Abstract:

The Copiale Cipher is a105-pages long, hand-written encrypted manuscript from the mid-eighteenth century. Its code was cracked and the text was deciphered by using modern computational technology combined with philological methods. We describe the book, the features of the text, and give a brief summary of the method by which we deciphered it. Finally, we present the content and the secret society, namely the Oculists, who were hiding behind the cipher.

Author: Kevin Knight, Beáta Megyesi, Christiane Schaefer