Unsolved Catalogue · no. 2218 · class B · priority 6.5 · open

Mihaly Teleki to Nalaczi, Haller, Apafi, Szepesi, Szalai and Rhedey: 13 letters in number cipher before the 1678 campaign

Transylvania's war council writing in cipher on the eve of the Thokoly/kuruc campaign into Upper Hungary (June 1678).

Date
11 Jan - 4 Mar 1678
Correspondents
Mihaly Teleki (chancellor of Transylvania) -> Istvan Nalaczi, Janos Haller, Mihaly Apafi, Pal Szepesi, Pal Szalai, Ferenc Rhedey
Place
Transylvania (Kovar)
Language
Hungarian
Held at
Teleki Mihaly levelezese VIII (ed. S. Gergely, Budapest 1926) nos. 9, 10, 20, 21, 25, 30, 36, 38, 41, 43, 50, 79, 87 (pp. 9-96); copies from Teleki's chancery letter-book (Lang IDs C.Tel.04, 05, 07, 08, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 21, 22) · 13 short letters, numbers 1-79 (about 37 distinct values), printed in the edition; Hegedus read C.Tel.15 only (23 Jan 1678)
Images
Lang 2015, Titkosirás a kora ujkori Magyarországon (MTA doctoral thesis, repertory pp. 191-330), p. 286 · Hegedus, NyelvVilag 23 (2020), C.Tel.15 decipherment

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Give your agent (Claude, ChatGPT or any assistant that can open web pages) this address and ask it to do the task on the page:

https://cyphersolver.com/solve/2218.html

Or copy the block below into the chat. It is the whole task: what the cipher is, where the images are, what has been tried, the steps, and how to report back.

TASK: help read Unsolved Catalogue no. 2218 of the cyphersolver project
This page: https://cyphersolver.com/solve/2218.html

You are helping a public research project read historical cipher letters that nobody has read yet.

THE CIPHER
  Title:          Mihaly Teleki to Nalaczi, Haller, Apafi, Szepesi, Szalai and Rhedey: 13 letters in number cipher before the 1678 campaign
  Date:           11 Jan - 4 Mar 1678
  Correspondents: Mihaly Teleki (chancellor of Transylvania) -> Istvan Nalaczi, Janos Haller, Mihaly Apafi, Pal Szepesi, Pal Szalai, Ferenc Rhedey
  Place:          Transylvania (Kovar)
  Language:       Hungarian (expected)
  Held at:        Teleki Mihaly levelezese VIII (ed. S. Gergely, Budapest 1926) nos. 9, 10, 20, 21, 25, 30, 36, 38, 41, 43, 50, 79, 87 (pp. 9-96); copies from Teleki's chancery letter-book (Lang IDs C.Tel.04, 05, 07, 08, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 21, 22); 13 short letters, numbers 1-79 (about 37 distinct values), printed in the edition; Hegedus read C.Tel.15 only (23 Jan 1678)
  Images/records:
    - Lang 2015, Titkosirás a kora ujkori Magyarországon (MTA doctoral thesis, repertory pp. 191-330), p. 286: https://real-d.mtak.hu/922/7/dc_758_13_doktori_mu.pdf
    - Hegedus, NyelvVilag 23 (2020), C.Tel.15 decipherment: https://publikaciotar.uni-bge.hu/1711/1/Hegedus_Nyelvvilag23.pdf

WHAT IS KNOWN
  Status: Lang lists all 13 as "megfejtetlen" (numbers, probably homophonic) and the editor did not solve them. Hegedus (NyelvVilag 23, 2020) worked through C.Tel.15 (to Rhedey, 23 Jan 1678) as a monoalphabetic number code and says the key from Teleki's 1666 letter does not fit it: a different clavis was used. The others of Jan-Mar 1678 probably share that clavis. The letter-book is probably DECODE R4819-R4834 (Cluj Reformed diocese; records with no images or decryption; not matched record by record).
  Outcome so far: not yet attempted by the project
  Prior-art check: open as far as checked (4 Nov 2026: Lang 2015 repertory p. 286 marks it undeciphered; known.py on shelfmark and names, no hit; web search found no decipherment; Tomokiyo, Lasry, DECODE not searched for this item)
  Check first: Obtain Teleki Mihaly levelezese VIII (Arcanum, MEK or a library copy); take the C.Tel.15 key from Hegedus (kripto.blog.hu 2016 and NyelvVilag 23) and run it over C.Tel.04-22; where it fails, solve as monoalphabetic with homophones.
  Class B: part of a key or a known cipher family of the same office is in print or on DECODE.

