Lilienthal in Moscow (1665–1667) — key rebuilt from the glosses

At a glanceKey from adjacent plaintext · complete

The letters: Despatches of Johan von Lilienthal, Swedish resident in Moscow, to Charles XI (the Regency), in German, 1665–1667, with the sensitive passages in number code.
Where: Riksarkivet, Stockholm, Diplomatica Muscovitica, SE/RA/2113/2113.1/1/36/82 (137 images, series R0000814). Not on DECODE.
The cipher: A German letter substitution with homophones, with numbers also for ch, sch, st, ss, ll, ff and tz: groups of two or three digits in six series, each running through the alphabet. Not a nomenclator.
How the key was found: 158 values learned from the glossed runs of images 42 and 47, frozen by SHA-256, then measured once on image 45: 0.887 of the letters against 0.047 for the best of 200 shuffled keys.
What it says: On the measured lines: someone “bestehet feste auff seiner instruction” (holds firmly to his instruction), and great boyars, Dolgoruka, Ilia Danielewitz and Almasi among them, discussed it together after yesterday’s conference.
Credit: Key, transcription and test by Brice Dudout (pull request #384). The decipherment itself is the clerk’s of the 1660s. The lead came from the project’s Riksarkivet sweep.
Still open: Values added after the test are untested; codes 107–120 and 303–320 never occur in the runs read. Every run seen carries its gloss.

01 The despatches

The volume holds the despatches of the Swedish resident in Moscow to the Regency that governed for the young Charles XI. They are in German, and the passages to be kept secret are written in dotted numbers. The German decipherment of the time is written between the lines: the project’s leads review of 6 November 2026 found it over every run it zoomed and noted that “only the key is of further use”. This target supplies that key.

Image 45, left page: lines of dotted two- and three-digit code groups with the German decipherment written between them — Image 45, left page, the held-out lines: the code groups with the gloss between the lines (“Dolgoruka”, “Elia Danielewitz”, “Almasi”, “conference”). Image: Riksarkivet, Stockholm, SE/RA/2113/2113.1/1/36/82, bildid R0000814_00045, via the Riksarkivet IIIF service.

Brice Dudout used three images. Images 42 (both pages) and 47 (left page) were used to learn the key. On image 45 the left page, lines 1–10, was held out: its first 160 groups were measured once. Code runs fill nearly every image from 28 to 49; beyond these three images they were not transcribed, since the gloss over them is already their decipherment.

02 The key

There are six code series: 23–59, 63–100, 103–150, 153–190, 293–349 and 353–390; numbers ending in 1 or 2 do not occur. Each series runs through the alphabet (23 a, 24 b, 25 c, 26 ch … 59 y). Series 293–349 repeats the order of 23–59 and series 353–390 that of 63–100. Besides single letters there are numbers for ch, sch, st, ss, ll, ff and tz, and u, v and w share their numbers. Codes 107–120 and 303–320 were never seen: they may hold words or names, or simply be unused.

The first notes on this lead took the code for a nomenclator of about 390 values. That came from low-resolution views; the amended protocol still called it one, and the contributor corrected it once the key had been rebuilt.

The frozen key has 158 codes, learned without a conflict from 1116 aligned groups. After the measurement, the order of the table and the sense of image 45 gave 89 = st (feste), 27 = ff (auff), 64 = c (instruction), 54 = tz (Danielewitz) and 348 = z (zusammen); structure alone suggests 379 st, 344 tz, 75/365 k, 378 sch and 68/358 ff. These rows are marked “post” in key.tsv and were not tested. The key table is released under CC BY 4.0.

03 The held-out test

The first protocol treated the code as a nomenclator and held out image 42. It was amended before any measurement: image 42, already seen in part, moved to training, and image 45, not yet looked at closely, became the held-out page. The key was then learned from images 42 and 47 only and frozen. On image 45 the first 160 groups were transcribed and frozen first; only then was the gloss above them read and frozen. One measurement compared the decode with the gloss letter by letter (a local alignment, after normalising spelling such as u/v/w and umlauts):

0.887 of the decoded characters agree with the gloss;
the best of 200 keys made by shuffling the same values gives 0.047 (mean 0.024), a margin of 0.840;
the thresholds fixed in advance were 0.85 and a margin of 0.30, so the key passes.

