The Tyrolean Eagle

Much is made of the roots of the herbs in the Voynich ms. - too much. I am generally sceptical of the many claims made about hidden forms and cryptic distortions in the plant roots depicted. To my eye the plant roots are sometimes strangely stylized, but there is little that cannot be explained. They are not unaccountably strange.

There is a bad tendency among Voynich aficionados to reach for overly elaborate explanations. According to some, for example, the roots of the herbs are a mnemonic code for remembering scenes from the Bible. Readers are invited to look over the first 70+ pages of the manuscript to see if they can detect any such thing.

In some cases, there are zoomorphic forms - roots that look vaguely like animals. One that is often noted is the 'Voynich Eagle' on f46v. This is clearly bird or feather-like. There may be many explanations for it within the normal range of the medieval mindset, but some want to see it as a tell-tale mark of heraldic imagery that might provide a clue to the manuscript's origins. It has often been discussed with that in view.

I am far from convinced that it is heraldic, or that there is much heraldry in the manuscript at all. But if it is a motif from heraldry then it recalls the Tyrolean eagle featured on the coat of arms of the County Tyrol. It would then be another item of evidence linking the work to that region.

This was noted long, long ago, but in the Voynich world there has been, as usual, on-going arguments and contention about it. Nick Pelling cites motifs from the Novara family of Milan. The problem is that the eagle is so common in heraldry that there are dozens of coats of arms that might be being referenced. This is true even if we restrict ourselves to northern Italy and thereabouts.

Accordingly, I think the 'Voynich eagle' is a very unpromising piece of evidence  and is unlikely to reward close attention.  More likely, it is a visual pun that has some reference to the herb in question. Another page has serpents entwined with the plant roots = "snakeroot". An eagle or hawk in this context might indicate a herb that is beneficial to eyesight and long-range vision.

It suits my case to see it as an heraldic eagle: it fits a pattern of motifs that together point to the Sudtirol. In a previous post I noted motifs from Castle Runklestein in that region. Single visual references are unhelpful. What is needed is a pattern. The pattern of images and motifs in the Voynich ms. strongly suggests the County Tyrol in the eastern parts of alpine northern Italy.

All the same, I am unconvinced by the so-called eagle. I doubt it is the Tyrolean eagle or any other motif from heraldry. It is better explained in terms of herbalism which would be the natural reading.

On the whole, too much is made of the herb roots, in my opinion. I don't see codes, ciphers and hidden meanings. I see the somewhat idiosyncratic, quite un-modern and often cartoonish conventions of medieval herbal illustration, (and a rustic, amateur version thereof) and the oddities - such as zoomorphic or ornithomorphic forms -  can be understood comfortably in those terms.

At the same time, if the work comes from the Tyrol region, as I suppose, the bird-like image on f46v would surely remind anyone from that region of the Tyrolean eagle - in that region at that time it could not not do.

R. B.