29-12-2024, 10:40 PM
The proposed C-14 dating puts a real pin in the hypothetical timeline. Unfortunately, it's a rather big pin, plus or minus thirty years is a fair part of a long human lifetime, in that era.
C-14 is just a starting date. First one must produce the parchment, - then begin the process of creation. But when is the date of creation? Is it not the date of completion? And when does that occur for the VMs? A person born in 1400 +/- 5 could live into their 60s or 70s and clearly pass over a completion date c. 1450. There's no reason to get too picky. A couple of decades either way is as good as it gets. Illustrated details may come from memory, not from direct examination.
Nevertheless, illustrated details become important when they can be matched to historical details. They tell you things that the artist knew. Not that the VMs artist is particularly forthcoming in that regard. The comparison of the VMs cosmos with BNF Fr. 565 is a good chronological fit with the C-14 dates.
When was the completion of VMs creation (and then it was later rebound and potentially a bit shuffled)? How about the middle third of the 15th century - c. 1430-1460.
If 1404-1438 has a 95% probability, what about just 90%? Nine out of ten is not that bad.
C-14 is just a starting date. First one must produce the parchment, - then begin the process of creation. But when is the date of creation? Is it not the date of completion? And when does that occur for the VMs? A person born in 1400 +/- 5 could live into their 60s or 70s and clearly pass over a completion date c. 1450. There's no reason to get too picky. A couple of decades either way is as good as it gets. Illustrated details may come from memory, not from direct examination.
Nevertheless, illustrated details become important when they can be matched to historical details. They tell you things that the artist knew. Not that the VMs artist is particularly forthcoming in that regard. The comparison of the VMs cosmos with BNF Fr. 565 is a good chronological fit with the C-14 dates.
When was the completion of VMs creation (and then it was later rebound and potentially a bit shuffled)? How about the middle third of the 15th century - c. 1430-1460.
If 1404-1438 has a 95% probability, what about just 90%? Nine out of ten is not that bad.