Clavis Generalis Triplex in Libros Steganographicos

Clavis Steganographiae (Clavis triplex) — damage-preserving rendering, full_chunk_0019

Damage-preserving review rendering with tenor detection and footnoting. Damage class: heavy_damage_partial; OCR quality: 4/5.

Audit note — V1.0 normalized badly damaged cover-letter prose into smooth Latin/English, especially the Roermond loan and dog passages, hiding many uncertain OCR readings.

Style C Translation: Clavis Steganographiae, Liber Primus Opening

Liber Primus

You now have, from the Malgaretic princes,^1 twelve for the diurnal [conjectured: rectors],^2 and just as many for the nocturnal ones, with their servants: [conjectured: six hundred and forty]. And note that Aroyz and Basiel^3 are always [unclear: foliugati / perhaps joined or called singly]; Misel, Barfas, Aspor, and Deilas^4 can be called two by two; the rest, however, three by three. When you wish to have three, or two, or one, take care not to err in their names. As the table teaches you, so do it, without alteration, lest you fall into danger.

Carmen Coniurationis

MALGARASador chamefo bulererin marefo bodyr Cadu mir auiel cafmyo tedy pleotyn viordi care viorba, chame ron vefy thuril vlnaey, beufey meuo chafrionty naor ernyfo, chony barmo caleuodyn barfo thubra fo.^5

Once the conjuration has been spoken, be a brave and steadfast man: those whom you have called will at once appear to you visibly. But if those called from the nocturnal ones do not come at once, do not on that account abandon your work; instead, urge them on with repeated conjuration until they obey. For some of them are sluggish, and do not willingly come among human beings, as we said above.

Secret Of The Mind

Let there be a secret of the mind which one does not choose to entrust either to a human being or to letters.

In these matters which pertain to your household affairs, money, a deposit, a loan, [unclear: adem],^6 or to any affairs whatever of human intercourse, you have a secret which you desire an absent friend far away to know; but it is of such a kind that, with the greatest danger or loss to each of you, it would come under public examination. For that reason it is to be entrusted neither to letters nor to human beings. Therefore, so that you may be secure and may fear no one’s knowledge, you turn toward the west,^7 call the duke,^8 and entrust the secret to him. He goes and faithfully carries everything through; if anything has been entrusted to him for you, he will bring it back.

Eteganographiae / Steganographiae

Letters of whatever kind you wish to write, in which you need fear no one’s inspection.

Greeting and affection. To my most beloved and most singular friend: [concerning] the bearer of the present [letter], [unclear: latior], born at Roermond,^9 very [unclear] among our friends for benefits and honors, I ask that you receive him kindly and set forth to yourself his necessity. Since he has always been joined to me by an old bond of obligation, according to my powers I would judge it very sweet to recall that [friendship] and to heap benefits upon him. And would that I could offer him consolation in his misfortunes. But since I am worn out by heavy losses, as is clearer than daylight to you, I cannot, by my own fault, do in my zeal what I would wish.

You, however, who abound in necessary temporal means, should show yourself generous and humane to a friend, just as you have shown yourself a patron of friends in necessary matters. And [my] request [is] that, by a mutual [unclear: surety/testimony], you [lend] him two hundred florins^10 for a fixed term, because the necessity set before him is very great, as [unclear: he/it] teaches. I trust that all things will be restored in full when the term appointed for him comes. If you do this, I shall give thanks that will never die, and I shall serve you in weightier matters. Act so that we may prove the sincere love shown toward us. If you do this, believe firmly that the deed will be most welcome to me, and that we shall bind him no less gratefully to you; and at the appointed term he will restore everything most completely. For it follows [unclear] to preserve promises inviolate, to provide [unclear] with these men.

Furthermore, since we were hearing joys / glad reports, I would like to write something else. I have found a little dog,^11 called by a Greek name, [unclear: refta / perhaps Recta], flourishing with such training, teaching, and memory of all things that in some respects she seems to have put off the beast and put on the human being. She understands words in Greek and Latin; she knows how to ask pardon for her faults. And, what I marvel at, she does [it], and, when I nod, immediately carries it out; she reveals human secrets. I see her equipped with such discipline of manners that I would affirm [her] a teacher to many human beings. With the windows opened, opened [again], [unclear: nature], she surpasses [others] in intelligence; when forbidden, she puts back food. Everything imposed on her she [unclear: batuit] to be shown; in zeal she is my defender, if you love me. She plays excellently and does wholly marvelous things, incredible from instruction. Farewell. Johannes Trithemius,^12 Abbot of Saint Martin in Sponheim,^13 written on the 3rd Ides of March, in the year 1500.^14

These, or any other letters whatever that he to whom it is sent will accept, he understands by the sign of the friends of the prince of the West: so that, after the customary preliminaries have been sent toward the West from the foregoing matters, he may call the spirit, attest the invisible mission, so that he may become invisible and say nothing.

Carmen Spiritus

MALGARASPRO chameron afofy mefary throes Zameda mogreal paredon adre Caphoron onaty tirno beofy. Cha-[text breaks off].^15

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^1. “Malgaretic” renders OCR “Malgaretis,” likely tied to the spirit/prince name “Malgaras” immediately below. This is technical angelic/spirit nomenclature, not ordinary Latin. ^2. OCR “aetoribus” is probably a scanno for “rectoribus” or a related governing term; translated conjecturally as “rectors.” ^3. Aroyz and Basiel are named spirit figures in this section. OCR “fémper” = “semper”; “foliugati” is damaged and not securely read. ^4. Misel, Barfas, Aspor, Deilas are spirit names. OCR shows common long-s/f confusions: “Mifel” for Misel, “Afpor” for Aspor, “posunt” for possunt. ^5. The conjuration formula is left untranslated as a technical magical/cipher text; OCR damage inside it is not normalized. ^6. OCR “adem” may conceal “aedes” / “aedium” or another household/property term, but the form is too damaged for confident reconstruction. ^7. “West” / “Occidens” is a directional ritual/cipher term in the operating instructions. ^8. “Duke” translates “dux,” a rank/title for a spirit-prince or subordinate ruler in the system. ^9. Roermond: OCR “Ruremunda,” a place-name in the Low Countries; the surrounding syntax is damaged. ^10. Florin: a gold or accounting currency term common in late-medieval and early-modern Latin documentary prose. ^11. The “little dog” passage is part of the cover-letter surface text; several sentences are heavily damaged by OCR and perhaps by the cipher’s artificial prose. ^12. Johannes Trithemius, Benedictine abbot and author of the Steganographia/Clavis tradition. ^13. OCR “Sancti Marini in Spanheim” almost certainly points to Saint Martin’s at Sponheim; this is a recoverable OCR/name corruption. ^14. “3 Id. Marty” = the third day before the Ides of March, i.e. March 13 by Roman inclusive reckoning; “M.D.” = 1500. ^15. The spirit-song breaks at the page boundary. “MALGARASPRO” appears to combine the spirit-name/formula with a following element; not expanded silently.

Clavis Steganographiae (Clavis triplex) — damage-preserving rendering, full_chunk_0024

Damage-preserving review rendering with tenor detection and footnoting. Damage class: mid_damage_recoverable; OCR quality: 5/5.

Audit note — It normalized damaged readings as clean prose, especially turning “auriatus” into an invented “informed” without marking the recoverable avisatus/warned scanno or the unrecoverable gaps.

Clavis Steganographiae, Book I, Chapter XIII: Raysiel and the Northern Mansion

Book One

[in whatever] other [conjectured: place] or manner. You wish to [conjectured: warn] someone who does not know; but there would be great danger for you in the doing, or [unclear], if it became public. Therefore it must not be entrusted to letters, lest they be read by another, nor entrusted to a human being, lest it happen to be disclosed. So, then, that you may remain safe and your friend may be [conjectured: warned], you call a spirit,^1 entrust the secret, and it is done.

You send familiar letters to your friend, or a devout prayer, of a sort that can bear being seen.

“I had lent you my codex on the deeds of the Lombards^2 and the volume of Bede^3 on times, which I ask that you send back. For it befits a wise man, and especially a Christian, to keep everywhere the faith he has promised. To forget benefits, divine and [unclear] and human, is held to be the greatest crime. Do not incur so sinful a guilt. [Conjectured: Send back] my volumes to me, so that you may at some time [conjectured: make use of / restore] them. The Greek books, however, I gave you freely; in consideration of them you would deservedly show yourself both grateful to us and more faithful. Farewell, from Spanheim,^4 on the Ides of March,^5 in the year of the Lord 1508.”

When your friend has received these, or any other letters sent by you, and has recognized the sign of Cabariel,^6 let him turn toward that quarter of the world from which the Circius wind^7 proceeds; and, after the things customarily to be done beforehand have first been done, let him read this prayer under silence.

Song of Conjuration

Cabriel afiar paremon chiltan amedyn fayr pemadon chulcy mouayr faepor peatha mal frimafton dayr pean cothur no fabelrufyn elfoty chelmdyn.^8

When this song has been spoken facing the Circius, the angel will immediately appear visibly, disclosing to him the secret [conjectured: message]; and he reports back to you if the other has entrusted anything.

Steganography, Chapter XIII

Whose prince is called Raysiel,^9 dwelling directly toward the North, under whom are fifty princes who preside over our daytime operations,^10 and the same number over the nighttime ones; their office is to announce transmissions.^11

The thirteenth mansion is in the North. Its spirit and supreme emperor is Raysiel, who has under his dominion fifty dukes who preside over daytime operations, with many [conjectured: attendants], and the same number who preside over nighttime operations, with their servants. Their office, in these causes and transmissions that pertain to death, is to warn the friends of the operator and to announce the secret. The dukes who preside over daytime operations obey the caller freely, and they come cheerful, pleasant, and most ready to obey. But those who preside over nighttime operations are somewhat unruly, because they greatly hate and detest the light, and they do not easily obey, especially novices in the art who have been less tested; such men they very often laugh in the face, unless they are so broken by the operator’s conjurations that they cannot prevail in speaking against him. For they greatly fear conjuration, and [unclear] they are [conjectured: made / said] to be conjured more than the daytime spirits, and nevertheless they obey unwillingly. But now, from the number of all these, let us set down the names of a few and the number of their servants, as many as will be enough for our customary operation.

Baciar 50; Aflael 50; Chanael 30; Melcha 30. Thoac 50; Ranica 50; Furfiel 30; Tharas 30. Sequel 50; Dubarus 50; Bafiel 30; Vuic 30. Sadar 50; Armenia 50. Terach 50; Albhadur 50.

[unclear: Roth. S. R. S. R. S. R. S.] Thariel 40; Lasaba 40; Lamas 10; Thurcal 10. Paras 40; Alesly 40. Aryl 40; Sebah 40; Belfay 20; Sarach 20. Culmar 40; Quibda 40; Morael 20; Arepach 20.^12

You now have, excellent reader, from the fifty daytime princes, sixteen with 670 servants, and from the fifty nighttime princes, fourteen with 420 servants in number, who will suffice you for all operations both nocturnal and diurnal. But when you wish to operate through them according to the intended hours, choose from the arranged order whichever one you wish, and call him from the North, since they all dwell there, by this song.

Song of Conjuration

R. Ayfiel afruano chameron fosiel onear Vemabi parnothoson fruano Casfiel fuire bedarym buliffeor pean Curmaby Layr Vaymeo: pefarym adorteet odieb Vemabi peatha darfum lasphe-no deuior Camedonton phorfy lasbenay to charmon drufon olmays, Venouym luleson, peorfo faber ōtos thurno. Calephoy Vem, nabelon bural thorasyn charmony Capelron.^8

When the song has been duly completed under silence, the spirit called will be present. Entrust the secret safely; he will carry it and report back what is to be entrusted. But if you see those presiding over nighttime operations delay, as they very often do, compel them manfully by repeating the song, fearing nothing; for they will be compelled to revere you as their lord.

I have a secret of this sort, which I trust to no one to carry.

I set down the case. There is a certain friend of mine, noble and learned, whom I know is secretly to be killed by certain hired assassins.^13 I do not dare warn [him] openly, because it is dangerous to me; in the cause [unclear: fa fa-].

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^1. “Spirit” here belongs to Trithemius’s fictionalized angelic/spirit messenger apparatus for steganographic transmission, not to ordinary epistolary language. ^2. “De gestis Longobardorum” most likely refers to a history of the Lombards; the OCR is relatively clear here. ^3. Bede, probably a computistical/chronological work “on times” rather than an unspecified volume; “Vo. clumen” is an OCR split for “volumen.” ^4. Spanheim/Sponheim: Trithemius’s Benedictine monastery and usual place-signature. The OCR form “Spanheim” is acceptable as an early-modern spelling. ^5. Ides of March: 15 March in the Roman calendar. ^6. Cabariel/Cabriel: spirit-name varies in the OCR line; this is not normalized silently because the passage has both “Cabarielis” and “Cabriel.” ^7. Circius: a named wind, often northwestern in Latin wind terminology; “orbis plaga” is the quarter/direction of the world. ^8. The conjuration text is non-Latin cipher/formula material. It is reproduced rather than translated; no German tenor is recoverable from the supplied text alone. ^9. Raysiel/Rayfiel: long-s OCR scanno likely turns “s” into “f” in the body text; the chapter heading supports Raysiel. ^10. “Operations” is technical ritual/steganographic vocabulary: the acts by which messages are allegedly transmitted through named spirits. ^11. “Traditiones” literally “handings-over/transmissions”; in this context it means conveyed messages or communications, not doctrinal traditions. ^12. The spirit-name tables are preserved as proper names with servant counts. “Roth. S. R…” appears to be damaged table/header matter, not running prose. ^13. “ficarios” is an OCR scanno for “sicarios,” assassins; “quodfdam” is recoverable as “quosdam.”

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Damage-preserving review rendering with tenor detection and footnoting. Damage class: mid_damage_recoverable; OCR quality: 5/5.

Audit note — The v1.0 smoothed corrupt OCR into fluent prose, especially in the sample letter, and did not mark where names and formulae were conjecturally restored.

Steganographiae, Book I, Chapter XV: Armadiel

Closing Formula

“Casmeron omer vemabon.” When the song has been completed, the spirit^1 that has been sent, appearing, will faithfully carry out the office entrusted to him.

Chapter XV

Whose supreme [conjectured: emperor]^2 is Armadiel,^3 who dwells in that part of the world from which Boreas^4 is accustomed to come blowing, having under himself [conjectured: many] princes.

Armadiel, the great emperor, inhabits the fifteenth mansion^5 toward the northern quarter, having under his command many dukes and princes with their [conjectured: servitors]. Of these, one hundred have been assigned over operations by day and by night without distinction, so that they preside equally over our nocturnal and diurnal actions in Steganography^6 according to the will of the operator. Their office is to announce the operator’s most secret arcana^7 to princes and great men with the greatest fidelity and mystery. From these we shall name some of the more important, who are enough for our intention.

[Table of names and numbers, damaged in OCR:]

Miffar [conjectured: Massar] 50; Orariel; Pandiel; 10 10 60 60 50
Parabiel 40; Oryn; Caraliba [conjectured: Carasiba]; 20 20 70 70 40
Lael [conjectured: Laiel] 30; Samuel [conjectured: Samiel]; Alphiel [conjectured: Asbibiel]; 30 30 80 80 30
Calaarnya [conjectured: Caluarnya] 20; Afnael [conjectured: Asmael]; Mafyr [conjectured: Mafayr]; 40 40 70 70 20
Alferiel 10; Iaziel; Oeniel; 50 50 60 60 10

You now have fifteen of the spirits of Armadiel, numbering 1,260 with their [conjectured: sub-servitors]. According to the division of the twenty-four hours into six parts, they are accustomed, when called, to come to the operator with their dukes; [conjectured: if he himself wishes], preserving their order in coming. Therefore, when you wish to perform anything in Steganography through them, you must very diligently observe the division of time according to this art; without it you will accomplish absolutely nothing. Once this has been known as it ought, you will turn yourself toward Boreas, doing what the art requires.

Book One: Conjuration

Armadiel marbeuo pelrusan neor chamyn aldron pemarso[n] Cathormaor [conjectured: Cathornaor] pean lyburmy Caueron thorty [conjectured: Tharty] abefmeron [conjectured: abesmeron] vear larfo [conjectured: larso] charnoty theor Caecus [conjectured: Caueos] myar [conjectured: myat] drupas Camedortys ly pa ruffes érnoty [conjectured: ernoty] meforyn [conjectured: mesoryn] elthy chaor atiel, lamefayn [conjectured: lamesayn] rouemu fabel rufin [conjectured: rusin], friato chafalon [conjectured: chasalon] pheor thamorny mefardiel [conjectured: mesardiel] pelufy [conjectured: pelusy] madiel basefrof [conjectured: baseroty] tarreon [conjectured: sarreon] proloyr [conjectured: prolsoyr] afenofy [conjectured: asenosy] cameltrufon [conjectured: cameltruson].^8

When you have completed this conjuration^9 in the manner required, the spirit will soon be present, ready for your command.

Example Secret

Let us fashion for ourselves, for the sake of example, such a secret as is to be entrusted to no one.

[conjectured: There is] for me, to my prince, a certain secret to be communicated to absolutely no one. I do not dare to entrust it to letters, lest through negligence or forgetfulness they be read when scattered about; much less do I wish to announce it through a human messenger, lest it happen that by him it somehow be revealed also to others. Therefore I am pleased to test the mystery of this art, through which my secret will remain hidden at all times.

Let us write letters, of whatever kind one likes, which need fear no one’s inspection.

To the most serene Prince, Lord Philip,^10 Count Palatine of the Rhine, Duke of Bavaria,^11 Archsteward of the Holy Roman Empire,^12 Prince Elector, Johannes Trithemius,^13 Abbot of Sponheim,^14 offers service with prayers.

Most illustrious Prince, with humble submission, [I offer] service. The kindness of your [conjectured: illustrious] duchy has [conjectured: instructed] me to commend to letters certain very hidden matters, set forth in words. I would rejoice, not without [conjectured: devout] exultation, if powers equal to the will were present: to assign, for the benefits shown, a most honorable and more fitting place, and to render the service owed to favor [text breaks off / OCR: “debic”].

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^1. “Spiritus” is part of Trithemius’s angelic/magical surface vocabulary; in the cryptographic reading these spirits function as coded messengers or cipher procedures. ^2. OCR “IMPERATORES” is a number/case error for expected singular “imperator,” matching the chapter formula. ^3. Armadiel is the presiding name for the fifteenth northern mansion in this chapter; the name itself is not translated. ^4. Boreas is the north wind, here a directional marker for the ritual/cipher operation. ^5. “Mansio” is a station or mansion in the chapter’s directional hierarchy of operative spirits. ^6. “Steganographia” is Trithemius’s term for hidden writing/secret communication, overlaid with angelic conjuration language. ^7. “Arcana” means secrets or hidden matters; here it is both ordinary secrecy and a technical term in the steganographic setup. ^8. The conjuration is pseudo-angelic/cipher language rather than translatable Latin. Several forms are OCR-damaged; conjectures follow common positional scannos such as f/s, r/t, n/u, and c/e. ^9. “Coniuratio” is the ritual summons on the surface; in the work’s cryptographic frame it is also an operative formula. ^10. Philip is Philip the Upright, Elector Palatine, Trithemius’s princely addressee in this model letter. ^11. “Count Palatine of the Rhine” and “Duke of Bavaria” are dynastic and territorial titles of the Palatine Wittelsbach line. ^12. “Archidapifer” means imperial arch-steward, one of the ceremonial offices attached to an elector of the Holy Roman Empire. ^13. Johannes Trithemius, Benedictine abbot and author of the Steganographia. ^14. “Spanheimensis” refers to Sponheim, Trithemius’s abbey; the OCR spelling “Spanheimensis” is acceptable early-modern Latin orthography.

