A Four Source Theory

 We can give a quite adequate account of most of what we encounter in the Voynich manuscript if we take it that our author was an early Renaissance humanist familiar with, or influenced by, four texts. 

We could explain the work as the convergence of four texts. The author - a humanist with interests in the classical Graeco-Latin heritage - has brought together four works, three of them ancient. 

We can therefore sketch a FOUR SOURCE THEORY as a useful model for consideration. 

The four sources are:

1. The Lapridary of Alfonso

2. The Canones of Ptolemy (Ptolemy's Handy Tables)

3. The Phases of the Fixed Stars, by Ptolemy.

4. The Historia Plantarum of Theophrastus

We can present this stylized as follows:

To go through each briefly:

The Lapidary of Alfonso

The 13th C. Lapidary of Alfonso has been noted as the probable source of the Voynich zodiac system since the beginning of modern studies. 

This text presents the qualities and virtues of each 360 degrees of the zodiac, connecting each to a gem stone. 

It seems to be the model for the system of 360 degrees in the Voynich. 

Panofsky noted the connection immediately. He suggested there might have been a companion volume to the Voynich, but about gemstones. 

In any case, there is a strong possibility our author knows, or has been influenced by, is drawing upon, the Lapidary of Alfonso, or some derivative. 

The Canones of Ptolemy

But instead of gemstones, the Voynich presents a system of 360 nymphs. 

Only one other text in the Middle Ages presents zodiacal divisions personified as nymphs: the Carolingean copy of Ptolemy's Handy Tables, which manuscript was in northern Italy (Brescia) during the relevant period. 

The tables are accompanied not by an explanatory text but by a miniature of the god Helios with zodiacal nymphs. 

Several prominent nymphs in the Voynich ms. display the same distinctive arm gestures as those in the Brescia Canones. 

There is a very strong case to be made that our author is familiar with this manuscript, and especially the Helios miniature and its iconography. 

The Phases of the Fixed Stars

Ptolemy provided the classical account of the phases of the fixed stars and their relation to meteorology. 

Ptolemy's original was not recovered till later, but it formed the basis of a large literature of medieval almanacs. The most prolific literature was from Spain, in Arabic, especially the Cordoban Calendar. 

On any fair reading, we find a stellar astrology refering to meteorological cycles in the Voynich manuscript. 

It is very likely our author knows an almanac of the phases of fixed stars, with Ptolemy's being the classical model. Indeed, it is possible - from appearances - that the Voynich ms. might operate like an almanac in some respects. 

Historia Plantarum - Theophrastus

What of the herbs? Botany is under the rulership of Helios, but the Canones is not the source of the Voynich botany. 

A possible influence is the Historia Plantarum of Theophrastus. It was not published till the 1480s, but the translator - Theodorus Gaza - the Greek humanist - was resident in Italy from the 1430s. 

This is not a medical herbal. It is the great classical study of plant morphology. Arguably, this is much closer to what we find in the Voynich. 

It is now well established that the Voynich "herbs" are not those of Dioscorides or other standard herbals. 

They may not be medical herbs at all. Rather, the author's interest may be in plant morphology, the growth patterns of plants in general. 

The classical source for this would be Theophrastus - the foundation text of modern botanical science. 

But it was in Greek and not extant in Latin till after the historical window of the Voynich. 

(I do not know enough about the texts of the Historia Plantarum and their whereabouts in the first half of the 1400s.) 

* * * 

The Lapadarium, and the Phases (Cordoban Calender) may both point to Spain and the influences of the Spanish intellectual world. 

The other two sources are in Greek. 

The Canones is the product of the Carolingean Renaissance in the 9th C. but was taken as an ancient work. 

The Lapadarium is the product of the great academic project of Alfonso in the 13th C. 

The recovery of Theophrastus was the product of the 15th C. Renaissance in Greece. 

Of these works, Theophrastus is the most conjectural but perhaps, in the end, the key - if the first purpose of the Voynich is its botany. 

What would bring all of these works into the same orbit?

The short answer to this question would be: Humanism. 

Our author is a humanist whose interests are in recovering an ancient knowledge, who is drawn to these works, and who sees them as related, and who brings them into a synthesis. 

* * *

What is the relationship between these works? In what sequence are they brought together? What scenario might fit? 

Three of the works are located in the European milieu, but one comes from outside. 

Three of them are astrological - one of them botanical. 

For these and other reasons I think it is most likely that the Historia Plantarum - or knowledge of it - was the external stimulus that brought the Voynich synthesis into being. As follows:

Among humanists, then, the focus of attention must turn to Theodorus Gaza, his circle and associates. 

R.B.