Matches for the marginalia Latin script [IN OTHER MANUSCRIPTS]

[MarcoP]

Does Derolez explain if the term cancelleresca is just a name, or was it really mostly an administrative script?

Hi Koen,
Derolez's book is too small and with too wide a scope to enter into the details. He says Cancelleresca is derived from Italian cursive chancery script. He also says it was mostly used for vernacular books, in particular several copies of the Divine Comedy are written in this style: he provides an example in Plate 89 (left): Laurenziana, Gaddi 90, Florence 1347. The other example he provides (Plate 94, right) is a Latin work by Statius (Beinecke, Marston 42, Italy, 1406).
From what I have read on various online pages, the script was created in Florence and chanceries of the various Italian states had their own variants. These scripts were rather complex, since one of their goals what to prevent forgeries (like the Imperial Elongatae we discussed elsewhere). The book version discussed by Derolez is not so complex and the Latin script in the VMS even less so.

   

The strange thing is that, while the individual characters are indeed an excellent match, better than any I found, the "look and feel" of the text as a whole is quite different from the Voynich MS.

Hi Rene,
I agree on the look being different. The execution of the VMS Latin script is clearly of an inferior quality in comparison. Also, BAV Ott.Lat.1738 makes ample use of hair-traits for abbreviations and flourishes. I hope it will be possible to find other candidates written by less skilled copyists than the author of the BAV manuscript.

The most important conclusion I see is that one cannot say at all that the hand of You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. is a German hand. Even though it clearly includes German words.

I don't think there are reasons to classify the hand as German, but You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. mentioned by JKP also is an interesting (if late) parallel and it was likely written near Vienna. I guess this Cancelleresca style might have been adopted in some Southern German-speaking regions? We will see what else can be found....