ABSTRACT
This research has two objectives in order to fill the gaps in the study of cryptography and secrecy. First, it aims to reconstruct the social milieus of the applicants and the reception of cryptography, not only in diplomacy (where ciphers were used in the largest quantity and in their most professional form), but also in science, religion, artisanal tradition, university context, espionage, medicine, and in the private lives of noblemen, engineers, and everyday people, where previous research had neglected its role. Second, it aims to integrate cryptography into the larger intellectual context of secrecy, in private, medical, scientific, religious, alchemical, magical, and political practices of secrecy, that is, in the context where it sui generis belongs.
