The Voynich Ninja

Full Version: Pisces: March or February?
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Not long after reading Nick Pelling's latest VMs posting, I found myself looking at the Cologny ms. calendar page for February, and there are two fish of Pisces.

In the VMs, Pisces is labelled as March. However, it is generally agreed <oops> make that often been stated that the zodiac medallion labels are subsequent, later by some indeterminate time, additions, possibly in Occitan. And having Pisces labelled as being the month of March is not something unexpected. <Looking for relevant examples.> The person who added the labels clearly thought that Pisces should be March, but what about the artist who made the original illustration. Are the 29 nymphs a potential clue?

In e-codices there are 60+ versions of liturgical calendars in the 14th and 15th C. listings.
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Of those, there are eight where the calendar is combined with a zodiac. <listed below>
All of them show Pisces is in February in the liturgical calendar.

If the subsequent label on the VMs illustration could be removed, does the Pisces page tend to represent a liturgical perspective? Was the image originally intended to be February? And if so, what is the significance of February?

The obvious festival of February is clearly Candlemas [Feb. 2] - often written in the calendars as "Purificatio sancte marie" or "Purificatio beate virginis" referring to the ritual purification of Mary 40 days after the birth of Jesus.

Perhaps this may seem like a bit of a stretch, but it's not the first example. <I am not promoting any personal beliefs.> This is yet another addition to a growing set of potential religious interpretations from the VMs illustrations. Perhaps it comes down to the VMs You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. illustration of costmary. Either there is nothing there beyond a botanical / herbal explanation, or the Herb of the Virgin and the wings of Saint Michael make for a disguised representation of the Assumption. Either it is - or it is not. Either it is full-blown Mariology or it is nothing.

Well, there's always the cosmos.


Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cod. Bodmer 30
Southern Germany · around 1200 / 13th / 14th centuries

Frauenfeld, Kantonsbibliothek Thurgau, Y 24
Besançon · 13th/14th century

Utopia, armarium codicum bibliophilorum, Cod. 101
Paris / Tours · second quarter of the 15th century / around 1490

Zürich, Zentralbibliothek, Ms. C 54
Nuremberg · around 1472

Genève, Bibliothèque de Genève, Ms. lat. 33
Workshop located in the west of France, maybe in Nantes (France, Loire-Atlantique) · third quarter of the 15th century

Utopia, armarium codicum bibliophilorum, Cod. 111
Paris · about 1488

Neuchâtel, Bibliothèque publique et universitaire de Neuchâtel, AF A28
Flanders, probably Bruges · around 1500

Utopia, armarium codicum bibliophilorum, Cod. 102
Bourges · around 1500-1510
(27-03-2024, 10:40 PM)R. Sale Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.In the VMs, Pisces is labelled as March. However, it is generally agreed <oops> make that often been stated that the zodiac medallion labels are subsequent, later by some indeterminate time, additions, possibly in Occitan. And having Pisces labelled as being the month of March is not something unexpected. <Looking for relevant examples.> The person who added the labels clearly thought that Pisces should be March, but what about the artist who made the original illustration. Are the 29 nymphs a potential clue?


Definitely not Occitan, it's French.

The shift in months labels is plausible, see examples here: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
There is a Pisces and March example in your link. It's in an astronomical calendar which seems to be the thing. It seems to be clear that Pisces in February is a liturgical thing, with religious implications I presume. Pisces *not* in February is not liturgical. 'Astronomical' may not be the best name for the alternative, but clearly there are alternative perspectives.