The 5 groups outside the frozen key counted as wrong. One bias is declared: the gloss is on the same image and was visible while the numbers were transcribed. On integration the measurement script was run again on the frozen files and gave the same figures, the SHA-256 hashes check out, and the decode of the transcription with key.tsv matches the decryption file line for line.

04 The measured lines

Lines 1–10 of image 45 hold 185 groups. Of the 160 measured, 155 are in the frozen key and 5 are the post rows; none is cut. The decode with the full key (u/v/w written as the sense needs):

[s]ondern bestehet feste auff seiner instruction und gehanen propositiones s haten auch etliche von den grossen boiaren als s
dolgoruka ilia danielewitz almasi | gestern nac[h] der conference zusammen discurrirend e | verlauten lassen mit e...

The gloss of the time reads:

von wissen sondern bestehet hatte auf seiner instruction und geheimen propositiones gethan und welche von den grossen boiaren als
dolgoruka elia danielewitz almasi gestern nach der conference zusammen discurrirende verlauten lassen

The gloss is not always word for word. Where the cipher has “feste auff” the gloss writes “hatte auf”, and for “s haten auch etliche von den grossen boiaren” it writes “gethan und welche von den grossen boiaren”: it summarises. “Gehanen” for “geheimen” may be the cipher clerk’s slip. In English: “… but [he] holds firmly to his instruction and [secret] propositions. Also some of the great boyars, such as Dolgoruka, Ilia Danielewitz, Almasi, … yesterday after the conference, discussing it together, let it be known with …”. The contributor takes Dolgoruka for a Prince Dolgorukov, Ilia Danielewitz probably for Ilya Danilovich Miloslavsky and Almasi probably for Almaz Ivanov, head of the Ambassadorial Office; these identifications were not checked against the clear text of the letter.

05 What remains open

The post rows of the key are untested: each rests on one or two words of image 45 or on the order of the table, and the one held-out page is spent.
Codes 107–120 and 303–320 do not occur in the runs read.
A test with the gloss out of view cannot be made on the pages seen: every run carries its gloss on the same leaf. The tops and bottoms of pages 28–49 other than 38, 42, 45 and 47 were not checked at full resolution, so a short unglossed run there is not excluded.
One reader (an agent) on 3000 px images, with no human palaeographic check. The dates of the letters on images 42, 45 and 47 are in their clear text, which was not transcribed.

The code of Adolf Ebers, the Swedish commissary in Moscow in 1662–1666, is a different cipher, with its own page: Ebers in Moscow, 1662–1666.

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.

Images 42 and 47: the glossed runs the key was learned from not prose

The training pairs: 97 glossed runs of images 42 (both pages) and 47 (left), cipher groups aligned letter by letter under the gloss written at the time, e.g. "von allen zollen sein mogen" and "commercien".

