The VMS ink is NOT iron-gall

[Bernd]

Jorge, when do you assume such a tomato / bell pepper spill happened? Both vegetables were uncommon as food in middle Europe until the late 18th to early 19th century. They were somewhat earlier adopted in Spain and Southern Italy, but not by much. The earliest tomato sauce recipe is from Italy around 1700. I would call the hypothesis that a tomato / bell pepper spill happened before the VM got to Rome in 1665 - exotic. And before 1800 - unlikely. In 16th - 17th century Bohemia, while the VM was there, those were exotic curiosities and ornamentals at best, but no crop. I assume the fruit would not have ripened reliably during the Little Ice Age 16th-19th century. Even nowadays cultivation in the open without a greenhouse is a gamble in Middle Europe. As for a pre-bohemian 15th century spill - no way. If it happened earlier, it was something else. Pumpkin perhaps?