The Code contained in the Orffyrean Declaration of Faith - Part Two

 

SKILLED CODEBREAKER NEEDED!

Do you have the skills to decipher a 300 hundred year old code which could revolutionise the way we produce cheap clean energy? If the answer is yes, read on.

Deciphering the Orffyrean Declaration of Faith

 Part Two

Apologia Poetica - the clues to deciphering Orffyreus’ secret message.

 

 

The Decoding of Chapter 55

 

We can narrow the search for the text which includes the code to a small chapter in the book, “Apologia Poetica. Chapter 55 is the last chapter in the first part of Apologia.

When he first began to write the book, Bessler had no intention of writing it in two parts. So, all necessary clues had already been built into part one, however as he says himself, he had to react to attempts by his enemies, Gartner, Wagner and Borlach, to blacken his reputation and chose to add a second part to Apologia to refute the accusations made against him. Chapter 55 would have been the last chapter in the book, and not just the final chapter in part one and we may assume that this was the one he wanted to draw our attention to because it is numbered 55 and because of the large number of pieces of code that when deciphered simply reveal the number 55, for which there seems almost no other reason. Even though it was a later addition, the second part of Apologia Poetica includes a number of simple clues which also point to Chapter 55. 

To narrow the search further we have to identify the particular part of Chapter 55 which is where the clues are hidden. The rhyming throughout the book, (224 pages) is written according to the AABB scheme, the first line rhyming with the second line - rhyming couplets. However, part of the way into chapter 55 the rhyming changes to ABAB, the first and third lines rhyming, and the second and fourth, producing a four-line stanza instead of the two-line ones. The text reverts to rhyming couplets before the end of chapter 55, so this implies that the text within the four-line stanzas section is of significance and because it is the only part with this rhyming scheme it is reasonable to assume that it is this section which holds the key to unlocking the secret message. 

Returning to the 55 theme,  there are in total, only 54 stanzas in chapter 55, assuming the number 55 is important, one appears to be missing. On the first page of the “Declaration of Orffyreus”, which appears on the second page of chapter 55, commencing with the first four-line stanzas, there are 5 stanzas. On the five following pages there are 8 stanzas per page. So far then, there are 45 stanzas. 

Now on the penultimate page of chapter 55 there are only seven and a half stanzas, the total is now 52 and a half. Mostly there are 32 lines per page in Apologia, allowing 8 stanzas, but on the penultimate page of chapter 55, there is quite clearly a gap where the last two lines should be. The last two lines of the last four-line stanza on that page have been left blank. But turn over to the last page and there they are! This produces a six-line stanza on the last page, instead of a four line one. 

Looking at the total of stanzas again we find 5 + 8 + 8 + 8 + 8 +8 + 7½ + 1½.  It seems that we are being encouraged to count the lines.

The bottom of pages 126 & 127. Notice two rows on the right are missing

The final verse on the last page ends with the word “Ende”, “end” in English; and since there are only 54 to that point, there would indeed seem to be a missing verse.   But where were the missing four lines of verse? The answer turned out to be quite simple. 

Having found two missing lines on the penultimate page of chapter 55, I re-examined the text and found two further single blank lines which I had ignored before, assuming that they were merely new paragraphs. So now I had my four blank lines, but what to do with them?  It was then I realised that not only should we count the lines, but we should number them. This provides a way of indicating a certain line. We have taken the first step to deciphering the message.  You can see the results in the last part of these posts.   

But there were other considerations to take into account which might possibly hold the key to further progress. 54 verses plus four blank lines made of 220 lines and attached to the ends of more than half of the lines in this section were 141 bible references to explain. 

So, I believe that we were intended to count and number the lines as a start to deciphering his coded message.

JC