Francesco (Cicco) Simonetta (born Caccuri 1410, died Pavia 1480) was an Italian secretary, and statesman. Caccuri is a commune and Town in the Province of Crotone in Calabria, Italy. Pavia (pronounced Pavìa,) the ancient Ticinum, is a town and Comune of south-western Lombardy, northern Italy, 35 km south He also is remembered for composing an early treatise on cryptography. Cryptography (or cryptology; from Greek grc κρυπτός kryptos, "hidden secret" and grc γράφω gráphō, "I write"
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Cicco and the Duchy of Milan
The Simonetta family originated in Calabria, Southern Italy. Calabria ( Latin: Brutium) is a region in southern Italy, south of Naples, located at the "toe" of Francesco, nicknamed Cicco (pron. CHEEK-ko) had a fine education. He studied Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and other languages and graduated in civil and canonic law, presumably in Naples. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly Naples ( Napoli, Neapolitan: Nàpule) is a historic City in southern Italy, the Capital of the
As a young man, he entered the service of the Sforza family as a secretary to the ‘‘condottiero’’ Francesco Sforza (1401–1466) and rapidly rose to the top of the administration. Francesco I Sforza ( July 23, 1401 - March 8, 1466) was an Italian Condottiero, the founder of the Sforza dynasty in He was soon placed in charge of the city of Lodi. Lodi ( pronounced) is a town in Lombardy, Italy, on the right bank of the River Adda.
In 1441, Francesco Sforza married Bianca Maria Visconti (1425–1468), illegitimate daughter of Filippo Maria Visconti, 3rd Duke of Milan. Francesco I Sforza ( July 23, 1401 - March 8, 1466) was an Italian Condottiero, the founder of the Sforza dynasty in Bianca Maria Visconti (born 31 March 1425 - 28 October 1468) was Duchess of Milan from 1450 to 1468 Filippo Maria Visconti, ( September 23, 1392 &ndash August 13, 1447) was ruler of Milan from 1412 to 1447 On Filippo’s death (1447), the so-called Ambrosian Republic had been set up in Milan by the patrician families. The Golden Ambrosian Republic (Italian Aurea Repubblica Ambrosiana; 1447&ndash1450 was a short-lived government founded in Milan by members of the University of Milan (Milano Milan (listen) is one of the largest cities in Italy, located in the plains of Lombardy. In 1450, Francesco Sforza, backed by the Venetians, laid siege to Milan to combat the aristocrats. Francesco I Sforza ( July 23, 1401 - March 8, 1466) was an Italian Condottiero, the founder of the Sforza dynasty in The city surrendered after eight months and Francesco made himself ‘‘Capitano del popolo. ’’ He was proclaimed duke by the people and by right of his wife. A duke is a member of the Nobility, historically of highest rank below the Sovereign, and historically controlled a Duchy or a Dukedom
Cicco was nominated ‘‘golden knight’’ and entered the ducal chancellery. This appointment was the beginning of his undisputed domination of the political situation for thirty years.
As a reward for his services, he was given the fief of Sartirana, in Lomellina, which he administered with competency and care. Merate is a municipality of 14074 inhabitants in the Province of Lecco, Lombardy (northern Italy) The Lomellina is a geographical and historical area in the Pianura Padana ( Po River 's valley of northern Italy located in south-western Lombardy between He soon became a member of the Secret Council. When he married Elisabetta Visconti in 1452 his fame was widespread.
In 1456, he received the honorary citizenship of Novara, which was later followed by those of Lodi and Parma. Novara ( Nuara in the local Novarese dialect of Western Lombard) is the capital city of the Province of Novara in the Piedmont region in northwest Parma is a City in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna near Modena famous for its Architecture and the fine countryside around it
In 1465, he wrote the Constitutiones et Ordines as a contribution to a better organization of the chancellery, over which he now had complete control.
