The Voynich Ninja

The rider appears to be wearing a mitre, which was worn by abbots and bishops. The manuscript belonged to the Barbavara family. A family member was an abbot. The folio shown is at the very beginning of the text, similar to a dedication. A second representation of the horse and rider is illustrated on 18v.

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As a similar example: The Duke of Berry was represented in "Tres Riches Heures"

Is there some other historical explanation that is more convincing?

(11-05-2023, 10:51 PM)R. Sale Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Is there some other historical explanation that is more convincing?

There must be. The clerical figure has a halo, which you couldn't just slap on anyone. Also, he is wielding a scourge, which is not exactly a battle weapon. Therefore, going by the iconography alone, I would expect this to be some historical figure who is known to have "scourged" a certain group of opponents, and was probably sainted for it.

(11-05-2023, 10:51 PM)R. Sale Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Is there some other historical explanation that is more convincing?

Underneath is written the name of the saint: Sanctus Ambroxius (=Ambrosius) : You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

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The apparition of Saint Ambrose at the battle of Milan:
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Description in the 1845 catalog: Saint Ambrose, armed with a whip and mounted on a fiery horse, tramples under his feet heresiarchs slaughtered on the ground. - Composition alluding to the victory that the saint won over heresy.
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It's an allegory, not an actual battle.

I am not sure if Gestalt pattern matching or Ratcliff/Obershelp Similarity would be a better measure of similarity/difference of two string than Levenshtein distance for my purposes.

I think the longest common sequence of letters is significant. So:

abcdefgh

And

adcfgeeh

have the long common sequence as

adfgh


Or

acfgh

(there is also aeh)

So the length of the longest common sequence is 5.

This number alone might be a better measure than the Levenshtein distance.

Although one may want to compensate for string length. The longer the two strings that we are comparing the longer the common sequence. So maybe one should divide this figure by the length of the shorter string.

I think this is called the longest common subsequence (LCS).

Maybe rather than comparing one string to another string, one should look a substrings or subsequences that are common to many strings. One is also try to identify clusters of very similar strings and distinguish those from the other strings.

I wonder if Torsten has some ideas for string comparison functions or a good way for distinguishing between homogenous strings and distinctive strings.

If I had to pick the best candidate for a crib in the VMS, it would be the label doary next to the cluster of seven stars on You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., which just screams Pleiades (also known as the Seven Sisters) to me.



Also, I've seen a theory that proposes this diagram depicts a solar eclipse that happened in the 1400s, and that the curved line represents "the dragon/serpent of the eclipse", based on You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.. In case it's correct, the label oalcheol under the line could be a crib for the dragon.

We don't really need to go to India to see a dragon messing with seven stars: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

What I find tricky about using cribs is the accumulation of uncertainties. In this case:

Are they a random number of stars (like in the example I linked above) or is the number meaningful?
If the number is relevant, are they Pleiades or a different group of seven stars? Examples are the planets and certain other constellations (Some Ursa? It's been a while.)
If they are Pleiades, are we looking at the "scientific" name or a vernacular version like "sisters"?
If scientific, then Greek or an Arabic version?
If vernacular, then which language?
If any of the above, then which spelling?

Now imagine a theorist looking for confirmation for his system. He could use any of the steps above to fashion something out if this crib that is to his liking.

(13-05-2023, 09:43 AM)Koen G Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.What I find tricky about using cribs is the accumulation of uncertainties. In this case:

Are they a random number of stars (like in the example I linked above) or is the number meaningful?
If the number is relevant, are they Pleiades or a different group of seven stars? Examples are the planets and certain other constellations (Some Ursa? It's been a while.)
If they are Pleiades, are we looking at the "scientific" name or a vernacular version like "sisters"?
If scientific, then Greek or an Arabic version?
If vernacular, then which language?
If any of the above, then which spelling?

Now imagine a theorist looking for confirmation for his system. He could use any of the steps above to fashion something out if this crib that is to his liking.

You are right. It would be and is easy to use a suggested incorrect crib to come up with a completely erroneous theory. As Nick Pelling points our this is a common problem with many Voynich theories in the past and present. However this doesn’t detract from the immense value of an accurate crib. Cribs are the bread and butter that have served so many decipherers throughout time and consistently have been used to decipher unknown languages and break ciphers. So we shouldn't discount them. However we need to exercise extreme caution when using them for precisely the reasons that you suggest above. When used correctly they are priceless. When used incorrectly they are worse than useless.

The oldest record is the Nebra disk. Then there are many in different eras and countries.
7. sages according to Plato, or the seven sisters of Greek mytology.
The sisters, somewhere on E-Codies. About 8 c. Already seen.
With so many, and the special arrangement at the beginning of spring already allows almost nothing else.
And it is called: place, place, or place of the sages or gods.
It is more than just a good crib.

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