Clavis Steganographiae (Clavis triplex) — damage-preserving rendering, full_chunk_0053

Damage-preserving review rendering with tenor detection and footnoting. Damage class: mid_damage_recoverable; OCR quality: 5/5.

Audit note — It mistranslated OCR comite as a chief count and treated corrupted names/phrases as clean Latin, instead of marking recoverable scannos such as Sasquiel and Camerusin.

Clavis Steganographiae, Book II, Cap. IV-V: Style C Translation

Of Steganography: Closing Direction

[The sentence begins in mid-course:] ...the assigned [ones], as many as you wish, and [conjectured: entrust the secret to the more principal one].^1 Write letters in whatever form you wish, in which nothing secret is contained, and which need fear no one's inspection at all.

Letter To Rutger Vencaius

Johannes Trithemius,^2 Abbot of Spanheim, of the Order of Saint Benedict, sends greeting to Rutger Vencaius the Sicambrian,^3 canon of the order of the divine father Augustine, of the monastery of Dameten.^4

The matters that you proposed for me to solve, with Christ's help, I have resolved. Whether well, you who proposed them must render judgment. I shall briefly report to you an astonishing thing that happened. Recently a certain brother, and also a friend, not a minor one, reported to me [conjectured: that a young man had been raised from the dead at the invocation of Christ],^5 telling wonderful and [conjectured: dreadful] things among the infernal regions,^6 narrating the torments of corrupt Christians: namely, of those who crucified Christ by acting perversely; those especially guilty toward him because, forgetting the most gracious benefit of redemption,^7 they always showed themselves ungrateful to Christ; and that dreadful things are suffered by those who, by not living well, were known to be ungrateful for benefits. Blinded by sins, they neglected the joys to come and followed the pleasures of the world; with the negligences they had committed gnawing at them, they cried out most bitterly:

We deservedly endure these things, we who were always ungrateful to the redeemer of the human race; Christians in name, Gentiles in action. We miserable ones always sought earthly consolations; therefore we receive the due recompense of eternal damnation. Alas, most unhappy that we are: why did we offend Christ? Why did we despise the time granted to us?

Many other things the [conjectured: resurrected young man] reported to us, which I am now wholly unable to write, being especially hindered by weighty business. Therefore, brother, let us zealously imitate the footsteps of Christ, always giving thanks to our most gentle Savior and praying that he pardon us for the offenses committed. Farewell. 3 Kalends of April [March 30].

Reception Procedure

When the person to whom the letters are sent has received them, if he is skilled in the art, let him observe the lord of the ascendant of that same hour and the sign of the twelfth house.^8 Let him write their characters with the rest on paper, together with the other things required for the operation; then let him say the above-mentioned conjuration and, when the spirit is seen, these words: [unclear in OCR: Camerulae apropy- / apreyslertio thulinear venean maucaes fat elron; conjectured: Camerusin aproysi lierto thulnear venean maueas fabelron].^9 When these have been said, the sent spirit will approach and will faithfully and without danger reveal to him the secret entrusted to it.

Chapter V

Concerning the hour that is called Fealech, and whose supreme spirit and emperor is called [conjectured: Sasquiel; OCR Safquiel],^10 having under his command ten dukes, one hundred counts, and a very great number of servants.^11

The fifth hour of the day is called Fealech, and its spirit is named [conjectured: Sasquiel], a great and powerful emperor, who has under his command, among many, ten dukes and one hundred counts, with their attendants, appointed to the service of various and especially secret arts and of this science of ours. And it should be noted that the dukes are rarely called in the fifth hour for operations of Steganography,^12 because [conjectured: they are not always necessary], since the counts, together with the servants assigned to them, are abundantly sufficient for us in every operation.

Yet if anyone should wish to see some of the dukes as well and to make use of their power, he can call one, two, or more; and they will come without delay, since they are sufficiently benevolent and ready to obey those who operate.

[conjectured: Damiel] Iameriel Omerach - 10, 100, 1000 Araniel Futiniel Lameros - 10, 100, 1000 Maroch Rameriel Zachiel - 10, 100, 1000 Sarapiel [conjectured: Amisiel] [conjectured: Fustiel] - 10, 100, 1000 [conjectured: Putifiel] Vraniel Camiel - 10, 100, 1000

Of the dukes of [conjectured: Sasquiel] we now have the above-named; of the counts, however, ten; and from the number of servants, 5,550, whose service [conjectured: suffices for every operation of the present hour].

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^1. OCR comite principaliori is a scanno for committe principaliori; v1.0's chief count is therefore wrong here. The phrase is the tail of an operation-instruction sentence. ^2. Johannes Trithemius (1462-1516), Benedictine abbot of Spanheim/Sponheim and author of the Steganographia. ^3. Rutger Vencaius Sicambro: OCR Vencio Sicambrero; this is a recoverable name/ethnic scanno, not a meaningful Latin form. ^4. Coenobium Dametense: OCR Conobij Dametenfis. Place/institutional identification remains authorially obscure beyond the Latin title as printed. ^5. The clause resuscitatum fuisse iuvenem... ex mortuis is heavily damaged in OCR as reficitur tamen fusificium... ex mortis; this is a recoverable scanno cluster, not intelligible Latin. Recovery checked against the same-passage transcription at https://www.esotericarchives.com/tritheim/steg4.htm. ^6. inferi/inferos: Christian infernal regions or hell in this moral exemplum, not merely the neutral classical underworld. ^7. redemptionis beneficium: theological term for Christ's saving work; the OCR has redemptionis beneficium fairly visible but surrounding syntax is damaged. ^8. lord of the ascendant and twelfth house: technical astrological terms used in the ritualized operating procedure. ^9. characteres and coniuratio are technical terms: written astrological/ritual signs and the conjuration formula. The Camerusin formula is occult vocabulary, not a German tenor; OCR corrupts and splits it across the page break. ^10. Sasquiel: OCR repeatedly gives Safquiel. The s/f confusion is a common early-print/OCR scanno; the same chapter's catalog supports Sasquiel. ^11. duces, comites, servi: hierarchy titles in the spirit catalog; translate literally as dukes, counts, servants, but they are technical ranks rather than ordinary military offices. ^12. Steganographia: here both Trithemius's work and the claimed hidden-message art; do not flatten it into generic cryptography.

Clavis Steganographiae (Clavis triplex) — damage-preserving rendering, full_chunk_0054

Damage-preserving review rendering with tenor detection and footnoting. Damage class: heavy_damage_partial; OCR quality: 4/5.

Audit note — The v1.0 treats the damaged sample letter as mostly coherent Latin, silently smoothing several broken clauses and uncertain names instead of marking substantial unrecoverable OCR loss.

Style C Translation: Steganographiae, Liber Secundus, pp. 123-124

Steganographia

[It] is sufficient for every operation of the present hour. Therefore, when you wish to operate in steganography^1 through any one of the aforesaid [spirits] in the fifth hour of the day,^2 write the character^3 of the lord of the ascendant,^4 of the twelfth house,^5 together with the other things required for the art, on a clean slip of paper; and on its back [write] this conjuration, in the same manner as you have done [before].

Conjuration

Saequi adres raetrofeti rofiei emelto satu olmeniel irfoti faucar nauediel liernoti chamefon.^6

When these things have been completed, and the other necessary matters joined to them, say this very conjuration as is proper; and immediately you will see the spirit whom you have called visibly present. To him you may safely entrust the secret.

Method for Announcing a Secret

If we have some secret, of whatever kind, for a friend, which we wish no one except him to know, and if it is of such a kind that it may safely be entrusted neither to letters nor to messengers,^7 let us call one of the companions of the aforesaid Saequiel;^8 let us entrust the secret to him; let us add letters sealed with his character; and surely we shall [unclear].

Tenor of the Letter, at Pleasure

Johannes Trithemius,^9 abbot of Spanheim,^10 to the religious brother Nicolaus Baefius of Dureckheim,^11 monk of Hirsau,^12 greeting.

[unclear: Saequitam] obedience, good brother, and humility you deny us; blessed constitutions [have been] [unclear: laefactas]. By the report of all, [unclear] joined, known, that you have hatred for good zeal; [unclear] to preserve the religious rule and Catholic obedience; to be occupied rather proudly with secular arts. Good brother, what are you doing? You are zealous for troublesome and foolish double-tongued men; you love hatred, bitterness, quarrels, and disputes; you hate goodness; you are double-tongued, contentious, proud.

Fool, what are you doing? It is time, all the more quickly, according to justice, [conjectured: to correct] these negligences of yours and the zeal of bitterness with the scourges of humility; and [unclear] you are compelled humbly to break off your cares for us [unclear] by office to be zealous against all things which [unclear] in the acts of your faith and in Catholic morals [unclear: of sedition]. Farewell from Spanheim, on the day before the Kalends of April, in the year 1500.^13

When the person to whom the letter is sent has received it, if he is skilled in the art and has recognized the character of Safquiel [probably Saequiel],^14 and after the customary preliminaries have first been performed, let him say the above-mentioned conjuration; and immediately the spirit sent will appear and show himself visibly. When he has seen him, let him at once say these words:

Fabelmerusyn aueal vear plyn an cralti penafon.^15

When the spirit has heard these words spoken, he will at once approach and reveal the secret.

Chapter VI

Whose hour is called Genapherym,^16 and whose spirit, a supreme emperor, is called Saniel,^17 who has under him 110 dukes and counts, with many servants.

The sixth hour of the day is called Genapherym, and the angel to whom it belongs is Saniel, great and powerful in visible operations. He has under his command 10 dukes, 100 counts, and 5,500 servants assigned to the service of diverse operations; these are sufficient for us for all things that we may wish to perform through steganography in this hour.

The dukes, however, are called more rarely, although they are prompt and very willing to obey our commands, because their counts have generally been accustomed to carry out their offices, since they themselves are often occupied in other magical experiments.^18

Arnebiel 10; Charuch 10; Medieliel 10; Nathmiel 10; Pemiel 10; Gamuel 100; Ienoriel 100; Samcon 100; Trafzel 100; Xamyon 100; Nedabar 100; Permon 100; Brasil 100; Camofiel 100; Euadur 100.^19

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^1. “Steganographia” is both the title and Trithemius’s technical term for concealed writing; here it is embedded in an angelic-ritual frame. ^2. “quinta hora diei”: the fifth planetary/ritual hour of the day, continuing the previous chapter’s hour-system. ^3. “characterem”: a magical or cipher-sign used to identify and authorize the spirit; not merely a written letter. ^4. “domini ascendentes” is OCR-damaged for “domini ascendentis,” the astrological lord of the ascendant. ^5. “domus duodecimae”: the twelfth astrological house; the syntax is compressed but recoverable. ^6. Barbarous conjuration formula. I preserve the OCR text rather than normalize the spirit-names; “chamefon” may reflect long-s/f confusion or type damage. ^7. “tabellionibus” strictly means notaries/scribes, but in this practical context probably means entrusted carriers or letter-handlers; I avoid over-certainty. ^8. “Saequiaelis / Saequielis”: OCR and orthographic variation in the name of the fifth-hour spirit or its ruler. ^9. Johannes Trithemius, Benedictine abbot and author of the Steganographia. ^10. Spanheim/Sponheim, Trithemius’s abbey; the print has “Spanheimensis” and later abbreviated “Spanh.” ^11. Nicolaus Baefius of Dureckheim: named recipient in the sample letter; spelling may be affected by OCR and early-modern orthography. ^12. Hirsau, Benedictine monastery; “Hirsaugieni” is an OCR/inflectional form for Hirsaugiensi. ^13. “prid. Cal. April.” = pridie Kalendas Aprilis, March 31. “Anno M.D.” = 1500. ^14. “Safquielis” is likely OCR for “Saequielis”; f/long-s and q/e confusions are common in this material. ^15. Second barbarous formula, apparently an operative command for disclosure of the entrusted secret; no German plaintext is visible in this excerpt. ^16. “Genapherym”: name of the sixth hour; preserved as printed. ^17. Saniel: angel/spirit governing the sixth hour in this chapter. ^18. “magici” here modifies “experiments” in the ritual-magic sense; the passage presents a magical hierarchy of officers. ^19. The list is a register of subordinate spirits and their assigned numbers. The page layout marks some rows with “R.” and “T.”; their function is not recoverable from this excerpt alone.

Clavis Steganographiae (Clavis triplex) — damage-preserving rendering, full_chunk_0055

Damage-preserving review rendering with tenor detection and footnoting. Damage class: mid_damage_recoverable; OCR quality: 5/5.

Audit note — V1 smoothed the damaged pious cover-letter into coherent devotional prose and silently repaired scannos, obscuring that this section may be cipher-bearing and syntactically corrupt.

STEGANOGRAPHIAE / Liber Secundus, Cap. VII

Steganographiae

We have here named from the dukes of Samiel^1: from the counts, 10; and from the number of the servants, 550, through whom the operation of steganography^2 is performed in the sixth hour of the day.^3 Therefore, when you wish to operate through those spirits, keep yourself wholly in a secret place; and if you wish to call one duke or several, let that be in your power, although there is no need, because the counts will suffice for making everything known to us. Therefore write on a clean little sheet^4 the customary characters of the planets and signs,^5 and on its back the conjuration.

Conjuration

Samiel asiel thebream pothijr erfory mear pornys layr moas, famerofyn.^6 Then, once the preliminaries have first been performed, say the same conjuration in the rite by which it [unclear: is known / is done]; and immediately the spirit called will be present, ready and eager for all things; you may send him far or near to a friend, so that he may carry the secret.

Argument of the Secret

Whatever secret you have, to whomever [you wish], you can send it securely, being more expert in the art of steganography, through the spirits of Samiel in the sixth hour of the day; for they are general agents for making all things known and altogether faithful in commissions,^7 if you proceed in all things in the due manner according to our precepts.

Form of the Letters, as You Please

H[unclear]. With very humble laments, praying, we shall obtain the grace of remission by groans; and the things that are received [bring?] freedom from guilt. Let people who are continually penitent receive [unclear: gladness/latitude] by merit; justice, by works adorned with Catholic piety, [unclear] to the law of kindness, and praise comes to the Catholic [Church/faith]. The most merciful savior will free all, and, sins having been remitted, those desiring pardon, those loving [unclear], passing over, will receive the joys of Catholic religion and of blessedness. Good [unclear: powers/possessions?], for the liberated, [unclear: passing over] for those keeping the law, will obtain the bright blessedness of the glory of the triumphant in the light of the Trinity.^8 In the year 1500, on the Kalends of April.^9 Joan. Tris. Abb. wrote [this].^10

Liber Secundus

When the person to whom these letters are sent has received them, being skilled in the art, after the preliminaries have first been performed, let him say the conjuration; and soon the spirit sent will appear. When he sees him present, let him say these words:

Charmes pormeniel vear faenui liernoty noty erfy melron.^11

After these have been said, as is prescribed in the art, the spirit will draw nearer and will faithfully and secretly reveal the secret committed to him.

Cap. VII

Of the hour which is called Hamarym,^12 and its spirit Barquiel,^13 having under his command 10 dukes, 100 counts. The number of servants is not certain to me.

The seventh hour of the day is called Hamarym, and its angel is called Barquiel; he has under his command 100 dukes and 100 counts. The number of servants is great and uncertain. The ministries of all these, by their turns and in their own orders, are abundantly sufficient for us for every operation of steganography in the seventh hour of the day. But when you wish to operate through the spirits of the aforesaid emperor in the seventh hour, do not call fewer than at least one duke and one count, who have servants assigned to them, each in his own order. But so that you may have at hand the names of some dukes and counts through whom you seek to operate, attend to the table.

N[ames?].

Abrasiel; Farmos; Nefiorii [or Nestorii?]; Manuel; Sagiel; Harmiel; Nafrus; Varmay; Tulmas; Crofiel; Pafriel; Venfciel [conjectured: Vensciel/Venfriel?]; Enarym; Drufcel; Kathos.

10 10 10 10 10 / 10 10 10 10 10 / 10 10 10 10 10 / 10 10 10 10 10 / 10 10 10 10 10 / 10 10 10 10 10 / 10 10 10 10 10 / 10 10 10 10 10 / 10 10 10 10 10 / 10 10 10 10 10 / 10 10 10 10 10 / 100 100 100 100 100.

Here [unclear: now you have] named from the dukes, 5; from the counts, 10; and [the text breaks off].

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^1. Samielis is the governing spirit/angel-name for the sixth hour in this section; spelling is not normalized to Samael, since the OCR/source reads Samielis here. ^2. Steganographia is Trithemius’s technical term for concealed writing under angelic-spirit fiction; translated as “steganography” but left conceptually tied to the work’s cipher art. ^3. “Sixth hour of the day” is a ritual/cipher scheduling term in this chapter, not ordinary clock-time alone. ^4. Chartula mundo is almost certainly chartula munda, “clean little sheet”; OCR has mundo for munda or an inflectional/scanno error. ^5. “Characters of the planets and signs” refers to astrological/magical signs used as operational cover or apparatus in the Steganographia. ^6. The conjuration words are not Latin and are preserved as printed/OCR’d; pothijr may reflect early-modern i/j interchange or OCR uncertainty. ^7. “in commulis” is likely in commissis, “in commissions/entrusted matters”; OCR confuses ss/long-s clusters and may have read commissis poorly. ^8. This pious “letter form” is syntactically strained and contains many OCR scannos: Vnúlimis likely humillimis/humilimis; affidue = assidue; iniftitia = iustitia; poifimus = piissimus; remiftique = remissisque; tranfite/tranfitem and fervantibus reflect long-s/f confusion. I have not silently repaired all Latin because the cover text may be cipher-bearing. ^9. “M.D. Cal. Apr.” = 1500, Kalends of April, i.e. April 1, 1500, if read in the ordinary Roman-calendar sense. ^10. “Joan. Tris. Abb.” abbreviates Johannes Trithemius, Abbot; the final scriptit is non-classical/erroneous for scripsit or a printed/OCR form. ^11. Second formula is also non-Latin cipher/angelic diction and is preserved. “His dicitis” is likely his dictis, “when these have been said”; “acceder” likely accedet. ^12. Hamarym is the name assigned to the seventh hour; preserved as a technical spirit-hour name. ^13. Barquiel is the angel/spirit of the seventh hour in this passage; the chapter heading says 10 dukes, but the body reads 100 dukes, a source inconsistency not harmonized here.

Clavis Steganographiae (Clavis triplex) — damage-preserving rendering, full_chunk_0064

Damage-preserving review rendering with tenor detection and footnoting. Damage class: heavy_damage_partial; OCR quality: 4/5.

Audit note — v1.0 presents the damaged cover letter as mostly continuous Latin, silently resolving uncertain offices, names, and syntax; it also misses that the letter is a steganographic cover, not ordinary evidence.

Clavis Steganographiae, Book II: Tartys and the Sample Letter to the Nuns of Mount St Rupert

Book Two

Here we have six named from the dukes of Tartys,^1 and twelve from the counts; likewise 1,320 servants,^2 numbered and distributed by turns and ranks, who will suffice us at this hour for the experiment of the art.^3

And note that, according to Solomon^4 and Raziel,^5 all those dukes and princes of Tartys are benevolent and most ready for obedience; and in whatever form they have been ordered to appear, they willingly assume it. Therefore, when you wish to operate in this science,^6 observe diligently the lord of the ascendant,^7 together with the other things that we prescribe, and write everything that is to be written with this conjuration.

Conjuration

Tartys chrybes faziel yrstci haelnot dreor aduear afy mearo Veny satu pemertson.

Then, when all things have been completed most diligently, and the conjuration has been read in due manner, as is proper, the spirits that have been called will presently be there, ready for your command.

