Distinguishing Characters

[Mark Knowles]

No I haven't. Have you? One can only go on the known data out there. I don't know of any other complex cipher developed for fun at that time. If you do please let me know about them.

Notae Elegantissimae.  Based on John of Basingstoke's [i]algorisme grec. [/i]Originally used as a counting system for wine and to bamboozle international traders, by the 15th century French Cistercian monks had used it to produce a Concordance of the Bible, treatises on arithmetic, music and an astrolabe, amongst other things; Agrippa also used it in his Occult Philosophy.

Not a "complex cipher" per se, more of an early attempt to avoid cumbersome Roman numerals that continued parallel with the early introduction of Arabic numerals, but a fascinating study of how a simple cipher that actually works can be used, in distinct evolutionary phases, across the centuries.

Yes, as described in:

"The Ciphers of the Monks: A Forgotten Number-notation of the Middle Ages" by David A. King

It is interesting as you say. Potentially it could be a precursor to a more sophisticated cipher. However as it stands from what I know of what survives of this cipher it is not my first choice for antecedent of the Voynich "cipher", for reasons of its simplicity amongst others. Nevertheless it is certainly intriguing.