Read further · read 59.5% · key from adjacent plaintext · partial

Peder Vibe to Peder Juel, 1651–1655: the new alphabet

Peder Vibe’s later letters to the Danish resident in Stockholm use the new alphabet he had promised in 1649: an opener sets a shift for each word on a 25-letter alphabet. Brice Dudout recovered it from one letter partly deciphered between the lines at the time; 132 of 149 cipher words certain, 146 with a value have a value, but the 73 code numbers do not. A first pre-registered test failed; a second, with the rule changed after it, passed and validates the system.

Date
1651–55
Read now
59.5% of the cipher tokens give sense
Write-up
vibejuel1651.html
Files
targets/vibejuel1651
Open gaps
hard to read on the scan ×2no key knownneeds the archive

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/vibejuel1651.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: Peder Vibe to Peder Juel, 1651–1655: the new alphabet
This page: https://dbourdeau.github.io/cyphersolver/further/vibejuel1651.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/vibejuel1651.html (read it first: how the text was read, the key, the reading)
  Date:       1651–55
  Outcome:    key from adjacent plaintext · partial
  Read now:   59.5% of the deciphered cipher tokens give sense (pieces below may be untouched)
  Files:      https://github.com/dbourdeau/cyphersolver/tree/main/targets/vibejuel1651 (NOTES.md, key, transcription, reading, scripts)

OPEN GAPS (from NOTES.md, "## Remaining gaps")
  1. [no-key-material: needs a new source] the 73 nomenclator code tokens (49 numbers: 222, 353, 397, 770, 872, 876, 879 ...; the 1655 list up to 1771) - blocker: no-key-material; no code list is in the unit and the gloss of N. 319 covers letters only; two numbers are defined in clear (349 and 561, image 80) but their names are read as probable only; Juel's replies, the rest of NKS 1299 e at the Royal Library or a code list in the Juel papers could give them
  2. [illegible: needs a new source] two unresolved cipher words (image 78: 31.34.26.13.20; image 93: 30.?.9.2.14=5.6.20) - blocker: illegible; a blot after the opener on image 93, and a word read clearly but glossed only "°m t" on image 78; the original could settle them
  3. [illegible: needs a new source] the 14 probable words not checked against the images at verification - blocker: illegible; each correction rests on a single number at the limit of the microfilm scans served online (listed with its reason in reading.md)
  4. [needs-physical-access: needs a new source] prior art outside the repository not searched again (no edition, DECODE or literature search at verification) - blocker: needs-physical-access; the Royal Library's NKS 1299 e fol. and the Danish printed collections are not online in full

ALREADY TRIED (from NOTES.md, "## Escalation")
  [x] siblings: all images 57-95 of unit 261583 checked by the contributor; the old-cipher letters are read in targets/vibejuel1649; Juel's register (catalogue 2553, unit 261585) and his glossed originals (unit 261575) were opened by the contributor, nothing in the new alphabet reported
  [x] clear-pages: the clear pages of the unit were read for their remarks on the cipher (image 62: old and new alphabet; image 80: codes 349 and 561 added; image 93: Krag's last cipher lacks the States General and the Øresund); none is a decipherment
  [x] known-keys: the only key material is in the unit (the gloss of N. 319); the old cipher of the same correspondents shares no code number with these letters; the 1673-74 code of the same embassy archive is another system
  [x] print: Fryxell 1836 (abstract without the cipher passages); the catalogue vetting (Fridericia 1894, Gigas 1883); the contributor's web search found no edition
  [x] key-rebuild: alphabet and opener table rebuilt and applied to every letter; w and ø added after the test; codes bracketed only by sense (not counted)
  [x] retry: every unread word retried by the contributor at native zoom with the final table and regraded (set 2 from 71% to 98.0%; openers "out of table" shown to be division errors)

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/vibejuel1651/NOTES.md in full, and the
   key, transcription and reading files it names; lang/README.md (shared language models).
   Work in targets/vibejuel1651/. 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/vibejuel1651/. 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+vibejuel1651&page=vibejuel1651.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.

Already tried

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.

Open a further-reading issueOther kinds of reportHow credit works← All partial readings