At a glanceNot solved · text not obtained
- The letters
- Victor Amadeus I, Duke of Savoy, and Canisy, from the army in Piedmont, to Henri de Rohan in the Valtellina, 27 May 1636, received 6 June. Called “en chiffres” in the 1758 print.
- Where
- Bibliothèque nationale de France, Français 5190, nos. 214–215. The Gallica reproduction of the volume stops at manuscript p. 80, before them.
- The cipher
- Not seen. Whether the two letters share one key is not known.
- How it was tried
- The printed plaintext in the Mémoires et lettres (1758) was transcribed as a possible crib, but without the ciphertext nothing can be aligned.
- What it says
- Savoy asks Rohan to post 2,000 foot and 200 horse in the Val Mesolcina and to threaten the Francesca post; Canisy confirms the plan.
- Still open
- The cipher and its key. New images of the volume are needed.
Until 14 October 2026 this page also covered three other cipher items of the same campaign. They are different ciphers, each with its own page: Louis XIII to Châtillon and Brézé, 30 June 1635 and Châtillon to Servien, 3 August 1635, both deciphered by George Lasry, and d’Émery’s letter to Rohan of 25 January 1636, whose key is not known to be this one.
01The manuscript
The catalogue of BnF Français 5190 identifies nos. 214–215 as the cipher letters of the Duke of Savoy and of Canisy of 27 May 1636, received 6 June. The volume has 208 folios. Its Gallica reproduction offers 90 views, the last showing manuscript p. 80; requests for later view numbers return that same image. No image of the cipher could be had, so this page shows none.
02The printed letters
The 1758 Mémoires et lettres, volume III, prints both letters as clear French under headings that call them “en chiffres”. Savoy writes that Canisy has come from court with the king’s wishes, which he, the ambassador d’Hémery and Canisy have concerted into this despatch. Rohan is to lodge 2,000 infantry and 200 cavalry in the Val Mesolcina to block the Germans’ passage, and to threaten the Francesca post to draw the enemy off; the 6,000 men Canisy was to bring to Piedmont are being sent to Rohan instead. Canisy confirms that Savoy’s intentions match the king’s, that the army leaves the army leaves Felizzano that dayldquo;Felissanthe army leaves Felizzano that dayrdquo; that day to approach the Ticino, and urges Rohan to hold ready for the junction.
The print settles what the letters say. It does not show which signs stand for which words, and it has not been checked against the manuscript.
03What remains
- The cipher of both letters. With images of nos. 214–215, the printed text is a full crib: the key could be rebuilt from it and then tried on d’Émery’s letter.
04Sources
- BnF, Français 5190, Gallica reproduction (to p. 80) and catalogue.
- Mémoires et lettres de Henri duc de Rohan sur la guerre de la Valteline (1758), III, the Savoy and Canisy letters.
The clear-prose transcription and source audit of 22 September 2026, which also covers the 1635 letters, are in the repository’s research report; notes and profile in targets/rohan1636/.