f18v...Dioscorides...something about those leaves

[Koen G]

I'm not sure if it must have been a single Zodiac series, or if the images were originally from a Zodiac at all. I think it remains an open question in what kind of context the VM makers found the images: as a single cycle or not, Zodiac or not? 

In your post at professor Bax' site, you write: "All the best matching cycles (see list below) originate from Germany, France, Austria, Switzerland and (possibly) Poland, with dates ranging from 1160 to 1450 ca. This evidence suggests that the Voynich zodiac cycle was copied from a source that was produced in Central Europe or in France, or by someone who was deeply familiar with works from that area."

My argument is that fashion and objects (i.e. the weapon) are most likely to be updated. Those are the things we do not see in the older French sources. So I think a lot can be explained by positing originally French images (not necessarily the full cycle) that had been updated to more Central European tastes (likely German speaking) by the time the VM artists got them. In that way you get an archer in an idle stance (French examples) weilding a crossbow after the taste of central Europe. Or it could be that the VM artists updated the images themselves, in which case you may be right that it was an option that the source was French to begin with. 

Now, my point remains even if we disregard any potential French pre-history of the central Zodiac images: if we try to reconstruct potential sources used by the VM artists, we are likely looking at sources drawn in from different places. (E.g. Balneis)