The Voynich Manuscript, one of the most intriguing historical books globally, is an illustrated, handwritten manuscript in an as-yet indecipherable script. Its pages are adorned with mysterious illustrations of plants, celestial formations, strange symbols and people, making it a focal point of investigation for historians, cryptographers and mystery experts.
What is the Voynich Manuscript?
A medieval text, named after Wilfrid Voynich, a Polish-American bookseller who acquired it in 1912.
Currently housed at Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, the manuscript is hundreds of pages long (though some pages have been lost). The language used does not resemble any known European tongue and the wording is still unknown. More surprisingly, the illustrations and text seem interlinked, suggesting careful composition as opposed to random marks.
When was it written?
The parchment of the manuscript dates from the early 15 th century; analyses estimate it to be between 1404 and 1438, providing confirmation it’s a legitimate old text as opposed to a modern fabrication.
Dating the parchment doesn’t, however tell us when and where the actual text and drawings were produced, something that is still heavily contested.
Why is it named the Voynich Manuscript?
Because Wilfrid Voynich discovered it in 1912 and developed a keen interest in the curious text.
Believing it held significant lost, or secret information, he shared his findings with scholars and code-breakers around the world but it remained unreadable. The book changed ownership after his death, until it reached its present home at Yale. The Mysterious Script The text of the manuscript is renowned as being unreadable.
The letters are distinct and numerous.
There’s also nothing in any real alphabet that’s like this script, a way to be sure the Voynich manuscript writing hasn’t been clearly understood because the only other text available was written centuries ago. Possible identifications, which none of the codebreakers agree with, of what the text may actually be are as follows, but nothing has been proven beyond doubt. It might actually be: a) an unknown language; b) code; c) an artificially made-up language, or d) another forgotten way of writing which no examples survive today, or (worst and most controversial of all) e) just utter gibberish. Strange Illustrations Despite everything the text isn’t actually the only thing in the Voynich Manuscript that holds intrigue 1.
Mystifying Plants Botany is by far and away the largest proportion of illustrated content within the text.
Strange new species, which look botanical, that cannot be matched by any actual species are everywhere; illustrations mix and match parts of various plants to create something else. Some theorise it may contain some drawings for real plants, other herbal, ritual plants or even imaginary ones. 2. Astronomical/Astrological Diagrams A large proportion of illustrations are circular diagrams in nature, often including planets or celestial objects, as well as images of what could possibly represent Zodiac symbols.
We can identify what may represent the sun and moon within some illustrations but nothing beyond that with regard to the whole illustration itself. 3. Human Figures There are several nude human representations throughout the manuscript, mainly of females, sometimes incorporated into surreal objects and drawings of various pools and other geometrical shapes. Due to these illustrations researchers claim a part of the Voynich manuscript could be for medical, biological, or perhaps even herbal purposes. Pharmautical Sections Of the hundreds of pages in the Voynich Manuscript some actually represent plants, various roots and containers etc.
These again seem to reflect what we would call a medieval medicinal book but not until the text itself can be deciphered we still cannot tell what it could possibly actually show. The Main Theories Since Voynich discovered the text in 1912 and it is widely believed that for a long time it lay un-opened by nobody interested with it but Voynich himself.. He came up with lots of theories none of which proved true.. But here are some: A Secret Code Theory This states the Voynich manuscript is actually some form of code, perhaps used for spying in medieval times where a group of men in positions of power were not trusted and so communicated secretly through a book like this and then only the person whom received the information would have any knowledge of the contents of its pages as they only would be the one in possession of the coded book they then used.
Many cryptographers from the profession spent hundreds of hours looking at the writing but as mentioned they cannot come to a solution between them.
A Lost Language Another popular idea behind this curious script and language is that the real Voynich Manuscript should have written instructions in some form of discovered past language but perhaps in only one language as if written in hundreds of different scripts then no translator would be any use at all.. A Medieval Medicinal Book This theory states the author of the Voynich Manuscript probably had access to a specific set of medicinal procedures and knowledge pertaining to this, but it all got lost to time until maybe 6 centuries later when it’s rediscovered by Voynich’s interested observer. A Constructed Language Lastly on my list of what this weird and wonderful book might be is that the author made up a language purely because he found it of general interest perhaps to create something to leave behind to show his creativity.
The Voynich manuscript perhaps didn’t hold any meaning as such then. An Elaborate Hoax Some theories do state the manuscript is part of the elaborate HOAX that many cryptographers put out over the years.. Which may indeed explain all kinds of why it seems that none could figure anything out about the manuscript..
The Whoopsies in these ‘Hoax’ theories; The oldest dated component of the Voynich Manuscript has been reliably estimated, by methods of radiocarbon analysis, to be from before 1404 to circa 1438.
This shows that the entire manuscript had been created or existed between those dates and is by no means possible for this particular ‘Hoax’. Attempt to decode it A group of leading codebreakers (some who were experts in military codes, for example) attempted to break the code of The Voynich manuscript, the results none can confidently tell you but no proposed solution has actually proved 100% true among the codebreakers; 1) Character Frequency 2) Repeated words 3) Layout of letters etc. They have all stated it would have be ‘an awfully complex code’ or that if you can’t explain certain elements, you can’t really call it as completely ‘cracked’. The Identity of the Author Not much is known about who created it.
It might be a famous historical figure.
Various people have been said to ‘actually be’ the author of the Voynich manuscript like… None the author is unknown. The Voynich Manuscript History This ancient artifact, for about six hundred years, traveled from hand to hand through unknown paths before settling as the enigma that surrounds one of the most mysterious manuscripts known in the world.
With its illustrated plans of plants, diagrams on astronomy, human forms and unidentifiable text, The Voynich Manuscript has captured the interest of researchers around the world. The Mystery continues… The Voyages Manuscript for at least six centuries has been passing from hand to hand all the while unknown, till found by Voynich, an Italian book collector, until finally found by many mystery buffs.
It is thought by many that this must contain something extremely special or indeed informative.
What this may be, nobody yet knows what it is and how it was compiled, nobody really knows any secrets from this historical piece of parchment work. It seems such a waste to keep it a mystery forever, that’s a crime, because at the end of the day a piece like this can only be of historical, or special significance to many people; either for the historical point, or maybe even for no reasons at all.. It’s like finding a jewel and having no clue how to tell it’s value, unless maybe by time; time does most things eventually.. But not this..
This requires someone extremely dedicated..
Someone unique and clever like Voynich.. Who is to say somebody isn’t reading the Voynich manuscript now.. In their mind..
written by vishal gilhotra