The funds of the Cabinet of Western European Books keep amazing historical monuments. Among them is the book "Steganography, that is, the True art of discovering with the help of secret writing the motives of one's soul to distant people" by Abbot Trithemius.
A small parchment-bound notebook was in the past in the library of the Vyatka Theological Seminary. Obviously, the book once had a different owner, but his name is literally cut from the title page.
This book belongs to the absolute rarities, and its history is very interesting. To start with the personality of the author - Abbot Trithemius. Legends circulated about this scientist, reflected in Goethe's "Faust".
In fact, his name is Johann Heidenberg. He was born on February 2, 1462 in Trittenheim (that's where the Latinized name comes from), and died in 1516. In 1480, Johann entered the renowned University of Heidelberg, which was distinguished, among other things, by an excellent library. By the way, the list of students for 1509 includes the name of Johann Faust, a bachelor of theology. At the University of Trithemius, together with his fellow students, who later became the pride of Germany, he founded a secret society for the study of astrology, magic of numbers, languages and mathematics.
The society itself received the name "Sodalitas Celtica" ("Celtic Brotherhood"). The founders of the society took on pseudonyms: Huismann became Agricola, and Heidenberg became Trithemius. It studied philosophy, astrology, Pythagorean mathematics.
At the age of 20, Trithemius was ordained in the Benedictine monastery of St. Martin in Spongheim, later became abbot of Spongheim and Würzburg monasteries. It seems that the choice was not accidental, since these monasteries were distinguished by excellent libraries.
Subsequently, to replenish them, he bought books with his own money and collected the richest library of manuscripts in Germany. He disliked the newly invented typography; printed books seemed rude to him. The library, which he collected with his own money, cost him more than fifteen hundred gold ducats.
This learned man perfectly knew the Hebrew language, as well as a number of other Eastern ones, had contacts with theologians, Kabbalists, alchemists. When he became interested in alchemy and magic, interest in these areas of knowledge became a disinterested impulse of a scientist who did not seek neither enrichment nor power.
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The behavior of Abbot Trithemius resembles the behavior of our contemporary Abbot Lemaitre de Louvain, the creator of the theory of the expanding Universe, which A. Einstein himself admired. During his studies, Trithemius created a way to hypnotize people at a distance through telepathy and using a special language.
Conducting extensive correspondence, he had the imprudence to inform about his original research, in which linguistics, mathematics, kabbalism and parapsychology were bizarrely mixed:
So in 1500 the manuscript of "Steganography" (in translation - cryptography) appeared in eight parts. Apparently, Trithemius invented a method of hypnosis at a distance using telepathy and a specially created language. The meaning of the phrases in this language was not decisive - the rhythm and phonetics of what was spoken entered into contact with the subconscious. The magic formula completed the result.
The information was put into the subconscious of the messenger and was obtained in the form of a mechanical unconscious retelling using a code word or phrase, which only the recipient of the message was supposed to know. This technique is now known as neurolinguistic programming.
The bestseller lists went from hand to hand, and the storm was not slow to break out. Trithemius was accused of sorcery, black magic and was expelled from the Spongheim monastery. Miraculously, he managed to escape the fire of the Inquisition. His book was less fortunate.
The manuscript was burned on the orders of Count Elector Philip, governor of the Rhineland, who, after reading it, clearly understood what consequences could occur if it fell into the hands of a cynical and educated ambitious.
As a matter of fact, in his occult works "Steganography" and "Polygraphy" he covertly sets out not only the practice of influence at a distance, but also the system of information encryption.
Of course, it cannot be said that Trithemius is the founder of cryptography. The cipher system has existed since time immemorial.
So, in Ancient Greece, cryptography was already widely used in various fields of activity, especially in the public sphere. In the V-IV centuries. BC e. used one of the first encryption devices - scital. The method of breaking this cipher is attributed to Aristotle.
Another encryption device was the Aeneas tablet. On a small plate, the alphabet was horizontally located, and on its sides there were recesses for winding the thread. When encrypting, the thread was fixed at one of the sides of the plate and wound around it. Marks were made on the thread (for example, knots) in places that were opposite the letters of the given text.
The largest English philosopher and scientist of the 17th century. Lord Chancellor Francis Bacon paid serious attention to ciphers. He believed that they should not be decrypted, should not take long to write and read, and should not arouse any suspicion.
The most serious proposal of Trithemius for the protection of information, which has come down to our days, is the table Trithemius invented by him. The first letter of the text is encrypted on the first line, the second letter on the second, and so on, after using the last line, they return to the first.
E. A. Malysheva