Let the secret, whatever occurs to us, be great and difficult.

The secret that we wish to [conjectured: intimate / make known] to a friend through the spirits may be whatever occurs to us according to the time and the variety of affairs, provided that it is not trifling, and not of such a kind that it can be reported safely by other means.

Cover Letter

Johannes Trithemius^8 to the nuns^9 on Mount Saint Rupert,^10 who adorn the Catholic faith with bright virginity: [may they] continually merit eternal happiness by the most holy zeal of religion.

By the mercy of the Eternal King^11 we prudently send to you the man long expected, a man of great experience in temporal matters, Johannes, born of Raunenstat,^12 the reverend and zealous abbot for a long time of the monastery of [conjectured: Vosldorf],^13 and now freely [conjectured: resigning] that same abbacy. On account of him there is added, as I had promised you, the monk of Limburg,^14 in whom Christ [unclear], occupied with continual prayers and with holy readings of the Scriptures, together with the monks of the same monastery; and you ask that he be sent to your convent,^15 and that he take up care of temporal affairs, and become procurator^16 and cellarer.^17 The abbot of Limburg, in his accustomed [unclear], changed in mind, was able to admit him once consent had been obtained from him. At last, with Christ [conjectured: breathing into / prompting him], he consented, though fearfully, for this reason: because he fears he will be [conjectured: struck / wounded] by nuns, who are very lightly changed. He does not fear undeservedly, since experience has taught us thus: at times nuns have repaid their stewards,^18 for benefits, with a reward not praiseworthy. A feminine mind is suddenly changed by a zeal of bitterness. But, with Christ granting it, let him be thus with you. He is a Christian, he is a monk, he fears [conjectured: for salvation / salutary things], and he is of good understanding. Therefore accustom yourselves to restrain womanly instability, so that you may remember to be constant: [conjectured: receiving] him with holy honor and sincere charity, laying aside all lightness of womanly spirit, especially since you are able, with the aid of Christ the Redeemer, to help him and to receive [conjectured: the restoration] of the temporal affairs of your monastery, which have collapsed, [unclear: who / which] [conjectured: has zealously loved] charity. Farewell. From Sponheim,^19 on the seventeenth day before the Kalends of May,^20 in the year of our Lord Jesus Christ 1500.

Instruction After The Letter

When the person to whom they are sent has received letters marked with the character of Tartys,^21 being skilled in our art, let him observe the lord of the ascendant and do, most diligently, each and every thing that is to be done, and let him append the usual conjuration. And when he has seen that many spirits are present, let him say these words to the principal one:

Chabor maflotiel tu[e]uo reneas porean trismeny penarfon.

And when he has said these words with strong intention to the principal duke, immediately, approaching peaceably, he will reveal the secret.

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^1. Tartys is the named spirit-region or hierarchy in this section. OCR has “exducibus” for “ex ducibus”; this is a spacing/scanno issue, not a lexical variant. ^2. “servants” translates servi; OCR “feruos” reflects long-s/s and u/v confusion. ^3. “art” is the steganographic-magical procedure of the Clavis/Steganographia, not a fine art. ^4. Solomon is invoked as an authority for spirit-conjuration literature; no attempt is made here to identify a specific Solomonic text. ^5. Raziel: OCR “Ratielem” is likely a scanno for “Razielem,” the angel/textual authority known from Razielic magical tradition. ^6. “science” translates scientia, here a learned technical art or discipline. ^7. “lord of the ascendant” is astrological vocabulary: the planet ruling the zodiacal sign rising at the operation’s chosen time. OCR “dominum ascendens” is best read as “dominum ascendentis.” ^8. Johannes Trithemius, abbot of Sponheim and author/compiler of the Steganographia tradition. ^9. Sanctimoniales: professed religious women, here rendered “nuns.” ^10. Mount Saint Rupert: “monte Almi Ruperti”; the place-name is clear despite OCR damage in surrounding text. ^11. “Eternal King” translates Aeterni Regis; OCR splits this as “A Terni Regis.” ^12. Raunenstat: personal/place byname as printed/OCR’d; identification uncertain from this passage alone. ^13. “Vosldorf” is damaged: OCR “Vosldorpensif” probably stands for a monastic adjective in -ensis. The exact house-name is not securely recoverable from the supplied text. ^14. Limburg: OCR “Lympurgen-tem” likely represents “Lympurgensem/Limburgensem,” a monk of Limburg. ^15. “convent” translates coenobium; OCR “canobium” is a common ae/e scanno. ^16. Procurator: monastic officer or business manager handling external/temporal affairs. ^17. Cellarer: monastic officer responsible for stores and provisions. ^18. Oeconomici: household/estate managers or stewards; the passage complains about nuns repaying such managers badly. ^19. Sponheim: “Spanh.” is the usual abbreviated origin for Trithemius’s abbey context. ^20. Seventeenth day before the Kalends of May is April 15 by inclusive Roman reckoning. ^21. “character of Tartys” means the graphic sign/sigil or written cipher-character belonging to this spirit hierarchy; it is both magical and cryptographic vocabulary here.

Clavis Steganographiae (Clavis triplex) — damage-preserving rendering, full_chunk_0066

Damage-preserving review rendering with tenor detection and footnoting. Damage class: heavy_damage_partial; OCR quality: 4/5.

Audit note — The v1.0 smooths the badly damaged sample letter into coherent encomium and silently decides ambiguous figures and names, especially “72. 60.” and the broken final lines.

Style C Translation: Steganographiae 134-135

Steganographiae, p. 134

For in the first order there are 10; in the second 20; in the third 30; in the fourth 40; in the fifth 50; in the sixth 60; in the seventh 70; in the eighth 80; in the ninth 90; in the tenth 100; in the eleventh 1,000; in the twelfth 10,000. And from these twelve orders, in their proper turns, spirits^1 are sent to us for service in the operations of the art of Steganography^2; of these we now name others.

R. Armofiel, Rayziel, Lamediel: 10, 100, 100, 1000
R. Nedruan, Gemezin, Adroziel: 10, 100, 100, 1000
R. Maneylor, Fremiel, Zodiel: 10, 100, 100, 1000
R. Ormael, Hamay, Bramiel: 10, 100, 100, 1000
R. Phorsiel, Iapuriel, Coreziel: 10, 100, 100, 1000
R. Rimexyn, Ispfiel, Enatriel: 10, 100, 100, 1000

Here we have, from the spirit Iesicha^3, six leaders and twelve companions named, to whom are assigned ministering spirits^4 [conjectured: 7,260]. These, in their turns and orders, are sent into the service of the person operating in the art. The princes themselves, according to the saying of Solomon the Philosopher^5, are manifold in form; and whatever forms they are ordered to take, they will assume. Therefore, when you wish to operate through them in the fourth hour of the night^6, observe the ascending house^7 and [conjectured: the whole] figure of the sky, and do everything according to what [conjectured: you have been instructed]; striking/writing all things on a clean sheet^8, and on its back this conjuration^9.

Conjuration

Iesicha ofiel mear pathyr lays mean theor dreochifis zan moabl lofeas erstsi breo pornys tayr penarfon.

Then, after [unclear] have been [unclear], when you have said that conjuration itself in due manner, form, and order, the spirits will appear visibly in whatever form you have commanded, ready and willing for all things.

The Secret Is Made at Will

Whatever secret occurs to you for the occasion, which you wish an absent person to know at this fourth hour of the night, you may entrust it securely to the spirits, provided it is such that it cannot safely be communicated to him either by letters or by messengers. For those things which we can communicate without danger either by letters or by messengers, we ought by no means to communicate through the ministry of spirits. But whoever shall presume to call upon spirits for light and secret matters which can be communicated without danger by letters or messengers will without doubt bring back loss and inconvenience, with danger.

Wording of the Letter at Will

To the venerable father in Christ, the steward^10 of the Limburgers, the religious lord called Ioannes Weisvorsen^11, Ioannes Oulis,^12 humble abbot of Spanheim,^13 [conjectured: the joys of heaven].

The nuns of Saint Rupert^14 [unclear: desire/choose] you as their governor with excessive [unclear], and ask you with humble goodwill that, [unclear] the times of affairs, you undertake the governance of that monastery. To serve the [conjectured: devout] virgins of Christ is praiseworthy and [unclear] a good of spiritual things. [The text then presents you/the named man as] visitor of that same named and renowned convent, filling you with the greatest honor: weighty in morals, adorned with virtues, cautious in counsel, loved by all, of good reputation among religious persons for monastic conduct, and notable to holy men; whose life, by the merit of Christ, is very pleasing; the excellent abbot of the monastery of Saint John.^15 In the letters of both Christians and gentiles he is most learned and most trustworthy, and is very learned; he notably surpasses the wisdom of [unclear: ordinary/fortunate?] men. He knows very well how to rule the flock entrusted to him. And he has zeal for the causes of the virgins of Christ, whose cloister he preserves most firmly. Do not fear to serve under him among such good nuns, for he knows how to govern the brides of Christ according to monastic law with excellent discretion; by virtue and zeal for the Christian faith he will freely assist you in necessity. Gladly accept this man, so distinguished and kindly, as pastor and familiar [conjectured: guardian] for the governance of such religious virgins. Christ [unclear] eternal joy[s] [breaks off].

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^1. “Spirits” here belongs to Trithemius’s pseudo-angelic / demonic operative vocabulary in the Steganographia, not to ordinary Christian pneumatology alone. ^2. Steganographia: Trithemius’s art of concealed writing, presented in ritual-magical language. ^3. Iesicha is a spirit-name in the passage. The form may be affected by OCR at the initial letter, but the conjuration below also gives “Iesicha,” so I have not normalized it silently. ^4. “Ministering spirits” translates ministeriales; the figure “72. 60.” is damaged/ambiguous. It may intend 7,260 rather than “72 and 60.” ^5. Solomon the Philosopher: conventional authority-name in magical and pseudo-Solomonic traditions; not a recoverable historical citation here. ^6. Fourth hour of the night: a technical timing instruction for the operation. ^7. “Ascending house” is astrological vocabulary: the domus ascendens, linked to the ascendant. ^8. schedula munda is defensibly “a clean sheet/slip.” OCR has “mudam” for mundam; this is a typical n/m/u scanno in damaged early print OCR. ^9. Conjuration: ritual formula; the barbarous-language string is not translated and should not be regularized. ^10. Oeconomus: steward/administrator, probably an ecclesiastical office in context. ^11. Ioannes Weisvorsen: personal name left as transmitted; spelling may be OCR-damaged. ^12. Ioannes Oulis is likely OCR-damaged for Johannes Trithemius’s name/title formula, but “Oulis” is not safely reconstructable from the provided text. ^13. Spanheimensis Abbas: abbot of Sponheim/Spanheim, Trithemius’s office. ^14. Saint Rupert: likely the monastery of St. Rupert near Bingen, associated with the nuns in this letter-context. ^15. Monastery of Saint John: named institution in the damaged encomium; exact referent is not reconstructed from this OCR alone.

Clavis Steganographiae (Clavis triplex) — damage-preserving rendering, full_chunk_0086

Damage-preserving review rendering with tenor detection and footnoting. Damage class: heavy_damage_partial; OCR quality: 3/5.

Audit note — V1.0 normalized heavily broken cover Latin into coherent prayer-prose and over-reconstructed the security warning, hiding where the OCR is unrecoverable.

MODVS PRIMVS OCCVLTE scribendi

Heading

The first method^1 of writing secretly is made by the several first letters of individual words; its sign is this: I.

Preface to the Method

[Conjectured: The first, therefore, method] of writing secretly is as follows. When you wish to write something secretly to a friend, so that no one should understand your intention except the person to whom you write, then [conjectured: take] whatever Latin narrative you wish, [unclear], placing every [conjectured: word] in order, so that the first letter of each [conjectured: word] may render, freely, the word that you wish, as I shall teach you in the argument or example set below. But this method is not sufficiently [conjectured: safe for the future], because it could easily be detected by an industrious person, as will now be [conjectured: tried/shown]. In reading it is indeed easy; but it is written with difficulty, because it is laborious always to have at hand [conjectured: words] suited to the proposed thing. Now let us set down an example of this method: the open text^2 is Latin, but the tenor^3 [conjectured: of the secret] is found written in German,^4 namely:

Example of the First Method

[The following devotional cover text is grammatically broken and heavily OCR-damaged; it is translated as cover text, not normalized into a coherent prayer.]

[Unclear: Vcidum inbar] of eternal blessedness, most excellent, king, governor, and [unclear] of lands, of all virtuous living beings, exalted refuge of the despised, virtue, unanimity, [unclear: cinerulum] of all, joy of those who mourn, exultation of [unclear: familiatrisium], virtue of the frail, nourishment of the needy, and salvation of the afflicted, helper of the wretched, triumphator of the noble, administrator of graces, governor of the king of his wayfarers, [unclear: fame/infirmity] of our weakness, greeter/savior of all, glory of living souls, most bright light, refuge of the hungry, most kindly [unclear] of the terrors of his love, rewarder of eternal virtue, glorifier of my souls, [unclear: for those fervent toward you], life-giving Lord [unclear: they die].

Page 202: Cover Text Continues

Adorned with good morals, we continually exult. With true fortitude he strengthens us, and [unclear: whose/by whose] health he renews efficacy. We help [or: aid] God, eternal redeemer, [unclear] lover of your name, remit the sin of all, extinguish temptations [unclear: for/from those doing harm], grant virtuous life and love and righteousness to us who pray. O most high God, truly [unclear: visivis] and of the infirm, light of those who mourn, hear us; [unclear: life in service, I hold meretrumuris]; [conjectured: verified] savior and king, [unclear: my heart fears me], [unclear: it has been glorified]. Zealous for truth, we rejoice in the jubilation of the eternal kingdom: crown of the humble, indulgence, [unclear: exurmina] of the guilty.

Hidden Tenor of the Foregoing

See tenor_md.

And so forth, for as much as you wish.

Warning to Be Observed

But it must be observed that the aforesaid method, as we have said, is not [conjectured: useful/safe] in difficult matters,^5 because, especially if someone has begun to [conjectured: have suspicion] from the letters, the secret can easily be detected from the [conjectured: initials].^6 Therefore [conjectured: the method] of the following [section] is [unclear: safer/more secure], as is clear.

At the same time it must be observed that whoever writes this, or any other hidden matter, and is not sufficiently learned in the Latin language, should not divide words wrongly, nor should he [conjectured: slip in] two points [or: punctuation marks] for one [unclear: exigitum]. When any word of your secret has been completed, do not make a comma, in order to complete the sense of the exterior text,^7 like this, or conversely, as you please; nevertheless let your people see that neither points nor commas are made. And let there not be, in a word of the secret but only rarely, a period-sign in any method, [unclear: neither] over the first letter nor after the last; just as they are written in the visible tenor:^8 “Lieber Getrewer,” etc.

Extension

[No text supplied beyond the heading.]

Tenor (German plaintext concealed by the cipher)

Lieber Getrewer, du wollet auffnachst Montag ge- riffen sein, so du aller best vermacht und umb die 5. unser an der Landspforten warten, da wollet wir mit unserm Giegegerscheine etc.

Modern English: Dear faithful/trusted friend, you should be armed and ready next Monday, as well equipped as you can be, and around five wait for us at the land-gate; there we wish to [unclear: with our Giegegerscheine] etc.

Note: ge-riffen is very likely gerüsten/gerüstet or a related “armed/equipped” form in damaged OCR; Giegegerscheine is not safely recoverable from the supplied text.

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^1. modus primus occulte scribendi: a steganographic acrostic method in which the first letters of cover-text words spell the concealed message. ^2. textus apertus Latinus: the visible cover text; here it is a pious-looking Latin prose/prayer sequence, but much of it is strained or nonsensical. ^3. tenor: the concealed plaintext message, not the source from which the Latin cover text should be translated. ^4. Tentonice is an OCR/scanno or early spelling for Teutonice, “in German.” ^5. rebus arduis: weighty or dangerous matters; the damaged paragraph warns that this first-letter method is insecure for serious business. ^6. ab affinis is probably an OCR corruption for ab initiis or similar: the point is detection from initial letters. This is a reconstruction from context, not secure Latin. ^7. textus exterioris: the outward/cover text, whose punctuation can betray the boundaries of hidden words. ^8. oculis tenore appears to mean the visible/open tenor or text as it appears to the eyes; the wording is OCR-damaged.

Clavis Steganographiae (Clavis triplex) — damage-preserving rendering, full_chunk_0088

Damage-preserving review rendering with tenor detection and footnoting. Damage class: unrecoverable_blocks_present; OCR quality: 2/5.

Audit note — v1.0 turned broken carrier prose into smooth devotional Latin, silently regularizing many OCR gaps; it did not preserve how unrecoverable much of the opening and third-mode example are.

Clavis Steganographiae — Damage-Preserving Translation

Clavis Steganographiae^1

Brother [or brothers], since [unclear] glory and truth, and we had often related [unclear]: most heavenly Savior^2 [unclear] us, Jesus kindly [unclear] those who ask, and preserve us, timid peoples, [unclear] the human soul [unclear], O Jesus,^3 surpassing the names of justice, [unclear] majesty [unclear], the most holy virtue of our cross,^4 since our life [unclear] in happiness [unclear].

Have mercy on us, Jesus Christ,^5 most [conjectured: merciful] Savior; [unclear] with humility the faith of souls, and do not permit us inwardly to stray in [unclear] temptation, most penitently in love; as if among the badly troubled, we are turned about, devoted to virtue, pondering [unclear], soon to be called to the examination of reason.

Kindly Creator,^6 be gracious to your servants; and, since the swift labors of worldly vanity have deceived us, let us not abandon the way of truth; and rescue the sweetest light of souls from the defiled mud, since our salvation is in your name [unclear], [unclear] more happily in failing rejoicings. You are [unclear] our [unclear], holier glory, joy of angels,^7 more blessed [unclear] of the sick, Creator, Savior of the human race.

Most kindly [unclear], hear us humbly crying out to you; deliver us from present and future shipwreck,^8 so that we may live without end, and restore [unclear] the way for us, wretched [unclear], who redeemed us, so that we may live [unclear]. Grant us, almighty God,^9 [unclear] into infinite majesty, [unclear] migration [unclear] written [unclear], our perpetual protection. Amen.

Tenor supradicti occultus^10

The hidden tenor of the above.

Dear keeper/guardian: the bearer of this letter has done something wrongful. It is our order that you keep him in custody until our coming, etc.

Exemplum Secreti Latini^11

Example of the Latin Secret.

Human [unclear] salvation and love, who creates all things, [unclear] has placed obedience in us; we are bound to obey every commander [or command] in all things. The reward of holy obedience is eternal happiness [unclear] God. O Christ, may we steadfastly establish obedience in all things, so that we may deserve to enter the eternal life promised to us, with the angels, through the mercy of God.^12

Let us do penance while we can; the time of life is very short. Death quickly comes upon the unprepared and suddenly consumes the negligent. Souls transfixed by judgment, brothers, do not delay in doing penance; for death will come swiftly to you, from which none of you can long escape.

[unclear], consider your passing-over; let penance cling to you while you have time. Why do you neglect divine things? O death, terrible to men on earth, [unclear] more swiftly [unclear] wretched [unclear]; are you, while living, not also subject to judgment, submitting from a sluggish mind? Hear us, O Christ, Savior; be gracious to us as we sin and fall. Grant us fear [unclear] and your [unclear], kindly Redeemer. You see the sinner supplicating; kindly Creator of the human race, hear us, fainting; grant us forgiveness swiftly.

O Father [unclear], have mercy on us; help our weakness with gentle strength. If [unclear] in our weak souls, because we are yours. Father, grant [unclear] to your needy sons; join us to yourself and deem us worthy to be with you.

