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Voynich Manuscript as a charlatao's prop
- Voynich Manuscript as a charlatao's prop
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Voynich Manuscript as a charlatao's prop
Rafal > 9 hours ago
I was going to write this stuff for a long time but only recently managed to do it.
I have some theory why Voynich Manuscript was created and why it is the way it is. I am unable to prove it
but I still think it is more probable and explain some things better than many other strange theories involving Aztecs, Mayans, lesbian nuns,
machines hidden in plants, Leonardo da Vinci etc.
It all depends on one big assumption - the text is meaningless and the manuscript is a hoax.
You know the usual arguments for that, I'm not going to give here anything new. So I'll just mention some of them briefly:
- if it had a meaning it would be cracked till now
- it has no cribs and no numbers
- it behaves unlike any real language
- words strangely fit into small spaces like between plant parts
- it fits well "autocitation model" by Torsten Timm
I will take here some other assumptions, rather rational and mainstream, I believe:
- Supernatural forces were not involved
It was made not by aliens, angels, fairies or Nephilim but by ordinary people
- It was made in the 1400s, as carbon dating suggests
- It was made somewhere around southern Germany, northern Italy or between as suggested by imagery
- It was made by several people (5 scribes hypothesis by Lisa Fagin Davis)
- It is cheap, low quality product. Made on cheap parchment, illustrated with poor pictures, having cheap paints, the writing is the best of it
- It was used a lot. Wikipedia says:
Medievalist Lisa Fagin Davis describes the parchment as soft - a texture found in books that have been "heavily thumbed". This indicates the manuscript was handled
or paged through a great deal and likely served some routine function such as a medical manual or celestial almanac.
Its heavy usage also suggests it had a workmanlike role rather than anything sacred or ceremonial.
When people talk about Voynich being a hoax, they usually mean it was made to be sold to some rich collector.
The problem is that in the 1400s Voynich manuscript wouldn't seem to a rich collector as mysterious, precious and unique as it seems today. Finding an interested man
could be hard. See this thread: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
I want to propose here another, less discussed option. The forger didn't make Voynich Manuscript for some collector. He made it for himself.
He was a wandering charlatan, selling fake medical ointments, oils, powders and tinctures.
He travelled through towns and villages and sold his goods in some booth at marketplaces.
When people came to him and talked about their illnesses, he took Voynich Manuscript in his hands and pretended to read it with a thinking, focused expression on his face.
He browsed pages and finally was "making" some desicion and chosing some tincture. It was all theatre and show, he wasn't really reading it as the text didn't mean anything.
But it looked like he was some extremely clever man reading a foreign, miraculous book.
You must remember that medieval doctors weren't very effective. A lot of people were suffering with their diseases and nobody could help them.
Voynich Manuscript could give them the (false) hope.
More in following posts... -
RE: Voynich Manuscript as a charlatao's prop
JustAnotherTheory > 7 hours ago
This is a really interesting theory. However there are some open points that don't fit into the theory.
- The first words in several plant folios also appear in the "reicpes" section. These are sometimes long, complex words, written by two different set of hands. If this was a charlatan's prop, it would make no sense to exactly reference names/objects in several unrelated sections with such accuracy. I.e., could have just written "mumbo jumbo".
- What would be the point of making this many pages of very intricately written and designed folios?
- Why the rosettes? What purpose would they serve a charlatan?
- There still had to be some system among the scribes, as same words appear in Currier A and B. Why?
- The first words in several plant folios also appear in the "reicpes" section. These are sometimes long, complex words, written by two different set of hands. If this was a charlatan's prop, it would make no sense to exactly reference names/objects in several unrelated sections with such accuracy. I.e., could have just written "mumbo jumbo".
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RE: Voynich Manuscript as a charlatao's prop
MarcoP > 7 hours ago
(9 hours ago)Rafal Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.- words strangely fit into small spaces like between plant parts
Not that it matters much, but this is not strange and can be seen in other illustrated herbals (e.g. Trinity O.2.48 or the Vermont herbal); this could be done by abbreviating words and/or splitting them to fit the images.
Image from You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
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RE: Voynich Manuscript as a charlatao's prop
eggyk > 4 hours ago
(7 hours ago)JustAnotherTheory Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.[*]What would be the point of making this many pages of very intricately written and designed folios?
[*]Why the rosettes? What purpose would they serve a charlatan?
Just as a point for these two specifically.
1) Having this many pages bound into a book may add credibility to the content within "it's in a large book, it's probably legit".
2) The rosettes and foldouts look impressive and kinda cool and weird and not normal. Potential customers (targets) may be impressed by them or simply believe that only a legitimate salesman/academic/doctor would have such an interesting diagram. If it was part of an act, he whips out his giant foldout and "reads" it to "interpret" the spirits, or god, or the heavens or whatever else he thinks will work. -
RE: Voynich Manuscript as a charlatao's prop
Bluetoes101 > 4 hours ago
I've said elsewhere that I like this sort of idea, so I've thought about it a bit over time.
There are some sticking points I think,
"- It was made by several people (5 scribes hypothesis by Lisa Fagin Davis)
- It is cheap, low quality product. Made on cheap parchment, illustrated with poor pictures, having cheap paints, the writing is the best of it"
I don't think you can have "cheap" and "5 scribes", I would think labour costs would make the actual cost above that of a buying a book that would work to the same effect, at least pretty close to and you wouldn't have to spend all the time making it.
It might be that is was a bespoke item that had to be "just so" for the "client" so any old book wouldn't do for the planned ruse, though then "bespoke" isn't cheap.
Maybe the labour was free as everyone was "in on it" but then that doesn't match very well to "wandering charlatan".
I do still think it is one of the better proposed possibilities. I guess it would be more compelling if we knew of other "fake" books used to sell things written in an unknown language etc
Edit - You can get around some of these problems by saying maybe it was made for a shop by the family that owned it, or alike, though obviously it's still just chucking darts at a dartboard without others to compare. -
RE: Voynich Manuscript as a charlatao's prop
Rafal > 3 hours ago
Let me address some issues.
> I would think labour costs would make the actual cost above that of a buying a book
Not necessarily. I haven't thought up the idea of Voynich Manuscript being cheap myself. That's what Lisa Fagin Davis says and some other too. Materials and the execution are poor. Probably whoever wrote it and made illustrations wasn't paid much.
And of course, you could just buy a book. But then you had an ordinary book. Not every of your clients was illiterate and easily impressed. Some could recognize and even read that the herb on your page is let's say thyme. They would say "Thyme? I already tried it. It doesn't work".
With imaginary plants and an unusual book it was different. Our charlatan could give his clients a lot of crazy stories like:
"You know, there is some special plant which could help you. It grows only in the Holy Land in Gethsemane garden where our Lord was arrested. But you know what? By accident I have a tincture made of it. But you realize it won't be cheap, right?"
He didn't care that it won't work. He was a travelling charlatan and when his client realized he was cheated the charlatan was long gone.
It also seems a mistake to me that a charlatan wouldn't have any more expensive and advanced prop.
Have a look at an example from the more recent past:
This is a charlatan's machine. It is suppose to diagnose diseases but it just fakes it.
But you will probably agree that making it required some money investment, time, creativity and effort.
A charlatan needs to seem believable and make good impression. Some advanced prop really helps him with it as people think
"Hey, if he wanted to cheat me, he would make it simpler"
And then he gets you
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RE: Voynich Manuscript as a charlatao's prop
dashstofsk > 2 hours ago
![[Image: 014-recto.jpg]](https://medicaltraditions.org/images/stories/manuscripts/demateriamedica/014-recto.jpg)