From the Riddles of Ancient Egypt to Cryptography in the Renaissance — 3500 Years in the Making - Codes: The Guide to Secrecy from Ancient to Modern Times - page 47

1.5 Rise of the West

Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet ,
Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God's great Judgement Seat...
Rudyard (Joseph) Kipling, (1865-1936) , English writer and poet
— from The Ballad of East and West (1892)

The word Renaissance literally means rebirth . It was coined by fifteenth-
century scholars to separate the fall of ancient Greece and Rome from its rebirth
and rediscovery in the middle of their own century. The fall of Constantinople
in 1453 may be considered one of the dividing lines since scholars fled to Italy,
bringing with them knowledge, irreplaceable topics and manuscripts, as well as
the classical Greek tradition of scholarship. The earliest sign of the Renaissance
was the intellectual movement called humanism , perhaps given its biggest surge
by the aforementioned influx of scholars. Humanism, born in Italy, had as its
subject matter: human nature, unity of truth in philosophy, and the dignity
of man. Perhaps most importantly, humanism yearned for the rebirth of lost
human spirit and wisdom. While medieval thinkers preferred the idea of “one
man, one job”, the Renaissance man was a versatile thinker, thirsting for an
education in all areas of knowledge, and becoming an expert in many. It is one
of those men with whom we begin our discussion.

Leon Battista Alberti
If there is to be a holder of the title Father of Western Cryptography ,it
must go to Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472). He was not only an architect,
sculptor, writer, and all round-scholar, but also one of the prime movers in
the development of the theory of art in the Renaissance, not to mention his
contributions to cryptology, a true Renaissance man.
Alberti was born on February 14, 1404, in Genoa, Italy, the illegitimate son of
a wealthy banker, Lorenzo di Benedetto Alberti. Yet, in this time of Florentine
Italy, illegitimacy was less of a burden, and more of a reason to succeed. Alberti
was raised as Battista in Venice where the family moved shortly after he was
born. (He adopted the name Leon later in life.) At the age of 10, he had
already learned Latin and his father was teaching him mathematics. His formal
education was at the University of Bologna, where he ultimately earned a degree
in law. However, he quickly turned his interests to artistic, and ultimately
scientific thought. Alberti not only taught himself music, became an expert
at playing the organ, and wrote sonnets, but also wrote on art, criminology,
sculpture, architecture, and mathematics. In 1432, he went to Rome where
he became a secretary in the Papal Chancery, and he remained in the arms
of church for the rest of his life. In 1434, he went to Florence as part of the
papal court of Eugenius IV. It was in the papal secretariat that he became a
cryptographer. In fact, he was a friend of Leonardo Dato, a pontifical secretary
who might have instructed Alberti in the state of the art in cryptology.
In order to understand Alberti's contributions, we need to examine some
concepts first. A homophone is a ciphertext symbol that always represents the