At the death of Francesco Sforza (1466) his son Galeazzo Maria (1444–1476) succeeded his father. Francesco I Sforza ( July 23, 1401 - March 8, 1466) was an Italian Condottiero, the founder of the Sforza dynasty in Galeazzo Maria Sforza ( January 24, 1444 &ndash December 26, 1476) was Duke of Milan from 1466 until his death His mother Bianca Maria and the other influential families did not approve of his capricious conduct of the state affairs, but Cicco sided with Galeazzo.
The year 1474 marked the peak of Cicco’s fame and power. He wrote his Rules for Decrypting Enciphered Documents Without a Key, presumably for use by his collaborators, although no evidence exists of actual utilization of these rules in the field.
In 1476, Galeazzo was assassinated and was succeeded by his 7-year-old son Gian Galeazzo (1469–1494). Gian Galeazzo Sforza (also Giovan Galeazzo Sforza) ( June 20, 1469 - October 21, 1494) was the sixth Duke of Milan. His tutor was his mother, Bona of Savoy. Bona of Savoy ( 8 October 1449 –1503 was born in Chambéry, Savoy. In this period of unrest, Cicco’s diplomatic activity was intense. He maneuvered in order to maintain stability in the Milanese state during the endemic conflicts between Guelphs, Ghibellines and the various wars and interstate alliances. The Guelphs and Ghibellines were factions supporting respectively the Papacy and the Holy Roman Empire in central and northern Italy The Guelphs and Ghibellines were factions supporting respectively the Papacy and the Holy Roman Empire in central and northern Italy
The next year he became ducal secretary, (i. e. prime minister). The duchy was in his hands. This provoked the hatred of Ludovico il Moro (1452–1508), one of the younger brothers of Galeazzo, who plotted to seize the duchy. Ludovico Sforza Duke of Milan ( Ludovico il Moro, "The Moor" July 27, 1452 &ndash May 27, 1508) a member
The main obstacle to his project was the presence of Cicco Simonetta in the city government. After many personal vicissitudes, Ludovico managed to gain the confidence of the duchess and convinced her to arrest Cicco.
He was accused falsely of treason, imprisoned, and tortured in Pavia. In Law, treason is the Crime that covers some of the more serious acts of disloyalty to one's sovereign or Nation. Torture, according to the United Nations Convention Against Torture, is "any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental is intentionally His house and assets were pillaged, and he was beheaded in the tower of the castle. Decapitation (from Latin, caput, capitis, meaning head or beheading, is the cutting off of the head of a person or animal His body was buried in the cloister of Sant’Apollinare, outside the Milan city walls, to mark the end of his influence in the Milanese politics. A cloister (from Latin claustrum) is a part of Cathedral, Monastic and Abbey architecture Milan (Milano Milan (listen) is one of the largest cities in Italy, located in the plains of Lombardy.
During the Sforza dynasty, the duchy had enjoyed years of prosperity and great expansion despite the political turmoil. Important buildings were erected in the cities; the farming of rice and the silk industry were introduced in agriculture. Along with the advent of printing Milan had become a cultural center unequaled in all Europe, until it fell into foreign hands after the death of Ludovico il Moro. Ludovico Sforza Duke of Milan ( Ludovico il Moro, "The Moor" July 27, 1452 &ndash May 27, 1508) a member
Presently a fragment of his tombstone and the name of a narrow street in Milan are the only visible testimonials of this outstanding public figure in the tumultuous scenery of the Quattrocento.
Decrypting rules
Rules for Decrypting Enciphered Documents Without a Key - Pavia, 1474 (English translation of Paris BNF codex 1595 by Augusto Buonafalce). Pavia (pronounced Pavìa,) the ancient Ticinum, is a town and Comune of south-western Lombardy, northern Italy, 35 km south
1. The first requisite is to see whether the document is in Latin or in the vernacular, and this can be determined in the following manner. See whether the words of the document in question have only five different terminations, or less, or more: if there are only five or less, you are justified in concluding that it is in the vernacular; if they are more than five you can assume your document to be in Latin; and this is because all vernacular words in our language end in a vowel, and the vowels are five, A, E, I, O, U. If the words of the document submitted to your attention have more than five terminations you can conclude that the document is in Latin, and that is because the Latin words can terminate in a vowel, semivowel, viz. L, M, N, R, S, X or mute, viz. B, C, D, F, G, K, Q, P, T.