Transcription

PAIRES-LILIENTHAL.tsv

# Paires Lilienthal (R0000814), alignement lettre à lettre sous la glose ; '_' = groupe hors glose. image	codes	valeurs
42L	298.336.70.59	f r e y
42L	94.77.134.57.39.106.173.99.333.329.158.327.50.299.166.134.38.43.33.360.368	u o n a ll e n z o ll e n s e i n m o g e n
42L	190.325.29.300.70.46.106.74.78.139.23.94.79.70.327	u i e d e r e i n r a u m e n
42L	37.103.367.324.369.360.139.156.130.29.78	_ c o _ m e r c i e n
42L	150.106.85.125.174.173.37.158.78	u e r g o n n e n
42L	86.299.166.368.360.138	s e i n e s
42L	295.153.98.180.336.29.173	c z a r r e n
42L	375.345.339.70.327.298.180.106.94.134.105.50.158.166.37	r u ss e n f r e u n d s e i n
42L	159.130.299	d i e
42L	46.94.49.360	r u ss e
42L	50.43.76.296.29.86.37.35.26.53.70.74.78.67.106.73.158.134	s o l ch e s n i ch t e i n g e h e n
42L	299.180.138.166.104.187.345.326.360.364.37.29.139	e r s i ch z u k e i n e r
42L	123.336.70.186.134.300.88.98.297.377.55.106.180.177.158.165.299.327	f r e u n d sch a ff t u e r st e h e n
42L	35.37.360.78.67.29.80.293.134.66	i n e n g e ll a n d
42L	364.73.79.70.106.35.368.158.327.323.299.56.325.90.29.37	i h m e e i n e n g e u i ss e n
42L	184.70.139.79.74.78.186.38.129	t e r m i n u m k
42L	173.163.145.130.33.106.340.187.345	n f t i g e s z u
42L	158.74.63.85.74.37.67.150.327.125	e i _ r i n g u n g
42L	356.299.336.139.360.340.135.330.345.377.130.77.173	d e r r e s o l u t i o n
42L	30.74.29.323.70.133.94.87.34.106.85.66.158.139.180.94.90.299.327	d i e g e m u t h e r d e r r u ss e n
42L	376.360.126.46.55.23.85.325.57.24.29.330.340.70.364.37	s e h r u a r i a b e l s e i n
42L	159.166.106.158.78.323.366.74.88.299.134	d i e e n g l i sch e n
42L	170.150.180.360.336.187.29.35.87	k u r e r z e i t
42L	95.74.70.356.166.336.50.158.165.180.323.299.360	u i e d _ r s e h r g e e
42L	30.29.46.377	d e r t
42L	293.94.65.173.130.160.145.340.73.43.139.70.368	a u ch n i ch t s h o r e n
42L	77.357.106.327	o g e n
42L	300.158.46.299.173.357.360.127.29.78.105.70	d e r e n g e ll e n d e
42L	150.35.25.87.333.180.166.106.190.325.158.356.299.336.159.364.360.34	u i c t o r i e u i e d e r d i e h
42L	80.29.78.30.70.85.139.106.28.158.180.130.336.299.343	ll e n d e r r e f e r i r e t
42L	79.94.137.360.37.63.29.59.94.70.139.165.345.343.377.186.78.33	m u ss e n b e y u e r h u t t u n g
42L	90.106.336.186.134.125.173.23.30.158	ss e r u n g n a d e
42L	57.329.299.376.103.333.327.53	a ll e s c o n t
42L	154.85	a r
42L	340.150.44.29.46.48.35.53.74.77.55.96.70.37	s u p e r st i t i o u s e n
42L	67.135.87.343.106.138.356.166.158.173.177	g o t t e s d i e n st
42R	50.29.35.37.70.53.34.23.40.24.106.78	s e i n e t h a l b e n
42R	74.143.30.158.85.57.345.137.99.156.67	i st d e r a u ss z _ g
42R	98.76.340.43.136.336.299.104.377.130.33	a l s o p r e ch t i g
42R	23.37.67.360.338.29.39.70.343	a n g e st e ll e t
42R	155.347.149.106.336.298.158.76.66.126.299.375.46	_ _ u e r f e l d h e r r
42R	94.77.78.30.35.360.125.180.135.137.29.368	u o n d i e g r o ss e n
42R	86.70.324.139.104.347.85.106.380.325.46.158.184	s e h r ch _ r e ss i r e t
42R	294.299.59.300.360.85	b e y d e r
42R	164.29.38.70.35.37.106	g e m e i n e
42R	355.158.78.25.135.50.23.36.299.134.86.360.76.24.29.139	_ e n c o s a k e n s e l b e r
42R	74.79.47.128.70.65.53.106.133.103.180.158.105.166.145	i m sch l e ch t e m c r e d i t
42R	129.299.325.173.360.138.95.29.125.70.179	k e i n e s u e g e s
42R	30.364.106.336.186.339.158.327.167.325.145	d i e r u ss e n m i t
