Mihály Hentér to Ferenc Rákóczi II, Constantinople, 8 July 1707

At a glanceExisting decipherment · complete

The letter: Mihály Hentér, Rákóczi’s agent at the Porte, to Rákóczi, Constantinople, 8 July 1707. One page.
Where: DECODE R496, listed as undeciphered and dated 1 January 1707. Both are wrong: a decipherer wrote the Hungarian plaintext between the lines, and 1 January–31 December is only a placeholder for the year.
The cipher: A monoalphabetic system, shared with two more Hentér letters in the fascicle (R533, R534) that also have dense interlinear plaintext.
How it was read: The interlinear text was transcribed; the closing formulae of R533 and R534 fix the key values used to check it.
What it says: The pasha of Belgrade welcomed Rákóczi’s gift and offered troops, powder and grain if he sent six or seven thousand men against the Serbs. The grand vizier’s hearing of the deputation was delayed. The letter closes with a plea for a captive’s release.
Still open: Some middle clauses, where the decipherer’s cursive runs over the cipher, need a Hungarian palaeographer.

01 The document

Writer and addressee: Mihály Hentér, Rákóczi’s envoy in Constantinople, to Ferenc Rákóczi II.
Place and date: Constantinople, 8 July 1707 (DECODE: “1 Jan 1707”, place “Budapest”, the archive’s location).
Shelfmark: Magyar Nemzeti Levéltár, G 15, Caps. D, Fasc. 80, fol. 38; DECODE R496.
Physical form: one folio, the letter on the recto and the address on the verso. DECODE lists one page but serves two image files.
Rights: the archive’s notice on DECODE forbids publishing the scan without its permission, so no image is reproduced here.

02 The decipherment

Below is a normalised transcription of the interlinear Hungarian. Square brackets mark words that are still uncertain because the decipherer’s hand overlaps the cipher symbols. Spelling and punctuation are lightly normalised.

Az nándorfejérvári pasa Felséged ajándékát kedvesen vevé, és dicsértette; kiben mondá: ha Felséged hat vagy hét ezer hadat a rácok ellen küldene, assecurálja Felségedet, hogy Felséged hadait haddal, porral, gabonával is segítené.

[A short sentence about the kuruc envoys, hard to read.] Ide érkezvén Felséged, Uram, levelét vettem. Elmentem és kértem, hogy a fővezér előtt a deputát [kihallgatást nyerjen / bővebben meghallgattassék], melyre ígérte magát. [Közvetítője] azt izené, hogy lett volna audientiája, de a magyar […].

Paragraphs 3 and 4 were transcribed again on 23 October 2026: the interlinear at two to three times on the DECODE image, and the cipher under it decoded sign by sign with the alphabet fixed by the first two paragraphs. The figures correct the interlinear at four places (jancsarsag, turbatio, componalodnak, remenkedem). Paragraphs 3–4 build coherent sentences but read at 93.9% of their words, under the 95% bar; the text of paragraphs 1–2 reads at 98.0%. The text keeps the figures’ unaccented spelling (texts/mnl-g15-d80-f38_p3-4_reading.md):

Es izene, hogy lett volna audientiank, de a jancsarsag közöt turbatio eset.

Fö [?tiszteket] akarvan [?valtoztatni], azert legyünk varakozasban, mig a dolgok componalodnak.

Idö folytaban ismet solicitaltuk az audientiat ket uttal, is izene, hogy habeant patientiam, vocabuntur ad praesentandas literas.

Ujabban is remenkedem Felsegednek az szegeny rab [?uram] szabadulasa irant.

Kiert Isten Felsegedet meg algya; en [?pedig] eletem fogytaig maradok Felseged alazatos hü szolgaja

Henter Mihaly.

In English. The pasha of Belgrade received Your Majesty’s gift kindly and praised it. He said that if Your Majesty sent six or seven thousand troops against the Serbs, he assures Your Majesty that he would help Your Majesty’s forces with troops, powder and grain too. […] On arriving here I received Your Majesty’s letter, my lord. I went and asked that the deputation be [heard] before the grand vizier, which he promised. And he sent word that we would have had our audience, but a disturbance broke out among the Janissaries. Wanting to change the chief [?officials], [they say] we should wait until matters are settled. In the course of time we again solicited the audience twice, and he sent word that they should have patience; they will be called to present the letters. Lately, too, I am hopeful about the liberation of Your Highness’s poor captive, my [?lord]. For which may God bless Your Highness; and I [?for my part] remain to the end of my life Your Highness’s humble, faithful servant, Mihály Hentér.