Tenor supradicti occultus

The hidden tenor of the above.

Tonight after twelve I shall come to you at the door that leads to the garden; see that you wait for me, and let everything be ready.

Tertius modus^13

The third method is to use alternate words in such a way that the first is always empty of the secret meaning.

The third method of hidden writing arises from the preceding one, but in a different form. In it, the words that serve the secret are arranged alternately with empty words, and the order is observed in this way: in the first narrative the first word contributes nothing to the discovery of the secret, but is simply empty; then the second word belongs to the secret, and so, in sequence, one empty word together with the following one, which precedes another significant word. And this method, [conjectured: very safe], does not easily come under the art of deciphering; and we shall set down an example of this kind.

Exemplum tertii modi

Example of the third method.

We all die, since all of us [unclear] mortal guilt; the general night is born at once, and no one [unclear] asks: we all die, all of us are taken away shortly [unclear]. Original [unclear] in natural [unclear] is forgiven by baptism; daily penance must be performed. Before the death of the body there remains [unclear] by humility. While inwardly [unclear] we seek [unclear] by sinning [unclear] he loses, which by preserving virtuously [unclear] by divine impulse of all things, O light of heaven [unclear].

Tenor (German plaintext concealed by the cipher)

Lieber Betreuer/ Bringer dieses Brie[&]f[&] haf[&]etwas mischandelt/ist unser Befehl du wollest in gefänglich behalten off unser zukommen/ze.

Modern English: “Dear keeper/guardian: the bearer of this letter has done something wrongful. It is our order that you keep him in custody until our coming, etc.”

---

^1. Clavis Steganographiae: “Key of Steganography,” here the key or explanatory apparatus for Trithemius’s hidden-writing system. ^2. “Savior” is clear enough, but much of the surrounding devotional carrier text is damaged by OCR substitutions and lost letters. ^3. Jesus: named entity and theological invocation; the Latin carrier is prayer-like, but several clauses are syntactically broken. ^4. Cross: theological term; “crue nost[&]tiffima” is likely an OCR-damaged form involving crux/croce and “most holy,” but the exact Latin cannot be restored safely. ^5. Jesus Christ: named entity; “prififime” likely scans for piissime or clementissime, but only “most [merciful/pious]” is conjectural. ^6. Creator: theological title. The passage repeatedly uses devotional topoi as cover text for steganographic examples. ^7. Angels: theological/cosmological vocabulary; no specific planetary angels from the reference table appear in this chunk. ^8. Shipwreck: naufragium, a common moral/theological metaphor for spiritual peril. ^9. Almighty God: theological invocation; the following syntax is too damaged for a continuous translation. ^10. Tenor supradicti occultus: literally “the hidden tenor/content of the aforesaid”; this is the concealed plaintext, not the source from which the Latin cover should be translated. ^11. Secreti Latini: “Latin secret,” a technical steganographic label for an example of concealment using Latin-looking carrier prose. ^12. Mercy of God: theological vocabulary; the sentence is recoverable in outline, though individual OCR forms such as “meraeor[&]” and “mifericordiam” are damaged. ^13. Tertius modus: “third method,” a technical section heading. OCR scannos include “supradieti” for supradicti, “occelt(e)” for occulte, “diictiones” for dictiones, “fempervacet” for semper vacet, and many long-s/f confusions. “turififime” may be tutissime, but this is only a conjecture.

Clavis Steganographiae (Clavis triplex) — damage-preserving rendering, full_chunk_0089

Damage-preserving review rendering with tenor detection and footnoting. Damage class: heavy_damage_partial; OCR quality: 4/5.

Audit note — V1.0 normalized badly damaged cipher-cover prose into fluent theology, especially inventing sense for unrecoverable OCR strings and flattening the German tenors as ordinary translation source.

Clavis Steganographiae, Fourth and Fifth Modes

[conjectured: Clavis] Steganographiae^1

[unclear: refuge of exiles] for our good soldiers,^2 then we see [it/them] in sequence. Receiving indulgence through your death,^3 why do we wretched men not praise him humbly, our creator, who, by his own humility and by the [unclear: redemption/blood] of redemption, not [unclear: denying] good things, gives eternal life to us who deserve nothing? Behold, Jesus^4 dies on the [conjectured: gibbet/wood] of the cross.^5 What is to be done when it comes to the examination of reason, so that I should not promise to render the reward of [unclear: the only one/of the single], of the works committed, except that there all things are bare, and [unclear] some unnumbered passage, whose judgment is also dreadful? Therefore, while alive, perform saving penitence,^6 since from there a lifeless man can borrow nothing; therefore the crime will be wept for. Alms^7 take up the tears of the poor. Always be [unclear] toward God, and finally divine goodness surpasses the indulgence of crime. Therefore, while there is time, knock at mercy; knock by repenting. I, by the grace of the death of him who redeemed you, call upon [unclear: one] with wounded humility and supported by [unclear: obfuitiorum]. Amen. Johannes Trithemius.^8

Concealed Tenor of the Foregoing

See tenor_md.

Fourth Mode

The fourth mode^9 always, in the open narration,^10 at the first diction^11 that is free from the secret, immediately receives two [dictions] striking the hidden [message], and, once the word is complete, similarly adds one empty [diction]; that is, so that the first diction of the following word is empty of the secret meaning, just as we said must be observed also in the third mode.

This mode, however, is such, and, like the rest, can be changed in many and various ways into others. To speak of them one by one is in no way possible. Yet I set down this example concerning it, in which the labor will not be [conjectured: moderate] unless the quality of the mode itself has been carefully considered. In it there is always one empty diction, [and] the two following [dictions] have value. For two empty [dictions] are placed only at the end of a word of the mystery,^12 after it has likewise been completed by two, as follows.

Example of the Fourth

The Passion^13 of Jesus Christ made the human race live; the life of him innocently afflicted frees us from every calamity, because [unclear] humility [unclear]. [unclear: L. in Alpha- / they dwell] in necessity, but they will be [unclear: detained/drawn away] from virtue; there will be [unclear] of the customs of honorable men, [unclear: in the natural alphabet?] [unclear]. Let us speak the praise of Christ Jesus, who redeemed our souls. Let us give thanks to our most pious redeemer, who redeemed all who were subject to tyrannies; all have praised his blessed name. And let us do penitence for our excesses; daily [unclear: cremerus] [conjectured: let us live] virtuously in the love of the redeemer. Also, [unclear] fear of the world [unclear: confessed] injustices [unclear: us vainly]; let us amend our life with the devotion of one mourning, so that, converted from injustice, [we may obtain] the release of our deserved sins in charity and humility, [unclear: ingitier] [unclear: personavancis], not failing. Eph. Trib. Abb.^14

Secret Tenor of the Foregoing

See tenor_md.

Fifth Mode

The fifth mode^15 proceeds with the first [diction] empty, through two significant [dictions], and concludes each item with an alternating empty [diction].

Example of the Fifth

The fifth mode is not a little similar to the fourth: with the first [diction] empty, it proceeds, as is customary, through two significant dictions, enclosing each word of the secret with one empty [diction]. Without [unclear: equality], two significant dictions are always closed by one empty [diction]. If the matter is [unclear: unequal], the last significant [diction], standing alone, sometimes has two empty [dictions] around it. An example of this kind [unclear: follows].

Tenor (German plaintext concealed by the cipher)

Tenor supradicti occultus

Morgen umb 8. wil ich mit 400. Pferden bey die- sen für Creutenach off dem Feld ben dem Gericht/et.

Modern English: Tomorrow at 8, I intend to be with 400 horsemen near this [place], before Kreuznach, out in the field by the court/judgment-place, etc.

Tenor supradicti secretus

Ich wil noch Heint umb 11. an der Pforten kloppen/ ware mein/und las mich ein/uc, & sic de reliquis.

Modern English: I intend, still tonight at 11, to knock at the gate; if it is mine / if it is me, let me in, etc.; and so for the rest.

---

^1. Title OCR has Claus for Clavis; this is a light scanno, not a different Latin word. ^2. militatibus is likely an OCR corruption for militibus; the phrase remains syntactically damaged. ^3. Indulgentiam morte tua percipientes is devotional Christian cover-text language; the grammar is recoverable but abrupt. ^4. Jesus Christ is part of the pious cover narrative used for steganographic concealment, not necessarily the plaintext message. ^5. balaclavae crucis is not intelligible Latin here; likely OCR has mangled a word for the wood/gibbet of the cross, but the exact source form is not recoverable. ^6. pientiam is very likely poenitentiam; OCR loss affects the opening syllable. ^7. Eleemosynae panperum likely contains pauperum; the sense is almsgiving and the poor. ^8. Johannes Trithemius, Benedictine abbot of Sponheim and author/compiler associated with the Steganographia tradition. ^9. modus is a technical steganographic procedure: a rule for placing meaningful and null words/dictions in the cover text. ^10. aperta narratio is the overt cover narration visible to a reader who does not know the cipher. ^11. dictio here is a technical unit, roughly a word/token used in the counting pattern of the cipher; translating it simply as “word” can blur the procedure. ^12. mysterium means the concealed message or secret content in the cipher, not a theological mystery in this procedural passage. ^13. Paffio is long-s/letter OCR for Passio, the Passion of Christ. ^14. Eph.Trib. Abb. is damaged/abbreviated; possibly a distorted signature or office, but not safely expandable. ^15. The fifth mode is another null-word/significant-word counting rule; the OCR damage mostly affects the explanatory prose rather than the basic pattern.

Clavis Steganographiae (Clavis triplex) — damage-preserving rendering, full_chunk_0090

Damage-preserving review rendering with tenor detection and footnoting. Damage class: heavy_damage_partial; OCR quality: 3/5.

Audit note — It smoothed damaged cipher-cover Latin into coherent prose and missed that the German tenors are plaintext notices with uncertain OCR words, not ordinary Latin-derived translation.

Clavis Steganographiae, Modus Sextus-Septimus

Clavis Steganographiae

[It] dissolves vanity. Flee the vanity of the world, since it is very brief. A lover [unclear] of Christ^2 our [conjectured: most merciful] Savior. Cultivate virtues, with living faith; in the urgent [unclear: cause] and in the charity of the household, put trust in humility. The love of our [unclear: loving saviors], whose love is the perpetual life of those who love. Despise joys that will pass away suddenly; love the future, eternal blessedness promised to us. The cause [unclear] of envy is always an enemy/friend; its poison [unclear], but humility [unclear]. Even watchful, as [unclear: the household] proves, the enemy [unclear] not primacy, since he is always watching; his zeal is [unclear] and violently hostile.

May God, loving [unclear], always remain. The love of the age is quickly consumed; this, [unclear: lau], and all other things are ended [conjectured: suddenly]. The bad [unclear: Relius] is the way of damnation. A man timid through pride suffers the true matter of mortals [unclear: to break out]; wretched and unhappy, he will never be freed. The proud man will burn without interruption for [conjectured: all sins], and will never make/attain glory without [unclear: eternal sight]; with demons^8 [unclear: outside/presiding], he is tortured, never to be freed. Woe, [unclear: to us]: the proud man, damned to eternal punishment, [unclear] darkness and horror. O vanity of vanities, how [unclear] eternally [unclear: they are read], failing, because it clouds reason.

Johannes [OCR: Tuthemius, for Trithemius]^6.

Tenor Label and Modus Sextus

The hidden tenor of the aforesaid: see tenor_md.

The sixth method^3, after two vacant items^4, always takes paired signifying items^4, whether they are words or are not.

The [conjectured: sixth] method is this: with the first two items vacant, for the appearance/suspicion of truth, two segments in sequence signify [unclear: serially], and the following item, through divisions of equal syllables, completes the hidden word^5. And so the word is customarily closed by paired cuts [OCR: scisit], or is reduced, until equality [unclear: coincides]; the narration, by two or more mysteries^5, [unclear]. The vacant items [unclear: end some gentle word]; presently what follows from the cuts begins the sense. And now let us offer an example for these mysteries.

Sixth example. Summary.

Page 209: Summa

Of Johannes Trithemius^6, abbot of Sponheim^7.

The highest [unclear: H. G.] [unclear: will ever/not ever die]. Virtue, and [the mind] purely loving God, [is] to seek his glory in all things and to despise worldly things. For humility will reign in heaven; pure innocence will be exalted; a sincere mind will be illuminated with light; [unclear: the devout forem] will be rewarded, and by [unclear] of others the divine [unclear] will be confirmed. The love of God works great things, [unclear] future goods, faithfully constrains life and refines it with virtues. Christ^2 said in the Gospel^9 that we should not occupy ourselves with excessive human cares; the Apostle^9 says [unclear], nor [unclear: let us serve/stand], but let us be content.

Therefore let us have the love of God and zeal for souls, by which eternal life [unclear: kindled, supported] after the terrible departure of the soul may at last be earned for us through humble conduct, amendment, and preparation for death. Let us be found in good works, lest virtue [unclear]. Let us live innocently in every [unclear: religion/condition], [unclear: Christian blood/death]. Then let us love God above all things [unclear], and with humility [unclear] him into ourselves through his holy commandments. [Conjectured: He gives all good things generously to those who hope in him.] Let [unclear] fail: the varied [unclear] of the false world, disasters of honor, and all things corrupting our purpose.

To obey the commandments of life, to do injury to no one, to fear God, to give alms, to [unclear: govern holy things / live holily], to favor the good, to rebuke the vices of the wicked, to devote oneself to prayers, to despise the glory of the world, to pardon penitents: these are [conjectured: the duties] of Christians. For the glory of the world is vain, sudden, and false; dismiss it also, since we leave these things very soon unwillingly ([unclear: sia innocentia et]). Mortal blessedness [unclear] becomes our glory in us, and possession of divine things will remain with us for all time; elevation toward God must never be interrupted.

Ioan. Tritb.^6

Tenor Label and Modus Septimus

The hidden tenor of the aforesaid: see tenor_md.

The seventh method^3 encloses the mystic word^5 by twos and twos, variously according to the number of these syllables.

The [conjectured: seventh] method begins [unclear] from two varying items, and each secret word^5 [unclear: aequilibat m] by two sign-marks^4: by one, indeed, signifying [something] of equal syllables, and ending the other as obscure. This method, like the others, can be varied in many and [unclear] ways according to each person’s ingenuity, when chosen for concealing his secret. But for this method too let us set down an example next.

Tenor (German plaintext concealed by the cipher)

First German Tenor

Auffrichts Freitag zu Nacht umb Eins/ voll ich an dem Graben sein/ und wenn es zeit ist das Schloss zu stürmen, so singend den Westerweller/te.

Modern English: On [unclear: Auffrichts, perhaps next/upright] Friday night at one o’clock I will be at the ditch or moat^10, and when it is time to storm the castle^10, then sing the Westerweller^11, etc.

Second German Tenor

Sndigber Her. Es sey dann das ifr zu 11. noch seynd in Spanheim seyd. Wird das Schloß durch die von Württenberg mit verrätheren einge- nommen werden.

Modern English: [Unclear: Sndigber Her, perhaps Gracious Lord.] Unless you are still at Sponheim^7 on the 11th, the castle will be taken by those of Württemberg^12 with traitors or by betrayal.

---

^1. Clavis Steganographiae means a key to the Steganographia, here a rule-section rather than the main treatise. ^2. Christ/Savior: theological vocabulary; elementifimus is probably an OCR scanno for clementissimus, but the syntax is too damaged to restore silently. ^3. Modus: a technical rule or procedure for extracting concealed text from the cover prose. ^4. Vacantes and significantes: cipher terms for non-signifying filler units and meaningful extraction units; here OCR also damages segmenta, signaturas, and cutting terminology. ^5. Verbum occultum, verbum mysticum, and mysterium: Trithemian terms for the concealed plaintext, not mystical doctrine in this immediate context. ^6. Johannes Trithemius: OCR variants here include Tuthemius, Trithemij, and Tritb.; all point to Johannes Trithemius. ^7. Sponheim/Spanheim: Trithemius’s abbey; the German tenor preserves the early spelling Spanheim. ^8. Demons: theological vocabulary in the pious cover text; no specific demonological system is recoverable from this damaged line. ^9. Gospel/Apostle: scriptural authorities are invoked, but the quotations are OCR-damaged and cannot be securely identified from this text alone. ^10. Graben/Schloss/stürmen: military-siege vocabulary in the German tenor; Graben can mean ditch or castle moat. ^11. Westerweller: likely a song, tune, or watchword in the German tenor; left untranslated because the referent is not secure from this passage. ^12. Württenberg: early-modern spelling for Württemberg; the line describes capture of the castle by Württemberg forces with traitors or betrayal.

Clavis Steganographiae (Clavis triplex) — damage-preserving rendering, full_chunk_0091

Damage-preserving review rendering with tenor detection and footnoting. Damage class: heavy_damage_partial; OCR quality: 3/5.

Audit note — The v1.0 repeatedly regularized broken OCR into fluent devotional Latin, especially in Mode Eight’s rule paragraph, hiding major unrecoverable syntax and uncertain cipher terms.

Clavis Steganographiae, Clavis generalis triplex: Examples Seven and Eight

Example Seven

[Conjectured: O Christ Jesus.]^1 Unfailing light,^2 blessedness of all [unclear], and creator by force and virtue, and ruler: have mercy on us. We, inwardly groaning and [unclear], beg your mercy. Grant us strength against the [conjectured: temptations] of the Devil,^3 and [conjectured: that from the labors of this vale] we may deserve rest. O sweetest [conjectured: Savior],^4 I pray: [conjectured: fill] your humble and useless servants; be merciful, since we long for your [conjectured: fellowship]. Make us have a more intense love, burning continually in us; give us a strong bond of brotherly charity.^5

Jesus, King of the heavens,^6 almighty, make us truly humble, lest we be condemned; [unclear] condemner of things, always burning with the love sought from you, [unclear] goods, let us not nourish temporal uncleanness in ourselves. O teacher of humility, most gentle Jesus, teach us to imitate your [unclear]. For we are [unclear]. Save us, Lord, lest [conjectured: we sin].

O highest truth, life-giving one, sweet refuge of souls, and be for us also a tower of strength.^7 For you are the strongest power, our protection; you are the life and refreshment of my soul and mind, and your [unclear] ineffable joy of the angels and of all the faithful of the kingdom. You make glad those who love you. You are the inextinguishable [unclear] of the heavenly ones. You are the life-giver of the dead, the most merciful sustainer of the frail. You, sweetest life, help us, your frail servants, so that we may walk on the way of truth without stumbling and may deserve [unclear].

O most loving Lord Jesus, soften my hardest exile. And when the end of my life begins to draw near, [unclear] mercifully and worthily for us; and then, when [unclear], seeing the face of your power and the magnificence of your [conjectured: mild] strength, the intentores of evils^8 will flee, crying out. And at once they will be exterminated, since [unclear]. We ask, by the power of your most noble death, sweetest one, that you not fail your servants on that excellent day, but that you, Lord Jesus, [unclear] each of us by your blood, and redeem and cleanse us; and, [conjectured: absolved] from all [unclear], mercifully grant us, as we await them, the heavenly joys of the exalted fatherland.^9 Amen.

Hidden Tenor of the Above

See tenor_md; the German is the plaintext concealed by the preceding devotional cover text.^10

Johannes Trithemius, Abbot of Sponheim

Mode Eight

The eighth mode proceeds alternately by three empty words and the same number of significant words.^11

The true method of the text is by [unclear: two?] [unclear], namely: each individual mystic word, if it has equal syllables, contains its meaning in the open narrative, so that, after three empty places have occurred continuously, the next significant word begins not from [unclear: us?], but from the third. If the secret word has unequal syllables, [unclear: words/syllables] are received into its company until the syllable before the period has finally, in some manner, become equal.^12

Example Eight

Almighty, eternal God, most kindly rewarder of equity, who wished your Son to be a participant in our race, and [unclear] to redeem those placed in most miserable perdition, [unclear] our form, [conjectured: uncorrupted], from the flower of the virginal womb, made human by the holy archangel Gabriel;^13 and the Virgin, conceived by the most blessed Spirit, remains a virgin forever, fortified against guilt, more eminent than human beings and angels.

