29-12-2017, 09:10 AM
Already in December 1995 Jim Reeds reported about a discussion that he and his wife had with the Italian herbalist Sergio Toresella, who had visited the Beinecke library where he had spent some time with the Voynich MS.
One of Toresella's observations, which was clearly supported by Jim, was that the handwriting in the MS was in an Italian humanist hand.
This observation was supported much later by a Spanish handwriting expert: Juan Jose Marcos, who further pointed out that this type of handwriting was used only by educated people.
It has always remained a bit of a question what to do with this information, and how the humanist strive for good form can be reconciled with the amateuristic and not all that elegant drawings in the MS.
Just a few weeks ago, I received a very interesting tip about this from Michelle Smith. I wanted to write about it earlier, but then other things happened.
One of the early Italian humanists was born as Zomino, but he changed his name to Sozomeno (1387 - 1458). He was born and died in Pistoia, and studied in Padova from 1407-1413. He entered the clergy already at an early age, and met other humanists in Florence (where he knew Poggio).
He did several of the 'usual' humanist things such as composing greek and latin grammars, and commenting on many classical authors. He built up his own library, which he donated to the city of Pistoia in 1423.
Here are some links (all in Italian):
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You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
What is unique about him is that his change from a standard gothic handwriting style to a humanist handwriting style is fully document and can be followed in his works. This is explained in detail You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. .
What most attracted my attention was the picture that Michelle sent to me:
[attachment=1871]
I have not been able to find this one back on the net, but there are a few others:
[attachment=1872]
The marginal writing and drawings are confirmed to be in Sozomeno's hand.
I am not at all trying to argue here, that Sozomeno is suddenly a candidate for having written the Voynich MS.
However, the almost doodle-like marginal illustrations do have a very familiar ring to them.
One of Toresella's observations, which was clearly supported by Jim, was that the handwriting in the MS was in an Italian humanist hand.
This observation was supported much later by a Spanish handwriting expert: Juan Jose Marcos, who further pointed out that this type of handwriting was used only by educated people.
It has always remained a bit of a question what to do with this information, and how the humanist strive for good form can be reconciled with the amateuristic and not all that elegant drawings in the MS.
Just a few weeks ago, I received a very interesting tip about this from Michelle Smith. I wanted to write about it earlier, but then other things happened.
One of the early Italian humanists was born as Zomino, but he changed his name to Sozomeno (1387 - 1458). He was born and died in Pistoia, and studied in Padova from 1407-1413. He entered the clergy already at an early age, and met other humanists in Florence (where he knew Poggio).
He did several of the 'usual' humanist things such as composing greek and latin grammars, and commenting on many classical authors. He built up his own library, which he donated to the city of Pistoia in 1423.
Here are some links (all in Italian):
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
What is unique about him is that his change from a standard gothic handwriting style to a humanist handwriting style is fully document and can be followed in his works. This is explained in detail You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. .
What most attracted my attention was the picture that Michelle sent to me:
[attachment=1871]
I have not been able to find this one back on the net, but there are a few others:
[attachment=1872]
The marginal writing and drawings are confirmed to be in Sozomeno's hand.
I am not at all trying to argue here, that Sozomeno is suddenly a candidate for having written the Voynich MS.
However, the almost doodle-like marginal illustrations do have a very familiar ring to them.