The Voynich Ninja

Certain representations in the VMs are proposed to have potential connections to historical illustrations produced in Paris early in the 15th C.

BNF Fr. 565, the posthumous 'Oresme' cosmos, with a very simplified structure without any planets and with 43 undulations in its elaborate, scallop-shell cloud band. Dated c. 1410, belonged to the Duke of Berry.

Harley 334, an even more posthumous 'de Metz' version of cosmic illustrations, lacking the elaborate cosmic boundary, but has a mermaid with four "companions". Dated second quarter of 15th C.

Morgan M.133, The Berry Apocalypse, which has examples where a plain nebuly line is used as a cosmic boundary - as is seen in the VMs cosmos. Dated 1415, belonged to the Duke of Berry (d. 1416).
 
Harley 4431, the Book of the Queen, the illustration of the nine Muses bathing in an arcaded fountain. Other versions show nine ladies, but the tub / fountain is different. In the VMs, the only pool with nine women is curvy, and only arcaded on the distal portion. Dated 1410-1414.

Several Parisian sources depicting fillet-type headbands comparable to VMs f67v1. 

UBH Cod.Sal.IXa   Missale Parisciense  Dated 1400.

MET 54.1.1 Belles Heures  Dated 1405-1408, belonged to the Duke of Berry.

BGE Ms. fr. 190/1 Des cas des noble hommes et femmes. Dated 1410, belonged to the Duke of Berry.

Harley 4431, the Book of the Queen  Dated 1410-1414.

This is a lot of alleged source material that "belonged to the Duke of Berry".

Are we to assume that the VMS illustrator was within the circle of the Duke of Berry?

This would be counterintuitive with respect to the main Bavarian/Tyorian/North Italian hypothesis.

More than those manuscripts that belonged to the Duke of Berry, there is the broader criterion that the sources were all produced in Paris within relevant dating, thus connecting to the book manufacturers, artists and scribes of the city.

BNF Fr. 565, which IMO is one of the anchors of VMs artistic investigation, was produced c. 1410, and belonged to the duke only till his death in 1416. It then went to his daughter, Marie, Duchess of Auvergne, (d. 1434). Books take on a life of their own, but the number of Parisian sources is a potentially significant cluster, suggesting access before the books went their separate ways.

The VMs illustrator would certainly seem to have crossed paths with the information that we now see preserved in certain texts associated with the Duke of Berry, but also potential influences from the Book of the Queen could indicate ties to the French Queen, Isabeau of Bavaria (m. 1385, d. 1435), and other persons in her circle, who might have brought in a variety of your "counterintuitive" influences. Her mother was a Visconti.

Just for anyone that wants to have a look at the manuscripts (Harley 4431 is unavailable right now):

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

Harley 4431 illustrations are available.

Nine Muses in an arcaded fountain.

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

And several headbands.

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

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

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

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

Can you pleas explain how the cosmic folio in BnF 565 is "certain" to relevant to the VMS? It appears to be not more than a few stars laid out in a VMS-ish concentric circular pattern with a few Wolkenbands here and there.

Other non-parisian works and authors like De Sphaera, Michael Scot, Diebold Lauber, Konrad Kyeser, etc... look like to have much more in common with the VMS stars and designs than these.

Perhaps you are interested in medieval cosmic diagrams - focusing more on those pre-1450. You may have noted that the illustration in BNF Fr. 565 is rather unusual.

The medieval cosmos, of course, is geocentric, but there are differences in the way that the Earth is represented. Sometimes the depiction is geographic - a T-O map with Asia across the top - etc. However, 565 is an *inverted* T-O representation of elements with water across the bottom half. Alternative elemental depictions use a structure of concentric spheres: terra, aqua, aer, ignis.

In 565, the Earth is surrounded by a field of golden, asterisk stars. That's it - there are no planets or concentric planetary spheres. It's all missing.

The field of stars is enclosed by a cosmic boundary, a wolkenband / cloud band, an elaborated, scallop-shell representation of a nebuly line. With 'nebuly' and 'wolken' etymologically denoting 'cloud'. There are no heavenly spheres or any band of zodiac symbols.

Illustrations in Harley 334 have some similarity with 565 - excluding the cosmic boundary.

Now look at the cosmic illustration of VMS f68v3.

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

The Earth is depicted as an *inverted* T-O, but instead of being pictorial, there are written words. Though the words can't be read, there is a clear and critical distinction. The structure is the same as 565. The appearance is totally and completely different.

The stars have also been altered visually. They are not asterisks. They are polygonal; they have interior space, even though asterisk stars are found in other VMs illustrations.

Finally, the cosmic boundary in the VMs is a plain, irregular and rather sloppy version of a nebuly line. It looks like the VMs artist started drawing near 10:00, going clockwise, and then had to finish by compressing some final undulations into the last section in order to make a total of 43. The sloppiness and ambiguity of the VMs and the crossing spokes of the external wheel make the counting of undulations into a game of hide and seek, but the count has been verified several times.

And, as it happens, 565 also has 43 undulations. So, clearly, based on the similarity of structure, there is a connection between 565 and the VMs cosmos that exists despite the maximized differences in appearance.

Of course, the VMs cosmic diagram also has the outer circular wheel with eight curved spokes. There is no comparable historical structure similar to this other than Shirakatsi's "Eight Phases of the Moon" diagram. The combination of these two widely disparate elements is an indicator of the VMs artist's "sophistication".

There certainly appear to be connections to various other sources. This thread is just to keep the Parisian influences included in the investigation.

Wait... you actually counted the number of ondulations in both Wolkenbands? That's dedication.

If you believe that both of them have exactly 43 ondulations, on purpose, as opposed to coincidence, then I wonder why the VMS author would have found it important to copy this exact number of ondulations, while elaving the rest of the manuscript in complete and utter disarray wiyth regards to copying other designs.

Why would it be important to count 1, 2, 3, ..., 43? I don't think there is a reason.

I counted 40

(29-06-2026, 10:52 PM)eggyk Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Just for anyone that wants to have a look at the manuscripts 
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

Is this the correct link?  I remember the illustration with the cloud-band and inverted T-O map that was posted a while ago, but cannot find it in that book.  (It is by Oresme allright, but a translation of a political treaty by Aristotle.)

All the best, --stolfi