In this post I will rehearse an argument for the involvement of Nicholas of Cusa in the Voynich ms. I am very aware that Cusanus appears to be an unlikely candidate for many reasons: here I want to underline some reasons for the identification.
The Voynich script and text, I maintain, could only be produced with specialized skills, and the number of people with those skills in the relevant period is very small. I arrive at Cusanus, that is, by a process of elimination, in the first instance.
The factors to be considered are:
1. The humanist script and handwriting. The label ‘humanist’ is contentious, but here it means an open script made for writing and reading and not merely documentation, as opposed to older, denser, more opaque Gothic scripts. This open ‘humanist’ style – posing as a revival of ancient scripts - developed from around 1400.
However, it was by no means widespread. It was an exclusively elite style that prospered among certain intellectuals, classicists and antiquarians. It was found and used in only small circles. Even among intellectuals it was far from widespread. It was associated with a particular movement of ideas – Renaissance humanism – and was used by (the small number) of intellectuals of that persuasion.
This tells us that the script and the text written in it – being humanist and not gothic in style – comes from someone in one of those circles in that elite. This surely narrows down the field. And it elevates Cusanus: one of the leading humanist scholars of his time. It was not designed by an artisan, or a rustic, or just any educated person. It shows a person within the ‘humanist’ category.
2. The person who devised the script, the glyphs, had, without question, a deep knowledge of Latin manuscript conventions, Latin orthography and, above all, Latin abbreviations. Not just a casual knowledge of them – a deep knowledge. The system of glyph designs has been made by someone with a deep knowledge of Latin. This person, surely, speaks and reads medieval Latin fluently.
Consider the systematic way that Latin abbreviations have been woven into the script design. It is quite impressive. And the use of the elevated gallows letters, also taken from Latin conventions. This indicates a profound rather than a passing acquaintance with Latin. This person is very familiar with – is able to read fluently – Latin manuscripts. There is evidence in the script design of high-level Latin proficiency.
This goes with point (1.) – humanism is a revival of secular Latin and its script (mistakenly taken from Carolingean). Yet the glyphs and abbreviations we find in the Voynich ms. are more from medieval, not classical, conventions. It is medieval Latin that our glyph-designer knows intimately. The gallows letters, moreover, are not that common: to know them our glyph-designer must have a wide knowledge of Latin manuscripts, not just the common ones.
This narrows our field down again. We now want a humanist with a profound knowledge of Latin and a deep familiarity with Latin conventions. A secular scholar might attain such a proficiency, but even more so a cleric. Needless to say, Cardinal Cusanus had the requisite knowledge of Latin. He was, as well, a lifelong manuscript hunter who toured libraries and monasteries throughout Europe in search of old manuscripts. Very few people in Europe in his day had the overview of manuscripts that he had.
On both these counts, then, he emerges as a candidate. That is, he is among the small number of individuals with the appropriate skill set.
When something unexpected happens – like an undersea pipeline is sabotaged – there is only a small number of people with the necessary skills to do it.
The Voynich script and text are specialized creations. There was a certain skill set required. That skill set is very particularized and not at all widespread in the relevant period. If not Nicholas of Cusa, then someone with similar skills and similarly humanist interests.
But then, as per the previous post to this one, we narrow the field again because all the evidence is that our author spoke German. So: a German humanist scholar with a profound knowledge of Latin. Nicholas of Cusa.
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