If there are multiple scribes in the VMs, will hand-written text reveal the scribe's gender? Are all these scribes presumed to be male or is that simplistic assumption factually flawed. Moving up to the 15th Century, there is the reference that Christine de Pizan made naming the illustrator, Anastasia. So women could be and were involved in manuscript production.
Hand-writing analysis depends on the examination of other written examples from male and female hands, for a given language in a given era, I presume. The VMs has no linguistic examples beyond itself. There are no other known, male or female hands for intra-linguistic comparison, so the comparison is between two different languages, one of which is not known. What factors would indicate the writer's gender?
On the other hand, the VMs illustrations clearly offer differing interpretations based on the artist's potentially perceived gender. For what purpose have the nymphs been distributed in so many VMs illustrations?
During the early 1400s, there is the religious example of Colette of Corbie. There were numbers of women in various religious organizations, who would have been among the better educated of their time. So there would have been various possibilities for both males and females, who might essentially be seen as historically anonymous. And from those possibilities, some person or persons produced the VMs.
Hand-writing analysis depends on the examination of other written examples from male and female hands, for a given language in a given era, I presume. The VMs has no linguistic examples beyond itself. There are no other known, male or female hands for intra-linguistic comparison, so the comparison is between two different languages, one of which is not known. What factors would indicate the writer's gender?
On the other hand, the VMs illustrations clearly offer differing interpretations based on the artist's potentially perceived gender. For what purpose have the nymphs been distributed in so many VMs illustrations?
During the early 1400s, there is the religious example of Colette of Corbie. There were numbers of women in various religious organizations, who would have been among the better educated of their time. So there would have been various possibilities for both males and females, who might essentially be seen as historically anonymous. And from those possibilities, some person or persons produced the VMs.