The Voynich Ninja

The comparison of the apparent similarity between the VMs critter (f80v) and the fleece-like portion of the medallion of the Order of the Golden Fleece has a long history and potentially multiple sources with few instances of dissent. For those familiar with both images, it is easy to see some general similarities and specific differences. One major difference being the reversal of direction of the head and tail. Naturally there has been discussion about whether and how this comparison might be related to VMs investigation.
 
The Order of the Golden Fleece was a knightly order instituted in 1430 by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, on the occasion of his marriage (#3) to Isabel of Portugal.
 
Having recently obtained a good source, I have discovered some interesting information. Richard Vaughan, in his book, Philip the Good: The Apogee of Burgundy, says: “The Golden Fleece soon became an important motif in the art and literature of the Burgundian court.” And this source (p. 162) provides much of the information discussed in the two paragraphs below.
 
The Golden Fleece was borrowed from the Classical myth of Jason and the Golden Fleece. And here there is a problem, not with the Fleece, but with Jason. The story of ‘Jason and Medea’ is a Greek tragedy, in which Jason promised to be eternally faithful to Medea, and later deserted her. It was called perjury by the contemporary French author, Alain Chartier. The problem was having a knightly order tied to a figure involved in betrayal. So, there was a problem of ‘optics’ in modern terms, and there were two attempts to fix it. Both were promulgated by bishops who were promoted by Philip the Good.
 
The first was by Guillaume Fillastre (the younger), bishop of Verdun, Tour and Tournai. He tried to put a pro-Christian spin on the story of Jason. The second was Jehan Germain, bishop of Nevers and Chalon. He eliminated Jason altogether and replaced him with the biblical Gideon. Both of these men also had held the office of chancellor of the Order of the Golden Fleece. And in 1448 there is a record of Philip the Good ordering a tapestry based on the theme of the “History of Gideon and the Golden Fleece”. The existence of this tapestry is mentioned in the 1468 marriage of the last of these Burgundian dukes, Charles the Rash, to Margaret of York. So, within the first 18 years, Jason had been replaced by Gideon – a biblical hero had been substituted for a classical betrayer. Compared with an alteration of that magnitude, the slightly ambiguous combination of the Golden Fleece with the Agnus Dei image from the Apocalypse of S. Jean is relatively minor.
 
In the VMs illustration, the representation of the ‘critter’ does not stand in isolation. There are two other patterns associated with it. They might be said to vaguely resemble clouds and rain. But while their identity is unknown, it is unclear what they represent. Now it is understood that the meandering line is a nebuly line. And that a nebuly line is a potential cosmic boundary. And that a nebuly line was used as a cosmic boundary in the VMs cosmos. The combination of fleece-sheep-lamb-type critter and a cosmic boundary, once the combination is recognized, leads quite naturally to the examination of the available examples of religious illustrations of the Lamb of God (Agnus Dei), in which there is also a cosmic boundary. There are several ways to represent cosmic boundaries and there are a variety of images produced in a relevant time period. However, it is only with the discovery of the Agnus Dei image in the Apocalypse of S. Jean that the proper interpretation of the third part is verified. The potential droplets in the VMs representation are droplets of blood in the Agnus Dei illustration. And these two representations share a common structure of three parts in sequence: lamb, cosmic boundary, droplets. So far, these two are the only examples of this structure.
 
The Apocalypse of S. Jean was produced in Liège in 1313 by Colin Chadelve. So how does it tie in with the Order of the Golden Fleece started in 1430? Liège was a possession of the Dukes of Burgundy and it was not a pleasant relationship. Liège was defeated by John the Fearless in 1408, by his son, Philip the Good, in 1430, and sacked by his son, Charles the Rash, in 1465, and that was the end – of the Dukes of Burgundy in 1477. More important, however, is the historical notation that the Apocalypse of S. Jean was in the library of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy (r. 1419-1467) and there were multiple opportunities for that to occur.
 
Both elements, the motif of the Golden Fleece and the illustration of the 1313 version of the Agnus Dei structure existed together within the sphere of Burgundy starting in 1430. And this is a date that falls within the primary statistical range of the Carbon-14 dates for the VMs parchment.
 
Furthermore, this use of combined images exists elsewhere in the VMs. The VMs cosmos is a combination of the Oresme (BNF  Fr. 565 fol. 23) Diagram and the Shirakatsi ‘Eight Phases of the Moon’ Diagram, with certain alterations to diminish the visual similarities.
 
