Naslov
Using Script against Undesirable Reader: The Coded Messages of Mihovil and Antun Vrančić

Autori
Lončar, Milenko ; Sorić, Diana

Izvornik
Sic : časopis za književnost, kulturu i književno prevođenje (1847-7755) 4 (2015), 1; 1, 6

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Radovi u časopisima, članak, znanstveni

Ključne riječi
Mihovil Vrančić ; Antun Vrančić ; correspondance ; cyphers ; decyphering ; Šibenik ; investments ; rennaisance diplomacy

Sažetak
During the period of their correspondance, the brothers Mihovil and Antun Vrančić would occasionaly write messages in code: Antun in a letter written while on a diplomatic mission in Paris in 1546, and Mihovil in four letters written in Šibenik some twelve years later. While conducting the necessary research required for our investigation, we discovered that one letter had, until now, remained unknown. We succeeded in deciphering Mihovil's system of signs by comparing the frequency of signs in the coded parts of the text with the frequency of signs in those parts of his letter composed in Latin script. The majority of signs is derived from the Latin script, only their quality has beeen changed, and it seems that this was influenced by the Polygraphia, a work by the then contemporary cryptographer Iohannes Trithemius. Other than this, a certain amount of Arabic signs and signs from other scripts have also been added. Most of the hidden content deals with investments in real estate and other buisiness ventures, thus the purpose of this secret system of writing was evidently to prevent any competition from gaining an advantage over Antun and Mihovil, and at the time Antun had been awarded by the Emperor Ferdinand after a four-year diplomamtic embassy in Turkey. There are in fact two messages in which we find Mihovil warning his brother to be wary of two other brothers who have a dubious moral reputation. Antun’s extract remains unsolved as he wrote using a different system, besides this the text itself is quite brief so an analysis of the frequency of signs is of little assistance.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Filologija

Napomena
Ovaj članak prijevod je s hrvatskog rada pod
naslovom Pismom protiv nepozvanih čitatelja:
kodirane poruke Mihovila i Antuna Vrančića,
Colloquia Maruliana, XXII, Split, 2013, 49-75.

POVEZANOST RADA