Skip to main content

Ciphers. Codes.

 Subject
Subject Source: Local sources
Scope Note: Codes used specifically to disguise the content of a message, involving a rule defined by a secret key known only to the transmitters and legitimate receivers of the message. (AAT) Use for all documents in, or including, cipher, and also for cipher keys. Where a cipher key is present record the fact in the catalogue record. (NLS) .

Found in 27 Collections and/or Records:

Collection of state papers of the reigns of James VI and Charles I made by Sir James Balfour of Denmilne, Lord Lyon King of Arms.

 Collection
Identifier: Adv.MSS.33.1.1-33.1.15
Scope and Contents

The collection is known both as the `Denmilne State Papers` and the `Denmilne Collection`. Less formally it is often referred to as the `Denmilne Manuscripts`.

Dates: 1548-1641.

Copies or drafts of letters and memoranda of Mary, Queen of Scots, or associated closely with her, probably written by various secretaries.

 File
Identifier: MS.6135
Scope and Contents The items are also closely associated with William Maitland of Lethington, and are chiefly concerned with the diplomatic negotiations of the period with England and France; they are apparently unpublished. Where no exact date is given on the document, the letters have been dated from internal evidence.The contents are as follows.(i) Copy letter, [end of February 1563], of William Maitland of Lethington to François, Duc de Guise, reporting the course of his...
Dates: [1562]-1563, [1568].

Correspondence of the family of MacGregor or Drummond of Balhaldie., 1631-1833, 1908, undated.

 Sub-Series
Identifier: MSS.3186-3189
Scope and Contents The correspondence gives a picture of the habitual life and activities of Jacobite families in Scotland and in exile. In addition to the affairs of the family of Balhaldie, it deals with those of the Camerons of Lochiel, the Earls of Perth, the Sempills, various unidentified Drummonds, and, later, the Oliphants of Gask.The earlier letters relate chiefly to family business and local affairs in the neighbourhood of Dunblane. Several unsigned letters of Allan Cameron, son of Sir...
Dates: 1631-1833, 1908, undated.

General account ledger, 'Y', numbered '136', of Andrew Fletcher, Lord Milton, with many headings omitted or in cypher., 1746-1760.

 Item
Identifier: MS.16914
Scope and Contents From the Sub-Series:

No completely logical arrangement of these books is possible, due to multiple use of the same book, to the existence of the same accounts in draft and final form, and to the fact that in his old age Lord Milton repeatedly revised and extracted old accounts. The basic division into ledgers and other books (subdivided by size) goes back to him. Most are in his own hand, a few (in whole or in part) in those of his clerks. Personal, estate, and professional matters are all included.

Dates: 1746-1760.

Household and personal account books of the family of Dundas of Dundas., Early 17th century-1762.

 Sub-Series
Identifier: Adv.MSS.80.3.47-80.3.57
Scope and Contents From the Collection: The papers, with some exceptions, have been arranged in the following categories:Adv.MSS.80.1.1-80.1.18: Correspondence.80.2.1-80.2.66: Financial papers.80.3.1-80.3.57: Account books.80.4.1-80.4.16: Miscellaneous estate papers.80.5.1-80.5.6: Legal papers.80.6.1-80.6.14: Notes and notebooks of George Dundas of Dundas, Advocate.80.7.1-80.7.14: Miscellaneous papers and books.The main exceptions are...
Dates: Early 17th century-1762.

Legal, financial and miscellaneous papers of the 2nd Marquess of Tweeddale., 1669-1712.

 Sub-Series
Identifier: MSS.14495-14496
Scope and Contents From the Series: The papers catalogued here are especially rich in political material, 17th century-19th century, in estate and local affairs correspondence and papers, 16th century-20th century, in financial and legal material, 15th century-20th century, and in personal, household and estate accounts, 17th century-19th century. There is material concerning India in the correspondence and papers of the 8th, 9th and 10th Marquesses of Tweeddale, and concerning the Peninsular War in the correspondence and...
Dates: 1669-1712.

Legal, financial and miscellaneous papers of the 2nd Marquess of Tweeddale., 1669-1712, undated.