STEPS
0. Set up. If you can run a shell, fork and clone the repository and work inside it:
     git clone https://github.com/dbourdeau/cyphersolver.git
   Then read, in this order: CONTRIBUTING.md (how a contribution is sent and credited); README.md, sections
   "Repository layout" and "Conventions" (how readings are measured and named); and
   lang/README.md (shared language models).
   Put all your work in targets/<writer><year>/ (a new folder, e.g. sega1593): transcription, key, decipherment, scripts. Write a NOTES.md that says
   what the document is, the system, the key, the reading, and what is open and why. Keep WORKLOG.md there too:
   one dated line per step (transcription, hypothesis, solver run, crib, key found, control), failures included.
   Do not edit docs/ (the site is generated and rebuilt on merge) and do not commit large images: link them.
   If you cannot run a shell, do the same work in files you keep and send them with the issue below.
1. Make sure it is still unread. Search the web and the literature for the shelfmark, the correspondents and the date:
   printed editions and calendars of the correspondence, Satoshi Tomokiyo's cryptiana pages
   (https://cryptiana.web.fc2.com/), the DECODE record and the files attached to it, and the project notes above.
   If a decipherment already exists, stop and report where it is. That is a useful result.
2. Get the images. For Gallica items, a page image is
   https://gallica.bnf.fr/iiif/ark:/12148/<ark>/f<page>/full/full/0/native.jpg (page numbers from the manifest).
   DECODE records (de-crypt.org) need a free account: if you cannot log in, ask your human to download the images for you.
3. Look for key material before attacking the ciphertext, in this order: a decipherment written between the lines or
   in the margin; a clear copy or a deciphered sibling letter in the same volume or DECODE series; a key sheet from the
   same office and years (DECODE key records, Tomokiyo's articles, printed editions); clear passages in the letter
   itself that can serve as a crib.
4. Transcribe exactly what is on the page: one token per sign or number group, line by line, with folio and line
   numbers, unclear signs marked with ?. Keep the transcription as a file. It is worth sending even if nothing else works.
5. If no key exists, identify the system (count the distinct symbols, tokens and repeats: simple or homophonic
   substitution, nomenclator with code words, syllabary, two-digit figures) and recover the key from the ciphertext
   with a solver scored on a language model of the period (Hungarian). In the clone, use the shared models in lang/
   (from lang import lm; lm.load('<model>'), lm.best_language(text)) rather than building your own; add a corpus there
   if none fits. Before trusting a result, run the same solver on a control text you encipher yourself in the same
   system and at the same length. If it cannot solve the control, its output on the real letter means nothing.
6. Measure the result against the project's bar (README.md, Conventions). A text is "complete" only when (1) at least
   95% of its cipher tokens give sense, counted from a reading file, not estimated; (2) no gap is left untried;
   (3) every letter in the item is covered; (4) what stays open is scattered code groups or names, or pieces blocked
   from outside (no key material, too short, illegible, needs the archive). Otherwise it is "partial": say which
   pieces are open and why. Mark every uncertain word with [?] and leave unread groups as their numbers or signs.
   Never fill gaps with plausible guesses. A failed attempt that records what was ruled out is still a contribution.
7. Name how the text was obtained with one of the project's methods (do not write just "solved" or "read"):
     - ciphertext-only break: The key was rebuilt from the ciphertext alone: frequencies, solvers, pattern words, the order of the key. No plaintext and no existing key was used. If someone had solved the same text earlier and it was found only afterwards, the write-up says so: an independent re-solution.
     - key from external plaintext: The key was rebuilt by matching the ciphertext against a plaintext found elsewhere: a printed edition, a calendar of state papers, a copy of the same letter in another archive.
     - key from adjacent plaintext: The key was rebuilt from plaintext next to the ciphertext: a partial decipherment written between the lines or in the margin, clear passages in the same letter, a deciphered copy in the same file.
     - external key matched: An existing key that had not been connected with this document (a key for another correspondent or series, a key sheet filed elsewhere) was found to fit, and applied.
     - known key applied: The key was already identified for this document or its correspondence (on its archive or DECODE record, published for it, filed with it) and was applied. The work is transcription and decipherment, which is not mechanical when the key is polyphonic or variable-length.
     - existing decipherment: A complete decipherment already existed (between the lines, on a separate copy, or in print). The work was transcribing the cipher and checking the decipherment against it.
     - not solved: Attempted; neither the key nor the text was obtained. What was learned is recorded. A target whose key was obtained but whose text does not read keeps the method that obtained the key, with extent "none (text not read)".
     - not applicable: Not a cipher (clear text, shorthand, a key sheet, instructions), or the item could not be reached.

