A codebook from 1643
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The Louis XIV's codebooks
- Introduction (introduction)
- The invention of the great chipher (invention)
- Analyse of Louis XIV's codebooks (analyse)
- Cryptanalyse (break)
- Codebooks examples
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- A codebook from 1643.
- A one part codebook from 1676
- A two part codebook from 1676 (the first one?)
- A one part codebook from 1684
- Messages encoded by a two part codebook from 1685
- A two part codebook from 1688
- Messages from 1690, an unpublished codebook?
- The codebook from 1691 broken by Bazeries
- A codebook from 1701
- The Man in the Iron Mask (mask)
Introduction
Daniel Tant published in the ARCSI review several codes dating from the beginning of the reign of Louis XIV. In the following lines I will present one of these codes which was sent to Mr de Remesort on June 17, 1643.
Codebook Description
(the image above represents the codegroups encrypting the letters and an example of using the code).
In all, the code has 247 codegroups, 70 of which are dedicated to letters.
The codebook is in two parts: the letters on the one hand, and the syllables and words on the other. Each letter is encoded with several characters: uppercase letters, lowercase letters, geometric symbols, and miscellaneous.
Syllables and words are encoded by expressions in numerical parts composed of two digits or a letter. There are three classes:
- Ordinary numbers.
This first group essentially contains the ordered syllables: 1:ca, 2:ce, 3:ci, 4:co, 5:cu, … - Numbers or letters with a line above them.
This second group contains characters: the king, the queen, the Duke of Orleans, … as well as the numbers (one, two, ...). - Numbers surmounted by an umlaut.
This third group contains ordinary words (in French in the genuine codebook): army, money, advice, with, bien, bon, … as well as place names: Paris, Sedan, Thionville, …