VMs: Re: maybe it was Kelley, anyway?

["Rafal T. Prinke" <rafalp@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Rene,

> > "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."

> We did talk about this before. Svitak has written
> three more books, of which one about Dee and one
> about Kelly. 

In fact he wrote a lot more books, most of them
on philosophy and political science, including
some published in the USA on the "Czechoslovak
experiment" of 1968, of which he was a victim. 

> 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.

As I had not seen any of his Dee/Kelley/Westonia books
until last week, and because I knew he wrote them 
in California (California State University, Chico, to
be exact, where he held a chair of philosophy), I simply
suspected that he did not have access relevant publications
(not to mention archival material) from Bohemia. Now I have
browsed through the Westonia book and am quite impressed.
Even though there are no footnotes or bibliography, he 
sometimes mentions his sources in the texts - and sometimes
I can guess where the information comes from. Thus my former
suspicions have not been confirmed - and I am now enthusiastic
about Svitak, with the only reservation that it might be
problematic to tell his own conclusions from facts supported
by primary sources.

> That Jacobus (Sinapius) really knew Kelly is
> a bit unlikely. Kelly died in 1595 (or 1597).

It is definitely 1597 - and Svitak even suspects
that he may have actually survived and go to Russia with
Arthur Dee (but he clearly identifies this statement as
a far-fetched hypothesis).

> 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.....

You are not - and I was in both locations last week. Trebon
is a truly wonderful place, a Renaissance town with complete
city walls - and nothing beyond them! And Cesky Krumlov is
not far away - about 30-40 km. It was the main residence
of Rozmberk, so Kelley certainly visited him there quite
often, especially as there was an alchemical laboratory
in that castle (the director of the castle, Dr. Slavko,
showed me the location where it was). Even when Dee was
still there, Kelley often went to see Rozmberk, so presumably
to Cesky Krumlov.

To say that he was "quite friendly" is an understatement
when you consider the fact that Rozmberk gave Kelley several
villages and a lot of money (he bought several houses in
Prague and in Jilove). The tranditional image of Kelley
as a clever but primitive villain is certainly mistaken.
He must have been very intelligent and well educated to
impress the two most powerful - and certainly not gullible -
people in the Holy Empire.

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

I am not, either, but I can imagine Kelley producing the VMS.
After all, he produced the Enochiana for Dee and it worked,
so why not try the same on Rozmberk or Rudolf? Anyway, it makes
the search for Svitak's MS with footnotes worthwhile.

Best regards,

Rafal