03 How it was checked

Two other letters from Hentér in the same fascicle use the same system and carry dense interlinear plaintext: R533 (fol. 40) and R534 (fol. 46). R533’s closing formula gives a clean control. The cipher group wi6xi2i4 decrypts as Felséged, which fixes w = f, i = e, 6 = l, x = s, 2 = g and 4 = d. Other repeated formulae give n = a, 0 = o, c = h, 9 = m and 5 = k; the other graphic signs cannot be typed in plain text. These values agree with the interlinear text on R496, so the glosses are a decipherment of this cipher and not a paraphrase.

Benedek Láng independently lists fols. 38, 40 and 46 as Hentér’s three 1707 letters (C.Hen.01–03) and describes their cipher as monoalphabetic.

04 What remains uncertain

Reading audit, 22–23 October 2026. On 22 October only the first two paragraphs of the interlinear built into sentences and the third and fourth were classed decoded, not read. On 23 October they were transcribed again on the image and checked against the cipher, and they build sentences; the whole letter is now taken from the decipherment of the time, checked against the figures.

The opening report of the pasha of Belgrade’s offer, the arrival of Rákóczi’s letter and the request for an audience, and the closing formula: H (the interlinear text is legible and agrees with the key).
The bracketed clauses of the second paragraph (the kuruc envoys, the intermediary’s name): M. In paragraphs 3–4, four words stay doubtful and six letters rest on look-alike signs. A Hungarian palaeographer would still be needed for a diplomatic edition.
The identity of the “szegény rab uram”, the captive whose release is asked for: not established.
Paragraphs 3–4 were decoded sign by sign under the interlinear on 23 October 2026 (texts/mnl-g15-d80-f38_p3-4_cipher.tsv); for paragraphs 1–2 the check rests on the sibling letters’ key agreeing with the glosses.

05 Corrections to the catalogue record

Date: 8 July 1707, not 1 January 1707.
Status: Decrypted (a contemporary interlinear decipherment is on the folio), in place of “non-decrypted”.
Inline plaintext: true.
Pages: one folio, recto letter and verso address.

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.

R496, Hentér to Rákóczi, Constantinople 8 July 1707: paragraphs 1-2

Mihály Hentér, Rákóczi's envoy at Constantinople, to Ferenc Rákóczi II, 8 July 1707: the pasha of Belgrade received Rákóczi's gift favourably and offered troops, gunpowder and grain if Rákóczi sent six or seven thousand men against the Serbs; Hentér pressed for the deputation to be heard by the grand vizier, whose audience was delayed amid confusion in the capital; he closes with a request about the liberation of a captive.

Decryption

mnl-g15-d80-f38_decryption.md

# Hentér to Rákóczi II, Constantinople, 8 July 1707 (MNL OL G 15 Caps. D Fasc. 80 fol. 38; DECODE R496): the interlinear decipherment

Copied verbatim from NOTES.md ("What the cipher says"): a normalized reading of the contemporary or near-contemporary
interlinear Hungarian on the leaf. Square brackets mark words that remain uncertain because the decipherer's cursive
overlaps the cipher characters; […] marks words not read. Spelling and punctuation lightly normalized.

> Az nándorfejérvári pasa Felséged ajándékát kedvesen vevé, és
> dicsértette; kiben mondá: ha Felséged hat vagy hét ezer hadat a rácok
> ellen küldene, assecurálja Felségedet, hogy Felséged hadait haddal,
> porral, gabonával is segítené.
>
> [A kuruc követekre vonatkozó rövid, nehezen olvasható mondat.] Ide
> érkezvén Felséged, Uram, levelét vettem. Elmentem és kértem, hogy a
> fővezér előtt a deputát [kihallgatást nyerjen / bővebben
> meghallgattassék], melyre ígérte magát. [Közvetítője] azt izené, hogy
> lett volna audientiája, de a magyar […].
>
> […] Ezen leginkább [a] városban még a dolgok confusióban [vannak]. Idő
> folytában ismét sollicitáltuk az audientiát. […] izené, hogy ha bément
> […], *voce* […], bátor *ad praesentandas literas* […].
>
> Felségednek a szegény rab uram felszabadulása iránt […]. Kérem
> Istent, Felségednek minden áldását […]. Felséged alázatos hű szolgája,
> Hentér Mihály.

