The Voynich Ninja

I have a theory that the VMS was once in the possession of Hartmann Schedel, a 15th century humanist (and avid book collector), who is famous today because he wrote the Nuremberg Chronicle.

The reason I think this is because of a specific manuscript that he possessed in his collection, a Biblia Pauperum (also called Armenbibel, a so-called "poor man's Bible"), housed today in the Bavarian State Library under the denomination You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.. Before going any further I'd like to note that such "Bibla Pauperum"s were widely circulated at the time (14th, 15th centuries), and their purpose was to tell the chapters of the Bible with many small illustrations within the text. There exist hundreds of Biblia Pauperum, each one is copied from a previous source. What is different about the specific copy in Hartmann Schedel's collection, i.e., You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., is the style of the illustrations, which appear to be drawn by a very similar set of hands as those of the VMS.

There are several examples of this, perhaps the most striking are the drawings of women. Here is a drawing of a naked woman:

[attachment=13688]

In general, the faces of the woman (and men) in the manuscript are a close match to the VMS's illustrator's style:

[attachment=13689]

Notice the red cheeks and red lips, that are characteristic of the faces in the VMS. Note also that no other Biblia Pauperum draws human faces like this.

Here's an enlarged example from another folio:

[attachment=13690]

Again, red facial features. Here's an example of soldier's chainmail that has the same motifs as the VMS "architecture":

[attachment=13692]

And then there's more depictions of women:

[attachment=13693]

And more:

[attachment=13694]

Notice the hairstyles, that are a good match for the hairstyles in the VMS, along with the identical red cheeks and red mouth. But wait, there's more. What about these Voynich-y animals?

[attachment=13695]

Note the hooves, and the horns, which are similar to the VMS zodiac animals' details. There are many other fantastical animals in the manuscript, some donkeys and snakes, it's well worth a look if you're interested.

Now on to the theory at hand: if Hartmann Schedel got this book from somewhere, and assuming this illustrator is somehow related ot the VMS, that it stands to reason that Schedel might have possessed the VMS at some point in its early history. An interesting sidenote to make is that a You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. by computing experts who implemetd a graph theoretical algorithm to search for possible early possessors of the VMS concluded that the most likely candidate to have it in their collection is... Hartmann Schedel.

I will end this discussion with a bit of a cheeky easter egg, if you can call it that:

[attachment=13696]

(27-01-2026, 09:15 PM)JustAnotherTheory Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I have a theory that the VMS was once in the possession of Hartmann Schedel, a 15th century humanist (and avid book collector), who is famous today because he wrote the Nuremberg Chronicle.

The reason I think this is because of a specific manuscript that he possessed in his collection, a Biblia Pauperum (also called Armenbibel, a so-called "poor man's Bible"), housed today in the Bavarian State Library under the denomination You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.. Before going any further I'd like to note that such "Bibla Pauperum"s were widely circulated at the time (14th, 15th centuries), and their purpose was to tell the chapters of the Bible with many small illustrations within the text. There exist hundreds of Biblia Pauperum, each one is copied from a previous source. What is different about the specific copy in Hartmann Schedel's collection, i.e., You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., is the style of the illustrations, which appear to be drawn by a very similar set of hands as those of the VMS.

There are several examples of this, perhaps the most striking are the drawings of women. Here is a drawing of a naked woman:



In general, the faces of the woman (and men) in the manuscript are a close match to the VMS's illustrator's style:



Notice the red cheeks and red lips, that are characteristic of the faces in the VMS. Note also that no other Biblia Pauperum draws human faces like this.

Here's an enlarged example from another folio:



Again, red facial features. Here's an example of soldier's chainmail that has the same motifs as the VMS "architecture":



And then there's more depictions of women:



And more:



Notice the hairstyles, that are a good match for the hairstyles in the VMS, along with the identical red cheeks and red mouth. But wait, there's more. What about these Voynich-y animals?



Note the hooves, and the horns, which are similar to the VMS zodiac animals' details. There are many other fantastical animals in the manuscript, some donkeys and snakes, it's well worth a look if you're interested.

Now on to the theory at hand: if Hartmann Schedel got this book from somewhere, and assuming this illustrator is somehow related ot the VMS, that it stands to reason that Schedel might have possessed the VMS at some point in its early history. An interesting sidenote to make is that a You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. by computing experts who implemetd a graph theoretical algorithm to search for possible early possessors of the VMS concluded that the most likely candidate to have it in their collection is... Hartmann Schedel.

