The Voynich Ninja

Koen introduced the Arma Christi in relation to the mandorla-shaped images of wounds, and the interesting double-helix style of rope on the pole (see Oak and Ivy thread).

I thought I would split off a general discussion of the Arma Christi because there are some very interesting additional features associated with this imagery.


Apparently Arma Christi images were not simply for recording and teaching religious history. The Arma Christi had a particular role as a talismanic concept.

It provided protection for those carrying it in case they should die without having been confessed. Thus, the portable versions will often include a long list of names of Christ and the commonly added crosses between each name (think 116v in the VMS, and medieval charms in general).

Perhaps by association (since death was a real possibility for any medieval woman who was about to give birth), it was also supposed to provide protection for childbearing.

I can imagine it might be very helpful for someone going into battle since death loomed on the battlefield and priests weren't always available to give everyone last rites.


Here's another Arma Christi image courtesy of Zde, Wikimedia, from the Passional of Abbess Kunigunde [Prague, c. 1320]:





I doesn't have the helical ropes (they are spiral-twining), but note the tongs/forceps near the bottom. It's not the same shape as the "forceps" tool in the VMS, but the VMS forceps has always reminded me of childbirth, but I don't know when they actually started using forceps to birth babies (might not be until the 19th or 20th centuries).

The VMS "forceps" is not the right shape to be a compass (the tines are curved), but it might be an instrument for measuring. I think I MIGHT have seen a medieval drawing of forceps used in a caesarian section, but I'm not sure if I'm remembering it correctly. Maybe it's a compass, but drawn in an odd way.

Quote:but I don't know when they actually started using forceps to birth babies (might not be until the 19th or 20th centuries).

 
IIRC the forceps were invented by an English family in the 16th century, called the Chamberlains. They didn't make the invention public until the 17th century when somebody else was about to, and they pointed out that they had been using it, in secret, for generations. They have since been held in a mixture of disgust and admiration by their peers.

I believe this topic will prove relevant for a select number of the large plants. 

The tool is what they used to extract the nails iirc.

Anyway, in the image you posted, look on the right. Above the swords and below the lanterns, there are two torches and two club-ike objects. 

You can find those in one of the plants. I still don't have access to a computer and I'm not too handy with my phone so I can't give folio number, but it's a very tall vertical leaf, a bit serrated. If I recall correctly, it's got the torches at its base, above the root.

Also - and I don't like this because it ruins my theory about tendrilface - look at this one you posted in the previous thread.



Top left, there's a bearded man in profile. He's often there, but this particular rendition is especially convincing. 

Tendrilface is from Arma Christi

There's still hope that tendril-face is someone else, Koen.      The one in the Arma Christi drawning has a little less of a brow ridge.

There's on strain of images which includes a series of faces representing various individuals involved. There are two men often shown in profile, though none, one or both may be present in any given image. This one has both:


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Left of the cross is a recognizable type, the spitter. He is drawn in profile because he spits right at Christ.
To the right, near the pillar is a bearded man. Not sure who that is, but he occurs in a number of instances.

It's frustrating that I don't have time right now to write this up. I'm telling you, all Arma Christi are on just a few large plant bifolios. They are grouped.

It's almost ridiculous, they are all together. There's a plant like a chalice. The 30 coins (athough the VM plant has only 29). The pillar with ropes, the flails, the clubs, the torches, the rooster, the ladder, the lance, the wounds, and more and more.

(07-08-2019, 09:44 PM)Koen G Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.It's frustrating that I don't have time right now to write this up....

I can relate to this more than you can imagine. The time it takes to "see" something like this is sometimes no more than a flash, and yet it can take hours, weeks, months or sometimes even years to find enough examples to make it clear to others what is going on.

I see what you mean by 29. And the chalice.

I won't undercut you even though I feel like I'm kind of in on this—that there's been some give-and-take-and-give-and...

I'll wait until you have time to write it up. You have my support.


So maybe I was right when I said perhaps the VMS is hard to understand because things that are usually drawn together on one page have been split apart.

I'll try to put together a very quick blog tomorrow. My goal will be to lay out the relevant VM pages and the way the Arma Christi are systematically worked into them.

The items which do and don't appear in the VM and the way they appear contain a wealth of information for approaching sources.