The Voynich Ninja

Diane, I agree that the find of the manuscript and the drawings is of great interest and appreciate that René conveyed Michelle Smith's message.



But I don't know if you missed post #17, but I'm quite certain and have given the rationale, that this is not an example of a scribe transitioning between humanist and Gothic writing. The other handwriting is a series of glosses by someone else.


Note, there are also commentators who think the marginal drawing (the one that is very VMS-like) may be in more than one hand. I haven't had enough time to study this possibility, it's an intriguing one, so I don't know if I would agree or disagree, but I thought it worth mentioning that there are a variety of ideas about it.

-JKP-

As you know, I stick to my last as much as possible, and the interesting thing for me is the imagery (of course).  That, together with the page-layout and specific motifs (some mentioned in earlier comments) makes Michelle's find really exciting.

What I don't quite understand is why she didn't simply post it here with her own comments and thoughts.  After all, it's her find.

Still, as you say, we should be glad it got here in the end,  and that Rene agreed to accept agency.

There's an enormous amount about the manuscript and about Sozomemo online, including a fine edition published in 2016. Forgive if this duplicates another member's comment.

Irene Ceccherini, You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. Premessa di Stefano Zamponi, con un saggio di David Speranzi, Biblioteca dell'«Archivum Romanicum» - Serie I: Storia, Letteratura, Paleografia, vol. 431
2016, cm 17 x 24, xx-468 pp. con 120 tavv. f.t.

ISBN: 9788822263438

Michelle sent me the picture that I clearly identified in the first post (and I have not been able to find in the net), and the name "Sozomeno di Pistoia".

Rene - the web-source is the holding library, which I have linked in my recent posts.

Speaking of which, I have difficulty reading the hand, and would be grateful for anyone who feels able to translate folio 14v from the manuscript.

I think it could prove helpful to Nick and others looking for something which might .. might... provide a 'block paradigm'.  For me, I'm interesting in seeing how text was expressed through imagery which I think fairly obviously mnemonic in the tradition of the school of Paris.  Not to be too technical. 

Here's the link. If it generates an automatically whapping great picture, I apologise.
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[url=https://manus.iccu.sbn.it//opac_viewImmaginiManoscritto.php?ID=189942]https://manus.iccu.sbn.it//opac_viewImmaginiManoscritto.php?ID=189942

How much text do you need? It's in Latin (parts are in verse). It's a bit fuzzy in enlarge mode but I can read some of it.


Quite philosophical in content.

Here's a small chunk at the bottom. This is just one pass through it (it usually takes me about three passes to get it right), and I can't read all the letters (plus I'm not sure what he means specifically by some of the abbreviations), but it gives the flavor of the text and someone who's good at Latin can probably fix the errors (both mine and the original scribe's since it doesn't seem to me to be good Latin) and fill in the blanks:

...
Ut genus humanus relevart crimine lapsuem.
Nomen penitus no?irem fuit ulli demonorum.

Vistera Marie tibi Christus fuisst cubile.
Et te qui genuit taduem por sarg'e fecit.
Cuum mortis ni??? mortem crucis impe sub ires.
Tu nos custodis qui nullo ep're dormis.

-JKP-

Well, if I had my druthers, I'd get a full  transcription and translation by a certified professional  - just because my own aim is to track the connections I fully expect will exist here between imagines and written text.

I'm not sure what proportion of text, or what degree of accuracy would be required by the linguists.  On the bright side - thank you so much for the offer.  Given that I've already listed the contents of the manuscript in one of my recent blogposts, it would surely be enough if you could work out enough of it to point me to the right extract from among those.

And then I'll see what translations are available of those sources.

Anyway - thank you again.

Quote:Diane wrote: Well, if I had my druthers, I'd get a full  transcription and translation by a certified professional

Well, you asked on the forum, where we help each other and people contribute what they know and correct what can be corrected, and you gave no indication of how much text you needed translated or for what purpose.

I thought you might be asking for the flavor of what was in the text and I also assumed Helmut would probably be along to improve upon what I started, with his years of experience in medieval Latin.

Oh absolutely - the 'druthers' was just humour.

What I'd like to do, for my own interest really, is to map the written text against the formal rules for creating imagines.

The seeming paradox of having an eminent teacher accept imagery of that shocking sort, is resolved if we suppose that young Sozomeno was creating just the sort of image which - as a mature adult - would be held in his imagination as a way to recall memorised texts.

There were specific images recommended - such as a crossbowman to remember the sound 'ba' (balisteros) for example - but in general.. well, let me quote:

Quote:now let us turn to the (mnemonic) images, about which there are four considerations: size, nature, order and number. Their size should be moderate... But their nature should be wondrous and intense, because such things are impressed in memory more deeply and are better retained. However, such things are for the most part not moderate but extreme, as something greatly beautiful or ugly, joyous or sad, worthy of respect or derision, a thing of great dignity or vileness, or someone in some way injured..or in some other way made ugly, having strange clothing and every bizarre embellishment. ...

The whole image should have some other quality, such as movement, that thus it may be commended to memory more effectively than through tranquillity and repose".

This is the tradition of Tullius, and Hugh of St.Victor and so on, and which appears to me to inform the drawings in Sozomeno's school-book.

If so, it would explain not only why the teacher (one of considerable eminence, to judge from his salary of 100 ducats a year) allowed to pass, but also why it was included among the 110 volumes which Sozomeno himself offered to the city of Pistoia as the foundation for a public library.  And, of course, why the city fathers had no objection to accepting that manuscript - as they plainly didn't, because that's why we have it today.

Because imagines were normally just mental images created to help recall the words of a text, they find few traces in the manuscripts (though there are traces if you know what to look for).  I should think that the teacher was training the lad by having him set his mental imagery about the text on the page.  As an adult, this would no longer be necessary, the whole point being that he would have become well-trained in the art of making pictures in his mind as aid to recall.


Hope that's not to long a response.  But as thanks for the offer I thought it only fair to explain why I need a transliteration and complete translation, not just an idea of what it is about.

And JKP - thanks again for the civil response.  It's a pleasure to talk about the 'top-tier' stuff. 

Okay, here's a transliteration of the Sozomeno notebook page. I went through it three times to see which abbreviations he was using (I only had time to do one quick pass through the last paragraph, but even so, I think you'll find most of it pretty accurate).

The Latin is not perfect and, of course, spelling was not so accurate in the Middle Ages. he occasionally Italianizes the Latin (usually the spelling but in one place, he uses the Italian word).


I've included notes for things that looked funny to me (in Latin), but my Latin is not strong enough for me to be sure what he meant, so someone else will have to double-check.

It's philosophical/allegorical interpretation of Bible stories.

I just noticed I didn't expand the abbreviated "divinum" all the way. I have fixed it.