2. Another rule to discover if a text is in vernacular or Latin. Inspect the document to see whether it contains words repeated and often used that are represented by only one character, because in this case it is very likely that the document is in vernacular; and that is because words represented by only one character appear very frequently in the vernacular, while in Latin the words represented by only one letter or character are only four, viz. the prepositions E, A, the vocative adverb O, and the imperative verb I, but these one-letter words are rarely used in correspondence except the preposition A.
3. Also examine your document to see if there are words of two or three letters or characters used repeatedly and frequently and consider that the document might be in vernacular and that is because words of that kind are repeated more frequently in vernacular than in Latin.
4. After determining through the above rules whether the document is in vernacular or in Latin, if it is in vernacular you are sure of which characters represent the vowels, not necessarily in the end, but intermingled; however characters that are in the end of words are always vowels in the common parlance of all Italy. After you have identified the vowels according to the above instructions, take note of the character among those found in the end of words that is repeated more frequently in monosyllabic words and single characters, because it is possible and quite probable that such character represents E; for that is an auxiliary verb as well as the copulative conjunction E and consequently E is very frequently repeated and found in vulgar texts.
5. Also, two-letter words in the vernacular are to be considered because many of them begin by L in view of the fact that articles such as LO and LA in the singular and LI, LE in the plural are used before common nouns.
6. Also inspect the three-letter words and if one of them occurs frequently in your document it might be the word CHE, which repeats frequently in the vernacular.
7. If it happens that your document is in Latin and not in the vernacular, then inspect the characters at the end of words and which repeat frequently in that position, because it is probable that they are the vowels or S, or M or T; this is because most of the Latin words end in a vowel, in S, M or T and few of them end in a mute consonant different from T except AB, AD and QUOD, which are rather frequent in all correspondence.
8. Another rule. Inspect the document in question to see if there is a word represented by a single character, and assume that such character represents A, because in documents written in Latin there rarely occur words of one letter different from the preposition A as we said before.
9. Another rule. Observe the characters that are at the end of words, which, as was said before, frequently represent one of the vowels, or S or M or T and look if any of them is in words of one or two letters, because if they are in words of one letter then that character represents one of the vowels, for no word or syllable can exist without a vowel, and that vowel will be A or E or I or O; but more probably it will be the preposition A, as was said before. However if it is in a word of two letters mentally go through all the two-letter words and especially those that more frequently occur in messages, such as ET, UT, AD, SI, ME, TE and SE. And in case you forget some, I shall list here all the words of two letters or at least most of them, viz. AB, AC, AD, AN and AT, DA, DE and DO, EA, EI, EO, ET, EX and ES, HE, HI, ID, II, IN, IR, IS and IT, ME, MI, NA, NE and NI, OB, OS, RE, SE and SI, TU, TE, VE, VI and UT.
10. Another rule. Consider if in your document there are three-letter words of which the first letter is the same as or similar to the last, because perhaps, such a word will be NON, which often occurs in dispatches, or SIS or IBI: and mentally run through all words of three letters where the first letter is the same as the last, such as ALA, AMA, ANA, ARA, EDE, EME, ERE, EHE, IXI, IVI.
11. Another rule. See if in the given document there are any words where a character is triplicate without spaces, for such a character represents U as in UVULA.
12. Another rule. Consider if in the document there is any doubled letter and especially in words of four characters, for such a character is likely to be representative of L or S, which are most frequently doubled, such as ESSE and ILLE.
