The Voynich Ninja

"Krebs! Krebs!!", I say. I think we may have one on a line. This is new to me, so any leads on prior discussions are appreciated.

It seems obvious now. The German word, 'Krebs' for lobster, crab, cancer is the key. It's the same as the family surname. That's a great example of heraldic canting. So, does that same sort of heraldic interpretation carry over to the VMs?  Nicholas of Cusa was clearly in the same chronological space as the C-14.

Interesting to note in his bio that he was briefly in Paris in 1416. That was the year that the Duke of Berry died in Paris. The three Limbourg brothers also died that year. With all the violence in Paris in those years, of course he left.

If the interpretive connection to the VMs holds, it adds another example of contemporary heraldry being used in the VMs. A red crayfish in VMs Cancer may be no more significant than the red hats and blue stripes of VMs White Aries, or the mystic ring and cross held by the nymphs, or the Oresme cosmos, or the myth of Melusine. It's an indicator of something the VMs artist knows.

There are quite a number of zodiac cycles in late medieval manuscripts that include a red crayfish, but obviously they cannot all be linked to Cusanus.

So this red crayfish looks more like a red herring to me.

I am of the persuasion that the VMs is a project of Nicholas of Cusa, and it is true Cusanus identified with the symbolism of the astrological sign of Cancer, and took the red lobster/crayfish/crawfish as a heraldic emblem, but I don't detect his signature in the zodiacal illustrations in the Voynich. The case for a Cusanus authorship needs to be built on much firmer ground. I am sure, moreover, that Cusanus was not the illustrator. More likely, he provided commentary on a set of preprepared illustrations. So I don't expect personal signatures or self-references by Cusanus in the illustrations.

Clearly, every red lobster in Cancer is not a reference to Cusanus, let alone any sort of autograph. But it is also just as clear that he did use the play on words (Krebs) in selecting his heraldic charge. And it is also known that he lived during the VMs C-14 dating period. So, there is more here than just coincidence. There is a great example of heraldic canting.

Did Nicholas of Cusa draw the VMs illustrations? No one seems to think so. Could the VMs Cancer medallion refer to him through the heraldic emblem? Unlikely, perhaps, but the 'all or none' argument removes the possibility of individual initiative by the VMs artist. VMs White Aries can be shown to have two heraldic examples: the red galeros and the blue-striped insignia. There are also two of Stolfi's markers on the same page. On VMs Cancer, there are two crayfish, even more uncommon. And one of them is red. There is also one of Stolfi's markers in VMs Cancer. These are the only three such markers in VMs Zodiac sequence.
 
Sometimes red herring are interesting. Perhaps a clever artist could even put them to use. And the VMs artist knows some tricks.