The Modern Forgery Hypothesis

[R. Sale]

The task of a forger is to create something that appears to be authentic, even though it is not. The interpretation of authenticity is based in part on the use of standard forms and formats. If I wanted a list of month names appropriate to mid-13th century Paris, I would look for a liturgical calendar of that description. That is not the case for the VMs. If the VMs is a modern creation, then the month names would appear to be a collection of odd variations gathered from various written sources. As such, it does not present a standard conformation, and this detracts from the appearance of authenticity.

Furthermore, this is not the only detracting factor found in the VMs zodiac sequence. The VMs sequence starts with Pisces when Aries is standard and Pisces is last. VMs Aries and Taurus are split into halves. The month names do not correspond to the standard zodiac medallions - Pisces should be February, not 'Mars' and so on. The individual medallions also present examples of nonstandard forms - Sagittarius.

Not only does the VMs artist favor the depiction of nonstandard forms, s/he also used them in provocative and preposterous ways as in the VMs cosmos (f68v3). If the VMs is a modern creation, then this sort of trickery is an intentional finger in the eye of contemporary artistic criticism - the last thing a forger should do. But then, no one noticed because BNF Fr. 565 wasn't recognized in the first hundred years of modern VMs investigation - starting 1912.