Translation

mnl-g15-d80-f38_p1-2_en.md

# Hentér to Rákóczi II, Constantinople, 8 July 1707 (DECODE R496), paragraphs 1-2: English translation

Translation (Claude Opus 5.5, 23 Oct 2026) of paragraphs 1-2 of `texts/mnl-g15-d80-f38_decryption.md`, the normalized
reading of the contemporary interlinear Hungarian decipherment on the leaf. Same marks: square brackets for words
that remain uncertain (alternatives separated by /), `[…]` for words not read; the bracketed sentence in paragraph 2
is the reading's own note. Paragraphs 3-4 are translated in `texts/mnl-g15-d80-f38_p3-4_en.md`.

## Translation

The pasha of Nándorfehérvár [Belgrade] received Your Majesty's gift kindly, and had it praised; whereupon he said
that, if Your Majesty would send six or seven thousand troops against the Serbs, he assures Your Majesty that he
would help Your Majesty's troops with troops, powder and grain as well.

[A short, hard-to-read sentence about the kuruc envoys.] Having arrived here, I received Your Majesty's, my Lord's,
letter. I went and asked that the deputation [obtain an audience / be heard more fully] before the grand vizier,
which he promised to do. [His intermediary] sent word that there would have been an audience, but the Hungarian […].

R496, paragraphs 3-4 (the delayed audience, the captive, the closing) read in part

The audience would have been granted, but a disturbance (turbatio) broke out among the Janissaries; as the chief officials are being changed, Hentér must wait until matters settle; the audience was solicited twice more and the answer was 'habeant patientiam, vocabuntur ad praesentandas literas'; he is hopeful about the liberation of Rákóczi's captive and closes as his humble servant.

Builds coherent sentences, but under the read bar of 95% of words read as sense (94% here); the holes are marked in the reading.

Transcription

mnl-g15-d80-f38_p3-4_cipher.tsv

row	cipher (sign names)	decode	interlinear (as written)	note
2	π04''8wnπ85 4'' π ʒπ83χπ↓-	audientiank de a jancsar-	audientiah de a [Ianyar?]	interlinear read "magyar" in the 20 Sept normalization; figures j-a-n-c-s-a-r
3	χπ2 5öξöw w0↓∞πwn20 ''χ''w Λö	-sag közöt turbatio eset Fö	say közöt twrbabo esett Fö	turbatio: t u r b a t i o (single ∞ here)
3	wπχξw''5''w π5π↓ʊπ8 ʊπбwö20ξ-	tiszteket akarvan valtoz-	Tiszteleket akarvan valtoz-	second sign π-like read i (look-alike)
4	wπwπ8n πξ''↓w б''211ö85 ʊπ↓π520ξπχ∞∞π8 9n2 π 42062205 3209б020-	-tatni azert legyünk varakozasban mig a dolgok compo-	tatni azert legjünk varokban mig a dolgok compo-	wπwπ8n read "tatni" with one t-a doubled (look-alike); dolgok: 2 after 4 and g read as part of 20
5	8πб20484π5 n4ö Λ20б11wπ∞∞π8 nχ9''w χ206n3nwπбwö5 πξ π04''8wn-	-nalodnak idö folytaban ismet solicitaltuk az audienti-	naltatnak idö folytaban ismet soliciltuk as audienti-	figures componalodnak, not "naltatnak"
6	πw 5''w 0wwπб nχ nξ''8'' C20211 Cπ∞''π8w б0πwn''8wnπ9 ʊ203π-	-at ket uttal is izene hogy habeant patientiam voca-	-at teer[?] nãl ij izené hogy habeant patientiam voca	"ket uttal" = két úttal (twice)
7	∞08w0↓ π4 б0↓π''χ''8wπ84πχ бnw''↓πχ 0ʒπ∞∞π8 nχ ↓''9''85''4''9 Λ''б-	-buntur ad praesentandas literas ujabban is remenkedem fel-	bantur ad praesentandas literas njabban is zenenkedem fel	interlinear "zenenkedem" is remenkedem (↓ = r)
8	χ''2''4''8''5 πξ χξ''2''811 ↓π∞ Λn↓π9 χξπ∞π4öбπχπ n↓π8w 5n''↓w n-	-segednek az szegeny rab uram szabadulasa irant kiert I-	segednek az szegény Rab Uram szabadulasa irant Kiert I-	first sign of uram Λ-like (f elsewhere); read u (look-alike)
9	χw''8 Λ''6χ''2''4''w 9''2 π6211π ''8 б014n2 ''б''w''9 Λ20211ωπn2 9π↓π4205	-sten Felsegedet meg algya en pedig eletem fogytaig maradok	sten Felsegednek mig algya en pedig eletem fogytaig maradok	pedig: б0 = p, 1 = e (look-alike)
10	Λ''6χ''2''4 πбπξπw20χ Cö χξ20б2πʒπ C''8w''↓ 9ncnбn	Felseged alazatos hü szolgaja Henter Mihaly	Felseged alazatos hü szolgaja Henter Mihaly

