Galeotto da Ricasoli to the Dieci di Balía, Urbino, early 1425

Summary. The Dieci di Balía, Florence’s war council, kept its incoming letters in filze of Responsive; the earliest ciphered ones date from the war with Milan in 1424. Galeotto Fibindacci da Ricasoli wrote this one from Urbino, where he was Florence’s envoy to Count Guidantonio da Montefeltro, in the months after the Florentine defeat at Zagonara. In 1863 the archivist Pietro Domenico Gabbrielli glossed words over the cipher of this and three sibling letters and built a key from them, warning that it rested “on a few words in only four letters”. Aloys Meister printed the key in 1902. Nobody printed the letters. DECODE lists the four letters as “Non-decrypted”; the interlinear glosses are a decipherment, so the records should say decrypted and point to Gabbrielli’s key, which is itself on DECODE (R5687–R5690) but not linked to them. The work here had two stages. On 18 September the key was applied and the three long runs Gabbrielli had not glossed were aligned sign by sign. On 24 September, following George Lasry’s suggestion, the glossed runs of the siblings were transcribed and aligned with Gabbrielli’s glosses, which gave six new letter values with certainty and fourteen as probable, and every cipher token of no. 171 was deciphered again with the extended key. The runs say that the Count calls his wife, Caterina Colonna, Martin V’s niece, “after all a woman, and suspicious”, and that her relatives and the citizens were to bind themselves in secret to the Count’s wishes, “whatever she says or wants to the contrary”. Extent: 97 of 99 cipher tokens deciphered (measured), 94 at grade H or M. Two signs before SOSPETOSA have no value; two word signs are given values from Gabbrielli’s marks and the context; some words of the fast clear hand are uncertain (section 05).

ASF Dieci di Balia Responsive 2 no. 171: a one-page letter with runs of cipher signs and small interlinear glosses — Dieci di Balía, Responsive 2 no. 171, the whole letter (deskewed). The dark small hand between the lines is Gabbrielli’s 1863 gloss. Image: Archivio di Stato di Firenze, Dieci di Balía, Responsive 2 no. 171, via DECODE R3754.

01 The letter, the key and the siblings

The letter opens “Magnifici potenti Signori miei” and is signed “Vostro servidore Galeotto de Fibindacci”. It is undated. Its siblings in the same hand, filza 3 nos. 91 and 92, are dated at Urbino on 17 and 28 February, in the Florentine year 1424, that is 1425. Guasti’s edition of the Commissioni di Rinaldo degli Albizzi shows the Dieci sending Galeotto to the Count of Urbino in September 1423, and prints a later clear letter of his from Urbino of 28 August 1425. “Madonna” is the Countess, Caterina Colonna, niece of Pope Martin V, who married Guidantonio in 1424 and reached Urbino on 4 March 1424.

The key is page 1 of Gabbrielli’s volume Chiavi delle cifre delle lettere ai Dieci di Balía dal 1424 al 1530, compiled in 1863–64. The volume is on the Ilardi microfilm at Yale, reel 58, and Meister printed page 1 in Die Anfänge der modernen diplomatischen Geheimschrift (1902), p. 50. It is headed “Cifra di Galeotto Fibindacci da Ricasoli, carteggio dei X di Balía, an. 1424”. It gives an alphabet with two or three signs for most letters, eighteen nulls, and a nomenclator of thirty word signs such as Conte d’Urbino, Duca di Milano, Malatesta, fanti and mille. It also lists six cover words written in clear: Giovanni for the Dieci, Andrea for Galeotto, trombetta for an ambassador, che for horse, con for war and tagliato for loss.

Gabbrielli marked the letters he worked from in the margin: filza 1 nos. 163 and 165, filza 2 no. 72 and filza 3 nos. 21, 91 and 92. His interlinear glosses on no. 171 cover a dozen words: paolo, di madona, cintadini, il conte, sarrem andino, a laog., ambasciatore, puro femina e sospettosa, el conte d’Urbino, cavalli, parenti and madonna. Several of these sit over runs far longer than the gloss, and two of them are misreadings.

02 The three unread runs

Each run was cut from the deskewed scan at four to five times magnification and transcribed sign by sign. The signs were then matched against Gabbrielli’s table and his gloss. Capitals are the decoded text.

“Madonna è pure femina e sospetosa”

The run after 'perche dice che', with Gabbrielli's gloss 'madonna ... puro femina e sospettosa' above it — The run after “perché dice che”, with Gabbrielli’s gloss above. It continues onto the next line. Image: Archivio di Stato di Firenze, Dieci di Balía, Responsive 2 no. 171, via DECODE R3754.

The clear text runs: “… che disputa Giovanni [the Dieci] mandasse trombetta [an ambassador], perché dice che”. Thirty signs follow. MADONNA is seven signs, all in Gabbrielli’s table. PURE is P, U, R, E from his table with a feathered null after the P. FEMINA is six signs, all his. E is his. Two signs follow that have no value (section 05). SOSPETOSA is nine signs. The two O signs in it stand exactly five places apart, as the two O’s of s-o-spet-o-sa do, and that fixes the alignment. Gabbrielli glossed the whole phrase but never tabulated the signs in it. The sentence reads: “because he [the Count] says that Madonna is, after all, a woman, and suspicious”.