REPORT BACK
With a clone: open a pull request with your targets/<writer><year>/ folder. Say in the description how you want to be
  credited (name, initials or handle, and a link) and include the same points as the issue below.
Without one: open an issue: https://github.com/dbourdeau/cyphersolver/issues/new?template=solution.yml&title=Solution%3A+catalogue+2218&target=catalogue+2218
(other kinds of contribution: https://github.com/dbourdeau/cyphersolver/issues/new/choose). Include:
  - Target: catalogue 2218
  - the documents and the images you worked from;
  - the key: sign-to-value table, code groups with values, nulls;
  - the decipherment line by line against the ciphertext, with uncertain passages marked;
  - the method (step 7), the share of tokens that give sense, complete or partial (step 6), and whether the
    reading was already published anywhere;
  - your step log (WORKLOG.md), and the tools and the AI model you used.
If you cannot open issues or pull requests, write this report for your human to send. Credit goes to the person who sends it.

Where the cipher is

Cipher located and confirmed. Lang's repertory marks C.Tel.04, 05, 07, 08, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19 and 21 'magyar, szamok, valoszinuleg homof.' and 'megfejtetlen'; 10 and 18 'reszben feloldva, reszben megfejtetlen'. Hegedus (2020): 'A titkosírások megoldásával a kötetek kiadói sem boldogultak, vagy talán nem is próbálkoztak' (the volume editors did not solve the number sequences). The printed C.Tel.15 is number strings with the first and last sentences in clear and a short bracketed remark, no decipherment printed; his own solution is the article. Gap in what I saw: only C.Tel.15 was read as text; for the others I rely on Lang and Hegedus. (Hegedus Gyula, 'Teleki Mihaly titka. Egy 17. szazadi kodolt uzenet feltorese', NyelvVilag 23 (2020), pp. 60ff, PDF read 4 Nov 2026: https://publikaciotar.uni-bge.hu/1711/1/Hegedus_Nyelvvilag23.pdf ; it prints the number text of C.Tel.15 from Gergely Samuel (ed.), Teleki Mihaly levelezese VIII (MTT, Budapest 1926) p. 40, no. 38. The repertory of the 13 letters: Lang Benedek, Titkositas a kora ujkori Magyarorszagon (MTA thesis 2015), pp. 286-287, https://real-d.mtak.hu/922/7/dc_758_13_doktori_mu.pdf , read 4 Nov 2026. Gergely vol. VIII is not on Hungaricana (reviews only) or free elsewhere that I found; the lead has no access value.; checked 2026-11-04 by Claude Sonnet 5.5 vetting agent) open that page

What is known

Status and prior art. Lang lists all 13 as "megfejtetlen" (numbers, probably homophonic) and the editor did not solve them. Hegedus (NyelvVilag 23, 2020) worked through C.Tel.15 (to Rhedey, 23 Jan 1678) as a monoalphabetic number code and says the key from Teleki's 1666 letter does not fit it: a different clavis was used. The others of Jan-Mar 1678 probably share that clavis. The letter-book is probably DECODE R4819-R4834 (Cluj Reformed diocese; records with no images or decryption; not matched record by record).

Outcome so far. Not yet attempted by the project. Prior-art check: open as far as checked (4 Nov 2026: Lang 2015 repertory p. 286 marks it undeciphered; known.py on shelfmark and names, no hit; web search found no decipherment; Tomokiyo, Lasry, DECODE not searched for this item).

Check first. Obtain Teleki Mihaly levelezese VIII (Arcanum, MEK or a library copy); take the C.Tel.15 key from Hegedus (kripto.blog.hu 2016 and NyelvVilag 23) and run it over C.Tel.04-22; where it fails, solve as monoalphabetic with homophones.

Scores

Importance
3 of 5
Solvability
4 of 5
Difficulty
2 of 5
Class B
part of a key or a known cipher family of the same office is in print or on DECODE
Note
Scored from Lang's repertory entry (thesis p. 286) during the Nov 2026 sweep D (research/sweep_2026-11_D_east_north/); ciphertext not viewed

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