Decryption

mnl-g15-d80-f38_p3-4_reading.md

# Hentér to Rákóczi II, Constantinople, 8 July 1707 (MNL OL G 15 Caps. D Fasc. 80 fol. 38; DECODE R496): paragraphs 3-4, reading

Rests on: the contemporary interlinear decipherment on the leaf itself, read line by line on the DECODE image
IMG_R496_I3689_P1 (main checkout `targets/henter1707/img/`, git-ignored; the archive does not allow the scan to be
republished) at 2-3x crops, **and** the cipher under it decoded sign by sign with the alphabet that the interlinear of
the same letter fixes (`mnl-g15-d80-f38_p3-4_cipher.tsv`). Where the two disagree the figures decide: the interlinear
writer's "Magyar" is **jancsar[sag]** in cipher, his "naltatnak" is **componalodnak**, "zenenkedem" is **remenkedem**.
Spelling is that of the figures (the cipher has no accents; ö is its own sign; ij/y as written); words are divided as
the interlinear divides them. Starts with the end of paragraph 2 ("lett volna audientiank ...") so that the first
sentence is whole; the earlier normalized text had "de a magyar […]" there.

`[?word]` = partly carried (a look-alike sign or a sign not fixed elsewhere). No word is supplied.

## Reading

Es izene, hogy lett volna audientiank, de a jancsarsag közöt turbatio eset.

Fö [?tiszteket] akarvan [?valtoztatni], azert legyünk varakozasban, mig a dolgok componalodnak.

Idö folytaban ismet solicitaltuk az audientiat ket uttal, is izene, hogy habeant patientiam, vocabuntur ad praesentandas literas.

Ujabban is remenkedem Felsegednek az szegeny rab [?uram] szabadulasa irant.

Kiert Isten Felsegedet meg algya; en [?pedig] eletem fogytaig maradok Felseged alazatos hü szolgaja

Henter Mihaly.

## Notes

- Cipher alphabet as used here (sign names in the tsv): a π, b ∞∞ (one sign), c 3, d 4, e '' (or '), f Λ, g 2, h C,
  i n-shape, j ʒ, k 5, l б, m 9, n 8, o 20 (two-part sign), p б0, r ↓, s χ, t w/ω, u 0, ü/ö ö, v ʊ, y 11, z ξ. Fixed by
  the interlinear words of paragraphs 1-2 and checked in every word below ("Felseged" Λ''6χ''2''4, "maradok"
  9π↓π4205, "szolgaja" χξ20б2πʒπ, "Henter" C''8w''↓).
- Look-alike letters: 6 (p = б0 against l + o in "pedig", the e of "pedig" written 1; the second sign of "tiszteket",
  a π-like i; the first sign of "uram"; the a of "habeant" an n-shape; one t-a doubling in "valtoztatni").
- Latin as written: "habeant patientiam, vocabuntur ad praesentandas literas" (the interlinear has "bantur"; the
  figures give voca-buntur across the line break).