VMs: Re: maybe it was Kelley, anyway?

[Rene Zandbergen <r_zandbergen@xxxxxxxxx>]

--- "Rafal T. Prinke" <rafalp@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 
> I have returned from a vacation (not research!) tour
> of Bohemia
> and brought back a copy of a book on the poet
> Westonia, 
> the step-daughter of Edward Kelley (kindly given to
> me by
> a friend from Prague). The book was written by Ivan
> Svitak,

 [...]
 
> On p. 70 he says that one of Kelley's closest
> friends was:
> 
> "Jakub Horcicky (Sinapius), a well known physician
> of Prague.
> [...] Later Sinapius became the owner of Kelley's
> curious book,
> which is now called the Voynich manuscript."

[...]

> Svitak died a year later. He was a scholar of
> considerable
> reputation, author of many books, etc., so I do not
> doubt
> he did not invent this - but not knowing his source,
> it is not
> certain whether the information had not come from
> one of the
> standard VMS books (living in California at the time
> of writing, 
> he had easy access to those books/articles).

We did talk about this before. Svitak has written
three more books, of which one about Dee and one
about Kelly. I remember that at the time you
were less impressed with Svitak's credibility -
precisely because his sources were the printed
press (esp. Brumbaugh) rather than library and
archive holdings. Perhaps the contents of the
books about Dee and Kelly should help determine
whether he is presenting fact, or propagating 
unproven theories as fact....
I have copies of all three books but are unable
to read them :-(
In the one about Dee (Kouzelnik z Londyna....)
he mentions Baresch, but there is just his name,
with no source or further information. This he
could have found in Brumbaugh.

That Jacobus (Sinapius) really knew Kelly is
a bit unlikely. Kelly died in 1595 (or 1597).
Jacobus went to the Clementinum in 1598. He was
in Krumlov as a poor student before that time,
as from 1590 (aged 15). Still, it's possible,
since Kelly was quite friendly with count Rosemberg,
who had a big castle in Krumlov (besides Trebona
and Prague) if I'm not mistaken.....

So, while it is an interesting possible link to
Kelly, I am not yet convinced....

Cheers, Rene


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