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Could One Of The Mysteries Of The Voynich Manuscript Relate To Female Sex?

To many, the Voynich Manuscript represents a 600-year-old mystery. The medieval text is filled with bizarre illustrations and is written in a hitherto indecipherable language. But for all its enigmatic features, two scholars believe they have solved at least one: the manuscript, they argue, is at least partially about sex.

A weird manuscript

The manuscript was named after Wilfrid Voynich, an antique bookseller who bought the text in 1912. Ever since then, there have been various attempts to decipher its meaning, with some suggestions being more plausible than others. Some believe it is a hoax, some argue that it is an alchemical text, while others have argued that its seemingly unusual language was written by aliens (of course).  

The parchment was subjected to radiocarbon dating in 2009, which dated it – with 95 percent probability – to the years between 1404 and 1438. This means that that animals whose skins were used to make the pages lived and died around this time.

However, who made the manuscript remains unknown, nor do we know how many hands it passed through before the first identifiable owner. This was Jakub Hořčický z Tepence, the personal physician to Rudolf II, the Holy Roman Emperor. We know this because his name appears on the manuscript but was only identified through ultraviolet light in recent years. This means the manuscript passed between unknown people for over a century.

An example of the unusual imagery contained within the Voynich manuscript. This illustration is included in a balneological section of the text.

We do have a better idea of where it was created though. The details on certain illustrations, especially architectural features of castles, suggest it was made in southern Germany or in northern Italy.

It's about women's secrets

For some time, scholars have wondered whether the Voynich manuscript may have something to do with women and may have been written by women for women. However, new research by Keagan Brewer and Michelle L. Lewis suggests it does indeed relate to women, but actually contains enciphered information related to sexual matters.

They reached this conclusion by examining the work of the Bavarian physician Johann Hartlieb, who lived around the same time that the manuscript was created.

Hartlieb, they explain, wrote about plants, women, magic astronomy, and baths, but also recommended the use of cyphers to obscure "sensitive information". In particular, he recommended their use when discussing medical recipes and procedures related to contraception, abortion, and sterility. The main concern for Hartlieb, the authors argue, was that the free circulation of this information would lead to extramarital sex, which would incur God's wrath.

As such, we may not have Hartlieb's original cypher, but an examination of his work and his unencrypted writing can yield a lot of information about contemporary attitudes and what may be concealed within the Voynich manuscript.

"While the motivations of the Voynich manuscript's anonymous authors remain a matter for speculation and inference," the authors write, "examination of the works of physicians from adjacent regions definitively reveals contemporary attitudes towards issues hinted at by the Voynich illustrations."

From his work, we can see that Hartlieb resisted or was hesitant to write about topics related to female sexual matters. This included subjects like post-partum vaginal ointments, women's sexual pleasure, speculation over unusual births (women giving birth to animals), dietary advice to alter the libido, and any information about dangerous compounds that may cause hallucinations and serve as a contraceptive or abortive.

Today, we may see this level of secrecy and esotericism as suspect, but it is perfectly in-keeping with the prevailing attitudes of his day. In fact, Hartlieb was not the only one to conceal such information behind cyphers, especially anything of a gynecological and sexological nature.

Knowledge was not for everyone and especially not for women, and yet women were becoming more literate during this period.

The Voynich manuscript's secrets unveiled 

Using this lens, Brewer and Lewis examined the Voynich manuscript's largest illustrations – the Rosettes – and suggested they are a cryptic representation of the contemporary understanding of sex and conception.

"The Rosettes, the largest and most intricate illustration on the Voynich manuscript, has rightly received close attention," they write, "but its layers of visual symbolism have caused it to be misunderstood until now."

"The elaborate – and deliberate – symbolisms in the Rosettes constitute a form of visual encipherment that has excluded or confused the uninitiated for many centuries."

During the late-medieval period, the uterus was thought to have seven chambers as well as two openings to the vagina. The authors contend that the nine circles of the Rosettes represent these chambers and entrances.

A castle that appears within the Rosette illustration may related to a German term that could also refer to female genitalia.

According to Abu Bakr Al-Rāzī, one of the most influential figures in the history of medieval medicine as well as Islamic tradition, virgins had five small veins in their vaginas. The authors believe these five veins are visible on the top left circle of the Rosettes and running towards the centre.

Another coded idea appears in the form of two horn-like protrusions on the top right and bottom right of the circles. These horns, they maintain, match contemporary beliefs that the uterus had two horns on its sides.

It is also possible that the castle that appears on the illustration may be a form of word play, where the German word schloss could refer to a "castle" or "lock", but also female genitalia and "female pelvis".

If they are right, then this adds a great deal to our understanding of this mysterious manuscript and shows that, in order to decipher it, we need to pay closer attention to the wider context of late medieval thinking.

As the writers conclude: "Overall, we infer that the creators of the manuscript, like Hartlieb, felt a mixture of passionate fascination and abject horror at the taboo subject matters collectively referred to as women's secrets."