I will end this discussion with a bit of a cheeky easter egg, if you can call it that:

The only challenge with this is that his library was incredibly well documented, but we know from this he was a collector of unusual documents, the likes of which would exactly fit Voynich.  There's also the fact that only half his estate made it to his nephew which then formed the Bavaria State Library collection... The questions whether there's anything in the 50% that were leaked that might have been VMS, but in theory the 100% was fully documented and there's no VMS in there .. I can't find it right now but he has been looked at in Voynich circles previously..

I'm working on a different theory based on extensive searches of RAG.  It's predicated on the idea that Voynich was most likely created by a stadtartz in Swabia as a hausbuch. It strikes me that this is the right level of expertise and quality for the manuscript. Following this, I've identified a couple of vectors, but the most promising is someone called Jacobus Engelin whose father was an Apothecary in Rottweiler, so he would have grown up in an Apothecary tradition. From here, he was educated in Paris and Vienna university and became part of the Vienna intellectual circle and wrote treatise on Comets and bloodletting as well as Zodiacs. He later became Stadtartz in Ulm. My theory is VMS is a family project and the text simply keeps family secrets secure. I cannot explain it, but no one else can.  Ulm was also famous for its baths and had teuchelen which were wooden pipes to bring water in. Engelin would have overseen all Apothecary and baths in the city as well.  It's a bit mad, but it does explain quite a lot, although not everything of course.

(27-01-2026, 09:15 PM)JustAnotherTheory Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I have a theory that the VMS was once in the possession of Hartmann Schedel, a 15th century humanist (and avid book collector), who is famous today because he wrote the Nuremberg Chronicle. ...  Biblia Pauperum .. What is different about the specific copy in Hartmann Schedel's collection, i.e., You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., is the style of the illustrations, which appear to be drawn by a very similar set of hands as those of the VMS.

Indeed some details and the general style of the drawings are surprisingly similar.  But I don't think it is similar enough to imply the same artist.  I think it is more likely that the VMS Scribe got his "nymph 2.0" style (starting with f72r1, outer band, 01:00) from a book like that one.

The main similarity I see is the pose and the hair style, which is very much like that of the more pristine VMS nymphs like You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. (Bio), NE corner and f72v2 (Zodiac Virgo), inner band, 02:30:
[attachment=13697][attachment=13698]
Namely, there is only a finger-wide band of hair above the forehead, a bit more behind the head (on one side only), and a fist-size round lump of hair just above neck level (ditto).

Quote:In general, the faces of the woman (and men) in the manuscript are a close match to the VMS's illustrator's style

They are close, but those in the Bible are much better drawn.  But maybe because they are bigger? Nymphs in the VMS are mostly ~25 mm tall or thereabouts... 

And the dresses in you manuscript are much better than those in the VMS.

Quote:Notice the red cheeks and red lips, that are characteristic of the faces in the VMS.

I have seen several other manuscripts where the faces have that same red "makeup". Apparently it was part of the scribal bag of "graphical idioms", like cloud-bands, halos for saints, human figures pointing at details of drawings, etc.

Besides, those red details on the VMS are likely to be late additions, like the color paints.

Quote:Here's an example of soldier's chainmail that has the same motifs as the VMS "architecture"

That is a very simple motif, that must have been used in thousands of unrelated manuscripts and illustrations.

Quote:What about these Voynich-y animals?

Again, there is some resemblance, but it is not the same artist.  In fact, the sheep/goat and bull on the VMS are somewhat better than those.

Presumably the drawings of the Pauper's Bible were kept simple and unpainted (apart from the red ink details) in order to keep its cost down.  Thus there must have been many copies done by the same scribes and artists as that one owned by Hartmann Schedel.  His copy would be just only one of the few that survived.

Quote:An interesting sidenote to make is that a You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. by computing experts who implemetd a graph theoretical algorithm to search for possible early possessors of the VMS concluded that the most likely candidate to have it in their collection is... Hartmann Schedel.

