Artykuły naukowe (WHis)
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Item Szyfr Jana Żdżarowskiego (-1551) na tle metod kryptograficznych używanych w Polsce pierwszej połowy XVI w.(Biblioteka Uniwersytecka w Poznaniu, 2021-12-30) Łukaszewski, JakubThis article presents an analysis of the ciphering system used in the a daily record of news and events of a personal nature in the Diary/Journal that belonged to the Poznań canon Jan Żdżarowski (d. 1551). The cryptographic methods implemented by Żdżarowski are presented against a broader background. The first section of the article is devoted to a discussion on the basic cryptographic methods used in Poland in the first half of the sixteenth century. Initially, the alphabets other than the Latin alphabet (notably the Cyrillic script) were used for the purpose, then the two following encryption systems or types of substitution cyphers became firmly established: monoalphabetic cipher and a simple homophonic cipher supplemented with a number of cipher keys, i.e. sets of rules by which plaintext could be converted into cipher text within an encryption system. A tentative juxtaposition of well-known examples of encryption systems in Poland shows that they were originally used predominantly in the Royal Chancery to hide confidential or classified diplomatic correspondence from unauthorized users. However, very soon the methods employed in the Chancery started to be employed for private purposes, for personal notes in diaries and journals. The other part of the article provides a number of examples of encoding information in marginal notes or notations written on the pages of printed annual or perpetual almanacs and ephemerides. Four almanacs of this type were identified. Three of them belonged to clergymen: Maciej Drzewicki (1467–1535), Jan Żdżarowski (d. 1551) and Piotr Myszkowski (ca 1505–1591), while the fourth almanac, anonymous, includes two cipher texts from 1534. Drzewicki and Myszkowski would use character encoding and replace the Latin script with the Cyrillic script, or alternatively the Greek script, to hide (or encode) information introduced to their almanacs. The anonymous author of the 1534 almanac and Jan Żdżarowski employed simple symmetrical substitution or monoalphabetic ciphers. In confidential diplomatic correspondence and in personal journals cryptography served exactly the same purpose and was used to hide essential information. The Żdżarowski cipher system (its deciphering is presented in this article) was used to conceal information on the murder of the priest Jan Łukomski (in which Żdżarowski was implicated) and on the birth of his son Maciej. Drzewicki, in turn, would conceal his money loans to the Grand Chancellor of the Crown Jan Łaski, while Myszkowski would code his remarks on his ever growing symptoms of gonorrhea that molested him. With the example of the notes written by Żdżarowski, it is proved that these daily records were not strictly personal, as outsiders had also access to them. In general, the analysed ciphered notes concealed discreditable or embarrassing facts that were wished to be kept secret. These secrets, however, were important enough and useful for their owners and they decided to record and memorialise them, though using encrypted ciphers. The article is supplemented with the Annex that includes a tentative list of the ciphers used in correspondence and journals of Polish provenance between 1508–1551.