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Voynich presentation at Oxford Medieval Graduate Conference - Koen G - 02-03-2017
Nick posted about this presentation here: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
The Thirteenth Oxford Medieval Graduate Conference
Merton College, Oxford
March 31 - April 1, 2017
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On April 1st, there is a presentation by Alexandra Marraccini of the University of Chicago: “Asphalt and Bitumen, Sodom and Gomorrah: Placing Yale’s Voynich Manuscript on the Herbal Timeline“.
Quote:Yale Beinecke MS 408, colloquially known as the Voynich manuscript, is largely untouched by modern manuscript scholars. Written in an unreadable cipher or language, and of Italianate origin, but also dated to Rudolphine court circles, the manuscript is often treated as a scholarly pariah. This paper attempts to give the Voynich manuscript context for serious iconographic debate using a case study of Salernian and Pseudo- Apuleian herbals and their stemmae. Treating images of the flattened cities of Sodom and Gommorah from Vatican Chig. F VII 158, BL Sloane 4016, and several other exempla from the Bodleian and beyond, this essays situates the Voynich iconography, both in otherwise unidentified foldouts and in the manuscript’s explicitly plant-based portion, within the tradition of Northern Italian herbals of the 14th-15th centuries, which also had strong alchemical and astrological ties. In anchoring the Voynich images to the dateable and traceable herbal manuscript timeline, this paper attempts to re-situate the manuscript as approachable in a truly scholarly context, and to re-characterise it, no longer as an ahistorical artefact, but as an object rooted in a pictorial tradition tied to a particular place and time.Since Marracinni is a trained art historian, I am quite curious to see what she's got to say on this matter.
RE: Voynich presentation at Oxford Medieval Graduate Conference - Diane - 02-03-2017
Koen,
She's a recent graduate.
I hope her paper will be published.
Since it is fairly obvious that she intends to provenance this imagery only in the sense that it occurs in a manuscript whose substrate is dated to the fifteenth century, I doubt she has yet the range or confidence to offer a discussion of how and why the imagery does not conform to fifteenth-century Latin Christian artefacts'.
In this case - and in fact always, including with one's own efforts - there are three chief points to be kept in mind.
1. What is the range of reading which has informed the proffered opinion? (check the bibliography in a formal paper).
2. What is the persons' range of theoretical, and of applied knowledge? ( Do they show evidence of practical experience).
3. What does the writer omit mentioning - (what can they not explain)
and in addition, I always ask a fourth question: How do they cope with being unable to explain a greater or lesser amount of specific detail?
In relation to Beinecke MS 408, there is a pronounced and widespread (surprisingly widespread) practice of sliding past the bits a given writer cannot explain - sometimes just by making soothing and meaningless noises. Watch for that.
Otherwise, I look unenthusiastically on attempts to just rationalise, or ignore what doesn't fit a desired storyline as 'theory' - in general, two of the things ignored are the sun with an artificial beard from the astronomical-meteorological section, and conjoining of two distinctly different animals under one (absent) head in the botanical section. They are not unparalleled, nor without sensible explanation - but they are not part of the Latin milieu.
Theory-driven assertions have another major weakness in this study - one deeply entrenched in the poorer sort of work. I mean that by which a Voynichero, at a loss to explain some aspect of the manuscript, resorts to inventing an imaginary character, (deemed the 'artist' or 'scribe' or 'author') who is then made to shoulder all responsibility for the inability of the Voynichero to fit this or that within their favourite theory.
Those being all general observations. Before I criticise this graduate's paper, it will have to be offered online. Let's hope that might happen. And that the writer duly acknowledges her debt to Alain Touwaide, an eminent authority.
RE: Voynich presentation at Oxford Medieval Graduate Conference - VViews - 02-03-2017
Thanks for linking to this Koen Gh!
I'm really looking forward to it. A look at her bio shows she graduated from Yale in 2009, so was there for four years prior to that, and I'd be willing to bet that a student of art history with a special interest in medieval manuscripts would have known about the world-famous MS in her uni library, so it's possible she could have had an interest in the Voynich for a good decade.
So I don't think it should be assumed that she is a Voynich newbie, or that although she may not be a participant in the online conversation, she hasn't been lurking on forums or subscribed to the list etc.
I think this presentation may do some good, because it helps to bring the study of the Voynich out of the "x-files" ghetto and into the realm of things that are an object of normal academic study. And the more such analyses by qualified specialists exist and are available to the online Voynich community, the better.
RE: Voynich presentation at Oxford Medieval Graduate Conference - Diane - 03-03-2017
Just a note to any members who might be confused about terminology.
A comment made about this event, in comments made below Pelling's blogpost at ciphermysteries, suggests that in using the word "stemmae" Alexandra Marraccini is displaying ignorance of some sort - presumably of codicological terms.
The comment itself is incorrect. We're not talking about classical purism here, but how words are used in practice, in descriptions of medieval manuscripts.
A random example from something online, as illustration. This from Fordham University's Online Medieval Sources Bibliography, where the abstract to one specialist publication contains the following...
Quote:... South then describes the surviving manuscripts and compares their texts. He discusses possible stemmae and dates of composition. South also summarizes previous scholarship about the Historia de Sancto Cuthberto and describes his editorial method..
The comment to Pelling's blog asserted that the word which should have been used was 'stemmata' - which is certainly a real word - see e.g.
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I have seen both usages, though 'stemmae' is a little more often seen in American than in European papers.
But the point is that 'stemmae' is not wrong. Nor is Marraccini wrong in using it.
I am a little surprised that anyone with even a passing interest in medieval studies and/or Beinecke MS 408 should have such a narrow range of reading that they had not encountered this usage before.
RE: Voynich presentation at Oxford Medieval Graduate Conference - VViews - 03-03-2017
For those interested in Alexandra Marraccini's prior research, here is a blog entry she wrote in 2015 for the Bodleian library's blog:
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And her Academia page with links to her publications:
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RE: Voynich presentation at Oxford Medieval Graduate Conference - Koen G - 01-04-2017
For some reason I just got a mail that the author uploaded a draft to academia.edu:
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It's literally just out so I haven't read it yet.
RE: Voynich presentation at Oxford Medieval Graduate Conference - VViews - 01-04-2017
(01-04-2017, 05:20 PM)Koen Gh. Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.For some reason I just got a mail that the author uploaded a draft to academia.edu:
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It's literally just out so I haven't read it yet.
I was at the conference and she is an incredibly knowledgeable and well-spoken scholar. Also very approachable and patient with questions. I mentioned the forum. That might be why...
RE: Voynich presentation at Oxford Medieval Graduate Conference - MarcoP - 01-04-2017
(01-04-2017, 05:20 PM)Koen Gh. Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.For some reason I just got a mail that the author uploaded a draft to academia.edu:
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
It's literally just out so I haven't read it yet.
I am looking forward to read the final version with illustrations. I had never noticed the You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. illustration, nor the "planet towers" in You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view..
I find the stemma diagram at the end confusing. Does it say that Egerton 747 (1300 ca) descends from the alchemical herbal Firenze ms 106 (XV Century)?
RE: Voynich presentation at Oxford Medieval Graduate Conference - Koen G - 01-04-2017
(01-04-2017, 06:20 PM)VViews Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I was at the conference and she is an incredibly knowledgeable and well-spoken scholar. Also very approachable and patient with questions. I mentioned the forum. That might be why...
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RE: Voynich presentation at Oxford Medieval Graduate Conference - VViews - 01-04-2017
For those actually interested in the topic of this thread, which, sadly, is once again getting skewed...
Alexandra Marraccini's slides from the conference are now also up on her academia page:
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