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More about VMs hats - Printable Version

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More about VMs hats - R. Sale - 15-05-2020

Despite a perceived rash of nudity among the VMs nymphs, the clothing of the figures in the VMs zodiac sequence and elsewhere has been variously researched. Examples of men’s hats are found in the VMs Zodiac medallions of Sagittarius, the crossbowman, and in Gemini, the groom. Attempts have been made to match dagged sleeves and various other elements to what is known of the late medieval fashion time line, but elements of imprecision on both sides forestall the identification of any precise match.
 
Instead of proceeding in this direction, let the investigation go backward in the VMs. The crossbowman’s hat is blue; the grooms hat is green.  The illustration before Gemini is the second part of split Taurus (f72v1), which is the darker representation. Here the nymphs freely romp having just stepped out of their tubs. Before that, in the first part of Taurus, the pale version, the nymphs are in tubs. Those it the top half are painted red, as if clothed (or sunburned?) and the ones at 12:00 o’clock, 1:00 o’clock, and 3::00 o’clock in the outer ring, and near 6:00 in the inner ring all appear to have green hats, similar to the example of Gemini.
 
Going to the preceding page, which is You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. White Aries, there are characters with potential hats of the same general style, but because they are either reddish or unpainted, there is the rise of potential ambiguity as to whether these are hats or hair. Dark Aries has examples of fancy ladies’ headgear in the outer ring at 3:00 and 9:00 o’clock. And prior to that VMs Pisces has five examples of blue hats or scarves on the right side of the outer ring.
 
So how does this help? What does it tell us? What does tradition have to say? There was a type of hat, derived from the Roman tradition, a broad-brimmed hat worn by travelers. It was adopted early on by the traveling clergy of the Catholic Church and became one of the signs of ecclesiastical heraldry, using different colors to identify different groups. Green was for abbots, red for cardinals, different ranks in the church hierarchy. White indicated a separate order within the church known as the Premonstratensians (originally Norbertines). They were canons, rather than monks or nuns. They lived in an abbey rather than a monastery, and they had greater contact with ordinary people in their ministries.
 
Founded near Laon in France in 1120 by Norbert of Xanten, the order rapidly expanded to England,  Germany and eastward, then just as rapidly faded from historical significance it would seem, although they have been revived. The relevant exception here is that in the Catholic parts of the Low Countries the were not suppressed until after 1790  and the French Revolution.
 
The green galeros worn by abbots derive from Spanish tradition, and the use of the red galero by cardinals was instituted by Pope Innocent IV, when he was pope residing in Lyon. Among the interesting, but seemingly insignificant facts about this man, Sinibaldo Fieschi, is that he was one of the first, if not the first pope whose family was entitled to bear armorial heraldry. The current heraldic grants to all popes is the result of a much later (than VMs C-14), retroactive decision.
 
The armorial description or blazon of the Fieschi family insignia is: bendy, argent et azur, which as defined by heraldic tradition is a pattern of alternating silver (white) and blue diagonal lines in pairs. It might be noted that while the description contains only four words, there are more than four ways to represent this pattern; some right and some wrong; more than one of each. And it might also be noted that the VMs White Aries illustration contains two examples where blue stripes have been painted on the tub patterns. That should spark some interest.
 
Given the circular nature of the VMs Zodiac diagrams and the radial arrangement of the nymphs and their tubs, it is natural to view these two striped patterns according to a radially oriented interpretation. In the radial interpretation, the stripes on the outer tub appear vertical, while those on the inner ring are diagonal from the heraldic sinister side. It can also be seen that the unpainted stripes of the outer pattern contain a series of dots, while those in the inner example have perpendicular cross-hatching.
 
As the old saying goes, the devil is in the details. And in this case, if the details are pursued, one will find difference, discord and the devil of a time making any sense here. On the other hand, if the investigator is able to step back and see both patterns as they are laid out on the page, it will now be seen that both patterns are now similarly oriented in a direction that is the same as the historical Fieschi insignia.
 
Several factors from tradition now need to be applied. Heraldry has several methods of tincture (color) designation. The use of pigment and hatching lines are never combined. The Vms examples of combined presentations violate the rules of heraldry, where violations are not allowed and the attempts to examine in detail only discover irrelevant information. A better potential interpretation might be based on one version or the other. The interpretation based on painted blue stripes gives a pair of insignia similar to the Fieschi pattern.
 
The inner figure with the blue-striped pattern is also a nymph with a red galero. Considering the relative significance of heraldry in the period of the C-14 dates, armorial and ecclesiastical heraldry were primary indicators of a persons rank and identity. Although the appear to be others, there is only one common referenced, instance where a pair of blue and white heraldic, bendy patterns are associated with a red galero. That is the historical occasions in 1251 when Pope Innocent IV made his nephew, Ottobuono Fieschi a cardinal, who was later elected as Pope Adrian V. If this interpretation is valid, then the patterns have been disguised by intentional obfuscation and hidden by an attempted optical illusion, a radial cloaking device.
 
Is this a valid interpretation of the White Aries illustration? Consider the placement of the figures in the illustration. If these two figures are pope and cardinal, then (1) they are in the proper hierarchical relationship. The pope is in a higher celestial sphere than the cardinal. (2) Both pope and cardinal have been placed in the most favored, heraldic, upper, dexter quadrant. (3) This religious representation has been placed in combination with the White Aries medallion. The use of a white animal for celestial sacrifice was a tradition for the ancient Greeks.
 
