Marci's memory

[-JKP-]

...

In this case, we saw years' worth of investigation into Rudolf, his library, his circle of acquaintences, the subjects which interested him etc.etc.  - all matters of the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries - total waste of time given that (as was already known) the manuscript presents as a late thirteenth-to-fifteenth century MS and was most likely made somewhere between England and northern Italy.

You've posted twice on this forum that this is a waste of time and you're entitled to your opinion, but I don't think that researching the manuscript's provenance, all of it, and working both backwards and forwards is a waste of time.

Those with an interest in the provenance might be finding or learning other things along the way related to their specialties or personal interests, and sometimes researchers become aware of historical connections that others haven't yet noticed by seeking beyond previous boundaries.

I don't think new insights are going to come from the usual places, given that this manuscript has been studied for centuries. The big pieces of the puzzle are already on the table. As the come-later researchers, we have to search for the missing pieces. A letter or fragment in a library somewhere might offer a chip off the VMS "rosetta stone" and those who are interested in searching for it are entitled to do so.