Wolfenbüttel, a Minor German Duchy but a Major Center of Cryptology in the Early Modern Period*
Abstract
This paper proposes to highlight cryptographic activities from 1540 to about 1680 at a small duchy—Brunswick-Lüneburg in northern Germany, not too far from Hanover. The analysis shall proceed chronologically and present some relevant examples from the 16th century before focusing on the most important German cryptological author of his time, Duke August the Younger (1579-1666). His 1624 book of 493 pages, Cryptomenytices et Cryptographiae Libri IX[1] (Ill. 1) [DS1] became the cryptological standard work of the 17th century and will be the focus of this paper. Some interesting cryptograms of his successors and a totally surprising, new authorship of the duke’s handbook around 1900 will round out this analysis.
*Paper presented at the Third European Historical Ciphers Colloquium from May 15-17, 2017, at the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Smolenice Castle near Bratislava.
[1] Lüneburg: Gebrüder Stern 1624. Duke August published the folio-size book under the pseudonym of “Gustavus Selenus“—“Gustavus“ is easily recognized as an anagram of “Augustus“ while “Selenus“ refers to the lunar goddess Selene and plays upon the name “Luneburg“ or “Lunaeburg,“ the “lunar“ or “moon castle“ where the work was printed. See Strasser: “Duke August the Younger of Brunswick-Luneburg (Gustavus Selenus) and His Cryptological Activities.“ In: Cryptologia 7 (1983), 193-217.
[DS1]Old No. 3