(30-11-2023, 06:05 PM)Mark Knowles wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.4) Contemporary figures Giovanni Fontana, Ramon Llull
I have to jump in here Mark and make a correction, and take the opportunity to promote my own line of research. Ramon Llull was not a contemporary figure. He is, of course, much earlier. And yet, as you imply, it is not hard to see the influence of Llull on Voynichese which displays complex combinatorics. Indeed, I remember an early luminary (expert) in the Voynich space concluding, "Who in the Middle Ages but Ramon Llull could have done something like this?"
My research started there. In the relevant period the foremost exponent of the systems of Llull was Nicholas of Cusa. He is exactly contemporary with the manuscript. As a young man, he started immersing himself in Llull in 1427, putting all other studies aside, and prior to his illustrious church career (and subsequent hagiography that distorts our picture of him.)
Who in the relevant period could have done this? Cusanus was the preeminent Llullist of the age.