 File
Identifier: MS.14496
Scope and Contents The contents are as follows:(i) Financial papers, 1669-1712, being chiefly bonds and discharges of and to the 2nd Marquess of Tweeddale (folio 1);(ii) Papers, 1700-1712, of financial transactions between the 2nd Marquess of Tweeddale and his children (folio 56);(iii) Papers, 1705-1707, of the executry of Andrew Hay, son of Sir John Hay, Lord Clerk Register (folio 74);(iv) Cypher tables, 1707-1711 (folio 105);(v) Miscellaneous...
Dates: 1669-1712, undated.

Manuscript of an incomplete copy of 'De Actibus Apostolorum' by Arator.

 Item
Identifier: Adv.MS.18.8.19
Scope and Contents Manuscript produced in England containing an incomplete copy of Arator's 'De Actibus Apostolorum'. The manuscript was probably written at the end of the 12th century, and has been dated as such by Ker and Watson. The work has also been dated to the 13th century by Borland and McKinlay. The work is written in a gothic script with between 27-34 lines to a page. The manuscript is the work of several contemporary hands. McKinley has identified four different hands present...
Dates: Late 12th century.

Miscellaneous papers and books of the family of Dundas of Dundas., 1543-1924.

 Series
Identifier: Adv.MSS.80.7.1-80.7.14
Scope and Contents From the Collection: The papers, with some exceptions, have been arranged in the following categories:Adv.MSS.80.1.1-80.1.18: Correspondence.80.2.1-80.2.66: Financial papers.80.3.1-80.3.57: Account books.80.4.1-80.4.16: Miscellaneous estate papers.80.5.1-80.5.6: Legal papers.80.6.1-80.6.14: Notes and notebooks of George Dundas of Dundas, Advocate.80.7.1-80.7.14: Miscellaneous papers and books.The main exceptions are...
Dates: 1543-1924.

Notes of the family of Dundas of Dundas in cipher., 17th century.

 Item
Identifier: Adv.MS.80.7.7
Scope and Contents From the Collection: The papers, with some exceptions, have been arranged in the following categories:Adv.MSS.80.1.1-80.1.18: Correspondence.80.2.1-80.2.66: Financial papers.80.3.1-80.3.57: Account books.80.4.1-80.4.16: Miscellaneous estate papers.80.5.1-80.5.6: Legal papers.80.6.1-80.6.14: Notes and notebooks of George Dundas of Dundas, Advocate.80.7.1-80.7.14: Miscellaneous papers and books.The main exceptions are...
Dates: 17th century.

Poems, notes, extracts from books, and a diplomatic cipher., 1794, 1807, undated.

 File
Identifier: MS.5720
Scope and Contents From the Fonds: After serving his apprenticeship as Secretary and Chargé d'Affaires at the courts of Munich, Ratisbon, Berlin, Turin and Madrid, Robert Liston was appointed Minister Plenipotentiary at Madrid in 1784.After leaving Madrid he was the British Representative at Stockholm, Constantinople, Washington, The Hague, and again at Constantinople.Within each regional section there are two main categories, official and personal. The first contains documents, with instructions or...
Dates: 1794, 1807, undated.

State papers collected by Sir James Balfour of Denmilne, volume 30: letters and papers on Italian affairs., 1548-1624, undated.

 File
Identifier: Adv.MS.33.1.13 [xxx]
Scope and Contents

The letters and papers concern the diplomatic missions of Michael Balfour, Lord Balfour of Burleigh; Sir Anthony Shirley; and a treaty between Savoy and Spain in 1615. A small group is addressed to Mary of Guise, 1548-1549.

Dates: 1548-1624, undated.

Unidentified text, apparently 18th century, written in cipher.

 File
Identifier: MS.20769
Scope and Contents

The cipher alphabet included Roman and Greek letters, astrological symbols, and other apparently invented symbols. The text appears to be divided into sections by horizontal lines. The name Baptiste Romin or Romain is added in pencil on folios 27 and 28 (inverted). Loosely enclosed is a fragment of a copy by Robert Mylne of Sir Thomas Urquhart's ‘Παντοχεονοχανον’ (London, 1652). This bifolium, paginated 33-36, contains numbers 98-113 of the 'genealogy' of the Urquharts.

Dates: 1652, 18th century.