Ladin herb tradition

A recent study published in an ethnobotancial journal reported this:

“Worldwide mountain regions are recognized as hotspots of ethnopharmacologically relevant species diversity. In South Tyrol (Southern Alps, Italy), due to the region’s high plant diversity and isolated population, a unique traditional botanical knowledge of medicinal plants has flourished, which traces its history back to prehistoric times.”

I am firmly of the view that this “unique and ancient” tradition is what is depicted in the Voynich manuscript. It is a herb gathering tradition with an accompanying folk medicine based upon the rich and unique botany of the alpine regions. This is what we see in the Voynich ms.

It is important to understand that it is a herb gathering tradition – and thus we have the map which sets out a specific terrain, a specific landscape.

Another consideration is the very nature of the herbs of the region. Many are rare and only found in remote mountain locations - locations known only to experienced herb gatherers. Many are also strange. We still know little about this botany. Only recently new species of carnivorous herbs were discovered in the area. The alpine environment is harsh and the seasons short. The conditions create a unique botany of plants with concentrated medicinal powers. Many herbs lie dormant for most of the year and only flower for brief periods, sometimes only days. The flowers and other forms are often bizarre. The herbs typically have deep root systems to support long periods of dormancy. This is the sort of strange and unfamiliar botany we see depicted - in a medieval manner - in the Voynich manuscript.

It is believed that the Ladin herbal tradition extends back to the Iron Age. It is the oldest continuous herbal tradition in Europe. It is also one of the least studied and least understood. The herb lore of the Ladin, like their sagas and myths, is an oral tradition preserved in the Ladin language.

The central tenet of my hypothesis regarding the Voynich manuscript is that it concerns the Ladin herb gathering tradition. (The second tenet of my hypothesis is that the Voynich ms. is the outcome of the period in which Nicholas of Cusa was prince-bishop over the Ladin people and the Ladin territories. If you take the cosmology of Cusanus and apply it to the Ladin tradition, you have the Voynich ms.)

R. B.