The Voynich Ninja

Cgm 1101 is from Hagenau, and the baggy elbow/tight wrist is in the minority in a manuscript that has many sleeves but...

The small people (kids?) swear them, and the axe-man has them. This seems to be the pattern in numerous other manuscripts, as well. Tool wielders (including archers) and kids. It makes sense. Kids would get baggy wrist-sleeves dirty and tool users can't have baggy wrist fabric getting in the way.

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The super baggy ones are often accompanies by other fancy embellishments, so were worn by wealthy and important people:

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Notice the "pipes" and the fancy container:

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I think in the early days it may have been optional to tie one's sleeves tight at the wrist when undertaking certain risky activities. As I said in the early Phebus (before huge sleeves became trendy) they would just roll up their sleeves, but with very wide sleeves this is just impossible so you need a different solution.

Here's another example of a risky activity:

[attachment=2445]

Well, that's me off my tea.

(18-10-2018, 07:30 PM)davidjackson Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Well, that's me off my tea.

And this on your dandelion tea:

[attachment=2447]

They still do this in many parts of the world, defecate into the enclosure where the pigs are kept. And then they eat the pig.

Of course, if pigs are hungry and penned so they can't roam, they will eat whatever they are given, but in the wild they don't generally seek out poop to eat, they eat a lot of grubs and fungus and whatever else is available. Good way to spread and get hepatitis. In fact, in areas where they feed the pigs their poop, hepatitis and tuberculosis are endemic.

Chickens, too.

This is so excessive that I wouldn't even count it as a parallel, but these are the most glorious sleeve bags I've ever seen, especially the guy all the way on the right. There's also one of those cups that might be of relevance. 

[attachment=2504]

From the Chantilly Livre de Chasse (Musé de Condée). I don't know much else about the manuscript apart from some images on stock sites. It seems to derive from the Parisian exemplars.

Edit: ooh but I just spotted something else, in the left picture! Who sees it?

Top crossbow, location of the trigger?

The way he holds his left hand - I think he will shoot like this exactly once.

Spot on, Rene. The location of the trigger is wrong in the same wa as in the VM, a rare feature. Unless this is some mechanism we are not aware of.

About the hand though, this is actually very accurate. I once came across this while researching a reason for the crosdbowman's weird hand placement. 

By the 15th century, no mechanism had been invented yet to snap the bolt into place. So when aiming down, as this fellow is doing, the bolt would slide forward and fall right off. Especially with a bolt so long as his, it would topple right away. 

So what they needed to do was actually hold it in place with a finger or thumb, and retract at the moment of shooting. Granted, this fellow's grip is a bit overconfident in his own reflexes, but there's a reason for the principle.

But yeah, the trigger bar. Too bad this MS appears to be digitized only in a few pages.

Look at the red “bird” in the same left picture. It is very similar to "Weirdos".