07-04-2024, 10:34 AM
Garments and fashions in the ms. suggest earlier rather than later I think, but then a later illustrator may have been following existing illustrations (poorly) rather than drawing from life.
It is notable that a whole range of proposals and enticing lines of study converge mid-century or a bit later, just beyond the Voynich window. Cryptographic scenarios are much richer from the 1460s onwards, for instance. There are things that look promising, but they are all a bit late.
On the other hand, from the outset I've thought the map is earlier and separate and was possibly the place where the project began. (I originally thought the map was mid to late 1300s.)
As an aside to the question, When did the writing begin? is the question, Where in the manuscript did the work begin? With the 'Red Weirdos' on page one? Or written in sections and assembled later? I suspect the map might have been made first and the rest of the work has been assembled around it, and the map rests on prototypes from the 1300s.
It is notable that a whole range of proposals and enticing lines of study converge mid-century or a bit later, just beyond the Voynich window. Cryptographic scenarios are much richer from the 1460s onwards, for instance. There are things that look promising, but they are all a bit late.
On the other hand, from the outset I've thought the map is earlier and separate and was possibly the place where the project began. (I originally thought the map was mid to late 1300s.)
As an aside to the question, When did the writing begin? is the question, Where in the manuscript did the work begin? With the 'Red Weirdos' on page one? Or written in sections and assembled later? I suspect the map might have been made first and the rest of the work has been assembled around it, and the map rests on prototypes from the 1300s.
![[+]](https://www.voynich.ninja/images/collapse_collapsed.png)