Benedek Láng

A large number of early modern enciphered sources survived from the Central European area, which are as yet unsolved, even though mathematical and statistical methods are available to decipher them. These are usually most relevant sources for the political and social history of the period. A second problem is that the secondary literature of cryptography focus exclusively on the enciphering methods, which are hardly contextualized as far as the wider social and intellectual environment is concerned. A third problem is that the use of early modern cryptography is rarely researched outside the political sphere of diplomacy, even though noblemen, medical doctors, scientists, university students, engineers, and “everyday” members of the society often used enciphering methods for their own purposes. The aim of the present research is (i) to give a systematical catalogue of Central European enciphered sources, (ii) to decipher those sources which are not yet deciphered, and by doing so, to provide other historians with new sources, and finally (iii) to integrate this kind of sources into the larger intellectual milieu of secrecy (private, medical, scientific, religious, alchemical, magical, and political secrets). I am going to offer a socially sensitive contextualizing monograph on the history of cryptography on the basis of this rich source material.