Re: VMs: new revelations

[Rene Zandbergen <r_zandbergen@xxxxxxxxx>]

--- JJJRLandau@xxxxxxx wrote:
> I'm confused.
> 
> David Kahn (_The Code-breakers_  New York:
> Macmillan, 1967, page 864) writes:
> 
> "The presence of the [Voynich] manuscript at his
> [Rudolf II's] court in 
> Prague was later proved by the discovery in a margin
> of the autograph of 
> Johannes de Tepenecz, a Bohemian scientist who was a
> favorite of Rudolf."
> 
> Is Kahn correct?  If he is, then we know the Voynich
> MS was in existence in Rudolf's time.  If not...

Kahn is correct. 
But the nice thing about 'conspiracy-type' theories
is that you can always find alternative explanations,
and circumstantial evidence in favour of it.

(I will admit to having done my own bit of that,
and I have more in store - see below :-) )

The signature is one of many arguments in
favour of the more straightforward medieval origin
of the MS, and I doubt that anyone will contest
that the evidence in favour by far outweighs
the alternative.

Especially since the 'alternative' origin of the
VMs doesn't really help answer any of the mysterious
issues of the Voynich MS, and raises a number
of new unanswered questions.

OK. Here is a bit more conspirational thinking:

The whereabouts of the MS collection that surfaced
in the Mondragone is completely unknown after 
1873, and perhaps already after 1773. The fact
that the Kircher correspondence is not listed
in 'Sommervogel and De Backer', a huge bibliogaphy
about everything ever written by a Jesuit, proves
that it was really 'lost to the world'. Note that
Sommervogel counted until even 5 years ago as
the most complete bibliography of Kircher - maybe
it still does.
In 1773, Giuseppe Pignatelli S.J. rescued a lot
of Jesuit material when the order was suppressed.
The only place where the Jesuits were still 
welcome (and this is the place where presumably he
took whatever it is he took), was:

Russia :-)

(the smiley does not mean that I'm joking)

Whatever was there, it was effectively 'lost to
the rest of the world' and we can't begin to guess
how long it was there (let alone what may still
be there :-) ).

Cheers, Rene

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