Quote:ReneZ:
One key event for me in all this is the death of Tepenec. His books were donated to the Jesuit college, but the Voynich MS did not go there. How did that happen? I suspect (but this is pure speculation) that Raphael may have had something to do with this. He was involved with confiscations of properties of deceased people, but I have no record that he knew Tepenec. Both had a Jesuit education and both were buried in the Jesuit St.Salvator church (like Marci) but neither entered the order.
Let's assume for the moment that Rudolph II did own the VMS.
We know that Jacobus was in his court, close to the emperor, and served in a capacity that involved herbs.
Let's say Rudolph allows Jacobus to access or loan or use the book.
Rudolph dies. The book is in Jacobus's possession at the time...
Here it becomes even more speculative...
Perhaps no one explicitly asks him to return the book, or if they did, he says he'll get to it (he covets the book, which is now an antique, since the craft of creating handwritten manuscripts on parchment had died out a century earlier). Maybe he writes his name in it to make it more "his" and almost feels like it's his since he probably spent some time (maybe a lot of time) studying the plant drawings. He was the keeper of at least two botanical gardens in his lifetime.
When he knows death might be imminent, he gives it away, rather than bequeathing it with the other books, because technically it doesn't belong to him. It's contraband. Perhaps he even erases his own name before doing so, so it's less easily traced to him. Or maybe he sells it rather than giving it away (let's assume for a moment he was unable to read it and finally gave up thinking that he could), and removes the signature so that it has better (black market) resale value, and so it's harder to trace back to him.
Since it remained within the Jesuit circle of friends, I'm more inclined to believe he gave it away rather than selling it. IF it was contraband, it would probably be safer to give it to someone he trusted than to sell it to someone who might bring it into the light or blab about where he got it.
All very "what if", but those are some possibilities that crossed my mind. Stealing from an emperor, even a dead one, could get you hanged in those days.