It’s like this. If someone were to combine images of Marilyn Monroe and Groucho Marx, most of us would recognize what had been done, unless that is now too old for some. In the VMs, the situation has been one where no one could identify either image. That may be starting to change.

I don't understand the analogy, as they were in the same images, no need to combine.

On the British TV show QI there was a clever combination picture of Marilyn Monroe with Albert Einstein.
As you approached the picture it gradually changed from one to the other.

[attachment=3847]This one

Ja, es ist schoen!

Back to the topic at hand, i think 

A) that your interpretation of the droplets is problematic and that it fits the structure of the vms critter only because of the ambiguity which is unique to this rendition of the opening of the sixth seal. Most other versions others show stars or molten stone in place of what you interpret as lamb's blood droplets, which ruins the structure you speak of, if they equate, which i think they do.

B) you are collecting an impressive set of coincidences but they don't really seem to point to any particular narrative. Why would the coincidence of sacking the town that the producer of the book had lived in a century previous by various ancestors and descendants of the current owner be relevant, other than maybe that is how he came to own what he possessed...but still, as a mnemonic that is a bit much to get from it, considering all the rest that is supposed to be in there too. Plus how does that relate to the rest of the page, or the quire?

And yet i still kind of like it as it pulls other parts of Europe into the mix that don't otherwise appear to be depicted.

Let's look at it this way. Take a famous person's photograph and crudely draw the iconic bushy eyebrows, black glasses and big mustache of Groucho on their face.  Who is it? Well, if you know the famous person and you know Groucho Marx, you can understand the combined image. If you don't recognize the 'famous' person, you still have a partial understanding. BUT, if you don't have any familiarity with either of these two elements, then it is difficult to explain adequately what is going on.

The same thing applies in the VMs. Remember that Wm. Newbold identified the VMs cosmos as a drawing of the Andromeda galaxy. Since that time I hope that a better interpretation has been discovered.

One of the things that now appears to be responsible for the difficulty in analyzing certain VMs representations is that they are 'combined' images. The Golden Fleece plus Apocalypse 1313 combination is discussed above. More easily seen perhaps is the VMs cosmic combination that was formed from the combined use of the structure of the Oresme cosmos (BNF Fr 565) and that of the Shirakatsi 'Eight Phases of the Moon' diagram. If these two diagrams can be combined, it practically gives us the VMs cosmos. Of course, the VMs illustration has been modified to diminish the similarities of visual appearance. However, these are still somewhat similar to the original elements because visual similarity is not eliminated and structural similarity is well-maintained.

In a situation where A + B = C.  And all we have is C. How can C be explained? C might be the Andromeda galaxy or an armadillo splashing in a puddle. And if we have A without B, or B without A, then it is still difficult to explain the unrecognized portion. And it can be argued that the part we think we have found has been incorrectly identified, because it fails to be visually identical. However, when both A and B have been recognized and shown to form C when they are combined, then we can recognize what has been done to obfuscate the VMs representation of the cosmos. And we can further see that the same technique has been used on other illustrations (f80v). And *this* is why the VMs is so hard to pin down. Visual appearance fails, intentionally. Looking at appearance fails, knowing structure succeeds.

Having identified the elements that were combined to create VMs illustrations, we can then examine the sources for those elements. Having prospectively identified the Golden Fleece, based on the knightly order that originated in 1430 in the court of Philip the Good, who was Duke of Burgundy between 1419 and 1467, and shown that the Apocalypse of 1313 was in the library of the same Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, leads (IMHO) to the logical possibility that the person who created the drawing of the VMs critter (f80v) was a person who was familiar with both elements and chose to to combine them and draw them with a certain level of obfuscation. Thus leading to a century of frustration and confusion for those who insist on finding purely this (A) or purely that (B), and otherwise calling the investigation invalid.

Examples of combination:
Oresme + Shirakatsi = VMs cosmos
Golden Fleece + Apocalypse 1313 = VMs critter
Zodiac + heraldry = VMs Pisces
Zodiac + heraldry + ecclesiastical tradition = VMs White Aries
Zodiac + heraldry = Papelonny pun = VMS Pisces, Dark Aries, White Aries
Botany + heraldry = f35v, f41v, f50r, f50v, You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. & You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
The thing about the combination of botany and heraldry is that this is not a valid combination. But if the investigator does not know heraldry, does not recognize the nebuly line, the rayonny line, or cloud bands (f41r, f48v, f94r), then this invalid juxtaposition is and remains an unseen factor in VMs investigation. And as such it constitutes a failure to see the level of deception and trickery used in the process of VMs creation. Unless such deficiencies are corrected (IMHO), they will continue to retard VMs investigations.