At a glanceKnown key applied · complete
- The letter
- Heusner von Wandersleben to Oxenstierna, Cassel, 15 May 1637 (DECODE’s 15 March is a slip). One letter, in clear German with ciphered words and phrases.
- Where
- Catalogue entries 208 and 209, DECODE R3816 and R4332. The three scans are byte for byte the same, pages 2 and 3 in the other order, so they are one letter.
- The cipher
- A numerical homophonic alphabet for words and phrases, with three-digit numbers for names and places.
- How it was read
- R4332 carries the key and full plaintext of Michelle Waldispühl and Nils Kopal (HistoCrypt 2024). Applied to a new transcription of one page of figures, their key gives their plaintext, except for three slips in the new transcription.
- Still open
- What they left open: some sixteen code numbers.
- Credit
- Waldispühl and Kopal, HistoCrypt 2024: the deciphered text is theirs.
01 The letter and the key
The letter is written in clear German, and the sensitive words and phrases are in figures separated by points. The alphabet has 22 letters with one to eight values each: E has eight (8, 30, 31, 61, 100, 110, 120, 200) and H six, while K and P have one each. The values run from 2 to 202, and nothing marks word divisions inside a run. Three-digit numbers from 147 to 808 stand for persons and places. The key file on the record lists 47 under both O and U.
| Record | DECODE status | Images |
|---|---|---|
| R4332 | Partially decrypted, 5 pp.; key and plaintext attached | P1, P2, P3 |
| R3816 | Non-decrypted, 3 pp., “not solved” | P1 = R4332 P1; P2 = R4332 P3; P3 = R4332 P2 (identical MD5) |
02 The decipherment
The plaintext is Waldispühl and Kopal’s. Heusner has fallen out with Field Marshal Banér and, warned about Franz Heinrich of Saxe-Lauenburg “wegen der Hamburger sache”, has withdrawn to 164. The Kassel court has turned away from Sweden:
So erfahre ich aber das HERR UND KNECHT SEHR GEENDERT UND AM GANZEN HOFE AUSSER DER 503. NICHT EINER MEHR UFFRECHT SCHWEDISCH, IA DER 628. FAUORISIRET vnd CARESSIRET alzo die so in SEINEM ABWESEN dem 503. ZUWIEDER GEWESEN vnd die 764. UBERGEBEN wollen
A campaign is talked of, “WOHIN IST STILL”, but the force is not there. Then comes the secret war material:
Man hat hier in der aller größen geheimb etlich 385. CENTNER METALLISCHE SPEISSE ZUSAMMEN GESCHMELZET vnd solche verdecket auf 147 geführet, daselbst etliche schon hierzu gemachte STUCKE ZU TAUSCHEN
Johan von Uffeln is to be commandant of 571, and Gunterot is to take the field. The letter ends “CASSEL den 15. May 1637”.
03 The check made here
The figures on letter page 2 (259 tokens with the clear-text breaks) were transcribed from the scan without using the published plaintext. The published homophone table turns them into ZUWIEDER GEWESEN … UBERGEBEN … NEGOCIIREN … FORCE … BASTANT … AUS DEM LANDT ZU TREIBEN … BESTALLUNG … GELDER … GROSSES HERANTZ … RECHT IM DIRECTORIO FASSEN, the published decipherment. Three single figures differ (SOHL for SOLL, FEOD for FELD, CLAM for CLAR), and each is a slip in the new transcription.
04 What stays open
- The codes 147, 164, 184, 255, 289, 321, 384, 385, 503, 571, 617, 628, 703, 708, 747 and 764, left as numbers by Waldispühl and Kopal. 747 is in their plaintext but not in their key file.
- From context alone, 503 is the one person at the court still loyal to Sweden, who “SOLL IN DAS FELD”, most likely Landgrave Wilhelm V of Hesse-Kassel (grade M). 147 is where the guns are cast, and 764 a place some wanted to surrender. The Hessian correspondence of 1637 would settle these.
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.
R4332 (= R3816), Heusner to Oxenstierna, Kassel 15 May 1637
Sigismund Heusner von Wandersleben to Axel Oxenstierna, Kassel 15 May 1637: he has withdrawn from Banér's displeasure and the Saxon side; at the Hessian court master and servant have turned and hardly anyone but '503' is still Swedish-minded; metal is being secretly melted down and taken to '147' to be cast into guns, and Johan von Uffeln is to command '571'. Deciphered by Waldispühl and Kopal (2024).
Transcription
# DECODE R4332 image P1 = letter page 2. Figures only; clear words replaced by "|". Transcribed here from the scan. 503 67 4 96 82 30 9 30 94 7 8 13 30 70 61 20 | 764 34 10 100 2 7 8 10 61 77 | 100 13 18 23 56 103 9 61 2 18 2 64 61 20 77 8 62 18 11 24 75 2 8 84 74 18 20 46 8 20 | 4 18 84 8 24 20 61 21 6 100 83 9 90 4 101 | 13 87 5 75 77 75 3 35 97 35 24 23 76 | 56 18 2 11 8 | 10 12 3 64 59 20 95 808 385 184 59 69 3 37 100 21 23 98 20 9 95 90 34 35 2 8 24 58 30 84 | 503 70 87 29 83 75 77 9 38 3 56 8 87 9 | 59 4 3 104 100 88 48 59 77 9 95 | 321 | 22 92 11 5 61 84 | 255 10 61 3 35 59 76 83 92 20 7 | 289 62 30 48 9 8 2 | 62 2 18 70 97 61 70 85 30 33 12 84 95 90 | 63 61 9 8 84 93 92 72 77 | 84 18 11 7 84 24 11 55 95 11 83 38 73 | 7 8 83 10 100 94 99 33 18 20 | 747 | 617 94 6 11 5 95 82 49 37 82 2 30 11 95 87 94 82 72 56 98 3 70 30 46 |
Decryption: aere-perennius0116
05 Sources
- DECODE R4332 (images, key file, plaintext) and R3816 (the same images). Riksarkivet, Stockholm.
- Waldispühl, M. & Kopal, N. 2024. Decipherment of a German encrypted letter sent from Sigismund Heusner von Wandersleben to Axel Oxenstierna in 1637. In Proceedings of HistoCrypt 2024, 249–253. Tartu.
Notes, profile and the page-2 transcription: targets/heusner1637/ in the repository.