Furthermore, the two preceding pages (Pisces and Dark Aries) each have an example of a scale like tub pattern, an obscure fur, that matches in both sphere and quadrant with one of the blue-striped patterns found on White Aries. The traditional name of this pattern is ‘papelonny’ and it corresponds in placement with the outer figure, Pope Innocent IV and the inner figure, his nephew, later Pope Adrian V. This further guarantees the historical identification  based on the traditional use of heraldic canting to make the pun between the French word ‘pape’ for pope, and the heraldic fur called ‘papelonny’.
 
This is where the pursuit and recovery of tradition and the use of traditional terminology will lead the investigation of VMs hats. Tradition is clearly contained in the illustrations, but it has been modified, presumably intentionally altered, rather than being presented in a simpler, more forthcoming manner. It may seem that the presumption of intentional alteration, the use of disguise, obfuscation by illusion, intentional violation of traditional rules, and a construction for heraldic canting are all a bit much. The confirmation is provided in a second example that combines tradition and trickery, which is the Cosmic Comparison (VMs f68v3 vs. BNF Fr. 565 fol. 23 et al.) It is this second example which verifies the methods shown in the first, and at the same time informs a deeper reality in the VMs. One that establishes internal truth based on the laws of Deuteronomy, one that requires that truth is established by two or more witnesses, and does so in the pairings of the initial VMs Zodiac sequence medallions (for example) and twice in biblical passages (Deut. 17:6; Deut. 19:15).


RE: More about VMs hats - Aga Tentakulus - 22-05-2020

More about caps or hats.

   

There is not much to say about this kind of cap, it is simple, was contemporary and was represented all over Europe.

   

It gets more interesting when the cap still has a bullet. I have found this kind in other books as well. They are temporal.

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[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Compared to a museum piece, it seems to be a priest's cap from 1300 -1500.
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I don't think it can be classified regionally.
[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Did the VM author make fun of the church for mixing this cap among the naked nymphs ?[/font]

[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Recently, however, a new clue has unexpectedly come to my attention.
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For the explanation I have to go back for a moment.
[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]I am a member of the historical association Burgen u. Schlösser Schweiz, in particular Schloss Kyburg, which is one of the most important castles in Europe. ( House of Habsburg ).[/font]

( Advertising  Big Grin  ) You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

   
Now it comes before that for special occasions also authentic clothes are given out.

[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]     [/font]
[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]I was recently sent the 2019 annual report.
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This picture was taken on a special occasion.
[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]So at the next meeting I will ask the specialists for medieval clothing if it can be classified chronologically and especially if it is to be looked for regionally, because I have never seen such a headgear on a painting before.[/font]


RE: More about VMs hats - Koen G - 22-05-2020

The cap with the little ball on top is one that deserves further research. Is it really exclusively a priest's cap? If so, this would be quite the discovery. 

Back when I wrote an overview of the Voynich hats and crowns, I wrote the following about these hats:

"These hats are relatively rare and only appear in the first month roundels. They are usually worn by man-like nymphs, with one unambiguous exception (the bottom one in the image below)."

[Image: tip.jpg]

I think the one worn by the woman is different, it is wider and more turban-like. So all true examples are worn by men. This could be a first clue that some function is intended.

However, I would be surprised if this were exclusively a priest's cap. The bearded men you post from another MS, are they priests?


RE: More about VMs hats - Aga Tentakulus - 22-05-2020

   
Koen, this is exactly where I want to settle things.
Just priests or regular cap.
And of course time and place.
Yes, the others are definitely Prister.
You'll find them on almost every page of the book.


RE: More about VMs hats - -JKP- - 22-05-2020

I spent quite a bit of time looking into this, and I have hundreds of examples.

Here's what I've figured out so far...

In certain regions, the poofy beret was used in manuscripts to represent "the learned man". In other words, it represented a person of a certain status, who had knowledge (and was often passing this knowledge or general advice to a lower-status character in the image). In other words, it was not specific to the person's profession, but rather it denoted their status in the sense of being in a position to dispense advice.

In other areas, it represented a doctor (e.g., in earlier manuscripts and sometimes more southern manuscripts).


So, I think the time period and the region do matter in terms of interpreting the hat.


Another example... in France and the western HRE, the baggy sleeves often represented "our hero"—the central figure in the story (especially in romances). But, I discovered that in certain regions, and in earlier manuscripts, the baggy sleeves were sometimes reserved for the villain. For example, in the 14th century in some areas, Judas would be depicted with baggy sleeves. In other areas, and in 15th century manuscripts, more often the lover, the traveler, or the learner would have the baggy sleeves.


RE: More about VMs hats - Aga Tentakulus - 22-05-2020

       
You have to be careful with doctors' headgear. They don't have a bullet, it's more like a ribbon.


RE: More about VMs hats - Koen G - 22-05-2020

Baggy sleeves more than anything represent wealth and the desire to display it, so it probably depends on the material and moral constellation of characters in the story who wears them and who doesn't. 

JKP, do you have many examples of the beret in ca 1400-1430 manuscripts?


RE: More about VMs hats - Aga Tentakulus - 22-05-2020


.zip   Kopfschmuck.zip (Size: 2.97 MB / Downloads: 14)
Here I still have examples from a family chronicle. About 1370


RE: More about VMs hats - Koen G - 22-05-2020

Those are some great examples in the final image. Does the text say anything about these figures or their profession?


RE: More about VMs hats - -JKP- - 22-05-2020

(22-05-2020, 01:01 PM)Koen G Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view....
JKP, do you have many examples of the beret in ca 1400-1430 manuscripts?

I have about 400 examples of headgear including sock hats, chaperones, crowns, poofy hats, turbans, berets, cone-hats. Mostly I have concentrated on finding ones that are similar to those in the VMS.

Here's a small selection of some that are similar to berets and poofy hats:

   

I don't have a lot of berets. They were not as common as poofy hats, sock hats, and chaperones.