42R	83.77.34.40.299.37	p o h l e n
42R	328.293.104.70.178	m a ch e n
42R	63.23.190.106.85.105.158.139.180.57.345.97.299.336.360.100	b a u e r d e r r a u b e r e y
42R	125.29.375.368.70.346.364.106.66.158.46.23.37.390.299.78.136.157.128.384.357	g e r n e u i e d e r a n d e n p f l u g
42R	35.324.133.360.346.29.134.74.67.125.55.184.53.70.340.164.106.385.94.173.88.158.87	i h m e u e n i g g u t t e s g e u u n sch e t
42R	175.85.43.334.34.299.295.360.147.29.145	p r o p h e c e y e t
42R	354.77.327.300.166.343.325.135.368.70.376.356.106.46.158.85	c o n d i t i o n e s d e r e r
42R	30.299.139.373.174.165.76.37.364.144.360.29.78.56.333.147.70	d e r p o h l n i sch e e n u o y e
42R	58.106.35.53.34.158.180	z e i t h e r
42R	367.74.126.134.299.173.56.43.336.323.360.183.128.23.357.29.327	_ i h n e n u o r g e sch l a g e n
42R	66.130.70.50.106.368.330.158.94.126.145.299.37	d i e s e n l e u h t e n
42R	378.360.160.377.29.78.79.150.53.363	_ e ch t e n m u t h
42R	99.186.38.28.46.130.70.105.106.327	z u m f r i e d e n
42R	103.77.38.133.74.380.130.135.78.33.158.139.134.299	c o m m i ss i o n g e r n e
42R	190.360.336.47.40.29.44.83.29.368	u e r sch l e p p e n
42R	70.134.149.174.188.106.57.97.158.375.50.299.330.155.360	e n u o y e a b e r s e l b e
42R	345.29.46.337.366.70.373.334.384.368.67	u e r sch l e p p u n g
42R	86.333.134.159.106.85.37	s o n d e r n
42R	36.293.79.56.35.360.66.29.336.70.74.78.106	k a m u i e d e r e i n e
42R	47.366.158.55.134.130.323.299.44.43.48.347.94.380	sch l e u n i g e p o st a u ss
42R	353.29.375.325.296.145.70.184	b e r i ch t e t
42R	30.57.49.66.35.158.354.46.74.133.130.88.299	d a ss d i e c r i m i sch e
42R	150.170.180.23.349.166.173.360.134	u k r a y i n e n
47L	133.29.139.295.170.70.173	m e r c k e n
47L	35.106.300.135.296.125.158.353.299.327.179.74.360	i e d o ch g e b e n s i e
47L	164.29.323.70.368.130.126.180.106.23.329.165.166.158	g e g e n i h r e a ll h i e
47L	357.299.69.57.37.33.360.78.29	g e f a n g e n e
47L	330.98.134.356.376.366.70.384.377	l a n d s l e u t
47L	99.55.94.158.46.48.299.34.360.173	z u u e r st e h e n
47L	95.154.178.138.325.29	u a _ s i e
47L	364.53.294.85.43.355.70.190.74.25.326.188	i t b r o ch e u i c k y
47L	369.293.26.106.327	m a ch e n
47L	158.368.385.154.37.86.130.299.166.363.78.56.325.360.30.29.139.94.38	e n u a n s i e i h n u i e d e r u m
47L	34.35.134.23.150.179.63.70.326.135.369.328.106.173	h i n a u s b e k o m m e n
47L	180.158.340.174.327.23.97.299	r e s o n a b e
47L	105.98.49.376.166.360	d a ss s i e
47L	159.154.50.35.29.368.74.33.70	d a s i e n i g e
47L	149.293.86.138.130.106.150.333.37	u a s s i e u o n
47L	166.34.336.158.38.326.367.78.325.67	i h r e m k o n i g
47L	73.360.375.46.29.134.173.364.26.87.70.85.66.345.366.105.106.327	h e r r e n n i ch t e r d u l d e n
47L	155.139.43.65.158.56.35.103	b r o ch e u i c
47L	125.76.360.130.104.29.327.368.166.160.145.187.186	g l e i ch e n n i ch t z u
47L	170.77.44.124.29.159.57.336.98.78.50.70.185.106.134	k o p f e d a r a n s e tz e n
47L	300.29.79.180.384.339.70.173.149.35.370.74.357.106	d e m r u ss e n u i ll i g e
47L	55.368.356.366.154.380.158.37.164.40.299.130.26.298	u n d l a ss e n g l e i ch f
47L	325.78.83.135.165.128.360.134	i n p o h l e n
47L	169.65.29.86.173.325.104.377.46.23.343.364.359.35.103.74.85.70	l ch e s n i ch t r a t i f i c i r e
47L	23.40.86.333.368.35.26.53.385.299.76.65.360.139.33.29.143.57.128	a l s o n i ch t u e l ch e r g e st a l