13. A last rule, common to vernacular and Latin texts. Observe if in the document submitted to you there is a character always followed by the same character, for that character will be a Q and the following letter will be U, because after Q always follows U and the letter following U will be a vowel, for after Q follows U and after U another vowel. These rules, however, may be baffled in various ways, for instance by writing the letter partly in vernacular and partly in Latin; or including in the text characters having no meaning especially in words of one, two or three letters; and also enciphering with two entirely different cipher alphabets or substituting Q and U with a single letter.
Comments to the Decrypting Rules
Cicco Simonetta has been described in the cryptological literature as an important cryptanalyst in consideration of his famous rules.
His work is in reality a collection of hints for solving ciphers that were rather old-fashioned at that time. Contemporary cipher clerks were well equipped to defy the tricks he described. Nomenclators were in general use, combining small codebooks and large substitution tables with homophones and nulls (See figure 4).
His cipher-breaking rules are applicable to dispatches with word divisions, without homophones, nulls or code words. He says nothing of polyalphabetic substitution or the existence of nomenclators. This judgment is in agreement with what the noted Italian cryptographer Luigi Sacco [1] wrote in his Un primato italiano. La crittografia nei secoli XV e XVI: “Le tredici regole del Simonetta sono applicabili solo alle cifre senza omofoni, senza nulle ed a parole staccate, cifre che si potevano ritenere già sorpassate nel 1474 in Italia”.
His notes were anticipated by Alberti in his theoretical, but more comprehensive treatise De Cifris, which earned him the title of Father of Western Cryptology. Leon Battista Alberti ( February 14, 1404 &ndash April 25, 1472) was an Italian author artist Architect, Poet The Alberti Cipher was one of the first Polyalphabetic ciphers Leon Battista Alberti Created in the 15th century (1466/67 by Leon Battista
It was only a century later that a scientific treatise entirely devoted to cryptanalysis was written by the French mathematician François Viète, who may rightly be called the Father of Modern Cryptanalysis. François Viète (or Vieta) seigneur de la Bigotière ( 1540 - February 13, 1603) generally known as Franciscus Vieta,
Cicco might have been involved in cipher work in his early career, but no evidence of such activity has been found. Obviously, ciphering and deciphering letters was a daily necessity with all secretaries at all times, but considering the high level of Cicco’s position in the court of the Sforza’s, one can hardly imagine him struggling for hours with a difficult dispatch and concocting his rules trough actual daily experience.
In connection with this activity Samuel Pepys wrote: ‘‘… it is very rare that either our own or any other princes give themselves the care of labour of any correspondences about the affairs of their states with their own hands,. Samuel Pepys, FRS (23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703 was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament, who is now most famous for . . that work being universally lodged by princes in the hands of their Secretaries of State, who I find, too, are so practiced and satisfied in the security of their ordinary methods of ciphering. . . that they do not seem to be under any solicitude for better’’.
References
- Buonafalce, A. “Cicco Simonetta’s Cipher-Breaking Rules”, Cryptologia XXXII: 1. 62-70. 2008.
- Colussi, P. Cicco Simonetta, Capro Espiatorio di Ludovico il Moro. Storia di Milano Vol. VII, Milano 1957.
- Natale, A. R. Ed. I Diari di Cicco Simonetta (1473–76 and 1478), Milano 1962.
- Perret, P. -M. "Les règles de Cicco Simonetta pour le déchiffrement des écritures secrètes" Paris Bibliothèque de l’École des chartes 51 (1890) 516-525.
- Pesic, P. “François Viète. Father of Modern Cryptanalysis—Two New Manuscripts”, Cryptologia XXI: 1. 1-29. 1997.
- Sacco, L. , "Un Primato Italiano. La Crittografia nei Secoli XV e XVI", Bollettino dell'Istituto Storico e di Cultura dell'Arma del Genio, Roma, December 1947.
- Smith, Rev. J. , Ed. The Life, Journals and Correspondence of Samuel Pepys. 275. 1841.
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