- Jean, cardinal Du Bellay
- Recipient:
- The Constable
- Year:
- 1555
- Key:
- 17 letter signs
- Ciphertext:
- 193 elements transcribed, 109 identified; remaining ciphertext not fully transcribed
- Plaintext in another folio of the same volume:
- Historical decipherment of the ff60–61 memorandum at ff62r–v. ·
Excerpt and Translation
f60v, three consecutive cipher rows (legacy A2–A4)
Excerpt
toutes leurs espiez soubz couleur de [?] des Lutheriens et le
Translation
all their spies, under the guise of [?], of the Lutherans, and the
Readable text
The full text, folio by folio, as in the report. Bold marks the passages deciphered from the cipher; the rest is the clear text of the letter. Question marks are the report’s: [?] or a bare ? for a sign or group left unread, a ? after a word for a doubtful reading.
Français 3142 — ff60–61
Texte chiffré en gras, avec le déchiffrement historique correspondant; texte original en clair en romain. [?] = passage non lu.
f60r
J’ay descouvert que la raison qui mouvoit [?] le ca[?] que le dernier appartenoit aux presbitres estoit pour ce que monsieur de Lansac disoit publiquement qu’il estoit asseuré que [?] trop grand tort se feroit à messieurs les cardinaulx de Bourbon et de Tournon [?] le roy le trouveroit mauvais, moy aussi [?].
[?] procurant Carpy de [?] contre les absentz et moy ne l’acceptant sou[?]celuy qui s’est courroucé contre luy au faict de ceste promotion. Il m’a faict entendre [?] car le cardinal de Carpy avoit beaucoup perdu envers les [?] du pape pour le faict de ladite promotion [?]
f60v
[?] [?] le nom du [?]. Jugez la galantise de ces [?]. [?] grande partie d’ung François [?] seroit tout à eulx. Car c’est
à luy qui se retirent à partie. Toutes leurs espiez soubz couleur de [?] des Lutheriens et le pauvre homme n’entend que le hault allemand [?].
Soubz le manteau de ceste Inquisition [?] tout [?] de vous [?] les [?] de toutes les [?]. [?] pratiquez [?]. Il y a [?] en ceste promotion [?]
f61r
tres à la ?ou?re [?] [?] J. car. du Bellay
At a glanceExisting decipherment · partial (78% of the cipher)
- The letter
- A memorandum from Jean, cardinal Du Bellay, to the Constable, 1555 (date unverified), including discussion of a promotion.
- Where
- BnF Français 3142, ff. 60–61. We could not resolve a Gallica link; only George Lasry’s f60v crop was checked.
- The cipher
- A substitution of 17 letter signs.
- How it was read
- The reading rests on the historical decipherment of the memorandum at ff. 62r–v of the same volume, as George Lasry gives it. Our check of the f60v crop matched his first row to toutes; only about 6 to 10 signs were readable at that resolution.
- What it says
- The excerpt reads “all their spies, under the guise of [?], of the Lutherans”.
- Still open
- 193 elements are transcribed and 109 identified; the rest of the ciphertext is not fully transcribed.
- Credit
- Deciphered by George Lasry, working with ChatGPT Astra 6 and Anthropic Opus 5.5 (BnF cipher research, October 2026).
01 Verification
Spot-check against the manuscript
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: none (no Gallica link; fr. 3142 ark not resolvable offline)
- Folio matches the report: unclear; cipher present: yes
- What we checked: his f60v crop, row 1: ψ π a ψ — + = t o u t e s ("toutes") with his table, then signs consistent with "leurs espiez"; only ~6-10 signs readable at crop resolution
- Verdict: partly confirmed (method read from existing decipherment, extent partial). The check is a sample, not a re-solution.
- Notes: Historical decipherment of the memorandum at ff62r-v (same volume), so reading rests on it; only 109/193 transcribed elements identified, ciphertext not fully transcribed. Date 1555 unverified.
02 Other contributions
- Plaintext in another folio of the same volume
- Historical decipherment of the ff60–61 memorandum at ff62r–v.
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.
George Lasry's decipherment (report PDF, 24 Oct 2026) read in part
Memorandum to the Constable, including discussion of a promotion; a historical decipherment survives at ff62r–v. (Jean, cardinal Du Bellay to The Constable, 1555, as given in George Lasry's report.)
Builds coherent sentences, but under the read bar of 95% of words read as sense (87% here); the holes are marked in the reading.
Decryption: in full above, in George Lasry’s decipherment (readable.md)
Reading: in full above, in George Lasry’s decipherment (readable.md)
Translation: in full above, in George Lasry’s decipherment (translation_excerpt.md)
03 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. 105; his other items are listed on his contributor card.
- The working folder:
targets/dubellay1555/(his entry as extracted from the report, our spot-check,profile.json).