Re: VMs: Trotula di Salerno - tracing her influence on the VMS

[Jorge Stolfi <stolfi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

  > [Larry Roux:] 
  > http://dpg.lib.berkeley.edu/webdb/dsheh/heh_brf?Description=&CallNumber=HM+64
  > Interesting, no?
  > Folio 8v is interesting too.  Lots of Voy-esque characters there.
  
>From the catalog:

  HM64 
  ASTROLOGICAL and MEDICAL COMPILATION
  England, s. XVex
  
  Written in England towards the end of the fifteenth century;
  computistic cycles in the calendar are dated 1480 and 1520; some of
  the feasts in the liturgical calendar were instituted in 1480
  (Visitation, Frideswide, Etheldreda); the feast of the
  Transfiguration was instituted in England in 1487; on f. 72 is a
  mention of Henry VII, showing that part of the text to be written in
  1485 or later. Names of early owners are: s. XVex or XVIin: ff. 82v,
  106, 109, 120, 140, 149, "Iste liber est [or "constat"] Iohannis
  eccam [or "ekam"]"; f. 41, possibly in the same hand as "Iohannis
  eccam," "Caucio Iohannis p'ener alias halpyn pro vi s."; f. 11,
  "Iohn Han[?]"; s. XVIin: f. 155, "Iohn wallton"; s. XVIin or med: f.
  196v, "Hughe drapere merchaunt"; s. XVI: ff. 74, 76v, 81, 160v,
  "Iohn Bosgrove" (on f. 81, "Iohn Bosgrove ys a mytte man and man of
  the lerneing wythall"). Said in the Rosenbach description in Library
  files to have belonged to Dr. John Dee (1527-1608), but there is no
  evidence of this in the manuscript; the book does not appear in the
  Dee's catalogue, nor is it accepted by R. J. Roberts and A. G.
  Watson, eds., /John Dee's Library Catalogue/ (London, The
  Bibliographical Society, forthcoming). Bought ca. 1833 by Sir Thomas
  Phillipps; his MS 6883. Acquired privately through A. S. W.
  Rosenbach by Henry E. Huntington in 1923.
  
I don't think folio 8v is exceptional, it is typical of medical
manuscripts of the times -- European, Arabic, etc.. The language
appears to be Latin, I think I can read the first balloon as "vena sub
lingua.... & impedimentum lingue; vena cephalica inaditª(?) pro
passionibus(?) et cerebri" --- i.e. "vein under the tongue," etc.

Many HM64 letters do resemble the VMS "michiton" letters, but that is
not surprising -- it was the style of the times. Several years ago
Rene posted a German handwritten alphabet from the 15th century (?)
that matched most "michiton" letters quite well. Some of the HM64
letters also resemble the Voynichese symbols, but that too has been
noted --- it is what people mean when they say that the Voynichese
letters are "clearly inspired on Roman letters".

Page 17, on the other hand, is quite interesting. (The text seems to
be in English, is that right? But many labels are in Latin.) The
details are all quite ordinary and unlike those of the VMS, but the
general layout is surprisingly similar to that of the big VMS fold-out
-- with a big circular diagram in the center, surrounded by smaller
diagrams; the T-O map on the upper right; sun images around the
margin; a walled-off "God's Seat" attached to outer region of the big
circle; lines connecting the diagrams; and more. It makes the
"cosmological" interpretation of that VMS fold-out much more credible.
Perhaps the VMS author tried to "monkey" a diagram like this one --
only he did not understand the symbolism and thus felt free to invent
all the details?

All the best,

--stolfi
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