The Voynich Ninja

I'm still on the go but I'll just try to paste from my phone the second mail I just received from prof. Saurma. Formatting hers . She says I can request images from the MS so if there are any requests I'll pass them on. When I get home I will ask her opinion about our crossed arms conundrum.

Dear Mr. Gheuens,
Thanks for your mail. As far as the lion is concerned, I always assumed that some knowledge of  oriental textiles could be known.
 
In my attachment you can find the panthier of Stuttgart. Please let me know if you need other animals illustrated in this manuscript.
 
The problem of a common source for Lauber and Ms Beinecke 408 is Buch der Natur Cpg 311, that is located in a totally different region as you surely know. Even the illustrations have no direct connection to Alsatian painting or I don’t see it. Spyra has showed a close relationship between Cpg. 311 and Cod. D. 684 in Michelstadt and a lost manuscript in Erbach. These 3 codices form a group due to their textual and programmatic similiarities. Indeed Spyra sees also some related motives in the some illustrations of Cpg 311 and the Lauber examples.
 
In fact all Megenberg – in a special way Stuttgart – are based on very different sources for their illustrations, so it is very convincing if you construct a a common source for your comparable examples. Bit I am not sure if either Lauber or the illuminators of Cpg 311 could have used a model of a wholly illustrated Megenberg. Lauber, I presume, was working on such a model book for his atelier. In fact I would accept a common source not for the illustrations of Laubers Megenberg as a whole but for several examples or parts of the book.
[url=https://maps.google.com/?q=Seminarstrasse+4+%0D%0A+69117+Heidelberg&entry=gmail&source=g][/url] 
All the best

Here's another image I got from Saurma, I'll share it because it's not available online. It was the best she found when I asked whether there were any other felines in the Heidelberg Buch der Natur. It ist von dem BERSCHLANGEN (bear-snake), "perhaps based on a model of leopard appearing in the section of the snakes."

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I was scratching my head over where they could get an idea like Berschlange (Bärschlange), bear-snake, and I suppose there are quite a few animals that are bear-like in shape that have long tails. There are bush dogs that look like bears, relatives of the raccoon family that are brown and somewhat bearlike, and quite a few other bear-like animals (except they are smaller).

As an alternate source, it occurred to me that the big bear/little bear constellation is frequently drawn within the snake and could possibly be the inspiration for a bear-snake myth:


Morgan M.389 1469

"Berslange" is apparently originally the common European adder (Vipera berus). The Latin name "berus" is first documented in the work of Albertus Magnus, and is probably derived from the Germanic root of the verb "to bear" (gebären in German), because the snake bears living young. See You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. (in German). The illustrator apparently did not know the real meaning of the name, and interpreted it as a bear-like "serpent". Note that Megenberg classifies all reptiles and amphibians (and even some arthropods such as the scorpion) as serpents, whether they have legs or not.

I'm discovering a lot of strange misinterpretations. I was looking at one yesterday in which the description didn't match the illustration at all and yet they were, in a sense, about the same subject matter.