I've often wondered how long it took to create the manuscript.
If the pages were created on a tablet or some other temporary medium and then transferred to skin, then the extra time for two iterations has to be considered.
If the plants were gathered and dried (at least some of them appear to have been drawn from dried specimens), that takes time also, at least a few days.
If the cosmo pages are based on reality (or based on myth recorded in other sources), it takes time to research them and get familiar with and find a way to organize and record all the info.
There is a certain organizational feeling to the pool and "bio" pages that appears symbolic and this would take time to work out, as well.
Just going through the manuscript and LOOKING at each page takes considerable time and creating a transcript takes a long time with a keyboard, imagine how long it took to write each character with a constantly-having-to-be-dipped quill, so this was not a small project.
If one made a conservative estimate of two hours per page and three hours a day (few people in the middle ages would have the luxury of working on this full time) and six days a week, it would take about half a year. This is under ideal conditions where one is not pulled away by work, bad lighting conditions in winter, children, illness, etc. I suspect it probably took longer. I wouldn't be surprised if it were one to two years if one included the time to research the material. But, as there were at least two scribes and possibly a different person illustrating it, it might be possible to create this in seven or eight months.
I'm still of the opinion that it was never finished. There are many small details that appear to be left undone. Maybe the creator(s) died. There was a great deal of war and plague, and plague-like illnesses in those days. Whole towns were sacked and burned.
If the pages were created on a tablet or some other temporary medium and then transferred to skin, then the extra time for two iterations has to be considered.
If the plants were gathered and dried (at least some of them appear to have been drawn from dried specimens), that takes time also, at least a few days.
If the cosmo pages are based on reality (or based on myth recorded in other sources), it takes time to research them and get familiar with and find a way to organize and record all the info.
There is a certain organizational feeling to the pool and "bio" pages that appears symbolic and this would take time to work out, as well.
Just going through the manuscript and LOOKING at each page takes considerable time and creating a transcript takes a long time with a keyboard, imagine how long it took to write each character with a constantly-having-to-be-dipped quill, so this was not a small project.
If one made a conservative estimate of two hours per page and three hours a day (few people in the middle ages would have the luxury of working on this full time) and six days a week, it would take about half a year. This is under ideal conditions where one is not pulled away by work, bad lighting conditions in winter, children, illness, etc. I suspect it probably took longer. I wouldn't be surprised if it were one to two years if one included the time to research the material. But, as there were at least two scribes and possibly a different person illustrating it, it might be possible to create this in seven or eight months.
I'm still of the opinion that it was never finished. There are many small details that appear to be left undone. Maybe the creator(s) died. There was a great deal of war and plague, and plague-like illnesses in those days. Whole towns were sacked and burned.