Decryption

PAIRES-LILIENTHAL.tsv

# Paires Lilienthal (R0000814), alignement lettre à lettre sous la glose ; '_' = groupe hors glose. image	codes	valeurs
42L	298.336.70.59	f r e y
42L	94.77.134.57.39.106.173.99.333.329.158.327.50.299.166.134.38.43.33.360.368	u o n a ll e n z o ll e n s e i n m o g e n
42L	190.325.29.300.70.46.106.74.78.139.23.94.79.70.327	u i e d e r e i n r a u m e n
42L	37.103.367.324.369.360.139.156.130.29.78	_ c o _ m e r c i e n
42L	150.106.85.125.174.173.37.158.78	u e r g o n n e n
42L	86.299.166.368.360.138	s e i n e s
42L	295.153.98.180.336.29.173	c z a r r e n
42L	375.345.339.70.327.298.180.106.94.134.105.50.158.166.37	r u ss e n f r e u n d s e i n
42L	159.130.299	d i e
42L	46.94.49.360	r u ss e
42L	50.43.76.296.29.86.37.35.26.53.70.74.78.67.106.73.158.134	s o l ch e s n i ch t e i n g e h e n
42L	299.180.138.166.104.187.345.326.360.364.37.29.139	e r s i ch z u k e i n e r
42L	123.336.70.186.134.300.88.98.297.377.55.106.180.177.158.165.299.327	f r e u n d sch a ff t u e r st e h e n
42L	35.37.360.78.67.29.80.293.134.66	i n e n g e ll a n d
42L	364.73.79.70.106.35.368.158.327.323.299.56.325.90.29.37	i h m e e i n e n g e u i ss e n
42L	184.70.139.79.74.78.186.38.129	t e r m i n u m k
42L	173.163.145.130.33.106.340.187.345	n f t i g e s z u
42L	158.74.63.85.74.37.67.150.327.125	e i _ r i n g u n g
42L	356.299.336.139.360.340.135.330.345.377.130.77.173	d e r r e s o l u t i o n
42L	30.74.29.323.70.133.94.87.34.106.85.66.158.139.180.94.90.299.327	d i e g e m u t h e r d e r r u ss e n
42L	376.360.126.46.55.23.85.325.57.24.29.330.340.70.364.37	s e h r u a r i a b e l s e i n
42L	159.166.106.158.78.323.366.74.88.299.134	d i e e n g l i sch e n
42L	170.150.180.360.336.187.29.35.87	k u r e r z e i t
42L	95.74.70.356.166.336.50.158.165.180.323.299.360	u i e d _ r s e h r g e e
42L	30.29.46.377	d e r t
42L	293.94.65.173.130.160.145.340.73.43.139.70.368	a u ch n i ch t s h o r e n
42L	77.357.106.327	o g e n
42L	300.158.46.299.173.357.360.127.29.78.105.70	d e r e n g e ll e n d e
42L	150.35.25.87.333.180.166.106.190.325.158.356.299.336.159.364.360.34	u i c t o r i e u i e d e r d i e h
42L	80.29.78.30.70.85.139.106.28.158.180.130.336.299.343	ll e n d e r r e f e r i r e t
42L	79.94.137.360.37.63.29.59.94.70.139.165.345.343.377.186.78.33	m u ss e n b e y u e r h u t t u n g
42L	90.106.336.186.134.125.173.23.30.158	ss e r u n g n a d e
42L	57.329.299.376.103.333.327.53	a ll e s c o n t
42L	154.85	a r
42L	340.150.44.29.46.48.35.53.74.77.55.96.70.37	s u p e r st i t i o u s e n
42L	67.135.87.343.106.138.356.166.158.173.177	g o t t e s d i e n st
42R	50.29.35.37.70.53.34.23.40.24.106.78	s e i n e t h a l b e n
42R	74.143.30.158.85.57.345.137.99.156.67	i st d e r a u ss z _ g
42R	98.76.340.43.136.336.299.104.377.130.33	a l s o p r e ch t i g
42R	23.37.67.360.338.29.39.70.343	a n g e st e ll e t
42R	155.347.149.106.336.298.158.76.66.126.299.375.46	_ _ u e r f e l d h e r r
42R	94.77.78.30.35.360.125.180.135.137.29.368	u o n d i e g r o ss e n
42R	86.70.324.139.104.347.85.106.380.325.46.158.184	s e h r ch _ r e ss i r e t
42R	294.299.59.300.360.85	b e y d e r
42R	164.29.38.70.35.37.106	g e m e i n e
42R	355.158.78.25.135.50.23.36.299.134.86.360.76.24.29.139	_ e n c o s a k e n s e l b e r
42R	74.79.47.128.70.65.53.106.133.103.180.158.105.166.145	i m sch l e ch t e m c r e d i t
42R	129.299.325.173.360.138.95.29.125.70.179	k e i n e s u e g e s
42R	30.364.106.336.186.339.158.327.167.325.145	d i e r u ss e n m i t
