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The Voynich Manuscript Decoded?
I give examples to show that the code used in the Voynich Manuscript is probably a series of Italian word anagrams written in a fancy embellished script. This code, that has been confusing scholars for nearly a century, is therefore not as complicated as it first appears. -
Leonardo da Vinci and the Voynich Manuscript
The Voynich Manuscript may have been written by a young Leonardo da Vinci as evidenced by a similarity to Leonardo’s script and signature, an indication of mirror writing, and an astrological chart that corresponds to Leonardo’s birthday. Mistakes in the manuscript point to the possibility that a precocious child could have been the author. -
Voynich Manuscript: was the author left-handed?
In this paper I suggest that Tarot cards were the source of the sun, moon and star motifs found on drawings in the Voynich Manuscript and carvings on an Afro-Portuguese ivory horn. In addition it likely that the VM’s illustrations of little nude ladies, bathing in green pools, were inspired by 14th century manuscripts based on Roman/Greek mythology. These observations make it unlikely that Roger Bacon was the author of the VM, or that John Dee, Edward Kelley or Wilfred Voynich forged the manuscript. Additional evidence indicates that the author of this mysterious manuscript was left-handed. -
The Voynich Botanical Plants
It would normally be regarded as a distinct handicap when viewing the botanical drawings in the VM, never to have seen a medieval herbal or botanical manuscript, however having no preconceived ideas as to what to expect, I am able to view the drawings without bias. Like everyone else who sees these drawings for the first time, I was totally confused by some of their fantastic and eccentric characteristics and was ready to abandon the project. Fortunately I printed out a few of the more normal drawings, and while studying them at home one night I realized that the creeper illustrated in folio 32r was growing outside my back door. The following morning I confirmed that the flowers and leaves were very similar to this creeper. -
Leonardo da Vinci and Bartolomeo Marchionni
The intention of this paper is to show that Leonardo da Vinci may have had a life long association with Bartholomeo di Domenico Marchionni, the wealthy Florentine banker in Lisbon, who financed some of the Portuguese voyages of exploration to West Africa, India and Brazil and who played a prominent role in the early years of the African slave trade. He may have been the person Leonardo referred to as "Bartolomeo the Turk." -
Bartolomeo Marchionni and the Afro-Portuguese Ivories
During the latter part of the 15th century, the king of Portugal sold rights to trade with Guinea and Benin to the wealthy Florentine merchant banker and slave trader, Bartolomeo Marchionni. This paper investigates the possibility that he may have been responsible for having African artists from Sierra Leone and Benin trained to carve ivory artifact, which he subsequently sold to his wealthy clients in Europe. Those ivory pieces that have survived the last five centuries are now known as the Afro-Portuguese ivories.