[Movie] Is the Voynich Manuscript an Elaborate Medieval Hoax?

[ReneZ]

I would assume that the reasons to buy a manuscript in the late Middle Ages were different than in the 20th century.

I was just about to write much the same. Quite generally, it is dangerous to project situations between different centuries. This applies to two points that have been under discussion here:
- is it reasonable to spend a lot of time on something as apparently useless as a hoax
- would the MS be a sellable item

The second interests me the most.

There is no particular reason to doubt that Rudolf once bought it for quite a bit of gold. One can just be sceptical because there is no hard proof - quite normal for historical events.

Voynich did not manage to sell it, but he really wanted to have it translated first, and it seems that he did not try very hard to sell it.

Kraus undoubtedly really wanted to sell it, but he did not manage. The feeling I get from the correspondence about this is that the MS did not have the best reputation then, he was not eager to show it to too many people and he probably was asking more than the market could offer. He could not find a 'Rudolf'.

Nowadays, it would easily be sold for more than the equivalence of what Rudolf paid. There are plenty of Rudolf's around. The reputation of the MS is good again, and it is a prime example of a unique item.

None of these are in contradiction with each other.