ABSTRACT
What do the following people have in common: the Hungarian poet whose private life is in crisis while he is in litigation with his family; the Serbian secret agent whose life is in danger while he is sending crucial information to the imperial court; the Transylvanian master of the mint who is eager to protect his technical knowledge; the Hungarian magnate who despises both the Turkish and the Habsburg powers; the Emperor in Vienna who corresponds with his ambassador in Constantinople; and the Archbishop who is writing to his Italian delegate? These people stood on various levels of social hierarchy. Though they were all literate, their education and cultural backgrounds differed, as did their political power and influence on history. Yet, they all applied the same means when trying to protect their messages from prying eyes: the technology of ciphering.
