Crossbowman

[MarcoP]

(I understand this is mostly off-topic, sorry)

Hi Marco,

Well they are informative, but the information is indecisive. I would say that what's most informative in those merlons is not that they are depicted in the portion of the map allegedly representing Europe, but that they are also depicted in other portions of the map. This means that the person who depicted them not only was familiar with guibelline merlons but he  perceived guibelline merlons as the prevalent type of merlons. This suggests that a person who depicted them was literally surrounded by the guibelline merlons at the time he made that drawing.

As I wrote above, all information is indecisive is taken a bit at a time. When multiple clues point in the same direction, they begin to look significant.
I agree with what you write about the author being surrounded by guibelline merlons: their presence likely speaks more of the was around the illustrator rather then of the features of the illustrated places (if the castles are literal and symbols of something different). Something similar can be seen in a Milanese ms written in French and telling a story taking place in Britain (Queste del saint graal, You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., 1380 ca): the illustrator made ample use of dove-tailed merlons and other architectural details he could see in Lombardy.

But that's an assumption. What if guibelline merlons do not stand for depiction of real objects but for a "political" manifest of some kind? What if the person who depicted them was not a native to these merlons but just lived amongst them for some time (like, studied or teached in an Italian university)? What if the map was copied verbatim from another source and included into the manuscript as a standalone element?

And so on.

For me, aror sheey in one line with a German phrase in You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. is thousand times more informative than the guibelline merlons.

As I said, I think all elements taken in isolation are dubious. You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. might have been added later, in a different place, by someone who could still read and write Voynichese but spoke a language not related to that of the author (not that I think this is the case, but it is not impossible). It's natural that different people evaluate differently the relative importance of single observations, but all observations are important.

I have my own weird "pet-theory" about what the VMS origin and history might have been, but that's based on "hearsay" from the Internet and fragments of books that I have read (I mean I read fragments, not books). I won't disclose it until I'm sure there's anything rational in it, and for that I need to study quite a many aspect still - perhaps it's all absurd. But the root idea (and I think there's some sense in it) is that the VMS is not a one-time product, but a "legacy" of a "thinker" or "teacher" brought together (possibly, from a number of manuscripts) by his "successors" or "pupils".

I am looking forward to read your theory, when you will be ready to share it!