Means & Motive
If you watch enough TV detective/crime drama shows, you learn that solving a who-dun-it mystery all starts with means and motive.
I'm also going to start with a few assumptions.
1a
The Voynich Manuscript really was created in the early 15th century (radiocarbon dating between 1404 and 1438). It is not a 20th century forgery by Wilfrid Voynich.
1b
The Voynich Manuscript was created in Europe.
2
More than one person was involved in the creation of the Voynich Manuscript. This touches on the "means" part of the mystery. Aside from the claims of multiple scribes, I don't see a single monk hiding in his room having the "means" to create such a manuscript.
3a
The people who created the Voynich Manuscript were not trying to hide information. They were trying to share information. They were trying to educate.
3b
The Voynich Manuscript was created as a legitimate attempt to communicate information that the creators thought was important to preserve and share. It was not created as a joke or a hoax or a mystical scam or a secret cipher.
3c
The Voynich Manuscript was written in an actual living (of that time) European language, not a constructed language, but only a constructed (non-Latin) alphabet. Sort of like Star Wars Aurebesh is used to write English words to make them look Star Wars-ish but with the goal to educate, not entertain.
4
The language of the Voynich Manuscript is not Latin. This touches on the "motive" part of the mystery. Who in Europe in the early 15th century had "motive" to write in a language other than Latin in a time when "everybody" in Europe used Latin?
5
The Voynich Manuscript was at one time in the possession of Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II (1552-1612).
From Wikipedia:
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"Rudolf succeeded his father, Maximilian II, on 12 October 1576.[5] In 1583, he moved the court to Prague.[9]"
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"Marci's 1665/1666 cover letter to Kircher says that, according to his friend the late Raphael Mnishovsky, the book had once been bought by Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia for 600 ducats, 67.5 ozt (2.10 kg) of actual gold weight. (Mnishovsky had died in 1644, more than 20 years earlier, and the deal must have occurred before Rudolf's abdication in 1611, at least 55 years before Marci's letter. However, Karl Widemann sold books to Rudolf II in March 1599.)"
From these two entries, I'm assuming Rudolf II was in Prague in 1599 when he may have purchased the Voynich Manuscript.
Even if the Voynich Manuscript can be placed in Prague, Kingdom of Bohemia, the Czech Kingdom, in 1599, that does not mean it was created locally. It could have been created in China or at any point in between. But, it seems like a reasonable place to start. Or, to consider, if all other languages in the area have been exhausted.
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"Bohemia retained its name and formal status as a separate Kingdom of Bohemia until 1918, known as a crown land within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and its capital Prague was one of the empire's leading cities. The Czech language (called the Bohemian language in English usage until the 19th century)[10] was the main language of the Diet and the nobility until 1627 (after the Bohemian Revolt was suppressed)."
What was happening in the area around Prague in the 1404 to 1438 time period? Was there any group of people in that time and place who would have had the means and motive to create something like the Voynich Manuscript, a non-Latin book?
Who in Europe didn't like Latin?
I can think of one person.
Jan Hus
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"...a Czech theologian and philosopher who became a Church reformer and the inspiration of Hussitism, a key predecessor to Protestantism, and a seminal figure in the Bohemian Reformation. Hus is considered to be the first Church reformer, even though some designate the theorist John Wycliffe.[a][2][3][4][5] His teachings had a strong influence, most immediately in the approval of a reformed Bohemian religious denomination and, over a century later, on Martin Luther."
"The name Hus, however, means 'goose' in Bohemian (now called Czech), and he was a century later referenced as a "Bohemian goose" in a dream given to Frederick, the Elector of Saxony."
"Hus was a strong advocate for the Czechs and the Realists, and he was influenced by the writings of John Wycliffe.[26] Although Church authorities banned many of Wycliffe's works in 1403, Hus translated Trialogus into Czech and helped to distribute it.[27]"
Aside from the continuing question of the mystery language, I still affirm that most of the non-plant pages of the Voynich Manuscript are about ensoulment in the tradition of Aristotle (successive souls: vegetative, animal, and finally rational). I still affirm that the star-like images are not representations of stars in the night sky but that they represent pre-born souls. I still affirm that most of the non-plant pages are about the journey of the pre-born soul from Heaven to ensoulment during pregnancy and then birth.
For years Cvetka has said that there are words in the Voynich Manuscript that look like words in the language used in Slovenia. The Slovenian language and the Czech language are both Slavic languages. I do not speak or read Slovenian or Czech but it has been reported that they share many common words due to their shared Slavic language ancestry.
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cvetkakocj@rogers.com
24-08-2021
"The Voynich Manuscript consists of normal language used in Slovenia in the 15th century. The examples could be found on my web page Voynich Slovenian Mystery in the long article on the VM grammar. Since then, I have discovered another manuscript with minims shaped with upward flourishes."
I would really love to hear what scholars of the Hussites and the Hussite Wars (1419-1434) think of the possibility that the Voynich Manuscript could have been created in the Czech language by a group in the Hussite movement. Unfortunately, for many decades the Voynich Manuscript has been so maligned as a hoax, scam, or forgery that legitimate scholars of history fear to tarnish their reputations by having any association with the Voynich Manuscript.
The first obstacle is to convince people that the Voynich Manuscript is a legitimate historical artifact worthy of study.
If the Voynich Manuscript really was created by a group in the Hussite movement, it could be the only surviving work of a people who have been almost erased from history.
Bohemian (Czech), not Bavarian.
I'm probably not posting in the preferred thread. Feel free to move as desired. I couldn't find a Czech language thread. I'm posting here because I quoted the very first message in this thread and I appreciate the work done by Cvetka. I think the similarities between Slovenian and Czech are an important clue that has not been given adequate attention.