Getting close to a source for f85r2

[MarcoP]

The old woman in the rowing boat is quite special. Did they make her cane into an oar and put her on the river Styx?

Maybe the old lady is rowing into the realm of the dead herself, who knows Seriously, I don't understand why she's in a boat. I haven't been able to find a comparable motif so far.

The Tubingen diagram conflates occupations for the four seasons, the ages of man and the four elements. The elements are also represented by the background colour of each quadrant.

• blue, air, childhood, spring
  
• red, fire, youth, summer
  
• brown, earth, middle-age, autumn
  
• green, water, old-age, winter
  

The program is ambitious, and not all scenes are equally effective. The pinwheel in Spring is a nice detail linking childhood with air; other scenes are certainly more far-fetched.  The diagram on the right (Liber Floridus) shows the same season/element couples.

   

What the Tubingen diagram has in common with Heinrich Laufenberg's Regimen is the explicit identification of the four seasons with the four ages of man (actually of woman, in Laufenberg). Since there have been many discussions about f85r2 as either the four ages of man or the four seasons, it's interesting that both concepts can be illustrated at the same time, since they are basically interchangeable and equivalent with each other (homo microcosmus etc.). But of course we don't know if the images in the Voynich manuscript were used to illustrate different concepts. As Koen said a few times already, the finding can possibly add to our interpretation of the diagram (since we now have an illustrated text that we can read) but that is not the most valuable side of his findings.
Laufenberg's paragraphs are about the four seasons and the text describes the illustration meant to appear near to each  paragraph. The described illustrations (faithfully executed in the Karlsruhe manuscript posted by Koen) are about women of different ages. These descriptions make clear that the illustrations were conceived by Laufenberg and are an integral part of the work. Transcription from You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. by Heinz H. Menge, 1976

Das erste zite des Iares heisset das glentz

1897 Das dise zite sye in schöwe
Als ein Iunge Iumpfröwe
Die sich zieret in nuwe gewandt
Die blümly springent uff ze hant
Die brunnen geratent quellen
Die fögellin erschellen

Das ander teil des Iares heisset der sumer

1944 Ouch so seit der meister mir
Das die welte denn ist gelich
Einer frowen höfelich
Die da ist in vollem stat
Vnd sich kurlich gecleidet hat

Das dritte teil des Iares heisset der herbst

1970 Hie ist die welte gestalte
Recht als ein wip die abe nympt
Der farwe vnd schöne gar entrint
Ir cleider schöne sindt hin geleit
Vnd hett in lumpen sich gecleit

Das vierde teil des iares heisset der winter

2001 Dis zite leret der meister mich
Ist eyme alten wyp gelich
Die von alter dorret krume
Vnd ringet mit dem tode vmbe
Das leben / vnd ist überladen
Mit alter vnd mit synem schaden
Vnd ist nackent vnd bloß
One alle hilffe Sigeloß

The first time of the year is called spring

1897 This time is in beauty,
Like a young maiden,
Who adorns herself in new garments.
The flowers bloom in her hands,
The fountains eagerly bubble,
The little birds resound.

The second part of the year is called summer

1944 So too the master tells me,
That the world is then like
A noblewoman of courtly grace,
Who is in her full bloom
And elegantly dressed.

The third part of the year is called autumn

1970 Here the world is shaped
Just like a woman who declines,
Loses color and beauty entirely.
Her fine clothes are laid aside,
And she has clad herself in rags.

The fourth part of the year is called winter

2001 This time, the master teaches me,
Is like an old woman,
Withered and bent with age,
Struggling against death
For life, burdened
By age and its harm,
Naked and bare,
Without help or protection.

Since Laufenberg's Regimen was written in 1429, this gives a very valuable provenance indication for the Voynich manuscript. It also suggests that the date of creation (at least for the f85r2 diagram) is close to the later dates in the Carbon-dating range (1404-1438 with 95% probability).