I haven't looked at that study, but it is surely BS. (Trust me, I am an expert   ) 

(Back in the early 2010s, bitcoiners spent tons of effort trying to identify the mythical creator "Satoshi Nakamoto" by stylistic analysis of his forum posts.  But all those analyses failed, as they should.  Because they all assumed that SN would be one of the famous "cypherpunks" -- the valiant internet activists who had long dreamed of a payment method that would let them buy drugs buy chil bribe public offi evade taxes run financial scams support persecuted opposition in totalitarian countries without the governments being any wiser.)

All the best, --stolfi

(27-01-2026, 11:22 PM)DG97EEB Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Note i used Claude here to support deep research

I don't think that one can call this 'deep research', and the references should all be checked.

[attachment=13700]

For me, it's a good reading template. bayrisch
I've been looking for something like this for a long time.
He also writes a little strangely.
Example: ‘kunst Gottes’ = ‘gunst Gottes’ (God's favour).
But also ‘bas bey’ (was bei), (what at), which indicates the shift w=b. A form of South Tyrol. Also between Venice and Padua.

The people and animals are interesting; however, red lips and cheeks are not that unusual.

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

And "lyre-shaped" elements are found in various heraldic crests.

(28-01-2026, 04:53 AM)Aga Tentakulus Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.dame un puocho daqua alle man che sia neta

"Give me a little bit of water with the hand [provided?] it is clean"

The spelling "dame" and "neta" instead of "dammi" and "netta" indeed sounds like the "dialect" from the Veneto area, roughly from south of South Tyrol to Padua, from Vicenza to west of Friuli. Rather  than the Florentine Italian of Dante...

All the best, --stolfi

@ Aga

I have selected a wide variety of Bavarian texts from that period – recipes, medicine, magic.

The problem is the regional differences in spelling, which leads directly to a deep Eisigesis in every attempt at deciphering if you apply Voynich as a simple cipher in Bavarian. There are simply too many possibilities for the spelling of different words, which differ greatly from one another.
One would have to find the exact regional dialect, which I now consider impossible.

For many different reasons, I am very convinced that it is Bavarian. There was once a scientist who supported this thesis too and then gave up, arguing that there were too many possibilities and it was impossible to determine the underlying dialect. i now understand him.

Actually, I even have a very interesting and meaningful clue that it is Bavarian, but I would have to invest far too much work – for various reasons, I no longer feel like doing that.


@ Aga

Ich habe eine Vielzahl bayerischer Texte aus dieser Zeit ausgewählt – Rezepte, Medizin, Magie.

Das Problem sind die regionalen Unterschiede in der Rechtschreibung, die bei jedem Entschlüsselungsversuch direkt zu einer tiefen Eisigesis führen, wenn man Voynich als einfache Chiffre im Bayerischen anwendet. Es gibt einfach zu viele Möglichkeiten für die Schreibweise verschiedener Wörter, die sich stark voneinander unterscheiden.
Man müsste den genauen regionalen Dialekt finden, was ich mittlerweile für unmöglich halte.

Aus vielen verschiedenen Gründen bin ich sehr überzeugt, dass es sich um Bairisch handelt. Es gab einmal einen Wissenschaftler, der diese These ebenfalls unterstützte und dann aufgab, mit der Begründung, dass es zu viele Möglichkeiten gäbe und es unmöglich sei, den zugrunde liegenden Dialekt zu bestimmen. Ich verstehe ihn jetzt.

Eigentlich habe ich sogar einen sehr interessanten und aussagekräftigen Hinweis darauf, dass es sich um Bairisch handelt, aber ich müsste viel zu viel Arbeit investieren – aus verschiedenen Gründen habe ich dazu keine Lust mehr.

I am quite sure that the German in the VM is Bavarian. But where from?
It could be from Bohemia, but also from Padua.
Diary of Goethe's trip to Italy. He was surprised that German was still spoken in Ravenna.

(28-01-2026, 06:54 AM)JoJo_Jost Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.The problem is the regional differences in spelling, which leads directly to a deep exegesis in every attempt at deciphering if you apply Voynich as a simple cipher in Bavarian.

I am not surprised.  It is a more specific version of the same fundamental mistake every expert makes when attacking the VMS.  "The drawings look {European|Bavarian}, so the language must be {European|Bavarian}.  But since a simple alphabet change does not work, it must be some sophisticated cipher."

All the best, --stolfi