Milan Beckons

[Mark Knowles]

In response to a reproduction request that I made for an enciphered letter to the Milan State Archives I also asked candidly and directly about the Voynich. I have received this response->

"The State Archives of Milan preserve a considerable amount of documentation potentially contemporary with the Voynich manuscript.  However, these are not mostly codes, but documents (papers and parchments), which
appear to have exclusively content-related affinities with the manuscript you are interested in (e.g.
Sforza scat.  1569 is a collection of materials on astrological topics).
The director
Professor Annalisa Rossi"


Has any Voynich researcher visited the Milan State Archives ever? It is my impression that the Milan Archives have been much slower in digitising its content than some other archives.(As seems to be a common problem with Italian archive.)

[Mark Knowles]

Of course as stated elsewhere the limited number of ciphers in the Milan Archives from the time of the Voynich is due to the 1447 FIRE of the Castello di Porta da Giovia

[Mark Knowles]

I am going to Milan from the 12th of February to the 24th February. My intention is to see as much as I am able that is potentially relevant to the Voynich in the archives there. I will certainly be visiting the Milan State Archives. It is also likely that I will visit the Ambrosiana Library and maybe also the Trivulziana Library(in the Castello Sforzesco). It is possible that I may also visit archives in Pavia. This all depends on how much there is to see in any one of the archives. This may constitute the prelude to a much longer trip to Milanese archives in the future. I would also like to visit the Vatican archives at some time on the future.
I will be doing a presentation on my theory of the Voynich manuscript at the Abbey of Saints Nazzaro and Celso(where Antonio Barbavara was Abbot) on the evening of the 15th of February. This presentation is aimed at a popular audience rather than an academic one.
If anyone has any suggestions as to documents or manuscripts that I should see I would welcome those suggestions.

[davidjackson]

I don't currently have any suggestions, but wanted to wish you a great and productive trip.

[Mark Knowles]

I don't currently have any suggestions, but wanted to wish you a great and productive trip.

That is hugely appreciated.

In the Milan State Archives, you can request to see up to 5 (maybe 6) folders per day. Although, you need to give them a days notice of what you wish to see, so they can prepare it for you. I have found the archivists there very helpful on previous communication and they have emailed me photoreproductions of many documents that I have requested before, which has been really helpful.

I intend to take lots of photos of documents there that I will study on return to England. It may take me some time when I am back in England to study all the documents that I have copied.

I have a clear idea of some of the folders of documents that I wish to see and have informed them of these already. As far as other documents go, I will play it by ear and listen to what advice the archivists can give me. So, I am not sure how many days I will spend in the Milan State Archives and how much time in other archives. I don't know what I will find otherwise I wouldn't need to go as I have requested photoreproductions of all the specific documents that I know about already. Nevertheless, I expect to have a much better idea of the situation with respect to Milanese archives by the end of my trip. I will then be in a position to evaluate whether it is worth returning to Milan for a potentially longer research trip in the future.

[Bluetoes101]

If it were me going, I think I'd ask if they have anything potentially relevant that has ties to the Visconti and Sforza families as a "side quest" to the main comparative documents, if nothing else I'd find them interesting as standalone things

Have a good trip!  
 Visconti Family Visconti Family

[Mark Knowles]

If it were me going, I think I'd ask if they have anything potentially relevant that has ties to the Visconti and Sforza families as a "side quest" to the main comparative documents, if nothing else I'd find them interesting as standalone things

Have a good trip!  
 Visconti Family Visconti Family

Thanks.

They have a lot of material connected to the Visconti.and Sforza families in the Milan State Archives.