Experts in cryptology and historians from the University of La Laguna (ULL) have decoded a ciphered letter from the 19th century which unveils a political conspiracy among the former aristocracy of Lagunera (Tenerife) aimed at preserving their power at all costs amidst the conflict surrounding the capital of the newly formed province of the Canary Islands.
The study, which has been published in the journal Cryptology, was conducted by Jezabel Molina, Cándido Caballero, Judit Gutiérrez de Armas and Moti Yung.
Judit Gutiérrez de Armas, an assistant lecturer of Modern History at the University of La Laguna, noted in an interview with EFE that the use of such encrypted letters was a prevalent practice among diplomats and officials of the ruling monarchies during that era, though few have survived.
“In the Canary Islands, it is uncommon to discover these letters in institutional archives; instead, they are often found within the family and personal collections of the politicians and diplomats themselves,” Gutiérrez de Armas explained.
The letter in question was discovered by chance while cataloguing the documents of the Conde de Siete Fuentes Fund, which consists of a family archive comprising over 26,000 records generated and preserved by various noble families in Tenerife from the 16th century up to the 20th century.
Specifically, this letter was located amongst a collection of correspondence received by the sixth Count of Valle de Salazar, Cristóbal Salazar y Porlier (1789-1866).
This politically significant letter lacks chronological details; however, the events described and its mention of Mariano Ricafort Palacín’s appointment as commander general of the Canary Islands (which took place on November 30, 1840), enable it to be dated to December 21 of that year.
A tumultuous period
During that period, Spain was experiencing turbulence following the conclusion of the First Carlist War (1833-1840), and on the islands, political discussions also centred around the capital of the newly established province of the Canary Islands.
Previously, each of the seven islands functioned as its own municipality, directly connected to the central government, meaning that during this restructuring of power, some island elites were destined to lose influence in favour of those from the island that would host the unified capital.
Since 1833, that capital had been Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and discontented with this arrangement, by 1840 the bourgeoisie from Gran Canaria had abandoned their aspirations to make their island the provincial capital, instead proposing the formation of a separate province comprising the eastern islands, with its capital in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
Consequently, when news of the establishment of governing boards in several mainland provinces reached the islands in October, the progressive opposition mobilised.
The first island to respond was Gran Canaria, where on October 23, 1840, a provisional sovereign board was created, accountable to Madrid, with the aim of upholding the Constitution of 1838 and severing ties with Tenerife’s authority.
Meanwhile, in Tenerife, the disapproval of the establishment of the board in Gran Canaria became widespread, and Santa Cruz established
A provincial government board that insisted on the compliance of Gran Canaria, which nevertheless proclaimed itself an independent province. Consequently, communication between the two islands was strained, and the possibility of a military incursion was even proposed, shifting the conflict to Madrid.
As a result, it was crucial to secure the support of the newly appointed commander general of the Canary Islands, designated by the central administration, and within this context, the strategies of the letter’s recipient are revealed.
The sender of the letter was Ulpiano Gónzalez, a lawyer likely engaged to serve as an agent in Madrid. Although not of noble lineage, he advocated for the interests of the old oligarchy of La Laguna, which was accustomed to negotiating its political standing at Court through seasoned lawyers.
The recipient of the letter, on the other hand, was Cristóbal Salazar de Frías y Porlier, VI Count of Valle de Salazar. He was a prominent figure among the ultra-conservative faction of the Tenerife nobility and a staunch supporter of the privileges granted to La Laguna as the former capital of the island, which claimed authority over the entire province of the Canary Islands.
How to decrypt the key?
However, the initial challenge emerges: how to interpret the letter without the key? The answer is provided by Jezabel Molina, a contracted lecturer with a doctorate in the Department of Computer and Systems Engineering at the ULL.
“What Judit discovered was an encrypted letter accompanied by some tables intended for its decryption, though we were unaware of the method or sequence, leading us to commence the manual decryption process using typical structures of our language, starting with monosyllables or familiar patterns, such as dates,” she clarifies.
From that point, “we began to grasp how the tables functioned, determining the potential initial letters of each word along with its key. With this advancement, we transitioned to decoding longer terms,” but, Jezabel Molina adds, the challenge arose “when we found ourselves at a juncture where further progress seemed impossible, probably after the fourth or fifth word. That’s when we opted to automate the procedure using a script.”
“Interestingly, there was a table that we were never able to find, which we had to construct manually,” the researcher explains.
The outcome is that lawyer Ulpiano González outlines in the letter his attempts to persuade the new commanding general of the merits of situating the capital in Tenerife, making it clear that for this capital “La Laguna holds all the favour, unlike Santa Cruz.” He articulated the stance of the Lagunera nobility, which dismissed the meetings as “extemporaneous.”
Furthermore, the lawyer indicated that he advised the commanding general on how to alleviate the tense political atmosphere. He highlighted the specifics of the Canarian political landscape, where “there are no genuine political parties, just personalities,” and clarified which of these figures were “the undesirable” and who were “the reputable.”
Likewise, he advised on the “influential individuals,” recommending members of the conservative political faction, such as Alonso de Nava Grimón and “the Cloguen,” among others.
“Although the content of the letter, nearly 200 years old, might appear callous, it effectively illustrates the necessity to encrypt messages containing sensitive information that could be dangerous in the wrong hands,” states Judit Gutiérrez de Armas.
This type of correspondence reflects the significance of political manoeuvring during the tumultuous 19th century in Spain, where each faction – not always organised as parties – endeavoured to extend its influence in Madrid, the true heart of state authority.
