by Baron Lucien de La Rochelle
“A secret
between two people is only safe if one of them is dead”. I have no idea
who should be credited with this statement, but it holds true for much
of history. Since the beginning of the written language, there are those
who strive to keep secrets written down and those who strive to learn
those secrets. Cryptography, from the Greek words kryptos (hidden) and graphia
(writing), is the study of both encryption and decryption of ciphers
and codes. Concentrating on ciphers for this work, I will give a brief
explanation of how ciphers work and a little history leading up to the
Vigenere Cipher used in this work.
Ciphers have
been in use since an unnamed scribe in ancient Egypt enciphered the
hieroglyphs on a pharaoh's tomb to add dignity to the writing. Julius
Caesar, one of the world's greatest generals, knew of the importance of
keeping plans from his enemies and used what is now known as the Caesar
Cipher. Encryption of letters is one of the arts that are discussed in
the Kama Sutra. Even the Bible has two known and three suspected ciphers
in it.
Secret
formulae, diplomatic dispatches, love letters, even some diaries have
known the touch of encryptions. The English monk, Roger Bacon, once
stated in his “Secret Works of Art and the Nullity of Magic” (written
about mid-thirteenth century) “A man is crazy who writes a secret in any
other way than one which will conceal it from the vulgar”. He then
lists seven ways of using ciphers. Even Geoffrey Chaucer, father of
English literature seems to have used encipherment.
Born in 1343,
Geoffrey Chaucer played many roles in his time. Some of them the usual
for someone of his station: page, courtier, diplomat, civil servant,
and even prisoner of war! But it is his writings they make him famous in
these modern times. Known especially for his unfinished “Canterbury
Tales”, he was the first to prove that the English language could be
used, effectively, for stories, poems, and fables.
Chaucer was
also quick to pursue other studies that took his fancy. In the field of
Astronomy, he created a work (for his son) called “Treatise on the
Astrolabe”; and is (so far) credited for the work “The Equatorie of the
Planetis”. Though there is still some dissent in the literary community
as to whether or not Chaucer actually wrote “The Equatorie of the
Planetis”, most of the leading researchers believes that it is written
in his hand and seems to be a continuation of the treatise.
In
the Equatorie, there appear several passages that are enciphered. While
most of the volume is filled with formulae, the enciphered sections
seem to be cheats for not having to use the “long form” of the
mathematics involved. As an example, I have reproduced an enciphered
section which when deciphered reads:
“This table servith for to entre in to the table of equacion of the mone on either side”.
In modern terms, forget all of the
formula that I have just previously given you, place the values you have
into this table and it will give you the answer.
More enciphered
passages are written throughout the text, usually following formulae
for different equations. No explanation can be found in the writings,
but one could conclude that it was given as some form of test, since it
is a follow up to the first work.
Thank you for
taking the time to read through this and observe my work. I hope you
have enjoyed perusing this as much as I enjoyed creating it. I
have a longer “short” history of codes and ciphers with me at this
event. If you wish more information, please feel free to ask. I am
always happy to spread the knowledge of historical encryption whenever
given the chance (okay, I am just really enamored with the sound of my
own voice).
Care was taken to reproduce the letters as close as possible to the look of the original.
I hope you have enjoyed reading this as much as I have in writing.
Baron Lucien de La Rochelle
Sources:
Kahn, David The Codebreakers: The Story
of Secret Writing. Macmillan Company, New York, Copyright 1967 (No
ISBN) Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 63-16109.
Singh, Simon The Code Book: The Science
of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography. Anchor
Publishing, 2000 ISBN: 0385495323
Greetings
to the wonderful people of Nottinghill Coill, from your humble Baron
and Baroness. I'd like to apologize for our lack of letters in recent
newsletters, but we've had a very busy summer. The Canton Ritterwald
held a fantastic demo in the park, which drew attention of many in their
area and hopefully will see a growth in their ranks. Our summer
Collegium was very well attended, and I'm sure many new skills were acquired.
Now we prepare for Pennsic War and although there will not be many
from our Barony we will make sure that Nottinghill Coill is well
represented. Our new war banners will see their first flight in the
Opening Ceremonies, and let the other baronies of this fine kingdom see a
glimpse of the glory that we will be bringing to War of the Wings. We
will rest soundly knowing that this southern border will be held strong
while the might of Atlantia is occupied with Pennsic.