42R	83.77.34.40.299.37	p o h l e n
42R	328.293.104.70.178	m a ch e n
42R	63.23.190.106.85.105.158.139.180.57.345.97.299.336.360.100	b a u e r d e r r a u b e r e y
42R	125.29.375.368.70.346.364.106.66.158.46.23.37.390.299.78.136.157.128.384.357	g e r n e u i e d e r a n d e n p f l u g
42R	35.324.133.360.346.29.134.74.67.125.55.184.53.70.340.164.106.385.94.173.88.158.87	i h m e u e n i g g u t t e s g e u u n sch e t
42R	175.85.43.334.34.299.295.360.147.29.145	p r o p h e c e y e t
42R	354.77.327.300.166.343.325.135.368.70.376.356.106.46.158.85	c o n d i t i o n e s d e r e r
42R	30.299.139.373.174.165.76.37.364.144.360.29.78.56.333.147.70	d e r p o h l n i sch e e n u o y e
42R	58.106.35.53.34.158.180	z e i t h e r
42R	367.74.126.134.299.173.56.43.336.323.360.183.128.23.357.29.327	_ i h n e n u o r g e sch l a g e n
42R	66.130.70.50.106.368.330.158.94.126.145.299.37	d i e s e n l e u h t e n
42R	378.360.160.377.29.78.79.150.53.363	_ e ch t e n m u t h
42R	99.186.38.28.46.130.70.105.106.327	z u m f r i e d e n
42R	103.77.38.133.74.380.130.135.78.33.158.139.134.299	c o m m i ss i o n g e r n e
42R	190.360.336.47.40.29.44.83.29.368	u e r sch l e p p e n
42R	70.134.149.174.188.106.57.97.158.375.50.299.330.155.360	e n u o y e a b e r s e l b e
42R	345.29.46.337.366.70.373.334.384.368.67	u e r sch l e p p u n g
42R	86.333.134.159.106.85.37	s o n d e r n
42R	36.293.79.56.35.360.66.29.336.70.74.78.106	k a m u i e d e r e i n e
42R	47.366.158.55.134.130.323.299.44.43.48.347.94.380	sch l e u n i g e p o st a u ss
42R	353.29.375.325.296.145.70.184	b e r i ch t e t
42R	30.57.49.66.35.158.354.46.74.133.130.88.299	d a ss d i e c r i m i sch e
42R	150.170.180.23.349.166.173.360.134	u k r a y i n e n
47L	133.29.139.295.170.70.173	m e r c k e n
47L	35.106.300.135.296.125.158.353.299.327.179.74.360	i e d o ch g e b e n s i e
47L	164.29.323.70.368.130.126.180.106.23.329.165.166.158	g e g e n i h r e a ll h i e
47L	357.299.69.57.37.33.360.78.29	g e f a n g e n e
47L	330.98.134.356.376.366.70.384.377	l a n d s l e u t
47L	99.55.94.158.46.48.299.34.360.173	z u u e r st e h e n
47L	95.154.178.138.325.29	u a _ s i e
47L	364.53.294.85.43.355.70.190.74.25.326.188	i t b r o ch e u i c k y
47L	369.293.26.106.327	m a ch e n
47L	158.368.385.154.37.86.130.299.166.363.78.56.325.360.30.29.139.94.38	e n u a n s i e i h n u i e d e r u m
47L	34.35.134.23.150.179.63.70.326.135.369.328.106.173	h i n a u s b e k o m m e n
47L	180.158.340.174.327.23.97.299	r e s o n a b e
47L	105.98.49.376.166.360	d a ss s i e
47L	159.154.50.35.29.368.74.33.70	d a s i e n i g e
47L	149.293.86.138.130.106.150.333.37	u a s s i e u o n
47L	166.34.336.158.38.326.367.78.325.67	i h r e m k o n i g
47L	73.360.375.46.29.134.173.364.26.87.70.85.66.345.366.105.106.327	h e r r e n n i ch t e r d u l d e n
47L	155.139.43.65.158.56.35.103	b r o ch e u i c
47L	125.76.360.130.104.29.327.368.166.160.145.187.186	g l e i ch e n n i ch t z u
47L	170.77.44.124.29.159.57.336.98.78.50.70.185.106.134	k o p f e d a r a n s e tz e n
47L	300.29.79.180.384.339.70.173.149.35.370.74.357.106	d e m r u ss e n u i ll i g e
47L	55.368.356.366.154.380.158.37.164.40.299.130.26.298	u n d l a ss e n g l e i ch f
47L	325.78.83.135.165.128.360.134	i n p o h l e n
47L	169.65.29.86.173.325.104.377.46.23.343.364.359.35.103.74.85.70	l ch e s n i ch t r a t i f i c i r e
47L	23.40.86.333.368.35.26.53.385.299.76.65.360.139.33.29.143.57.128	a l s o n i ch t u e l ch e r g e st a l

