The Voynich Ninja

(17-09-2018, 09:47 PM)Searcher Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view....
I was very interested in finding of earlier sources and I finally found one of them, it is dated by 2nd half of the XV century. Not perfect date, but it is something. ...

Also too late (2nd half of the 15th century) but clearly visible.

British Library MS. Sloane 2560, Donum Dei,  2nd half of the 15th century, You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. .

The Donum Dei possibly goes back to 1475.

Just for the record, Saurma considers the following image the best approximation of "true" crossed arms in Lauber's stock. It's from the same MS Marco posted from but another page. It's also the image I used in my blog post to show how Lauber's workers were either excessively pragmatic or just didn't always have a clue. The story is about a man and a woman who are enemies (he just maimed her husband) but here they are shown in a lovers' pose. But their faces are sad so that's one thing I guess.


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[attachment=2367]

If you compare this to the image Marco posted before, you can see how it's still pretty close to the double ring pose.

Bi3mw,
yes, I found today that Marco also posted this image (from Sloane 2560) on the Pinterest. 
My searching led me to a little earlier pictures of the "Double pelican" vessel. 
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. 1498
Buch der heiligen Dreifaltigkeit
Dresden Ms. N. 110, 1492. 
Maybe, someone will consider those details insignificant but I think that we must keep them in mind. 
Koen, 
it is true about clothes. The VMs image of Gemini is not close match for mentioned alchemical emblems but I support that idea that the pose with crossed arms is very significant, most likely it was depicted intentionally, as it is not usual for depictions of Twins in that time. Owing to later alchemical manuscripts and emblems we can see how this attribute became a part of symbolism meaning alchemical wedding.
Later the alchemical King and Queen appeared either in dresses and naked. Even if their hands weren't crossed, they kept crossed branches. It's just notable that this sign bacame especially traditional in alchemy. 
I wish to find an alchemical treatise of the early XV century which can be a source for later versions. For now, it seems, there are two possible explanations: 1) the VMs Twins represent marriage of some real persons (though this idea is not my favourite) or 2) have the alchemical meaning "marriage". Naked (purified from the dirt of materiality) embraced lovers mean sublimation which is also represented by double retorts. 
Actually, I'm very interested what is going on around the sign Gemini. I wrote in my blog about this: 

Quote:Gemini. 
1. One female figure is depicted standing in a pool, the next two figures (dressed male) are depicted standing on the horizontal tubes, after them – the dressed woman and man. It is notable that there is no inscription after this male figure, and it is the only place in the Zodiac section where the figure is not accompanied with notes. 
How it goes (only supposition):
II stage (Gemini): something (one [female?] element) is placed into a «pool», and something else (second [male?] element[s]) is above «tubes». In tote, this diagram has a spirit of marriage, I would say. 

Searcher: at the moment I'd prefer an option (3) which is that the person who had to draw in Zodiac signs did not have a full Zodiac as a model and sourced his images from other books. One of those books must have been one with a theme of courtly love. In my opinion, the alchemical examples are certainly related but sit on a different branch.

(18-09-2018, 08:59 PM)Koen Gh. Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Searcher: at the moment I'd prefer an option (3) which is that the person who had to draw in Zodiac signs did not have a full Zodiac as a model and sourced his images from other books. One of those books must have been one with a theme of courtly love. In my opinion, the alchemical examples are certainly related but sit on a different branch.

Ok, I agree. There must be three options. It would be good to know more ideas. More options?

I've been researching now into what marriage ceremonies looked like in formal manuscripts. Interestingly, it is not always a priest, or even a man, who joins the couple.
The by far most common and standard pose is this, where a figure of authority joins the right hands of the couple. This can be shown with hands clasped, or approaching as in this example.

Quote:De Mulieribus Claris: Scene, Tertia Aemilia arranging Marriage of two Servants -- Tertia Aemilia, wearing hennin, stands flanked by man, wearing cap and woman wearing headdress. With her right hand Tertia Aemilia grasps right wrist of the man and right wrist of the woman with her left hand, holding their hands in front of her body.

As we've been figuring out, this confirms that the crossed arms pose likely meant something else, some step to be taken before they'd get married.

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I don't know very much about medieval marriage ceremonies, I've only read a little bit and I don't know if the sources were well-informed, but it's my understanding that a "promise" or engagement ceremony before the marriage was fairly common and the couple would sometimes live together until the woman conceived, and then get married. This would make the engagement a pretty important event.

Oh, the keyboard on my phone doesn't want to work correctly today and makes me nervous. 
If I correctly understand, dextrarum junctio (joining of right hands) was usual for Christian wedding ceremonies but crossing of both hands is rather from pagan traditions, maybe, from the Celtic handfasting (hands of a bride and a dridegroom were crossed and bound with a rope). 

Quote:The Binding (or Handfasting) Cord

The Binding, or Handfasting, Cord is an ancient tradition used in many cultures. In ancient Egypt, the cord was tied around the groom's waist and one end was loosed to tie to the ring of the bride. Through the ages, variants of tying the groom's sash to the bride existed in many Eastern, Near Eastern and Middle Eastern cultures.
The Celtic and British traditions called the practice Handfasting; to make fast the hands together to symbolize the wedding union. This evolved from the handshake - two opposite hands clasped in agreement - into the joining of all four, crossed in the center. The crossed hands create the figure eight, a sign of infinity to represent the everlasting bond of marriage. From these practices comes our concepts of "asking for" and "taking one's" hand in marriage. They also contributed, along with Roman customs, to the concept of "tying the knot", an echo of tying the cord to the couple.
Among the common people, a handfasting in front of the community to witness it was all that was needed to recognize a marriage. This practice ended in England in the 18th century, but continued to be used in Scotland until the late 1930's. Over the past 4 to 5 decades, it has been slowly revived in many less-traditional ceremonies, and especially as a gesture to recall elements of Celtic and British heritage. In the past 20 years, it has become a more main-stream practice, adding a spiritual aspect to the ceremonies outside of specific religious traditions.
Because of the ties to Egyptian and Celtic tradition, we have chosen to incorporate this lovely and deeply spiritual practice into our ceremony. We believe the symbolism of binding the hands together to represent the bonds of matrimony and an unbreakable commitment to your loved one is an elegant and loving statement of our dedication.
Our Binding Cord was made in our chosen colours and embroidered with the personal symbology you see echoed throughout the wedding; the lotus flower, the fleur de lis, the ankh and the claddagh. The Cord is a personal reminder and keepsake of our wedding and the knots tied during the ceremony will remain tied so long as we remain tied to each other

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Back in the day when I first researched the crossed hands pose I also ended up on such sources. What I'd really like to read is a scholarly article that would cast some light on the representation in manuscript art, but I haven't found one so far. Compared to the standard christian tradition of uniting the right hands, the crossed arms are rare and specific. (Which is all the more interesting for VM research)