R. Sale must have posted in a wrong thread, I moved the post here.
The claims in that blog post are void, Russian swallowtail merlons were all imported from Italy through Italian arсhitects working here. Most famous is the present Moscow Kremlin, of course - which was built in late 15th century in place of the old white stone Kremlin.
Thanks, Anton. That blog post is full of misleading information.
Actually, it wasn't posted regarding merlons, because the merlon information was old and flawed, as noted. It was posted in the female authorship discussion, because the author of the blog proposed that the VMs author was female - albeit on questionable grounds. The second half of the post attempted to support that possibility.
(05-11-2021, 09:11 PM)R. Sale Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Actually, it wasn't posted regarding merlons, because the merlon information was old and flawed, as noted. It was posted in the female authorship discussion, because the author of the blog proposed that the VMs author was female - albeit on questionable grounds. The second half of the post attempted to support that possibility.
Sorry I missed that part, do you mean this one in particular: You are not allowed to view links.
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Well, I certainly don't mean to suggest that I endorse the positions taken by this author. However, bi3mw initiated a discussion in Voynich Talk, "Is the VMS a work of female authors?' The posting in question here clearly seems to make the argument that the VMs author was female. Readers can decide for themselves whether the arguments are valid, if the information presented is useful or applicable to the discussion regarding the gender of those involved in VMs creation.
The point is that it's been unclear to me where's the argument about the female authorship. The page is messy, and what I saw was about merlons.
Not to dispute your assessment, however, as part of the summary the author states (point #3):
"The theory supported in this blog is as follows:
1. The Voynich manuscript originated from northern Europe.
2. The women it depicts are central instead of peripheral to it.
3. They themselves actually wrote and drew it.
4. They were depicting themselves performing a ritual celebrating the sempiternal cycle of nature manifest in the seasons and in the span of human life from birth to death."
In the discussion of female authorship, surely we should consider those investigations that have promoted that position and evaluate the evidence / opinions they provide.
Let's get this back to the merlons, guys. The map is starting to fill up nicely, even just the manuscript layer. Milan and the general Lombardy region are absolute forerunners when it comes to swallowtails in manuscripts. This might be a correlation to the amount of manuscripts produced in said region though, but I guess that is relevant to us also.
There's a really nice example circulating without any MS reference.
See here: You are not allowed to view links.
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It is also the first image in the Britannica article: You are not allowed to view links.
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"The Crusaders' siege of Jerusalem in 1099, miniature from Descriptio Terrae Sanctae (“Description of the Holy Land”) by Burchard of Mount Sion, 14th century."
I consulted some versions of this work already but apparently I missed the correct one :/
I am so glad that you have undertaken this exercise as it is something that I think needed to be done for a long time. It is something that I tried to do a few years ago, myself, but much less thoroughly. Although to be fair to me in my approach swallow tail merlons were only part of my consideration as I was also focused on geographical features especially those related to water.
My interest in this exercise may seem surprising as I already have an opinion as to where the two sets of swallow tail merlons represent as I have discussed on Nick Pelling's blog(Castello di Porta Giova in Milan, Murata in Bellinzona).
An another, probably more difficult, but similar exercise would be to consider the other buildings and where buildings looking like them are to be found.