The most holy and most reverend Virgin Mary,^14 wholly ignorant of union with a man, bore without pain the king of every race, almighty God and man; always [unclear], most high, immaculate [unclear]. The holy virgin mother of Jesus Christ,^15 created by God’s power, known to all by humility, higher than human beings, full of charity, existing as most worthy of all praise, always remains a virgin, most blessed among angels. Her Son then, in all things in which he is able, admits her by most [unclear: royal] condescension; and all venerate her as a most reverend mother, more excellent than all creatures. He has never been accustomed to deny her anything when she asks; rather, at once, with deeds joined to her will, he grants everything.

To this advocate of the poor, [unclear] by merit, to the most noble Virgin Mary, with her distinguished merits, we who venerate her pray, Lord Emperor of the universe, that he may pour into us the light of truth, wash away the stains of crimes, truly bestow grace, especially at the time when it must be sought, grant to us who beseech him the overcoming of infernal temptations and [unclear], clothe us with his love, [unclear: charity ...]

Tenor (German plaintext concealed by the cipher)

Lieber Getrewer dein Geschaffen haben wir verstanden/ Heynd umb 9. wart unser gar stille/ auß das wir dem Feind fürkommen/ und sie niderlegen.

Modern English: Dear faithful one, we have understood your message. Today at 9, wait for us in complete silence, so that we may get ahead of the enemy and lay them low.

---

^1. I.C is likely an abbreviation or initial rubric for Jesus Christ, but the OCR gives only letters; reconstruction is cautious. ^2. indificient is an OCR scanno for Latin indeficiens, “unfailing.” ^3. Diaboli is the Devil; temationa is read as damaged tentationes or equivalent “temptations.” ^4. falsator is almost certainly an OCR scanno for Salvator, “Savior,” with long-s/f confusion and positional letter loss. ^5. charinam is read as damaged charitatem; “brotherly charity” is theological vocabulary, not merely affection. ^6. calorum is OCR for caelorum, “of the heavens.” ^7. “Tower of strength” corresponds to devotional Latin around turris fortitudinis; the OCR has turric forritidini. ^8. intentores is left partly literal because the printed/OCR form is uncertain; it may mean hostile “assailants/tempters,” but this is not secure. ^9. “Exalted fatherland” renders devotional excelsa patria, the heavenly homeland; nearby syntax is damaged. ^10. The German tenor is plaintext concealed by the Latin cover text, not a translation of it. ^11. vacantes are null or empty words in the steganographic method; significativae dictiones are words that carry the hidden message. ^12. This procedural paragraph is damaged at several key terms: per dvs, fine fine, ab obis, and the clause on unequal syllables are not securely recoverable. ^13. Gabriel is the archangel of the Annunciation; the OCR phrase Gabriele inhumanu reflects a damaged form of “made human/incarnate.” ^14. Mary is treated here in standard late-medieval Marian devotional language: virginity, purity, intercession, and eminence over creatures. ^15. Jesus Christ: the sentence blends Christological and Marian praise, but OCR damage disrupts several predicates.

Clavis Steganographiae (Clavis triplex) — damage-preserving rendering, full_chunk_0092

Damage-preserving review rendering with tenor detection and footnoting. Damage class: heavy_damage_partial; OCR quality: 3/5.

Audit note — v1 turns badly damaged carrier prose and cipher instructions into fluent sense, silently deciding many unrecoverable cruxes instead of marking them as [unclear].

Clavis Steganographiae: Ninth and Tenth Modes

Clavis Steganographiae

[conjectured: Justice], obedience, temperance, kindness, humility, abstinence, [unclear], and the virtues [unclear: of all / all virtues]; let the exercise be marked with tears [unclear], and do not languish wretchedly in heart. Amen.

Hidden Tenor of the Foregoing

See tenor_md.

Ninth Mode

The ninth mode^1 begins with three vacant elements^2 and proceeds individually by the same number of significant elements^3, in alternating turns.

The ninth mode begins with three vacant elements, as the eighth does, and by the same number of significant elements, alternating, it runs through and concludes each mystical word^4 before the period. Indeed it has this: that is, three and three [unclear] are concluded through the same number of eights; but they are to be restored thus, two by two, and thus one by one, if each is ended by a vacant letter. In this, as follows, the mystical diction is always begun with three vacant elements. On this matter take the joined example [unclear: of the bridegroom?].

Ninth Example

Greeting and affection, most beloved and singular friend. Euerhardus Rubicembe,^5 bearer of the present letter, a very good man [unclear] toward our friends by benefit and glorious, whom I ask you to receive humanely, so that [unclear] he may set out his necessities; because, when in my old former necessity I failed and groaned [unclear], I desire, as far as my strength allows, to be willing and able [unclear] consolation of calamity and [unclear] to wash away. But since, as is clearer than light to you, with [unclear: grievous?] losses [unclear] night [unclear], weighed down by various debt, I have trusted greatly in his piety alone, which holds friendship and bond, so that you may show yourself humane to a friend [unclear: with children / freely], just as he, [unclear: always among the confounded], has made himself a helper of friends in equity. Therefore I ask [unclear] that you lend to him under a fixed term [unclear: flowing/florins?], since continuity is greatest in necessity, as he will quite teach. I confess, since all things [unclear] with cheerful integrity; but if anything has at last been moved by you [unclear]. But if you have [unclear] thanks, render immortal ones, so that sincere love in necessity [unclear] refusal may not prove [it]. Whatever you do for him, I would wish it to be counted as done for me, and I shall see to it that immortal thanks are given to you. But this friend Euerhardus [unclear: refused?], namely [unclear: a loan?].

[page break]

Johannes Trithemius,^6 Abbot of Sponheim.^7

Namely, [unclear: mutual-loan]. I shall pay [unclear] the promises in stable firmness; he announces that he will hold and not deceive. Besides, since he rejoices to hear new rumors, I shall tell you sad things. [unclear: Camem] the contrary, who is called [unclear: Eius], of upright intimates, such learning, no doctrine, [unclear], skilled in memory of things, seems to exult among us by blessed [unclear: force/life]; he brings in the lord, understands grace and the last words in ninths, humbly seeks pardon for the fault, and what he does late, let him report to me. He has faithfully carried out things committed by gestures; no one rashly discloses secrets, which are imposed on him and entrusted to the bearer [unclear], and [unclear]. He shows himself zealous, a defender of [unclear], [unclear] in games vigorously; he does something marvelous, incredible to those who do not know. Farewell.

Hidden Tenor of the Foregoing

See tenor_md.

Tenth Mode

The tenth mode^8, beginning with four vacant elements, proceeds [unclear] and is ended by a significant and an idle element.^9

The tenth mode begins with four idle elements and proceeds in order through the same number of significant elements, toward the end with three idle ones, so that, namely, when the mystical word is ended in a vowel, the following [unclear] is the third significant element. But if it ends in a significant element, judge [unclear] from four idle ones; if, however, fewer letters [remain] than the four that remain around the end, it will be possible for it to be concluded with idle elements, if it is left in an evident number [unclear]. Let us set down an example.

Example of the Tenth

S[alutation?] D[omino?]. Since [unclear] vices adorn goodness [unclear], and we teach that nothing shameful happens to human beings through ignorance. The vanity of the world always nobly and excellently opposes talent, since it harasses the understanding of noble people with filth, clouds the mind, scatters memory, throws [it] into confusion, drives out discipline, weakens the body, softens the soul, and, from religion, piety, and the high citadel [unclear], makes a woodland creature out of a human being; it consumes all time vainly, [unclear] seeks leaves, transgresses every [unclear: use/custom] of Catholic instruction^10 by perishing, does not revere God,^11 despises human beings, is ungrateful for benefits, is troubled by bad conscience, rejects eternal joys, venerates human glory [unclear], makes the useful [unclear], and tramples all its own things with the filth of foulness [unclear]. [text breaks off: defuit-]

Tenor (German plaintext concealed by the cipher)

Bringer dieses Briefs / gibt sich grosser Kunst aus / ich halte aber nicht viel davon / versucht ihn wol / getrauen nicht. Joh. Trich.

Modern English: The bearer of this letter presents himself as a man of great art/skill; but I do not think much of it. Test him well; do not trust him. Joh. Trich.

Dieser beget von dir N. Gulden zu entlehnen / ist mein Rath / gehe sein müssig / er ist gar verdorben / und mag nichte bezahlen.

Modern English: This man asks to borrow N gulden from you; my advice is, leave him alone. He is utterly ruined and cannot pay anything.

---

^1. modus: a numbered procedure in Trithemius's steganographic system, not merely a literary “mode.” ^2. vacantes: literally “vacant” or “empty” elements; in this cipher context, carrier letters/words not carrying the hidden message. OCR and syntax do not always show whether letters or words are meant. ^3. significantes: “significant” elements, the units that carry the concealed text. ^4. verba mystica / mystica dictio: cipher-bearing or hidden-message wording, not mystical theology in the narrow devotional sense. ^5. Euerhardus Rubicembe: named bearer in the example letter. The surname may be OCR-damaged or artificial; I have not normalized it silently. ^6. Johannes Trithemius: Benedictine abbot and author associated with the Steganographia tradition. ^7. Abb. Spanh.: abbreviation for Abbot of Sponheim; the print header is not part of the example letter proper. ^8. Decimus modus: the tenth steganographic procedure; the surrounding explanation is heavily OCR-damaged. ^9. ociosus / ocio: “idle” elements, apparently equivalent or closely related to vacantes; OCR spacing corrupts ociosis in several places. ^10. catholica institutionis: probably “Catholic instruction/institution,” though the surrounding syntax is damaged. ^11. Deum: theological vocabulary; here part of moralizing carrier prose in the tenth example. ^12. OCR scannos include fitiam probably for iustitiam, supradieti for supradicti, diurrent for a form like diruunt/decurrent, reftinus for an unclear word, and many c/f/s/t confusions. Several remaining cruxes are not mere scannos but unrecoverable local syntax.

Clavis Steganographiae (Clavis triplex) — damage-preserving rendering, full_chunk_0093

Damage-preserving review rendering with tenor detection and footnoting. Damage class: heavy_damage_partial; OCR quality: 3/5.

Audit note — It converted heavily garbled cover text into a smooth sermon, silently normalizing damaged Latin and obscuring that the German tenors are the actual plaintext messages.

Clavis Steganographiae

Damaged Prefatory Passage

[He] gives no thought to future things; [unclear] eternal goods, he greedily loves temporal things alone.^1

But you, truly the best of friends,^2 [unclear: us/in us] in passing concerns while [something] is coming into being; rather, exult [that] the capacity of reason in you [unclear] declares [unclear] for your instruction, and by contempt has made your inmost [self] [unclear]. Your intellect, adorned with letters,^3 is ennobled, which nature has given; and what it shows by outward possession, you truly display by imitating it with a humble heart. For no grace has existed [unclear]; a good thing brought forth from a false heart cannot, according to the philosophers,^4 be called good.

Eleventh Mode

The eleventh mode^5 runs alternately through four, and concludes the word among signifying [words] and vacant [words].^6

The eleventh mode always begins with four vacant [words], and, proceeding alternately through just as many signifying [words], ends in pairs in the last eight signifying [words]. For in calculating everything they take their beginning from four eights; and whatever [number of] signifying letters remains beyond four, that many vacant [words], up to nine, must be added at the end. An example is set out for this.

Example Of The Eleventh Mode

S. D.^7 I send you the speech which I composed at the wedding of that same friend of mine:

O God, creator of all things,^8 best redeemer and savior of the human race, [unclear] he himself perishes by prayer, and preserved even the [unclear: bond/pledge] of weddings. For we read that he commanded marriage even to the first human being and said, [conjectured: Increase and multiply].^9 He declares the law for the preservation of humanity, and in the Gospel^10 a wedding is [unclear: pointed out / honored]; miracles were performed by God for those deserving well. Those who search have found [this]; but he grants more to [unclear: lords/masters] who are attached to their zeal for humanity. Therefore, since blessed marriage is commended to us by examples and by the Savior's command, and sometimes by miracle, I, with words, shall praise the religious institution in honor of weddings.

For you, then, [unclear] marriage is owed to human beings, and the great marriage of mature persons [unclear].

[Page break]

The human race, of which [unclear] author [unclear]; for [unclear] of weddings existed, [unclear] married, and our race would have perished with no [unclear]. Therefore act, you who have been joined in marriage, venerably, with upright customs, notable examples, concord, and peace. First, worship the Lord; avoid insult; always, always give [unclear] alms; live virtuously; seek justice; love beneficence; always speak the praises of God; give alms from what is yours. Obey God's commandments; strive to preserve truth; honor God's ministers; pay tithes to the churches; receive pilgrims as guests; free the innocent; feed the hungry; obey your elders; love your neighbors honorably; intend injury to no one; worship the Christian religion^11 most devoutly; do not follow errors found out in any way. Keep the doctrine of the Gospel, and [unclear] according to God's precepts. Reject the pleasures of the flesh; show yourselves in benefits and kindnesses; preserve purity of heart. Love nothing [unclear]. Remember also that in the Holy Gospel C. T. [unclear] commanded, saying: whoever [unclear] a wanton life of beggary of the soul, in praise of the body before God [unclear].

But each person ought always to nourish the heart with honorable blessing and prayer, because the mind is purified by prayers, and prayer brings a very powerful remedy for temptations. Therefore the holy Apostle^12 tells you that you ought always to be intent on satisfactions, lest you fail through some temptation. I join you in matrimony, so that, by [God] granting it, he may preserve the offspring of your race; not so that you may [unclear] in most wanton pleasure, [but that] you may [unclear] the noble dignity that is to come. Keep in memory that you are travelers journeying to the fatherland to which you have been called; for this life is brief and quickly ends. Therefore live in marriage in such a way that it may not happen that you are finally excluded from the kingdom of God. Farewell.

Twelfth Mode Begins

The twelfth mode begins its narrative with five vacant [words], and through just as many signifying [words] [continues; text breaks off].

Tenor (German plaintext concealed by the cipher)

Heundumb Eins ist der Pastor von Kirchberg ge- storben/nit cys so sehr mit dem hingeben. Ioh. Tr.

Modern English: [conjectured sense] Today around one o'clock the pastor of Kirchberg died; do not grieve so much over his passing. Joh. Tr. The words “Heundumb” and “nit cys” are OCR-damaged and not normalized silently.

Ein großen heymlichen Schatz haben wir in der Erden funden/ komme bald und hiff ihn uns rauf hes- ben/ feyn wol 100000. Gulden.

Modern English: We have found a great hidden treasure in the earth; come quickly and help us lift it out; it may well be 100,000 gulden. “hiff” is read as [conjectured: hilf] and “rauf hesben” as [conjectured: herausheben / lift out], but the damaged spelling is preserved above.

---

^1. The opening sentence is syntactically recoverable only in outline; “nundatue” is likely an OCR scanno, but I have not supplied invented Latin. ^2. “amicorum optimi” is a direct address, “best of friends,” though the surrounding syntax is damaged. ^3. “literis” can mean letters, learning, or literature; here probably learned letters in a humanist compliment. ^4. “philosophorum” is clear, but the maxim is garbled; the translation preserves only the visible sense. ^5. “modus” is Trithemius’s technical term for a cipher procedure or steganographic method. ^6. “significantibus” and “vacua/vacantibus” are cipher terms: meaningful carrier units versus nulls inserted into the cover text. ^7. “S. D.” likely abbreviates a salutation such as “salutem dicit,” but the expansion is not printed here. ^8. The oration is cover text for the cipher, not necessarily a coherent sermon; much of its Latin is intentionally padded and/or OCR-damaged. ^9. The printed OCR “Christi et muliebcamini” is a severe scanno for the Genesis wording “crescite et multiplicamini”; reconstruction is defensible from context but marked as conjectural. ^10. The Gospel wedding is presumably Cana, but the damaged Latin does not name it. ^11. “religionem Christianam” is clear and theological rather than cipher-specific vocabulary. ^12. “S. Apostolus” is clear, but the alluded Pauline text is not securely identifiable from the damaged wording.

Clavis Steganographiae (Clavis triplex) — damage-preserving rendering, full_chunk_0094

Damage-preserving review rendering with tenor detection and footnoting. Damage class: heavy_damage_partial; OCR quality: 3/5.

Audit note — v1.0 smoothed long OCR-corrupt stretches into fluent humanist prose, especially Example XIII, and treated conjectural restorations as secure Latin rather than marking damage.

Clavis Steganographiae — Examples XII–XIII and Opening of Mode XIV

Carryover From The Twelfth Mode

[unclear: It joins the vacant words]^1, proceeding alternately, just as in the tenth [mode]^2 we demonstrated that it must be done by fours. Let us also devise the following example of this mode.

Example XII

S.D.^3 I had lent you my [conjectured: codex] on the deeds of the Lombards,^4 and the volume of Bede^5 On Times,^6 [unclear]. For it is fitting for a wise man to be [conjectured: firm] in those things which he has promised; [unclear] throws back the stronger [unclear: favors / benefactors]. And the injustice of transactions is twofold, namely indignity and ingratitude. Let not ingratitude [unclear] you: the man who promised faith but did not keep the promised faith [unclear] very gravely [unclear]. Our Gratian^7 accuses you, because he [unclear], when he ought so often to have restored to us the borrowed thing that had been sent out, nevertheless despised the obligation to keep the promised faith. Farewell.

Hidden Tenor Of The Above

See tenor_md.

Thirteenth Mode

It begins its narration with five vacant words,^1 and knows how to find the mystic word^8 by the same number of significant words.^9 If [unclear: it has been concluded] with the eleventh in the book [unclear], moreover if there have been fewer than five letters of the mystery, or if any remain after five, they are to be concluded by as many vacant words as the number of significant words which immediately preceded. But the mystic word, whatever number of significant words it has had, nevertheless [begins] from five vacant ones. I shall also devise the following example of this mode.

Example XIII

S.D.^3 The greatest wandering-away of nobles and philosophers, ignorance, becomes the disgrace and cause of all evils. For what, I ask, [is more fitting] than that those who serve as soldiers^10 should be adorned with letters and virtues? This Pliny,^11 this the other most noble men [unclear: are said / are found] [to have done]: they attacked the barbarians not only with arms but also with learning, as their deeds report, and did not allow their memory to be despised by posterity. Yet, stirred by their famous example, they cultivated humane letters^12 and the good arts,^13 and did not cease from arms [unclear] with zeal. Thus all the ancient princes most wisely [conjectured: understood] the work: not to shut treasures away for keeping, but to call beneficent letters into use, since they judged the benefit of letters for those tending toward easier things [unclear]; for by letters the commonwealth^14 is made immortal.

Indeed, a brave man instructed by knowledge of writings has achieved many things. But ignorance is called [unclear] of human beings; to the disgrace and calamity of men it makes them like hostile beasts. True nobility, however, has been accustomed to make the mind splendid with learning and virtues. The end of letters is infinite [though] finite [unclear]; it obtains glory and happiness for our minds and shows immortality to earth-born people [unclear: in the case of law / in heaven]. Add that love of writing, since it extinguishes the harmful fires of the flesh and of the spirit, [unclear: and] that knowledge of the ancients, that philosophy, gives us excellent memory of name and immortality among all posterity, to be venerated always by human beings.

