(20-02-2016, 06:07 PM)Sam G wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.One of the most remarkable aspects of the VMS script is that it is designed to highlight and emphasize the structure of the text. This is completely contrary to the purpose of cryptography, which is to conceal any structure in the ciphertext in order to make it more difficult to crack.
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And what about the VMS is even worth keeping secret? A bunch of information about herbs? A zodiac? Does that make any sense? Is there a known example of an encrypted herbal or an encrypted zodiac?
Hello Sam, I am not an expert in the field of medieval cryptography, but I would like to share with you some evidence that you might consider. About the structure of the text, are you familiar with Fontana's encrypted manuscripts (e.g. Bellicorum instrumentorum liber cum figuris - You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., Venice, 1420-1430)?
The structure of these manuscripts is often similar to what we observe in the Voynich ms: a large illustration with an encrypted text. The main difference is the presence of titles or short summaries in non-encrypted Latin.
About herbals:
A few years ago, Nick Pelling mentioned a paper that is now available You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.:
"The Cipher Alphabet of John de Foxton's Liber Cosmographiæ" by John Block Friedman. Foxton's book was partially encrypted: the encrypted words are mainly about medicine (a subject that was certainly related to herbals in medieval culture).
The paper also mentions another manuscript: Bodleian Digby MS. 69, c. 1300, a collection of experiments of various kinds in which a single group of recipes —of special value — is encoded, and introduced by the phrase « Expérimenta quadam in quibus occurrunt multa verba scripta in forma occulta omissis vocabulis ». You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. also includes a herbal ("Macri poema de virtutibus herbarum").
In 1200 ca, Hildegard Von Bingen created a secret language ("Lingua Ignota"), written in a newly created alphabet. Hildegard was a physician and herbalist. 181 of the 1011 words in the Lingua Ignota are You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view..
Finally, I have been working on the encrypted marginalia of BNF Latin 7272 "Tractatus de sphaera" by Andalius de Nigro, 1330 ca. (I read about the manuscript on You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.). I have posted my tentative decryption and translation on You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view..
All the encrypted annotations are about astrology:
* the first annotations are about the Zodiac signs (and mention the name of an angel associated with each zodiac sign)
* one is about the planetary god Saturn
* the largest set is about the Mansions of the Moon (they associate a planet to each mansion and add details about its specific features: what should or should not be done when the Moon is in that position)
It seems to me that, even if the surviving evidence of Medieval cryptography is quite limited, it is compatible with what we observe in the Voynich manuscript.