The Rohonc Codex is arguably the second-best-known encrypted book in the world, after the famous Voynich Manuscript. I have blogged about it several times, mentioned it in my books, and given talks about it.
I have also created a facsimile edition of the manuscript, which you can see here:
The Rohonc Codex is a handwritten, encrypted book containing numerous illustrations. It was donated to the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 1838 by Count Gusztáv Batthyány as part of his gift of his private library. The manuscript has remained in the Academy’s collection ever since.
Source: Hungarian Academy of Science
The first modern scholarly publication on the Rohonc Codex was written by my friend Benedek Láng from Hungary. The following photograph shows the two of us together (I am on the left; Elonka Dunin is second from the right):
Benedek also wrote a book about the Rohonc Codex:
A sensational new discovery: A letter from 1571
The latest insights into the Rohonc Codex come from Benedek Láng, Levente Zoltán Király, Gábor Tokai, and Dóra Bobory. The four researchers have presented their findings in a recently published article in the journal Cryptologia. Their discovery is remarkable: They have found a letter dating from 1571 that mentions the Rohonc Codex.
This is sensational in itself. Until now, virtually nothing was known about the manuscript’s history before 1838. But there is even more: The letter was accompanied by four previously unknown pages from the Codex! Three of these pages contain illustrations. Here is one of the newly discovered pages:
Source: Hungarian National Archives
The discovery provides several important new insights into the manuscript’s history and origins:
- The Codex probably entered the Batthyány Library around 1571. This is earlier than many assumed.
- The manuscript was most likely produced in Hungary.
- Its author was an erudite individual. This makes the theories that it was created by an uneducated genius or by a religious sect considerably less plausible.
- The hypothesis that the Rohonc Codex is a 19th-century forgery or hoax can now be definitively ruled out.
These findings significantly advance our understanding of one of the world’s most intriguing encrypted manuscripts.
Congratulations to the researchers!
I would like to congratulate Benedek Láng, Levente Zoltán Király, Gábor Tokai, and Dóra Bobory on this outstanding achievement. Unfortunately, this fascinating research breakthrough has received relatively little attention. With so many AI-based decipherment claims appearing over the past few weeks, this important piece of genuine scholarly research has somewhat fallen under the radar.
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