The study of philosophy also renders its lovers more glorious and splendid: it gives tranquility to the just; with the vices of the passions of the soul made manifest, it makes them notable despisers of luxury and baseness; it brings them into easy fellowship with God, trained in the household of honor, exemplary in honesty, a rule of virtue, shining sweetly in the contemplation of heavenly things [unclear]. They consequently obtain honor before Christ God^15 by distinguished illumination, and veneration among human beings. Imitate these things; devote yourself to letters, and confirm the happiness of life by works left behind. Farewell. Written by Johannes Trithemius,^16 Abbot.^17

Hidden Tenor Of The Above

See tenor_md.

Mode XIV

Mode XIV: between two vacant words it encloses any mystic word by its significant words.

Mode 14 always takes its beginning from a vacant word, and, proceeding threefold through the order of significations, concludes at the end the word that is to be hidden. Moreover, the preceding thirteen modes can not only be varied but also amplified by students in this art,^18 and in such a way that, beginning from various numbers, [and] ending one demonstration [unclear], they may ascend up to whatever number they wish by sevens, eights, nines, tens, or more, alternately, however they wish.

Example [follows].

Tenor (German plaintext concealed by the cipher)

Glaube diesem Botten nicht er leuge gerne.

Modern English: Do not trust this messenger; he is fond of lying.

Die von Nurnberg haben Rundfchaffer auf dich aufgesandt/in mancher gestalt/sich dich vor/te.

Modern English: The men of Nuremberg have sent scouts/agents against you in various guises; beware of them. The final vor/te is damaged, probably pointing to hüte dich vor ... or a related warning formula.

---

^1. vacantes: technical term in Trithemius’s steganographic system for “vacant” or null words. The opening cates is likely the tail of OCR-damaged vacantes. ^2. decimo: the tenth mode of the cipher procedure, not Book X. ^3. S.D.: epistolary abbreviation, probably Salutem dicit or equivalent greeting formula. ^4. gesli Longbardorum: OCR scanno for gestis Longobardorum, “deeds/history of the Lombards.” ^5. Bida: OCR form for Bede / Beda, the Northumbrian scholar. ^6. de temporibus: likely Bede’s chronological work De temporibus or related computistical material. ^7. Graciam: probably Gratianus; the exact referent is uncertain in this damaged sentence. Do not treat as “grace.” ^8. verbum mysticum: technical term for the concealed word of the cipher. ^9. significatius / significante: OCR-damaged forms of significativis / significantibus, the words that carry cipher value. ^10. militant: may mean soldiers literally, or men engaged in service; context favors military vocabulary. ^11. Pliniu: Pliny; the damaged syntax prevents certainty whether Pliny is example, authority, or object of praise. ^12. literas humanitaria: OCR-damaged litteras humaniores or similar, “humane letters.” ^13. aricque bona: likely artesque bonas, “and the good arts.” ^14. Respub.: abbreviation for Respublica, the commonwealth/state. ^15. Deo chri: probably Deo Christo; OCR loss prevents deciding whether “God Christ” or “Christ God” was printed. ^16. Ioh. Trith.: Johannes Trithemius, Benedictine abbot and author of the Steganographia tradition. ^17. Abb. Spanh. in the header: Abbot of Sponheim; the subscription has only Abb.. ^18. hac arte: the “art” is the steganographic/cipher art being taught, not fine art.

Clavis Steganographiae (Clavis triplex) — damage-preserving rendering, full_chunk_0096

Damage-preserving review rendering with tenor detection and footnoting. Damage class: heavy_damage_partial; OCR quality: 2/5.

Audit note — It normalized badly damaged cover text into fluent sentences and treated several OCR-corrupt cipher instructions/names as stable Latin, especially in Example XIX.

Style C Translation: Clavis Steganographiae, Modus XVII-XIX Fragment

Clavis Steganographiae^1

[unclear] beats/strikes and is [unclear]ed into iniquity. Demons^2 will be, and always are, disturbed by jealousies; and [unclear] spoke truth, [unclear] assault, and they were gnawing back. It summons [conjectured: truth] never against [unclear], nor will they reject [unclear]; but [unclear] entreats; the greatest are punished with torments, always in oblivion; in hell^3 there is no redemption. [unclear: Fedelis potus lucis et suetabilis genetici]. The spirit must never be extinguished. There is darkness, and [unclear] not always fear, and a heavy [unclear: arama], freezing cold; there will be no step/degree, for one will always lack the good forever; in [unclear] he would endure either cold or [unclear: Relamque] blameworthy. Those whose brief carnal pleasure, for delight, [unclear] me with the greatest [unclear]; but our false [unclear] remains inborn. Farewell.

Hidden Tenor of the Foregoing^4

[German plaintext; see tenor_md.]

And so concerning the rest, as much as one has pleased.

Method XVII^5

It imitates the first method word by word, always with the letters in the preceding [unclear: place/mode].

The seventeenth method begins, as in the first cases, with the first letters of individual words, but arranges the letters of the cipher-alphabet^6. Thus, for a let him take b; for b, let him take c; and consequently, if you wish, to the end of the alphabet: for z, let him take A. And when you wish to write in such a way, consider mentally the alphabet set out in its [conjectured: ordered] sequence.

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z [conjectured: a]

For A, let the immediately following letter b be taken; for B, C; for C, D; and so consequently, as is clear in the example.

Example XVII

The Catholic^7 faith [unclear: Aiefas] sings, and the stronger faith has served holy men; [unclear] everlasting life, with Christ^8 favoring, [unclear] granting glorious, omnipotent life of Christ to future people; no one will have blessed life as [unclear: praenorum] of works. A faithful man follows Christ by holding virtue; by good works he has declared the intention, and the name of the Catholic [faith].

[From page 221, headed “Johannes Trithemius, Abbot of Spanheim”^9]

He is adorned with Christian faith. For the present man [unclear] of faith clouds over; the Christian [unclear: urpitidine] hates, loves, and [unclear] the Christian affection, Catholics holding the virtue of work.

Hidden Tenor of the Foregoing

[German plaintext; see tenor_md.]

And so concerning the rest. This is the secret intention.

Method XIX^10

Transposed in the letters as the preceding one; it uses alternate significant [letters/words] after the manner of the second.

Method 18, mentioned above, and/or any other transposition of letters, as [unclear] after the manner of the second, [uses] alternate significant [words]; but it is also varied by idle matter, namely so that, in the narrative, the first letter of each significant word is not transposed, and what is idle does nothing for the secret narrative.

Example XIX

If, dearest brother, you have asked whether I had Fanthinus^11 on the Spirits^12: alas, long ago a friend of great learning had the book in [unclear: quarta C-dicem]. I think that, through my kindness, he became [unclear] when received in my lodging like a thief. The codex was handsome and therefore pleasing to thieves, most elegantly written, well bound, arrogant with a false heart; but it is [unclear] that it passed away while a Catholic was stealing it. I complain sadly, because it has been carried off to the Greek Calends^13 ([unclear] it is restored to me by a kinsman) at last. For those Calends, rashly carried off, are restored with great difficulty.

Therefore let us wait for the Greek Calends. Alas, that same excellent codex: a very wicked man stole it under deceit and by stealth, and deserves [conjectured: to be punished]. With so great a double impulse/desert, finding no good things among good men, he has earned worse things among evil men, more savage than [unclear], unworthy of the common light, to be changed in [unclear: beffice] time, dreadful. And always to be torn in the whirlpools of abysses. May Christ, implacable [unclear: in] hatred, proscribed, and seizing all things, [unclear] by the enemies/demons, be made a horrible [unclear] to the most learned [unclear]. May he never obtain the mercy of the blessed. Let Fanthinus be mingled most elegantly before/in the catalogue of saints [unclear]. May the offspring of Christ make him always be blessed, [unclear] very diligently to the scraping Jupiter of greatest [unclear], as clear heavenly things, most beautiful, [unclear] the secret of nature of spirits. Therefore let that unjust thief be exterminated with everlasting torments. O good codex, where [unclear] joyful [unclear]; I think [unclear: faufinum] I have [unclear] in your new catalogue, he himself Fanthinus [unclear] of observance shamefully. Farewell.

Hidden Tenor of the Foregoing

[German plaintext; see tenor_md.]

Method XIX, Repeated Heading

Method XIX: always after one vacant [letter/word] it places two significant ones, with the letters transposed in the aforesaid manner.

[The same heading is then repeated verbatim in the OCR source.]

Tenor (German plaintext concealed by the cipher)

Tenor 1

Wann dieser zu dir kompt, so leg ihn gefangen bisz off mein zukommen etc.

When this man comes to you, put/keep him imprisoned until my arrival, etc.

Tenor 2

Lieber Getreuer/ sey oft nechst Montag geruffe nach deinem vermögen uns zu Dienst.

Dear loyal one, be called/ready next Monday, according to your ability, for our service.

Tenor 3

Peter Kleipfeyel bringer dieses Brieffs ist ein böser Schalck Tag und Nacht voll ein Verächter des Namens Gottes.

Peter Kleipfeyel, bearer of this letter, is a wicked rogue, day and night wholly a despiser of the name of God.

---

^1. Clavis Steganographiae: “Key of Steganography,” a key or explanatory apparatus to Trithemius’s Steganographia; here the OCR itself misprints the later page heading as “Claus.” ^2. Demons: Latin Daemonam is grammatically corrupt; likely OCR or print damage for a demon-related form, but not safely restorable. ^3. Hell/redemption language: theological cover-text vocabulary; the syntax is badly damaged and should not be normalized into coherent doctrine. ^4. Tenor supradicti/supradiecti occultus: the concealed plaintext “tenor” or intention of the cipher, not a translation of the Latin cover text. ^5. Modus XVII: one of Trithemius’s numbered cipher methods; the heading and body are partly damaged, but the procedure is a one-letter alphabetic shift applied to significant initial letters. ^6. Cipher-alphabet: Latin alphabeti calicis is probably an OCR scanno for something like alphabeti cabalistici/cipher alphabet; the exact printed word is not recoverable from the supplied OCR. ^7. Catholic faith: repeated cover-text vocabulary; much of Example XVII is filler text designed to carry initial letters. ^8. Christ: theological named entity in the cover text; some surrounding clauses are syntactically broken by OCR damage. ^9. Johannes Trithemius, Abbot of Spanheim: printed page heading Ioannis Trithemij Abb. Spanh.; Spanh. abbreviates Spanheim/Sponheim. ^10. Modus XIX: the source labels this after XVII and also calls the explanation Modus 18; the numbering is internally inconsistent in the OCR/print excerpt. ^11. Fanthinus: likely Sanctinus/Sanctinum or another name/title affected by long-s OCR scanno (ſ read as f); left unreconstructed because the referent is uncertain. ^12. Spirits: de Spirituus is damaged Latin for “on/about spirits”; the phrase may refer to a book title in the cover narrative. ^13. Greek Calends: proverbial Latin for “never”; here the cover text plays on a stolen codex being deferred to an impossible date.

Clavis Steganographiae (Clavis triplex) — damage-preserving rendering, full_chunk_0097

Damage-preserving review rendering with tenor detection and footnoting. Damage class: heavy_damage_partial; OCR quality: 3/5.

Audit note — It normalized badly damaged carrier Latin into coherent prose and treated insecure readings such as “Theodore” and grammatical links as settled rather than marking OCR loss.

Clavis Steganographiae, Exempla XIX-XX and Modus XX

Exemplum XIX

S[conjectured: anctissimi] morals^1 are to confirm the Catholic faith^2, and by works of serving [or: service] it is always to be preserved; many [conjectured: men], keeping their faith by living virtue, have deservedly been called [conjectured: false?] Christians, among whom [unclear] men hateful to the Catholic faith [unclear] in the Christian garden^3 with a womanly mind [unclear]. Divine love, [unclear: fadem/fairness?], uprightness strengthens justice; good works, with devotion and fervor, make Catholic doctrine^4 very beautiful. Yet with works [unclear] everlasting justice is owed; having taken up the name of the Catholic faith, you bear [it] [conjectured: more manfully?]. For the glory of the Catholic faith is promised to faithful works and innocence; for faith [unclear: is strengthened/is joined] by its works, [unclear] of heaven/the city [unclear], whoever loves the fatherland shows the heavenly virtue of the Christian faith by works.

Tenor supradiecti occultus

See tenor_md.

Modus XX

Mode XX.^5 With the letters of the signifying words^6 transposed, after two vacant [words]^7 it always places the same number of signifying [words].

Mode 20: after two [conjectured: known/empty] [words] placed at the beginning it places two signifying [words]. It always puts the letter transposed in the manner we have described, namely [unclear: sin videlece], so that for any given letter the next immediately following one [is used]. But the vacant words in the narrative do not transpose the letter. Thus in the preceding [example] it is said [unclear]; and those who in turn use this mode also deceive. Let the following example be set down.

Exemplum XX

S. Concerning [unclear: Micttibi], brother, my catalogue of the best and most illustrious men of Germany^8, the greatest propagators of the Catholic faith, many in number and worthy there in the catalogue of saints^9, since, divinely enlightened, they shone; [unclear: he/it] made [unclear], showing that the [unclear: falsified?] way of passing over virtues was to be held. In good works he diligently preserved [those] living by Catholic instruction, most diligent investigators of truth, whose glory was Christ^10. And [unclear] occupied with contempt for the earth and with divine exercise, and therefore worthy [unclear] of an excellent catalogue, notable there by the fame of [unclear: DeoDoros/Theodore]; outstanding in learning, and in blessedness and perpetual honor [unclear], shining with the light of faith, they proved themselves true Catholics by works. [unclear: Nefis] is also proved there by works, by his own rashness, an example [unclear], the penalty of delay, [unclear: heavenly/coelicem] crime of a greedy tongue, [which] he transmitted to you; when, by blessed inquiry into the arts^11, by the hand of [unclear: Dolorum/Theodore?] most faithful, and so that with time he made [you?] a philosopher^12, may you be able to live happily, and adorn faith and the Catholic household with works. Humble and Catholic conduct befits [one]: to fear God, who is the tower of strength and the foundation of all good things, in whom your faith and ours remains; he who submits to the commandments of God is truly Catholic. Farewell.

Tenor supradieti occultus

See tenor_md.

D. 3. Mode.

Tenor (German plaintext concealed by the cipher)

Tenor supradiecti occultus

Lieber Getreudier heut umb zehn wart unfer mit vierhundert Pferden an der Pforten.

Modern English: Dear trusted one, today at ten await our men with four hundred horse at the gate.

Tenor supradieti occultus

Ein heimliche Kunst hab ich funden/ die kan kein Mensch bezahlen/ Stein giessen/ als Bley.

Modern English: I have found a secret art that no person can pay for: casting stone like lead.

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^1. AnBiffimi is almost certainly an OCR scanno for a word in the Sanctissimi/Sanctissimis range: long-s and ct/st clusters are badly read. The exact case is not secure. ^2. catholica fidei should probably read catholica fides or catholicae fidei; the theology is conventional, but the grammar is OCR-damaged. ^3. viridario Christiano means a “Christian garden/enclosure”; in this carrier text it may be pious filler rather than a precise image. ^4. doltrinae is an OCR scanno for doctrinae. ^5. Modus is Trithemius’s term for a cipher method or rule, not a musical mode. ^6. significativae/significatorum are the words or letters that carry the hidden message, as opposed to filler. ^7. vacantes are “empty” carrier words: words present in the cover text but not bearing cipher value. ^8. Germany: Germanie, i.e. Germania, a geographical and cultural designation in Trithemius’s catalogue-style filler. ^9. The “catalogue of saints” is hagiographical vocabulary used as cover prose; it should not be treated as a reliable named work here. ^10. Christ: central theological named entity in the pious carrier text. ^11. artium inquisitio here is inquiry into arts/skills; given the concealed tenor, it may resonate with technical or alchemical craft, but the Latin cover text itself remains damaged. ^12. Philosopher: in this context possibly a learned adept or natural philosopher, but the syntax is too damaged to define it more narrowly.

Clavis Steganographiae (Clavis triplex) — damage-preserving rendering, full_chunk_0098

Damage-preserving review rendering with tenor detection and footnoting. Damage class: heavy_damage_partial; OCR quality: 4/5.

Audit note — It normalized corrupt cipher rules and translated the German tenor as ordinary continuation, while silently supplying missing alphabetic values and smoothing unreadable cover-text syntax.

Clavis Steganographiae — Modes XXI-XXII, Damage-Preserving Translation

Mode XXI

Mode XXI. It is used with alternating words, with the significant letters transposed into the second [following position].^1

Mode 21. With alternating words set out, of which he treats the first as empty, the second as significant, the third again as empty, [the fourth likewise/significantly: unclear], if they follow one another in sequence up to the end of the proposed narration: the letter which first belonged in the significant word has been transposed into the second following [letter/position]. Thus, for the letter A, C is taken; for B, D is taken [conjectured from rule; OCR reads corruptly]; and so in sequence almost to the end of the alphabet. Further, for X [unclear: perhaps Y], A is taken, and for Z, B.^2 But the character which is not necessary for us in the vernacular name is to be omitted in all the following alphabets [or: in all following uses of the alphabet]; but now rather let us give an example of this mode.

Example XXI

S. D. I would rejoice to answer your letters; so may Christ make me rejoice, I would send the requested volumes, if at last [I/he] had had them. I have been zealous [or: I envied; OCR/grammar damaged] while alive, [unclear] nearest, and he says, in very weighty hidden treatises on good zeal, which the sharpest philosophers have; but I would give you thanks, long immortal [unclear], my father, for having judged that you, by the mutual glory of slight love, unharmed in this business of a familiar mind, most diligently redeemed what was weightier by modesty. I have plainly learned, as it seems, that you, falsely praising, would have thanks no more than the dead; and therefore you are moved [unclear] by his petitions to effect it soon, if our Christian people had [it].

Here among the masters I have nowhere seen a Latin translation of Pico of Mirandola,^3 and yet I confess that I myself have read the [little servant/little book: unclear]. Therefore, lest the serious burdens of the request now be frustrated, [by] the highest truth of Christ, which no darkness hides, and as examiner of hearts,^4 I [wish] to oblige you, not rather to conceal the other [opinions/things: unclear], to gain virtue, to know more things quickly, finally to come forth alive.

Love Christ purely; see that, as far as you can, you exist as a priest in works. Love Christ purely, whom you are ordered to love beyond measure. A true lover of Christ is preserved by zeal for souls,^5 and sets nothing before Christ's command; since in us the zeal of God is the best thing of the soul. The love of blessedness, by loving God the Zealot,^6 truly [animates/is animated: unclear]; for the known saving things of pious observance of the Catholic faith,^7 and giving thanks to almighty God Jesus Christ, who has granted the glorious [unclear] of all things, may he confer on you love for eternity and [unclear] will establish the exalted deeds of Christians. Farewell.

Tenor.

Hidden Tenor

Hidden tenor of the aforesaid.

[See tenor_md; this is the German plaintext concealed by the preceding Latin cipher-example, not the source from which the Latin prose is to be translated.]^8

Mode XXII

Mode XXII. By the transposition of letters already examined, after two idle [words] it places the same number of significant [words].^9

Mode 22. It begins with two idle words and immediately joins two significant ones; thus, through two empty [words] and two significant ones, it alternately carries through the whole open narration and the following [sequence: unclear]. The first letter of every significant word has been placed in the third [following position]; thus for A, D is taken, for B, E is taken, and for C, F is taken. So it follows in order to the end, just as for the first letter of the alphabet A, X is taken [unclear/corrupt], for B [unclear], and for Z, E [unclear]. As the alphabet in secret matters shows, the red [letters/signs] indicate this hidden [voice/utterance].^10

Alphabet: A b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r [unclear] s [unclear] t [unclear] n s x t z / n a x b z. The printed alphabet-line is too damaged to normalize without inventing letters.