“Parenti e citadini”

The run glossed 'parenti' and 'cintadini' — The run before “promettessono e obligassensi”, glossed *parenti* and *cintadini*. Image: Archivio di Stato di Firenze, Dieci di Balía, Responsive 2 no. 171, via DECODE R3754.

The run has seven signs and then eight. Gabbrielli’s values give P, A, R, E, I, T and D; the others are values recovered from the sibling glosses (9 = N, ɣ = A) or fixed by position (two light strokes = T, ᴗ = C, # = I). The two words are PARENTI and CITADINI, one letter per sign. The sentence reads: “et segretamente MADONNA et PARENTI [e] CITADINI promettessono e obligassensi che, non obstante [ella] dicesse e volesse el contrario, … farebbono quello volesse [il Conte]”. In English: Madonna’s relatives and the citizens should secretly promise and bind themselves that, whatever she might say or want to the contrary, they would do what the Count wished.

“Acomandino a lo…”

Gabbrielli glossed this run sarrem andino and the next word a laog. The first sign is on his own list of nulls. The next ten are A C O M A N D I N O by his table and by the value +o = O, which the siblings confirm. The last three are A L O, and the clear text continues. The 18 September reading took the last sign for I (“a lui”); at three times magnification it is Gabbrielli’s O. The clause is “che non li pare che [the Pope?] si[a] …; acomandino a lo…”, “that they put themselves in the hands of …”.

03 The letter

This is a working text. The clear hand is fast. Words marked (?) are doubtful. Cipher is given in capitals and word signs in brackets.

Magnifici potenti Signori miei, io sono stato qui mostrato per lettera … fatto questa mia, sentito PAVOLO, … non n’averavamo e parlato però di una cosa et dell’altra, che sterino insieme più … DI MADONN[A] et CINTADINI e [il Conte] … ma prosetto(?) che non li pare che [il Papa?] si[a] … ACOMANDINO A LO…; sono stati così parecchi … parlare, ma parebbe fusse più utile che qualunque commissione portata persona fusse et motivare de’ ragionamenti, che disputa Giovanni mandasse trombetta, perché dice che MADONNA [è] PURE FEMINA E [? ?] SOSPETOSA, pure vedrendosi(?) coperto, se sapesse a fare, sapere et bene; ma non staza così coperto. Anno sospetto di questo [Conte d’Urbino], detto non credo bisogni, ma pure delle cose … avere sospetto; o detto … el modo che li parebbe farebbe dimostrare fare … [fanti] et guache(?); che [cavalli] e segretamente [Dieci] dessi loro opera che metassono, et segretamente MADONNA et PARENTI [e] CITADINI promettessono e obligassensi che, non obstante [ella] dicesse e volesse el contrario, dico essi farebbono quello volesse [il Conte]. E ragionamenti furono assai e lunghi … ma parmi volesse andasse più segreta. Racomandomi alla Signoria vostra. Vostro servidore Galeotto de Fibindacci.

Galeotto reports long talks at Urbino about the Countess. Some party is to put itself in someone’s hands; the Pope may be named just before. He advises the Dieci to send an ambassador, because the Count distrusts his wife: “Madonna is after all a woman, and suspicious”. Foot and horse are to be engaged quietly, with the Dieci giving them work. Her relatives and the citizens are to bind themselves, in secret, to follow the Count whatever she says. He ends that the business should be kept more secret.

04 The key corrected and extended

Was a fuller key already available? No. Gabbrielli’s volume has a second key for a Fibindacci in 1424 (key no. 2, “Karolus commissarius”), but it belongs to another sender and gives other values to the shared shapes (+o = B, 6 = S, ∧ = H), which the glossed words here contradict. His keys nos. 3 and 4 are Latin syllabic nomenclators. Meister and Somogyi reproduce key no. 1 only. DECODE holds Gabbrielli’s volume as key records R5687–R5698 (the 1424 frames are R5687–R5690); none is linked to R3754–R3757 and none goes beyond key no. 1.

What the siblings add. Gabbrielli glossed most cipher runs of nos. 21, 91 and 92, but tabulated only some of the signs under them. Forty glossed runs were transcribed sign by sign and matched letter for letter with the gloss: la novella della rotta, andarono, tante e tali, non contenterà mai, venuta a Imola, Modigliana twice, d’Oriuolo, promettere, Filippo, mandato, salvo condotto, venne and the word signs for Malatesta, the Duke, Galeotto, Pandolfo, Carlo, the Count, the Dieci and fiorini. Eleven runs could not be matched (faint gloss, blots). The result, with the evidence for each value, is the file key_extended.md.