Image 45, left page, lines 1-10: the held-out cipher groups with the contemporary gloss not prose

Someone holds firmly to his instruction and secret propositions; some of the great boyars, Dolgoruka, Ilia Danielewitz and Almasi, talked it over together after yesterday's conference and let it be known that ...

Transcription

transcription.txt

# lilienthal1665 - transcription of the held-out part: Riksarkivet R0000814 image 45, left page, lines 1-10 (bildid R0000814_00045).
# Cipher groups only, in reading order; "|" = clear German written between the runs (not transcribed); struck-through groups omitted.
# Lines 1-10 hold 185 groups; the measurement used the first 160 (through the 12th group of L09, "...discur"); groups 161-185
# were decoded after the measurement. Frozen copy: frozen/H_L-CHIFFRE.txt (SHA-256 e769ed16...314b).
# Transcribed by one AI agent from the 3000 px IIIF image, after the key was frozen and before the gloss was read out.
L01 135 368 105 70 139 37 63 106 48 158 73 299 87 28 360 89 29 98 94
L02 27 179 70 166 78 106 180 325 134 143 336 150 64 145 364 174 173 186 327
L03 105 323 158 126 98 368 299 37 44 375 174 83 333 50 35 377 74 367 134
L04 360 90 165 98 87 29 78 154 345 104 70 53 128 130 160 106 384 43 37 300
L05 158 173 357 46 77 339 299 327 155 135 166 293 85 360 368 347 330 137
L06 356 174 169 33 333 139 55 129 23 35 366 74 57 30 98 37 130 29 366 70
L07 190 166 54 154 40 369 293 50 325 | 67 106 48 158 180 78
L08 134 23 156 66 299 336 295 333 327 123 360 375 29 368 354 70 348 345
L09 138 347 38 79 106 37 105 325 86 25 384 336 375 364 46 158 78 159
L10 299 | 94 360 85 40 57 150 87 29 134 76 98 380 70 173 133 166 145 106

# Contemporary gloss written above these lines, read after the cipher was transcribed (frozen/G_L-GLOSE.txt, SHA-256 27f32f15...68dd).
# The gloss is selective: it does not render every group, and in places it summarises instead of transcribing.
von wissen sondern bestehet hatte auf seiner instruction und geheimen propositiones gethan und welche von den grossen boiaren als dolgoruka elia danielewitz almasi gestern nach der conference zusammen discurrirende verlauten lassen

# Training pairs (images 42 and 47, cipher groups = gloss, aligned letter by letter) are in frozen/PAIRES-LILIENTHAL.tsv.