When, however, you wish to write in the prescribed way that follows, place the alphabet before you, and look carefully that you keep the prescribed order, lest you make an error for the reader and for yourself. But now let us set down an example of this twenty-second mode, which proceeds by alternating pairs.

Example XXII

S. Since I have known you as a devoted lover of the arts of humanity^11 and a cultivator of the Christian faith, [unclear: macerantem], most blessed of all philosophers [or: most kindly, O philosopher; damaged agreement], I gladly comply with your most urgent requests, brought by wondrous pleasure of friendship. I transmit to you the book, well known, concerning ecclesiastical writers and Catholic doctors,^12 so that you may have [something] by which the mind is [shown/offended: unclear].

The codex [concerning/from] torments [or: engines of war: unclear] in the [book/inequality: unclear] concerning spirits, and whatever glorious poison you have shuddered at in questions, send back to me. I beseech Christ [that] with the eye/zeal of our heart [unclear] you adorn yourself with the most holy [thing] of his love, and that he make you a lover of heavenly goods and exempt from low desires; that you learn to despise vain honors, to turn yourself, so that you may penetrate the sublime things of the art and also the great secrets [the excerpt breaks off].

Tenor (German plaintext concealed by the cipher)

Peter Druncer von Fridburg Labsodel genannt/ trincket gern starcken Wein. Ist Doctor stultorum zu Spanheim gemacht.

Modern English: Peter Druncer of Fridburg, called Labsodel, likes to drink strong wine. He has been made Doctor of Fools at Spanheim.

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^1. Mode / Modus: a technical steganographic procedure in Trithemius's system. The heading's final vitiur is an OCR scanno for utitur. ^2. The rule appears to be a Caesar-style alphabetic transposition by two places. The examples after A are OCR-damaged; pro e, accipiatur e cannot stand as printed. x -> a may reflect omission of a letter or OCR loss; not silently normalized. ^3. Pico of Mirandola: Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Renaissance philosopher; the Latin has Pici Mirandulani, with damaged surrounding syntax. ^4. Examiner of hearts: theological phrase for Christ/God as knower of inward intentions; here embedded in the cover text. ^5. Zeal for souls: pastoral/theological vocabulary; the passage repeatedly uses zelus as pious cover-language while concealing a German tenor. ^6. God the Zealot: Deum Zelotem; biblical-theological epithet for God as jealous/zealous. The syntax around animaregur is corrupt. ^7. Catholic faith: catholicae fidei; confessional/theological cover vocabulary in the example narrative. ^8. Tenor / tenor occultus: the concealed plaintext message. Here it is German, and must not be flattened into the Latin cover letter. ^9. Idle/vacant vs. significant words: cipher terminology; ociosas/oicioas and vacas denote cover words not carrying the hidden message, while significativae carry cipher-significant letters. ^10. The alphabet line for Mode XXII is substantially corrupt: duplicated/misordered letters such as p s q t r n s x t z are likely OCR or print damage. Reconstruction would require collation. ^11. Arts of humanity: artium humanitatis, i.e. humanist learning or humane letters. ^12. Ecclesiastical writers and Catholic doctors: learned/theological cover vocabulary; the phrase likely alludes to a catalog or book on church authors, but the surrounding text is damaged.

Clavis Steganographiae (Clavis triplex) — damage-preserving rendering, full_chunk_0099

Damage-preserving review rendering with tenor detection and footnoting. Damage class: heavy_damage_partial; OCR quality: 1/5.

Audit note — v1.0 treated damaged cover text as coherent Latin and smoothed uncertain cipher mechanics; it also failed to foreground the German plaintext tenors as the concealed messages.

Clavis Steganographiae — damage-preserving translation of Modes XXIII–XXV opening

Closing Fragment Before Mode XXIII

[unclear] we ask to penetrate; and for this [unclear] I have purified a continual desire for glory in the office [or duty], because the Catholic faith^1 always [unclear] at the extremes / from the border, by morals, virtue, and humility [unclear] certain better things of office; joys cast down to fall, not [unclear], so as to please human beings. You, great and true Philosophy^2, let go of all things, and you will find all things; set the hour of death^3 beneath you as near, insofar as [you may] offend / correct the erring one. Farewell.

Hidden Tenor Of The Above

See tenor_md.

Mode XXIII

Mode XXIII. With any letter shifted to the fourth, it proceeds by alternating turns or words.

Mode 23. It always begins from one word [or voice], to which it joins one Latin meaning; thus it proceeds by alternating words, of which [unclear]. The first letter is always transposed into the fourth, so that x is taken for a, and [unclear] for b, f for c, e [unclear], and so it will follow [unclear] up to x; as to this interpretation, in what follows we shall clearly show an example there.

Aei bfi cegi dbi ei fgi gii hmi in iko lpi mqi nri osi pvi qri rxi zc, taf abl xci za.^4

This mode, like all the others, can be varied in many ways: as they are now used in alternates, so they may use pairs, threes, fours, or more. If a sign of this kind should be sought, this same thing must always be observed as fixed in the others also, since it has regard not to a variation of the mode, but to the order of the mystery.^5

Example XXIII

S. D.^6 The things which I had set before myself to be solved, with Christ^7 helping, I have solved. I would like you to report back to me briefly what this has profited you, what you are doing about the tempters / attempts, and the whole matter. A brother recently reported to me, with a serious friend also then [unclear], a final refused / rejected [unclear] young man [unclear], recounting every invocation of Christ from the dead, and wonderful and dreadful things prepared among the infernal regions^8 for Christians [unclear], narrating their torments [unclear]; [happy?] those who by acting perversely crucified Christ grievously [unclear], especially those who, [though aided] by the kindly benefit of redemption, [unclear], always ungrateful to Christ, with the obediences of penitents neglected [unclear].

[The] joys to come, the pleasure of the world and of those following it, which [unclear] continually and rather negligently gnawing at them, they bitterly feared, was being condemned. Misfortune: we die; we suffer cruel, harsh things, having greedily gulped down earthly and worldly things. We read the commandment [conjectured: of the heart / Corinthians?]; we despised [unclear]; loving iniquity, we receive the recompense of eternal damnation.^9 Alas, unhappy as we are, why do we deny Christ, why have we neglected the time of indulgence! Thus, and many other astonishing things, he reported [unclear], etc. I cannot write more this time, especially in few letters. Farewell.

Hidden Tenor Of The Above

See tenor_md.

Mode XXIV

Mode XXIV. It admits all significant words, and transposes each letter into the fifth following one.

Mode 24. After the pattern of the first, it admits all the significant words of its own narrative, and transposes the first letter of each word into the fifth nearest following: namely, so that for a f is taken, for b g, for c h [the OCR reads b], and consequently, as we shall show by counting in the alphabet, where the black letter, placed immediately above, is taken for the red letter.^10

A, f, bg, c, h, di, ak, fl, gm, hn, io, k, p, lq, mr, ns, ot, p, u, q, x, r, z, fa, i b, v, e, x, d, z, e.^4

Therefore, whenever you wish to write or read in this mode, place this alphabet before you, making all the signs for each mode.

Example XXIV

S. By diligent services, establishing the kindness of a benefactor, remember the reproach [unclear] of my benefits, I beseech you by holy charity. In the matters of Zealania^11 good [things] of those people, and the goodness of our Catholic religion, are built up by works, [with] the sanction of those adorning [them] faithfully. But speak kindly, brother, so that fear may be cast off by me, your brother; bilingual persons are even bitter to love, [unclear], and by contention they assert goodness with evil works. With good works also daily [adorn] splendid reputation and steadfastness; adorn and lift up the soul: have insistence / perseverance, continence, and zeal for the name [unclear].

[page break]

For your name: be zealous for the excellent name of friends and brothers, best in goodness; [unclear] by works [unclear] in one case of the body, adorned in every respect, and when there is sickness with a Catholic [unclear]. Farewell.

Hidden Tenor Of The Above

See tenor_md.

Mode XXV Heading

Mode XXV. After the pattern of the preceding, it admits all significant words, but transposes each one into the sixth.^12

Tenor (German plaintext concealed by the cipher)

Tenor Before Mode XXIII

Was ich dir hab geben zu behalten/ soltu bewahren/ und niemand geben dann mir allein.

Modern English: What I have given you to keep, you shall preserve, and give to no one except to me alone.

Tenor Of Example XXIII

Nim. Morgen umb Neun Uhr meiner wahr an der Pforten/ Da wil ich mit 200. Pferden heimlich stills schwiegend erscheinen.

Modern English: Take [note]. Tomorrow at nine o’clock, wait for me at the gate; there I will appear secretly, silently, and without speaking, with 200 horses.

Tenor Of Example XXIV

Nicht acht auf meuß Wort / Ich meine es nicht als so harte / es muß stund alsso seyn / durch ursach wil ich dir sagen.

Modern English: Pay no attention to my word[s]. I do not mean it so harshly; it had to be that way for now. I will tell you the reason.

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^1. “Catholic faith”: theological vocabulary; surrounding syntax is badly damaged and should not be smoothed into a coherent devotional sentence. ^2. “Philosophy”: probably personified Philosophia; the passage is moralizing, but the grammar around it is damaged. ^3. “Hour of death”: horam ... moris is almost certainly an OCR/scanno form for horam ... mortis; reconstruction is semantically strong but the Latin is not clean. ^4. Alphabet / cipher table: preserved as printed OCR. Do not normalize silently; several entries are likely corrupted pairings. ^5. “Order of the mystery”: cipher terminology; mysterii here refers to the concealed message or steganographic procedure, not a doctrinal mystery. ^6. S. D. probably epistolary abbreviation, e.g. salutem dicit or similar, but expansion is not secure from this OCR. ^7. “Christ”: theological named entity; many surrounding words are cover-text-like and OCR-damaged. ^8. “Infernal regions”: inferos; theological underworld/hell vocabulary. ^9. “Eternal damnation”: theological/legal-retributive vocabulary; the paragraph is recoverable in moral tenor but locally corrupt. ^10. The source line says pro c, b; context requires the fifth-letter shift pro c, h. This is a likely OCR or print corruption, flagged in-text rather than silently repaired. ^11. “Zealania”: uncertain place or pseudo-place/name in the cover text; not identifiable securely from this fragment. ^12. “Sixth”: Mode XXV begins only as a heading in this chunk; no worked explanation follows here.

Clavis Steganographiae (Clavis triplex) — damage-preserving rendering, full_chunk_0100

Damage-preserving review rendering with tenor detection and footnoting. Damage class: heavy_damage_partial; OCR quality: 3/5.

Audit note — It made Mode 25 say it admits a null word; the damaged text more likely says it admits no null word, and v1 also over-smoothed the nonsensical covertext.

Clavis generalis triplex: Modes 25-26, Damage-Preserving Translation

Mode 25

Mode 25, in that preceding total, [conjectured: admits no null word]^1; rather, all the words which it admits are significant,^2 because there is no need to insert any [null words]. For there is [unclear] in the world which, by the art of this book,^3 cannot [unclear] be indicated secretly by this method and by methods like it. Nevertheless, whoever wishes, for greater caution [conjectured from OCR: ad maiorem cautelam] or for ease, to set two or more null words among the significant ones, is not forbidden to do so, especially since the letters of each [word] may be altered at one's pleasure, or to a name, that is, to invented [forms], or [unclear] as is permitted or pleasing.

Yet we warn [the reader] not to neglect to put the signs of the methods^4 in their proper place, and so make himself and others go astray with him, and write in a [conjectured: faulty] method; for in each word, and separately in 25, the letter is transposed to the following sixth,^5 as we shall show in its place. The 25 methods follow.

In the alphabets above we said that for A, g is to be taken, because it is the sixth after a; for b, [conjectured: h] is to be taken, and so consequently.

Alphabet as transmitted in the OCR, heavily confused:

A g. b. e. i. d. k. e. l. f. m. g. n. b. o. p. k. q. r. m. s. o. u. p. x. q. z. r. a. f. b. e. c. & d. x. z. f.

[Conjectured intended sixth-transposition alphabet:] a->g, b->h, c->i, d->k, e->l, f->m, g->n, h->o, i->p, k->q, l->r, m->s, n->[unclear], o->u, p->x, q->z, r->a, s->b, t->c, u->d, x->e, z->f.

Therefore, when you wish to write something secretly by this or by other methods, set before yourself the alphabet arranged for this purpose, and write down the first significant letters^6 into one sequence; I set it before you, as we do consequently for the sake of example:

H. l. o. g. r. e. c. r. x. h. a. p. l. m. p. o. i. k. p. a. b. l. s. k. l. o. l. p. s. r. p. o. d. s. k. r. g. b. b. p. l. f. g. i. k. b. l. o. l. d.

Example of the Hidden Secret

Johannes Trithemius,^7 abbot of Sponheim.^8

Example of the hidden secret. [German tenor supplied below.] Let us now compose the narration of this hidden matter.

Example XXV

S.D.^9 A humble [person / statement] [unclear: lamentem] before [unclear] grace of remission, consequently; the grace of redemption restrains freedom; but penitent human beings are freed by the majesty of [unclear: dieris / perhaps Dei]. A commandment, the solicitation of piety, from the most benign [unclear] by freedom [unclear: trubore]; and the Catholic tongue^10 frees all. [Unclear: piffiam falsoator] a king of power [unclear: indicaturne]. Blessedness has promised all joys to those holding divine [things] and Catholic rectitude. Good blessedness [unclear: porcellis] favors those holding the law in freedom; they will rejoice at last, [unclear: s] Catholics. They will be [unclear: culubuntur] by the most benign liberator in tranquil light.

Farewell / [conjectured: Vale]. Sponheim, 3 Nones of January,^11 in the year of the Lord 1490. Johannes Trithemius, abbot.

Mode 26

Mode 26. It proceeds by alternate words, and each letter of the significant words is transferred to the second [position].^12

Mode 26 proceeds by alternation in a second way: first a null word is placed at the beginning, then another significant word; afterward again one null word, then another significant word, and so on consequently to the end of the narration. Further, for each letter of the significant words, the first letter which appears to follow in order is to be taken: for A, b is taken; for b, [unclear: i]; for [unclear: e], and so consequently, as will appear in the following alphabet, where the black letters are taken for the value. [Unclear: Eubolig.]

Alphabet as transmitted in OCR:

A b bi ck dl em fn go hp iq kr lsf mt nu ox pR qu rb fe td us wf z.

But so that you may easily understand this art and gather the method of composing a secret narration, I shall make the procedure plain with its own letters, joined to [unclear: the seventh / next] transposition, and set it below and show it:

L. m. m. b. c. q. b. d. l. q. & p. n. q. r. d. b. b. a. m. v. [unclear: sed/fed].

L. q. k. p. n. e. b. m. t. m. m. b. b. q. c. d. w. x. s. d. l. x. c. p. m. q. d. e. n. l. r. e. q. f. d. q. k. p. s. m. b. n. b. h. m. v. i.

When you wish to write by this method, the letters of the null words [unclear: diligently / of selection], as I said— [text breaks off].

Tenor (German plaintext concealed by the cipher)

Behalt alle Brieff die ich dir sende heimlich / und lass siemand sehen.

Modern English: Keep secret all the letters that I send you, and let no one see them.

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^1. OCR summa vacuam recipit is likely a scanno for nullam vacuam recipit; the sense of the method requires “no null word,” since the next clause says all words are significant. ^2. significativae dictiones: cipher-bearing words, opposed to vacantes, null or filler words. ^3. ars libri huius: the steganographic/cipher procedure taught in the book, not a magical claim to be normalized away. ^4. signa modorum: markers identifying which cipher mode is being used. ^5. in sextam transponuntur sequentem: a substitution/transposition alphabet taking the sixth following letter; the OCR alphabet is badly corrupted. ^6. primas literas significativas: the initial letters that carry the hidden message. ^7. Johannes Trithemius (1462-1516), Benedictine abbot and author of the Steganographia/Clavis tradition. ^8. Sponheim/Spanheim: Trithemius's abbey; OCR alternates forms. ^9. S.D. likely epistolary salutation formula, but the surrounding covertext is damaged and partly artificial. ^10. catholica lingua: theological/church vocabulary used inside the cover narration; not necessarily semantically coherent prose. ^11. 3 Nonas Januarii: Roman dating, probably III Nones of January = January 3, 1490. ^12. Mode 26 combines alternating null/significant words with alphabetic substitution; the printed distinction between black and ordinary letters is lost in the OCR.

Clavis Steganographiae (Clavis triplex) — damage-preserving rendering, full_chunk_0101

Damage-preserving review rendering with tenor detection and footnoting. Damage class: heavy_damage_partial; OCR quality: 4/5.

Audit note — v1.0 repeatedly regularized broken cover-letter Latin into smooth moral prose, especially in Example XXVII, hiding several unrecoverable clauses and uncertain names.

Clavis Steganographiae, Modus XXVI-XXVIII Fragment

Closing Instruction to the Previous Method

[unclear] to interpose, beginning from one vacant [word]^1 [unclear], to which you then convert the first letter of the signifying [conjectured: words]^2, as we shall make easily probable in the second example.

Example XXVI

S. P.^3 I had entrusted my books^4 to you under the condition that they were to be restored, most distinguished [sir], with a thousand [conjectured: good assurances]; but they were by no means to be kept back. Since you ought to have sent them back in a short time, you are acting against law; for, concerning a catholic promise^5 [unclear], do not [unclear: separate?] the condition from the promise made. It does not belong to a good and honorable man [unclear: because of the nobility of greater persons?] to violate a promise. But you had promised that they would be restored very diligently in a short time. It is frivolity to bring forward a promise for the Greek Kalends.^6 Do we not in fact seek, with great goodwill, to promise great things and shamefully repay the smallest things? A promise adorns a soldier^7, nor does it belong to a Christian not to bear/observe a condition. Moreover Christian ordinance commands that a promise be kept, another's property be restored, and that what you desire to be done for you be done in another's case. I do not wish my displayed/exposed books, which I had entrusted to you [unclear: as a supplement?], to be drawn out longer, nor to extend to the Greek Kalends. Release/send back with me my [unclear]; I hold/appeal to the nobility of your most honorable family, Bunnefind^8; consider your stock, [and] send back to me [unclear] my volumes.

Farewell.

The hidden tenor of the above.^9

Method XXVII

Method XXVII. It uses alternate words^10, and any given letter is transferred to the eighth following [letter].^11

Method 27. After one vacant word has been put first, another signifying [word] immediately follows, and so it proceeds consequently by the alternate route. But each letter in any signifying [word] is transferred from the first [position] into its own [conjectured: eighth] position afterward, into the next following [letter]: thus, for the letter A, i is taken; for b, k; for c, l; and so consequently, as the later alphabet more clearly demonstrates.

A i b k c l d m e n f o g p h q i r k s l t m u n x o z p a q b r e s d r e u f x g z h.

To express the consequence of an alphabet of this kind, let us set down an example: so that, in the wording of the secret, the letters [conjectured: moved/shifted]^11 from the signifying words come first; afterward, the example.

R L q f l f m n m i d i m f l b r l q t r v n d f f v d d n x l f f v n m v r u q g n i n r l d s l q d e n l v r t m m v u p n l m o l f x m l i x m n c l d b x m f l f n d x.