Six new letter values are certain, each spelled out under a gloss: ɣ = A, a 5-shape with a cross-stroke = M, 9 = N (Gabbrielli has B), +o = O, a π with a hooked leg = O, and an open 4 with a long bar = T.
Fourteen more are probable, among them three signs with two values (ᴗ = D and C, # = L and I, π = F and S), each resting on one letter so far.
Nulls. q is a null, as Gabbrielli has it; ɣ is a variant A, not a null; a heavy filled triangle is a null (in andaro▼no and madon▼na). His null “o+” (circle then cross) is a different sign from +o (cross then circle), which is O.
Nomenclator. A three-stroke sign is pace; β, Gabbrielli’s con, also enciphers the syllable con inside a word (SALVOβDOTTO).
Corrections to the tabulation of 18 September. Rereading the film at full size shows that ▽ is under E in Gabbrielli’s table, and that the cross over a small circle (T), the 8 with a ring below (S) and the ⊓ with a stem (I) are his own signs, not new ones.

Sign	Value	Where it holds	Grade
ɣ	A	no. 171 citadini; no. 91 mandato (glossed)	H
+o	O	no. 171 five times; no. 21 andarono, non, Oriuolo; no. 92 condotto	H
9	N	no. 171 parenti; no. 21 ne andarono, non	H
open 4 with long bar	T	no. 21 promettere; no. 92 condotto; no. 91 partendo	H
5-shape with cross-stroke	M	no. 91 mandato	H
π with hooked leg	O	no. 21 Modigliana twice	H
two light strokes	T	no. 171 parenti only	M
#	I	no. 171 citadini only; L in no. 21 la novella	M
ᴗ as C	C	no. 171 cintadini, citadini; the same shape is D elsewhere	M
π as S	S	no. 171 sospetosa only; Gabbrielli and FEMINA give F	M
ʓ	S	no. 171 sospetosa only; close to a Gabbrielli null	M
heavy filled triangle	null	no. 21 twice; no. 171 twice	M

Effect on no. 171. All 99 cipher tokens were transcribed again from three-times crops and deciphered with the extended key (token list cipher171.tsv). 72 values come from Gabbrielli’s table, 16 from the recovered values, 5 are nomenclator entries and 4 rest on context. The changes are small: the name is spelled PAVOLO; the Count’s word sign stands three times; the Dieci’s word sign stands on line 11; “a lui” becomes A LO…; the heavy pair on line 4 is a null and one word sign.

05 What remains uncertain

The word sign before “sia” (a box with a bar, after a heavy null) is not in Gabbrielli’s nomenclator. He wrote over it a small p with a looped flourish, the usual abbreviation for Papa. The Countess is the Pope’s niece, so “the Pope” fits. Grade I.
One single word sign, before “dicesse”, is given the value ella from context alone. Grade I.
Two signs before SOSPETOSA, after the E, have no value: an open 4 with a long bar (T in the siblings) and ψ (P by the key). “e t[ro]p[o] sospetosa” would fit, but one occurrence with no gloss cannot fix it. The word sospetosa is not affected.
PAVOLO is deciphered cleanly; who he is stays open. He may be messer Paolo da Capranica, whom a Florentine cover list of 1424 calls “Capra”.
The clear text of lines 2, 4, 8, 10, 11 and 13 has doubtful words, marked (?) above. A second reader of the cursive would settle most of them.
The key is still partial. B, H and Q have no values beyond Gabbrielli’s, eleven sibling runs are not aligned, and about fifteen glossed runs of no. 92 are not yet transcribed. The three siblings have not been deciphered end to end. The extended table is queued for DECODE as a key derived from Gabbrielli’s (R5687–R5690), with its grades.

06 Sources

Archivio di Stato di Firenze, Dieci di Balía, Responsive 2 no. 171: DECODE R3754. Siblings: Responsive 3 nos. 21, 91, 92 (R3755, R3756, R3757); Responsive 2 no. 72 (R3753). Uploaded by Mark Knowles, 2022; login required.
P. D. Gabbrielli, Chiavi delle cifre delle lettere ai Dieci di Balía dal 1424 al 1530, vol. 1 (1863–64), ASF; Ilardi microfilm collection reel 58, Yale Dataverse doi:10.60600/YU/XKVOWE, page 1.
A. Meister, Die Anfänge der modernen diplomatischen Geheimschrift (Paderborn 1902), pp. 43–50, “Cifra di Galiotto Fibindacci da Ricasoli 1424”: ULB Münster. Reprinted as “Fi2” in J. W. Somogyi, Verbum 2016/1–2, pp. 195–217.
C. Guasti (ed.), Commissioni di Rinaldo degli Albizzi per il Comune di Firenze (1867–73), vol. 1 pp. 402, 487, 492; vol. 2 pp. 215 n. 1, 385–386.
“Montefeltro, Guidantonio”, Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (Treccani), for Caterina Colonna.

Sign-by-sign alignments, the working transcription, the sibling runs, the extended key and the token list are in the repository (targets/florence1429/). Page images are not committed; the crops on this page are for study.