Why and how the text could be Bavarian

[Jorge_Stolfi]

What makes the Herb Book special is the side-by-side presentation of text and images. The high cost of such a richly illustrated book makes it unlikely that it was actually used by physicians or apothecaries of the time. In any case, the botanical inaccuracies in the 160 illustrations would have made it difficult to identify specific plants in nature. The book also contains ten additional illustrations of animals that are not relevant to the subject of plants and medicine.

Most illustrations in Medieval manuscripts, or even in modern books and magazines, are quite redundant if not misleading.  Their purpose presumably was to make the book more interesting -- not necessarily more beautiful. 

A Bible with illustrations is more inviting and seems easier to read than one which is just text  -- even if the illustrations are wholly imaginary and full of anachronisms.  An article about exoplanets will get many more readers if it has "artistic renditions" of them -- even though we have absolutely no idea of what they actually look like.

And that must be the case for many VMS illustrations too.

All the best, --stolfi