Hand this page to your AI agent
Give your agent (Claude, ChatGPT or any assistant that can open web pages) this address and ask it to do the task on the page:
https://dbourdeau.github.io/cyphersolver/further/genes1643.html
Or copy the block below into the chat. It is the whole task: the reading, every open gap, what has been tried, the steps, and how to report back.
TASK: take a partial decipherment further: Juan de Eraso to Philip IV, Genoa, 18 January 1643
This page: https://dbourdeau.github.io/cyphersolver/further/genes1643.html
You are helping a public research project finish reading historical cipher letters. This one is read in part:
the key works, but some pieces are still open. Your job is to close one or more of the open gaps below.
THE READING
Write-up: https://dbourdeau.github.io/cyphersolver/genes1643.html (read it first: how the text was read, the key, the reading)
Date: 1643
Outcome: key from external plaintext · partial
Read now: 86.9% of the deciphered cipher tokens give sense (pieces below may be untouched)
Files: https://github.com/dbourdeau/cyphersolver/tree/main/targets/genes1643 (NOTES.md, key, transcription, reading, scripts)
OPEN GAPS (from NOTES.md, "## Remaining gaps")
1. [open-codes: doable now] Codes 149 (before "residente") and 210 (between "llegue" and "antes este aviso") - blocker: open-codes; each occurs once, attested nowhere else
2. [needs-physical-access: needs a new source] The 16 words restored from the sense (con que 213, órdenes tun, España 166, respuesta 224, cuenta 214, ...) are checked by syntax only - blocker: needs-physical-access; the plain original 3598,42 (ff. 151-152) exists in the archive but the PARES record for no. 42 shows the images of no. 41, so only the archive can supply it
ALREADY TRIED (from NOTES.md, "## Escalation")
[x] siblings: the bundle EST,LEG,3598 was opened; the next item 3598,43 is the Grand Duke's letter announced here, and nine of the ten cipher items of 1643-1651 have their contemporary plain text in the same bundle; 3598,44 is the only one without
[x] clear-pages: the plain original 3598,42 is the clear copy; it is not online (PARES shows no. 41's images for it)
[x] known-keys: the 1638 Genoa letters (targets/genes1638) use a different table, and the 1645 letters the Rome 1644-45 family; the 1643 table K4b was learned on pairs 3598,38/37 and 41/40
[x] print: no edition of this letter was found (NOTES: first published decipherment, to our knowledge); which editions were searched is not recorded
[x] key-rebuild: K4b learned by EM alignment of cipher/plain pairs, frozen by SHA-256, and tested on 3598,15/14 (below the criterion) and 3598,291/290 (met)
STEPS
0. Set up. If you can run a shell, fork and clone the repository and work inside it:
git clone https://github.com/dbourdeau/cyphersolver.git
Then read, in this order: CONTRIBUTING.md (how a contribution is sent and credited); README.md, sections
"Repository layout" and "Conventions" (how readings are measured and named); targets/genes1643/NOTES.md in full, and the
key, transcription and reading files it names; lang/README.md (shared language models).
Work in targets/genes1643/. Add your findings to NOTES.md under a dated heading without rewriting what is there, and
update the "## Remaining gaps" line of every gap you close. Keep WORKLOG.md there: one dated line per step
(hypothesis, value tried, solver run, crib, control), failures included. Do not edit docs/ (the site is generated).
If you cannot run a shell, fetch the files from the links above and keep your work in files you send with the issue.
1. Pick a gap. Start with the ones marked "doable now" (open-codes, not-attempted, left-open): the images and the key
are online, so they need only work. A gap marked "needs a new source" (no-key-material, too-short, illegible,
needs-physical-access) can be closed only by something new: a key
or a deciphered sibling found elsewhere, a better image, a printed edition or calendar, a photograph from the archive.
For those, search for that material first, and say where you looked even when you find nothing.
2. Start from the existing key and transcription in the folder. Do not rebuild the key from scratch, and do not
re-read parts that are already read unless you find an error in them.
3. For a code group or sign value: list every place the group occurs, show how each reads with the value you propose,
and say what still does not fit. For a passage: re-read it at the image and give the folio and line. For a missing
letter or leaf: say where it is held and how it can be reached.
4. Measure again. Apply the key to the whole text, write the reading file, and count the share of cipher tokens that
give sense (not an estimate). The reading is "complete" only when (1) at least 95% of its cipher tokens give sense;
(2) no gap is left untried; (3) every letter in it is covered; (4) what stays open is scattered code groups or names,
or pieces blocked from outside. Otherwise it stays "partial": say which gaps are still open and why.
5. Be honest. Mark every uncertain word with [?], leave unread groups as their numbers or signs, and never fill a gap
with a plausible guess. A gap retried and still open, with what was ruled out, is worth reporting.
REPORT BACK
With a clone: open a pull request with your changes to targets/genes1643/. Say in the description which gaps you worked on,
the share read before and after, and how you want to be credited (name, initials or handle, and a link).
Without one: open an issue: https://github.com/dbourdeau/cyphersolver/issues/new?template=further-reading.yml&title=Further+reading%3A+genes1643&page=genes1643.html
Give the write-up, the gap you worked on (its line in Remaining gaps, or the code group, folio and line), what you
propose, the evidence (every occurrence, the images or sources), the share read before and after, your step log,
and the tools and AI model you used.
If you cannot open issues or pull requests, write this report for your human to send. Credit goes to the person who sends it.Open gaps
gold can be done now: the images and the key are online, it needs only work. grey needs a new source first: a key, a better scan, an edition or the archive.
- code groups open Codes 149 (before "residente") and 210 (between "llegue" and "antes este aviso") - blocker: open-codes; each occurs once, attested nowhere else
- needs the archive The 16 words restored from the sense (con que 213, órdenes tun, España 166, respuesta 224, cuenta 214, ...) are checked by syntax only - blocker: needs-physical-access; the plain original 3598,42 (ff. 151-152) exists in the archive but the PARES record for no. 42 shows the images of no. 41, so only the archive can supply it
Already tried
- ☑ siblings the bundle EST,LEG,3598 was opened; the next item 3598,43 is the Grand Duke's letter announced here, and nine of the ten cipher items of 1643-1651 have their contemporary plain text in the same bundle; 3598,44 is the only one without
- ☑ clear-pages the plain original 3598,42 is the clear copy; it is not online (PARES shows no. 41's images for it)
- ☑ known-keys the 1638 Genoa letters (targets/genes1638) use a different table, and the 1645 letters the Rome 1644-45 family; the 1643 table K4b was learned on pairs 3598,38/37 and 41/40
- ☑ print no edition of this letter was found (NOTES: first published decipherment, to our knowledge); which editions were searched is not recorded
- ☑ key-rebuild K4b learned by EM alignment of cipher/plain pairs, frozen by SHA-256, and tested on 3598,15/14 (below the criterion) and 3598,291/290 (met)
Needs the archive
These gaps can only be closed from the original or a book out of reach. If you can visit or order, take one: all archive requests.
- ar-974 Archivo General de Simancas, Simancas: The 16 words restored from the sense (con que 213, órdenes tun, España 166, respuesta 224, cuenta 214, ...) are checked by syntax only (open, I can do this)
Send a result
One closed gap counts: a code group valued, a passage re-read, a key or clear copy found elsewhere. It is credited to you on the write-up.