Morten St George Theory

[Morten St. George]

That's nonsense. They were uncommon, but they were not unknown. Physician's manuals were sometimes designed as foldouts. Charts and maps were sometimes designed as foldouts (maps sometimes were intended to remain unbound, especially large ones, but some have been bound as foldouts).

Thanks JP. I guess you can't believe everything you read.

Some of the Carthusian manuscripts from the south are extremely professional, but some of the Carthusian manuscripts from remote towns in the north have quite humble but charming drawings. Plus, you can't compare studio and scriptorium-created manuscripts with the VMS. You have to compare the "home-grown" manuscripts (and those that haven't been digitized yet) with the VMS. The nicer manuscripts tend to be digitized and put online first.

On the basis of style, in which European country or town do you think the VMS was written?

Do herbal manuscripts (remember, the VMS is PRIMARILY plants) have religious and military themes? No.

I was under the impression that in sharp contrast to the VMS, which I believe depicts fantasy plants to facilitate religious conversion by missionaries, European manuscripts tend to depict real plants identifiable as such. Is that true about European manuscripts, that they depict real plants, and, if so, how do you explain VMS divergence from the norm?

My experience has been that the more I delve into the VMS, the MORE support I find for 15th-century authorship. The signposts are adding up.

In contrast to Tucker and Janick, who apparently place redaction of the VMS in the 16th century, I am a firm supporter of the radiocarbon dating.