Voynich Manuscript Unveils Centuries-Old Secrets of Sex and Gynecology
Cairo: Hani Kamal El-Din
For two centuries, scholars have grappled with deciphering the Voynich manuscript, a puzzle that may hold forbidden insights into sexology and gynecology. Researchers from Macquarie University in Australia shed light on this in a column on The Conversation portal.
The Voynich manuscript has long fascinated historians, believed to be crafted during the late Middle Ages. Its pages are adorned with illustrations ranging from stars, planets, and plants to zodiac signs. Its text, written in an undeciphered language, likely a cipher, poses a challenge yet to be overcome. Compounding the mystery, the text was likely penned by five different individuals.
In a recent study, attention was drawn to a section featuring depictions of naked women “holding objects near or directed at their genitalia”. Such imagery seems out of place in a manuscript presumed to be dedicated solely to herbs or astronomy.
“To grasp the meaning of these depictions, we delved into the culture of gynecology and sexology in the late Middle Ages, often referred to by physicians of the time as ‘women’s secrets’,” wrote the researchers. They turned to the works of Bavarian physician Johannes Hartlieb (circa 1410-1468), who lived roughly at the same time and place where the Voynich manuscript was created.
Hartlieb wrote about plants, women, magic, astronomy, and baths. He also advocated for the use of “secret letters” (such as ciphers, secret alphabets, etc.) to conceal medical recipes and procedures that could lead to contraception, abortions, or infertility.
While Hartlieb’s secret alphabet did not survive, information about it is preserved in some written sources of the time, including the works of his colleagues who analyzed his work. It is evident from these sources that Hartlieb greatly feared the widespread dissemination of “women’s secrets”. He also feared that his writings might contribute to the promotion of extramarital affairs, for which he believed God would condemn him.
Hence, Hartlieb wrote in cipher on certain topics related to sexology and gynecology, decipherable only by a few specialists. Although a number of secret texts from that period have been decoded in the course of the new study, none originate from the Voynich manuscript. However, analyzing the illustrations of the Voynich manuscript through the lens of Hartlieb’s ciphers, Australian researchers hypothesized that one section describes those very “forbidden topics”.
The manuscript 408, also known as the Voynich manuscript, is housed in the library of Yale University. Radiocarbon dating showed that the animal skins used for its creation were tanned between 1404 and 1438. However, the earliest known owner of the manuscript was an associate of Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II, who lived from 1552 to 1612.
There are also traces leading to Russia. Firstly, one of the illustrations depicts a castle with crenellations shaped like “swallowtail”, characteristic of the Moscow Kremlin. However, the Kremlin was built by Italian architects.
Secondly, the author’s name is unknown, but the manuscript was named after Wilfrid Michael Voynich, an antiquarian who acquired it from an unknown individual in 1912.
Voynich was born on October 31, 1865, in Telšiai, Kovno Governorate of the Russian Empire, to a titular councilor’s family. He graduated from a gymnasium in Suwałki, then worked in a pharmacy in Grodno before enrolling at Moscow University, after which he joined the “People’s Will” organization.
He was arrested for his underground activities and exiled to Irkutsk, then to Balagansk. On his way there, he escaped, traversing Mongolia until reaching Hamburg, then London, where he married Ethel Lilian Boole, later known as Ethel Lilian Voynich after marriage, who authored the popular Soviet novel “The Gadfly”.