Intention of the secret.^9

Example XXVII

S. D.^3 A rumor has gone out concerning the abbot of Limburg^12, who dismissed Brother Fleidersen^13, a faithful man and [conjectured: not inexperienced] in temporal affairs^14, and brought in monks because of need/poverty, assigning them themselves to office. I wonder greatly. When I recall the counsels of the brothers, truly joined with [those] of the Limburgers, [unclear]. In temporal affairs, indeed, [unclear: he was not incapable?]; the same man dismissed a most faithful man, when he reproved [unclear: the holy men?], who ought rather to have said thanks to our savior J. C.^15 for the fidelity of so great a brother, who could have recovered their necessities. Why, I ask, is a good and necessary administrator rejected? What shall I say? I do not praise that the brothers then let go a man most skilled in temporal affairs, who had aided Limburg [unclear: very greatly]. I grieve vehemently that the monks of Limburg so despised [him], who had dismissed an excellent man, and set up monks worth absolutely nothing in temporal affairs; they proved [unclear: most bitter/harsh]. Macharius the abbot^16, it did not befit you so to treat such a man. At first you praised him; now suddenly [you reject] a man much better and to be postponed to none. For Christ is my witness: if I, as becomes a Christian, [unclear: were in your place], I would give the greatest thanks and would take care that he did not depart; [unclear: up to your Christ?] you preferred to let a faithful man, wearied by the counsel of false men, go, lest, after your affairs had been abandoned, he himself [unclear: be of recovering them]. Farewell. From Sponheim.^17 [unclear: Non./Nones?] of Jan[uary]. In the year of the Lord 1499. Joh. Trith. Abb.^18

Method XXVIII

Method XXVIII. In the likeness of the preceding [method], it uses alternate words, and transfers the signifying letter to the ninth [following letter].

Tenor (German plaintext concealed by the cipher)

Tenor supradicti occultus

Dieser wil dich viel sangen/ hüte dich vor ihm/ er ist voller Bosheit/ und will dich erfahren. Haec est in- tentio secreti.

Modern English: This man wants to tell you much; beware of him; he is full of malice and wants to test/probe you. This is the intention of the secret.

Intentio Secreti

Ich wole das durch mich liestest wissen / wie die Sache sichet mit dem Gelt / und anderem mehr / wie du weisst.

Modern English: I want you, through me, to know how the matter stands with the money and with more besides, as you know.

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^1. vacante is technical steganographic vocabulary: a non-signifying filler or blank word in the alternating-word method. ^2. OCR likely has difficilium for dictionum or a related form; this is a positional/letter-form scanno, not authorial obscurity. ^3. S. P. and S. D. are epistolary salutations, probably abbreviated formulas such as salutem plurimam / salutem dicit; the OCR gives only initials. ^4. libres is an OCR/scanno form for libros, “books.” ^5. catholica de promissione is intelligible as moral-theological language about a binding Christian promise, but the local syntax is damaged. ^6. Calend. Graecae = “the Greek Kalends,” a proverbial date that never arrives, since Greek calendars had no Kalends. ^7. militem may be literal “soldier” or a damaged reading in an ethical commonplace about honor and keeping promises. ^8. Bunnefind is a named person/family form as printed/OCR'd; identification uncertain. ^9. Tenor supradicti occultus / Intentio secreti names the plaintext concealed by the cipher, not a Latin source to translate from. ^10. Alternis dictionibus names the method’s alternation of filler and signifying words. ^11. transfertur is the cipher shift operation: each meaningful letter is represented by a later alphabetic counterpart. ^12. Limburg likely refers to the abbey/place Limburg an der Haardt; the Latin phrase Limburgensi abate is OCR for Limburgensi abbate. ^13. Fleidersenfem is probably an OCR-damaged personal or toponymic name in accusative; exact reconstruction is unsafe. ^14. temporalium rerum means worldly/material administration, especially monastery property and finances. ^15. I.C. abbreviates Jesus Christ; the phrase invokes Christian moral duty. ^16. Macharis abbas is the named abbot as OCR'd; Macharius/Macarius is a plausible normalization but not certain. ^17. Sponheim was Trithemius's Benedictine abbey and place of authorship for many letters. ^18. Joh. Trith. Abb. = Johannes Trithemius, abbot; a named authorial subscription.

Clavis Steganographiae (Clavis triplex) — damage-preserving rendering, full_chunk_0102

Damage-preserving review rendering with tenor detection and footnoting. Damage class: heavy_damage_partial; OCR quality: 1/5.

Audit note — It smoothed badly damaged carrier Latin and German into coherent prose, especially normalizing suspicious tenor words and alphabet scannos without marking uncertainty.

Clavis Steganographiae, Clavis Generalis Triplex: Modes 28-29

Mode 28

Mode 28, after the pattern of the preceding mode, uses alternate words,^1 [conjectured: of which] the first is empty, the second significant, the third [conjectured: likewise] empty, and the fourth significant. And consequently it transfers every letter into the ninth [following letter], so that for A, k is taken; for b, l; for [conjectured: c], m. And so on. Thus the secret will be apparent in the alphabet.^2 As for the second point, because the making of this mode is varied in many ways, as are all the others, when someone wishes, for wonderment, to give something to be read, or [unclear] the art of the matter [unclear], let him take the individual significant [words/letters], but of another [kind], because he should retain the alphabet.

Alphabet as printed: Ak bl om dn eo fp gg br if ks lu mx n z oa pb qr rd so tf ng xb zi.^3

Secret Tenor

The plaintext tenor is German; see tenor_md.

Significant Letters

Vvioladgkd nkznepogggodiggosildgnodrkloz, esmr sddazgofser, nfmr, qorkrw, oz xff, gggadfsz, nggodim to zr, qorkzn, oχεισσεισ adfzv neg odmtio.^4

Example XXVIII

S.D.^5 Religious and venerable father, [unclear: sio] that a letter will gladly grant all things to a friend; therefore he humbly entreats whatever things, in such matters of Catholic piety,^6 were divinely detained among us with the greatest charity, your religious brothers would not do toward you. For it was necessary: if I were to remain [unclear: obficiare], there was for us a glorious joy of those rejoicing, not idly, but most devoutly, in the most exalted things, in the forms of devout joy, with good zeal referring [this] to God [and/or] Apollo,^7 our gladness was most devout. Our joy also, adorned in every way with the merits of the most holy, [unclear], a religious brother and our Catholic [unclear], beautifully adorning the very broad [unclear] with the most holy zeal of discipline. For we exalt, always religiously confirming [unclear: at the end of a dissolved mind]. He was vigorously devoted to us all and familiar in prayer; the love of [unclear: divine/Ecclejaph], adorned with the piety of [unclear: animals/souls].^8

[Page heading:] Of Johannes Trithemius,^9 Abbot of Sponheim.^10 39

Adorned, he displayed to us [unclear: ida] every subject; they are said to be carried on for disputations, while most holy devotion vehemently approaches in the mind in the religion of piety. I observe what is fitting for religious persons: that Catholic preservation flourishes, that nothing be said daily, nothing hidden by the deceits of the wicked; Christ Jesus,^11 savior of all, [unclear] that we should rejoice in glory, and the love of God is borne, and recreates all true zealots of truth. We are of joy; I make joy, praying and beseeching that, in mind, [unclear: proud things] may become tranquil, and that you lay aside every zeal of bitterness. Hence, from Sponheim. Nones of January.^12 In the year [unclear: 56] of the Lord 1598. Johannes Trithemius, Abbot.

Mode XXIX

Mode 29. It uses alternate words, and the first letter of each significant [word] is transferred into the tenth [following letter].

Mode 29. Likewise it uses alternate words, as the preceding [modes] do. You begin with one empty word, to which another significant word is presently joined; again one empty word, again one significant word. And so on up to the end of the proposition or narration. The first letter of each significant word is transferred into the tenth following [letter], so that for A, L is taken; for b, m; for c, n; and so on, as is apparent in the alphabet itself.^13

Alphabet as printed: A l b m. e n. d o e p s t q. g r h f s t z k n s l x. m z. n a. o b. p e. q d. r e. f s. t g. u h. x t z. k.^14

Secret Tenor

The plaintext tenor is German; see tenor_md.

Significant Letters

Sb lgs. lot n.s. lq. lhe l l. m e. p a. e. p e. f ot. f m. e. t p. q. f. p e. t f. g. p s l a. mb. b a. p a. u al. m p. r p. q e. b p p. z. p r. l e. a n. f g. l p. e. m. p o. e b. f r. p. g o. u n. s. u p a. a tabltx.^15

Example XXIX

S. Since he is [conjectured: most devoted] to the study of the liberal/human arts,^16 you will surely rejoice, I think, that [unclear: te inhenifcet] amid a multitude of affairs, [unclear: ife] who shows this light to you [text breaks off].

Tenor (German plaintext concealed by the cipher)

Lieber Guardian/diese zweeen eure Brüder haben sich sehr vorchristlich gehalten mit worten und wercken.

Modern English: Dear Guardian, these two brothers of yours have behaved very [conjectured: unchristianly] in words and deeds. The printed vorchristlich is suspicious; the sense expected by context is likely unchristlich, but the German is preserved above.

Hute dich vor Bringer dieses Briess/ift ein böser Knab/ getrawe ihn gar nicht/ er betreuge dich/ ich keins neijn gar wol.

Modern English: Beware of the bearer of this letter; he is a wicked knave/boy; do not trust him at all; he is deceiving you; I [unclear, probably: know him] very well.

---

^1. dictiionibus is an OCR/scanno form for dictionibus; vicitur is very likely utitur, not a distinct verb. ^2. Technical cipher vocabulary: vacua = null/filler words; significantia = words or letters that carry the concealed message; in nonam transfert = Caesar-style substitution by the ninth following letter. ^3. The alphabet line is heavily scannoed: expected pairs include A-k, b-l, c-m, d-n, etc.; printed om, gg, br, so, ng preserve OCR/typographic damage rather than silently normalizing. ^4. Literae significantes are the extracted cipher-bearing letters, not prose Latin; the Greek-looking oχεισσεισ is preserved as printed/OCRed. ^5. S.D. conventionally abbreviates salutem dicit, “sends greeting,” but here it also belongs to the carrier epistle. ^6. Catholic piety: theological register in the cover text, not necessarily semantically coherent prose. ^7. Deo Apollinis is syntactically suspect; Apollo is a classical deity, and the phrase may be damaged or deliberately nonsensical cover Latin. ^8. Ecclejaph is probably an OCR scanno for a form of Ecclesiae; animalium may be authorial cover-text oddity or a scanno for animarum, but the latter is not certain. ^9. Johannes Trithemius (1462-1516), Benedictine abbot and author associated with cryptography, monastic reform, and occult-theological writing. ^10. Sponheim / Spanheim: Trithemius’s abbey; OCR prints Spanh. as an abbreviation. ^11. Christ Jesus: explicit theological named entity in the pious carrier prose. ^12. Non. Ian. = Nones of January, i.e. January 5 in the Roman calendar. ^13. Mode 29 uses alternating null/significant words and a tenth-letter substitution on the initial letters of significant words. ^14. This Mode 29 alphabet is also badly damaged: e n likely represents c n, and several later pairs are displaced or misread. The printed line is preserved. ^15. These are cipher-bearing letter groups, not translatable Latin words. ^16. artium humanitatis points to the studia humanitatis / liberal-humanist arts; studiofiffimo is an OCR scanno for studiosissimo.

Clavis Steganographiae (Clavis triplex) — damage-preserving rendering, full_chunk_0103

Damage-preserving review rendering with tenor detection and footnoting. Damage class: heavy_damage_partial; OCR quality: 3/5.

Audit note — V1 normalized heavily damaged cover prose into fluent devotional and learned Latin, especially the Marian prayer and opening letter, hiding many unrecoverable OCR gaps.

Style C Translation: Clavis Steganographiae, Modus XXX

Page 40: Closing Letter Fragment

[Conjectured: Key] of Steganography.^1

He is a man of much learning, a famous philosopher,^2 most subtle in arithmetic,^3 a most eloquent rhetorician,^4 very deep in mathematics,^5 and excellently learned in [unclear: every aspect / every branch]. He speaks most elegantly, with [conjectured: Ciceronian]^6 fluency, unless there [unclear: I were?] only among friends, who [unclear: know the matter thoroughly]. Since once, when I saw him familiarly, I experienced him as a very learned philosopher, I there especially [unclear: favor / receive] so great a philosopher gladly. The particular friendship which you have toward him moves me, and you will prove him a supreme philosopher by showing yourself benevolent and familiar toward him. I have seen certain secrets of the arts^7 committed to very ornate letters; by these [unclear] wonderful [things].

He, a most learned man, can answer from his own books the weightiest questions extemporaneously, in proposing [them] and in [unclear: conducting / disputing] [them] with [unclear: very excellent] [method]. I therefore ask that you receive him liberally and humanely, as a man most learned in all good arts, and a very weighty defender of humane learning and familiarity. Indeed you will be able to educate yourself in many things, although the philosopher is most adorned with learning, a royal [conjectured: astrologer / horoscope-caster],^8 most expert also in [unclear: Rho-?], and a very acute geometer.^9 O [unclear: life], if you become noble through such a man, you who with swollen breast [unclear: pour out necessary contempt]. But he is most faithful in philosophy and in other knowledge; he deeply loves the arts, [unclear: contains / handles] treatises, and penetrates them most acutely. Therefore I receive this man with love. As a liberal man [unclear], confirm me, most faithful Christian. Farewell from Sponheim,^10 on the Nones of January,^11 in the year of the Lord 1499. Johannes Trithemius.^12

Method XXX

Method 30. It will proceed by alternate words,^13 and the significant letter^14 is transferred to the eleventh [letter].

Method 30, beginning after one vacant [word], proceeds through alternate words, so that, throughout the whole sequence of the narrative, it always places after one vacant [word] another significant [word], as has been shown in the preceding [method], by which method other things also [are shown]. Further, by means of the fourth letter of the first significant word, the following [letter] after it is to be taken as the eleventh, so that for A, m is taken; for b, n; for c, o; and so forth in sequence, as is clear in the alphabet.^15

A m, b n, c o, d p, e q, f r, g s, [conjectured: h t], [conjectured: i u], [conjectured: k w], [conjectured: l x], [conjectured: z?], m a, [conjectured: n b], o [conjectured: c], p d, q e, r f, s g, t h, [conjectured: u i], x k, z l.^16

Tenor of the Secret

See tenor_md; this German plaintext is the concealed message, not a Latin sentence to translate from.^17

Letters.

Significant letter.

Example XXX

S. D. [Conjectured: Concerning the God-bearing]^18 perpetual Virgin Mary,^19 you [unclear: send] a prayer; [unclear: she made / has made] [it] over the peoples. O living, most loving, kindly mother, nourishing Mary, Virgin, most shining parent. You are most pleasing to the highest unity;^20 you are in every way a most faithful helper of innocence; you are [unclear: quaranti-] a noble refuge. For daily you are a familiar benefaction, salvation, most merciful advocate of the poor,^21 [unclear: con-flatriar-is] doubled, [unclear: very beautiful wounds / very beautiful ...] of men, [unclear: appli-corn].

Hail, most kindly comforter of the sorrowful; likewise, most celebrated promoter of Christ's friends. Rejoice, Anna,^22 consolation of the dying; rejoice concerning [unclear: nobility / the noble ...], [unclear: fugitive?], [unclear: page / pag.] [unclear: cortifelis] of those who labor. Command pardon for us who ask; soften the dreadful Judge^23 of Christendom. [Unclear: comp-etor] one in heart; [unclear: carry away / protect] our souls, we beseech [you], by your goodness, [unclear: most familiar]. Blessed are you, most kindly Virgin Mother, who, most pure, bore [unclear: the Savior?] the omnipotent Son of God,^24 remaining always a virgin and always likewise [unclear: giving birth?]. The messenger Gabriel,^25 [unclear: full] of grace, [unclear: shining], [unclear: with humanity / made human].

Hail, mother, or inexhaustible fountain of indulgence and piety, shining with the greatest piety and the greatness of benefits, most venerable [unclear]. Intercede for your servants; adorn us with your virtues; and may we obtain blessedness at the end of life, through the saving kindness of all the faithful. And whoever [unclear: with living blood] [unclear: me/us], may he, while you intercede, by your kind goodness look upon us piously as we die. Amen. Farewell from Sponheim, on the seventh [day before] the Ides of January,^26 in the year of the Lord 1499. Joh. Trithemius, Abbot.^27

Start of Method XXXI

Method 31. It proceeds by alternate words, and the significant letter is changed into the twelfth [letter].

Method 31. From one vacant [word] through the other [word], with the written eyes [unclear], the significant [word/letter] proceeds by turns, so that always after one vacant [word] a significant one is inserted [unclear]. But for the first letter [unclear: in every alternate word / from every alphabet] [unclear].

Tenor (German plaintext concealed by the cipher)

Sie haben mir geschrieben daß ich zu ihm komme/ aber ich komme nicht du schreibest mir denn vorhin,

Modern English: "They have written to me that I should come to him, but I will not come unless you first write to me."

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^1. The header OCR reads Claus Steganographiae; this is a clear scanno for Clavis Steganographiae, the work title, but the translation marks the reconstruction. ^2. philosophus here may be cipher-cover praise rather than biographical assertion; the surrounding prose is formulaic and OCR-damaged. ^3. arithmetice is likely adjectival/adverbial damage for expertise in arithmetic. ^4. Rhetor is a classical rhetorical role; the capital is typographic, not necessarily a title. ^5. mathematicae profundissimus is grammatically rough in OCR; sense is recoverable as profound mathematical learning. ^6. OCR Tullianamien plausibly points to Tullianam/Ciceronian eloquence, from Marcus Tullius Cicero; this is a defensible reconstruction, not a supplied Latin reading. ^7. artium secreta means secrets or hidden techniques of the arts; in this work it also resonates with steganographic practice. ^8. OCR biforologus may reflect horologus, astrologus, or related technical vocabulary; because the form is not secure, the translation keeps the conjecture bracketed. ^9. Geometra/Geometrar names the practitioner of geometry; OCR final letter is damaged. ^10. Sponheim: the Benedictine abbey associated with Trithemius; printed OCR Sponehim is a positional transposition/scanno. ^11. Non. Ian. = Nones of January, January 5 in the Roman calendar. ^12. Johannes Trithemius, abbot and author/compiler of the Steganographia tradition; here appearing as sender/signature. ^13. alternis dictionibus is a technical cipher instruction: count by alternating words, distinguishing vacant cover words from meaningful/significant ones. ^14. litera significativa is a cipher term for the letter that carries the hidden message. ^15. alphabetum here is the substitution alphabet for the method, not a neutral alphabetic list. ^16. The printed alphabet as OCR'd is internally corrupt (t u, missing h, n, and confused i/u/w/x/z). I preserve the visible pattern but bracket only minimal pattern-based conjectures. ^17. Tenor secreti names the plaintext content concealed by the method. The German line is not a translation of the cover prayer. ^18. OCR Dege[n]trice likely aims at Dei genitrice/God-bearer, a Marian theological title; reconstruction is probable but not printed cleanly. ^19. Mary the perpetual Virgin: central Marian title in the prayer-cover text. ^20. summe unitati is likely theological language for the supreme divine unity; grammar is cover-text-like and damaged. ^21. Advocate of the poor: conventional Marian devotional vocabulary; OCR around this clause is damaged but the phrase is recoverable. ^22. Anna: Saint Anne, mother of Mary in Christian tradition; here invoked in a Marian-adjacent devotional sequence. ^23. Iudicem refers to the divine Judge, probably Christ in eschatological judgment; Christianitatis may be damaged or cover-text filler. ^24. The OCR has Salutatore omnipotentem Dei filiam, a confused mix of Savior/omnipotent/Son or daughter forms. I avoid silently normalizing it to orthodox phrasing. ^25. Gabriel: the archangel of the Annunciation; the grammar around Nuncius Gabriel[is] plenam gratia is OCR-damaged. ^26. 7. Idum[is] Januarij means the seventh day before the Ides of January, i.e. January 7 by inclusive Roman reckoning; OCR ending is damaged. ^27. Joh. Trith, Abb. abbreviates Johannes Trithemius, abbot; this signature is clearer than much of the surrounding cover prose.