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E  Π  x  h  ρ  6  II  →  p r i n c e s

Paris → [Walsingham] · letter substitution with homophones · 9 November 1586

Sir Edward Stafford to Walsingham, 9 November 1586

Edward Stafford
fromEdward Stafford
Francis Walsingham
toFrancis Walsingham

BL Harley MS 1582 ff. 76–77, DECODE R8504. A short holograph letter in clear English. Its only cipher is one seven-sign word, deciphered as princes with the key recovered here from Stafford’s other letters in the volume. No decipherment was found on the page or in print.

Daniel Bourdeau · posted · updated

Method: key recovered based on adjacent plaintext · Extent: complete

Credits · Contemporary key or decipherment (key or decipherment used)

At a glanceKey from adjacent plaintext · complete

The letter
Edward Stafford, English ambassador in Paris, to an unnamed recipient (probably Walsingham), 9 November 1586. One page of clear English with a single cipher word.
Where
DECODE R8504, catalogued as a cipher letter with no decryption and an unknown recipient; two images, one page and a blank leaf.
The cipher
One word of seven graphic signs on the second line. It uses Stafford’s cipher with Walsingham, already rebuilt here from a decipherment and glosses in the same volume.
How it was read
The earlier key gives five of the seven signs directly; the other two are inferred from the word, and no other English word fits p?in?es.
What it says
The word is princes: “a paquet with princes from your honor”. The letter is not in the Calendar of State Papers Foreign, which prints a different letter of that day to Burghley.
Credit
Key from Stafford, 20 August 1586.

01 The document

f. 76r: Stafford’s holograph. About sixteen lines of clear English, a subscription and the signature “E Stafford”. f. 76v/77: blank, with show-through. No address or endorsement survives on the images, so the recipient is not named. The letter says “your honor”, and its siblings R8500–R8503 in the same volume are addressed to Walsingham, which makes him the probable recipient. DECODE’s “London” is where the manuscript is held. Stafford was ambassador in Paris. The clear text opens:

Opening lines of a handwritten English note with a single word of seven cipher signs on line 2
f. 76r, lines 1–5: Sr, I receaved as I was puttinge penne to this paquet a paquet wth [seven cipher signs, princes] …, the letter’s only cipher word. Image: British Library, Harley MS 1582 f. 76r, via DECODE R8504.
Sr, I receaved as I was puttinge penne to this paquet a paquet wth [E Π x h ρ 6 II] from your honor sent into …

02 The decipherment

signEΠxhρ6II
valueprinces
sourcekeycontextkeykeycontextkeykey

Decipherment: princes. Grade: C for the two context signs, H for the rest. There is one cipher word and it is deciphered, so no gaps remain.

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.

R8504, Sir Edward Stafford to [Walsingham], 9 Nov 1586, f. 76r line 2 not prose

A short clear holograph note from Stafford; the only cipher is one seven-sign word on line 2, 'princes', read with the Walsingham letter key rebuilt in harley1582r8500.

Transcription

ciphertext.txt

E Π x h ρ 6 II
Decryption

plaintext.txt

princes

03 Sources

Notes, transcription and profile: targets/harley1582r8504/.