Nicolas Raymond * The Voynich Manuscript and Nostradamus Connection

[boldfrontiers]

Hello boldfrontiers,
since I can't answer you under "Drafts", here is a general comment on your Nostradamus theory:

The radiocarbon dating of the manuscript's vellum places it between 1404 and 1438, and Nostradamus lived between 1503 and 1566. I am well aware of the apparent discrepancies.

In my opinion, this fact must be taken into account. It is more than unlikely that the parchment simply lay around for 100 years. After all, the production was paid for and it is simply obvious that it was provided with text in a timely manner. The (fold-out) folios alone speak for a "project-related" production, as special formats must have cost additional money. In addition, the client obviously had a clear idea of the layout (including the rosette page).

Unlikely? Yes. Impossible? No. Case in point: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

This person is selling blank restoration paper from the 1700s. I should know, I purchased a number of them. That's over 200 years old. So I would say it's not only possible to procure blank vellum that old, but quite feasible if you really want to, and are willing to pay. I know the Internet and Ebay did not exist back then, as I sense that could be a possible counter point. But commerce in general is nothing new. Plenty of markets existed back in the Renaissance. I imagine as long as you had the money and right connections / contacts, finding a collection of blank vellum pages wasn't necessarily so difficult.

In my research paper, I also say blank papers can be one of two explanations. The other explanation being that the original pages weren't blank at all, but rather recycled. I actually believe this to be the more likely explanation, as there seems to be evidence of faded markings in the Voynich Manuscript. I made a thread about that on reddit if interested: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

If you look to other threads within my voynichresearch subreddit, you might also notice I propose the existence of a cochineal which is a New World bug: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

This would effectively invalidate the generally accepted theory that the Voynich Manuscript was written in the 1400s (bear in mind, I am rounding up Columbus' discovery of the Americas to 1500 even though I know it's 1492). Yet I am more convinced than not that the bug on Page 80 V represents a cochineal, and I think I made a pretty compelling argument as to why. In other words, cochineal = 16th Century+, and in my opinion, would place Nostradamus as a very likely candidate for authoring the Voynich Manuscript (or at least one of its authors).