[Cryptography] The Professionalization of Cryptology in Sixteenth-Century Venice

[iang]

The Merchants of Venice—In Code

Sixteenth-century Venice conducted its affairs in code, so much so that 
cryptology was professionalized and regulated by the state.

The secret in secretary is hidden in plain sight. In late Middle 
English, a secretary was literally one who kept secrets. In 
sixteenth-century Venice, there were professional cifrista, cipher 
secretaries, that is, cryptographers, writing secrets in code to secure 
communications from prying eyes. The Venetian city-state, which then 
dominated the politics and commerce of Northern Italy, the Adriatic, and 
the eastern Mediterranean, actively conducted its affairs in code. 
Cryptology was so important and widespread in Venice’s Stato de Màr 
(State of the Sea) it became professionalized and state controlled.

Scholar Ioanna Iordanou explores how cryptology was first an 
intellectual pursuit that evolved into amateur use by merchants and 
rulers and then became professionalized in the 1500s, “premised on 
specialist skills through professional training.” There would ultimately 
be a cryptology department in the Doge’s Palace, the secreto or Black 
Chamber on the top floor.

...

https://daily.jstor.org/the-merchants-of-venice-in-code/



Source paper:

The Professionalization of Cryptology in Sixteenth-Century Venice
Ioanna Iordanou

Abstract
This article examines the evolution of cryptology as a business trait 
and a distinct state-controlled and -regulated profession in 
sixteenth-century Venice. It begins by briefly discussing the systematic 
development of cryptology in the Renaissance. Following an examination 
of the amateur use of codes and ciphers by members of the Venetian 
merchant and ruling classes, and subsequently by members of all layers 
of Venetian society, the article moves on to discuss the 
professionalization of cryptology in sixteenth-century Venice. This was 
premised on specialist skills formation, a shared professional identity, 
and an emerging professional ethos. The article explores a potential 
link between the amateur use of cryptology, especially as it had been 
instigated by merchants in the form of merchant-style codes, and its 
professional use by the Venetian authorities. It also adds the 
profession of the cifrista—the professional cipher secretary—to the list 
of more “conventional” early modern professions.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/enterprise-and-society/article/abs/professionalization-of-cryptology-in-sixteenthcentury-venice/4C1A7D44C76A4CD7F421A27D1CBDD4D5