Decryption

decryption.txt

# lilienthal1665 - decode of the held-out part (image 45, left page, lines 1-10) with key.tsv. [x] = value from a "post" row
# (added after the measurement: 89 st, 27 ff, 64 c, 54 tz, 348 z). Runs separated by "|" as in transcription.txt.
# The contemporary gloss (last block) is the reading of the time; our decode confirms it, and shows where it summarises.
L01  ondernbestehetfe[st]eau
L02  [ff]seinerinstru[c]tionun
L03  dgehanenproposition
L04  esshatenauchetlicheuond
L05  engrossenboiarenalss
L06  dolgorukailiadaniele
L07  wi[tz]almasi | gestern
L08  nacderconference[z]u
L09  sammendiscurrirend
L10  e | uerlautenlassenmite

# As words (decode; u/v/w written as the sense needs):
[s]ondern bestehet feste auff seiner instruction und gehanen propositiones s haten auch etliche von den grossen boiaren als s
dolgoruka ilia danielewitz almasi | gestern nac[h] der conference zusammen discurrirend e | verlauten lassen mit e...

# Contemporary gloss:
von wissen sondern bestehet hatte auf seiner instruction und geheimen propositiones gethan und welche von den grossen boiaren als
dolgoruka elia danielewitz almasi gestern nach der conference zusammen discurrirende verlauten lassen

# Differences decode vs gloss:
# - the cipher has "feste auff", the gloss "hatte auf";
# - the cipher has "gehanen" (clerk's slip?), the gloss "geheimen";
# - the cipher has "s haten auch etliche von den grossen boiaren", the gloss "gethan und welche von den grossen boiaren":
#   here the gloss summarises rather than transcribes;
# - spellings: ilia/elia, nac/nach, discurrirend e/discurrirende. "von wissen s-" in the gloss stands over the line before L01.
# Count on the measured portion (160 groups): 155 in the frozen key, 5 outside it (89, 27, 64, 54, 348; now read by sense and by
# the order of the table), 0 restored, 0 cut. Groups 161-185 all in the frozen key.

Translation

translation.md

# lilienthal1665 - English rendering of the measured portion (image 45, left page, lines 1-10)

From our decode of the cipher (the gloss differs in places, see `decryption.txt`). The clear German written between the runs
and the line before L01 are not transcribed, so the passage starts and ends in mid-sentence.

> ... but [he] holds firmly to his instruction and [secret] propositions. Also some of the great boyars, such as Dolgoruka,
> Ilya Danilovich, Almaz, [...] yesterday after the conference, discussing it together, let it be known with ...

Notes: "Dolgoruka" is a Prince Dolgorukov; "Ilia Danielewitz" is probably Ilya Danilovich Miloslavsky; "Almasi" is probably
Almaz Ivanov, head of the Ambassadorial Office (Posolsky prikaz). These identifications are ours and were not checked against
the clear text of the letter.

Key: key.tsv

06 Sources

Riksarkivet, Stockholm, Diplomatica Muscovitica, SE/RA/2113/2113.1/1/36/82, Residenten Johan von Lilienthal, brev till Kungl. Maj:t, 1665–1667: image 42, image 45, image 47 (public viewer; the IIIF image service carries the Public Domain Mark).
Key, transcription, frozen protocol and its amendment, and measurement: Brice Dudout, pull request #384, 10 November 2026.
Prior art: nothing on DECODE, at Cryptiana (Tomokiyo) or in George Lasry’s lists, and no edition found (leads review n09, 6 November 2026).

Key, transcription, frozen test and notes: targets/lilienthal1665/.

Cite this page

Daniel Bourdeau and Brice Dudout, “Resident Johan von Lilienthal in Moscow, 1665–1667: the key of his code”, Cyphersolver, posted 11 November 2026, https://cyphersolver.com/lilienthal1665.html.