R. Sale > 28-06-2022, 01:32 AM
Well, this is what I get for trying to post on a dead thread.
You are not allowed to view links.
Register or
Login to view.
This old thread is in serious need of an update. As correctly noted at the start, this was a discovery of profound significance at the time. However, the various discussion threads wandered off in futile directions and died, years ago.
There are some problems. The omnipresent 'globus' part of the globus cruciger is a fairly common artistic item, as the say. Some are regular T-O, some inverted, in various religious illustrations. So, there are similarities with the central portion of the VMs cosmos. The significant difference of the VMs is that it is a cosmic representation, not a religious illustration. As such, as a cosmos, however, this was an uncommon structure for a cosmic diagram in the 1400-1450 era. The representation far more typical of the era was the poly-concentric model of seven 'planets', fixed stars, and various heavens. The Earth itself might be a geographical T-O diagram or a concentric representation of the four elements.
The uncommon cosmic structure is shared with the two cited examples: BNF Fr, 565 and Harley 334. More than just the inverted T-O presentation of Earth, these cosmic diagrams share a simple three-part structure: 1) central Earth, 2) surrounding field of stars, and 3) the outer cosmic boundary, or wolkenband. In BNF 565 this boundary is an elaborate scallop-shell pattern. In the VMs, it is a nebuly line, (etymologically connected to clouds), and in the Harley images it is a plain line. (Lines defined by heraldic tradition.)
The two historical sources represent an Earth that is neither geographic nor completely elemental. Instead, they are pictorial - each showing little houses in one quarter section. Both historical sources were produced in Paris between the dates 1400-1450. The field of golden asterisk stars in both sources is almost identical. The VMs, however, is contradictory. While it retains the inverted T-O structure, the historical sources are pictorial, the VMs is literary. Ostensibly, this is a code shift. Where the historical sources use asterisk stars, the stars of the VMs cosmos are polygonal, though plenty of the asterisk variety are found elsewhere.
So, on to the Duke of Berry's library, because BNF 565 was part of that collection.
Here are some of his books:
You are not allowed to view links.
Register or
Login to view.
You are not allowed to view links.
Register or
Login to view.
The second listing includes BNF Fr. 1082 and another text from Gossuin de Metz, BNF Fr 574.
This comes back then to Harley 334, but not to the cosmic images, but to the illustrations of "the mermaid and her friends" that is in common with the VMs. This representation is clearly explained by the mermaid found in two illustrations from Lauber - a mermaid among sea monsters, and a mermaid among fish, just like Harley 334. While the VMs illustration may appear similar, it is not. In the other three examples, the mermaid is a generic creature, just like the others around her. In the VMs, the figure is different. She is not a generic mermaid. She has thighs. Mermaids do not have thighs. In the VMs, she is a changeling. She is mythical Melusine.
It's interesting to see the connections between Melusine and Jean, Duc de Berry. It is also helpful to distinguish between two versions of the Melusine myth. In the Lusignan version, Melusine transforms into a dragon with wings. Jean de Berry conquered Lusignan castle in Hundred Years War. He is pictured with the castle and the flying dragon, Melusine, in "Tres Riches Heures", and he commissioned Jean de Arras to write her legend.
The other version of the Melusine myth is Melusine of Luxembourg. This Melusine is given qualities and characteristics much more like a mermaid. She doesn't have wings. This is the Melusine of the VMs. And it is the Melusine of Luxembourg that connects Jean de Berry and his Valois siblings to the mythology though their mother, Bonne of Luxembourg. The continued significance of the Melusine mythology is verified in the historical record of the Feast of the Pheasant by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, a later Valois descendant. The VMs has substituted the Melusine of Luxembourg for the generic mermaid of the other sources, to create a combined image. And this modus operandi of combined images is also found in the VMs cosmic combination of Oresme and the Shirakatsi diagram of "Eight Phases of the Moon".
Another interesting potential connection to the Berry library is found in the illustrations of the "Berry Apocalypse", now at the Morgan Library, MS M. 133. It takes a good deal of searching to find another source that shows a simple nebuly line used as a cosmic boundary, just like nebuly line in the VMs cosmos, a cosmos that was potentially borrowed from BNF 565, which also started out in the Duke of Berry's library.
Now, if only it weren't for those two ragtag illustrations interpreted as being representations of the Golden Fleece - one found with the illustration of Melusine, and the other drawn in combination with a segment of nebuly line.