"What we hope to have demonstrated in this paper is that amid the abundance of gynaecological and sexological writing drawn up in late-medieval Europe, there were large numbers of medical writers and readers who considered 'women's secrets', or diverse aspects thereof, worthy of obscuration, sometimes in addition to other subjects such as alchemy, magic, and demons."

The study is published in the journal Social History of Medicine.

WTOP Book Report: Reporter-turned-author Christina Estes Unveils Debut Mystery Novel 'Off The Air'

Award-winning journalist Christina Estes talks to the WTOP Book Report about her debut mystery novel "Off the Air."

This story was written as part of the WTOP Book Report series written by Terik King. Read more of that coverage.

Award-winning journalist Christina Estes (NPR, Arizona Republic) is the author of the new mystery novel "Off The Air." (Cover art courtesy Minotaur Books, author photo courtesy of Christina Estes)

Award-winning journalist Christina Estes talks to WTOP's Terik King about her murder mystery novel 'Off the Air.'

Award-winning journalist Christina Estes steps into the realm of fiction with her debut mystery novel, "Off the Air" (Minotaur Books), introducing readers to the tenacious Phoenix, Arizona-based TV reporter Jolene Garcia.

Garcia finds herself at the center of a media frenzy following the suspicious death of Larry Lemmon, a controversial talk show host at a local radio station. Having conducted Lemmon's final interview, Garcia and her station initially possess a competitive edge.

However, the arrival of an onslaught of national media outlets escalates the stakes, plunging Garcia into a cutthroat investigation that could define her career, or perhaps, threaten her life.

"It's been 15 years (since) I said, 'I'm gonna write a book,'" Estes said in an interview with the WTOP Book Report, providing insight into the book's genesis.

"I just wanted to give people a look behind local news and what goes on. There are newsroom politics. There are wonderful newsroom relationships. There's a bond, sort of a special bond, that you create working in a newsroom. Sometimes it's great. Sometimes it's not. And the pressure of all of the social media and the business reality of the constant corporate cutbacks … I put it in Jolene." 

Estes explained that she chose to ground the feisty, driven Garcia's character in aspects of her personal experience as well: highlighting her Midwestern roots and her experiences as a former foster parent (making Garcia a former foster youth), creating parallels between Garcia's journey and her own.

"I made her feel like a fish out of water because I felt like a major fish out of water when I moved to Phoenix," Estes shared, reflecting on her personal connection to Garcia's back story.

The character's disadvantaged upbringing adds an extra dimension to her motivation, Estes said, because "she also is seeking recognition and attention that she didn't get growing up. And that really leads her to sometimes behave in ways that maybe some people don't like that can come across as abrasive or a little 'too much.' She doesn't know when to stop, because … she is seeking recognition, often through her reporting, when she's really looking for it with her family." 

This drives the character of Jolene to assume extraordinary risks in the name of finding Lemmon's killer. Would the journalist Estes have acted in the same way? "29-year-old me might have," Estes said, "Today? No. You mellow with age."

"Off The Air" reads as a tribute to Phoenix itself, as Jolene's quest for answers unfolds against a vivid backdrop of the people, places and the essence of what makes Phoenix unique. "I was able to actually put in a couple of my real-life references here in Phoenix," said Estes, "and made them sort of Jolene's experiences in the book." 

One such anecdote: a memorable Emmy nomination for a lighthearted feature about a fish visiting the dentist in Arizona. Estes (and Jolene) lost to another story — about bubble wrap. "I tracked down the guy that won," Estes said, "I said, 'I want to give you a belated yet sincere congratulations.' And I sent him a book." 

Asked about the challenge of balancing her demanding day job with her literary aspirations. "I would say I did not juggle it very well," Estes laughed, referring to "Off The Air"'s 15-year gestation.

That said, another Jolene Garcia novel is in the works, and Estes said the next one will arrive much sooner. "It's been my dream to have a mystery series set in Phoenix. So yes … Jolene is working on yet another suspicious death. She's convinced it suspicious. She's trying to find out if that's really the case."

For those intrigued by the enigmatic world of local news and the relentless pursuit of truth, "Off the Air" beckons as a riveting read, offering a compelling blend of mystery, intrigue and a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the world of journalism.

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Popular Christie Mystery On Tap For Merely Players

In 1926, mystery author Agatha Christie disappeared for 11 days. No one knew of her whereabouts. Some suspected it was a publicity stunt. There were rumors she disguised herself as a man. She was discovered in a hotel in Harrogate, Yorkshire. It was a mystery.

Wherever theater people are found you will hear about Agatha Christie. The Queen of Crime. Christie is among the most published authors in the world. Only the Bible and William Shakespeare have more writings.

It's no surprise, then, that Mankato's Merely Players Community Theater is doing yet another of Christie's mysteries.

Zach Bolland is directing "And Then There Were None."

"This is my second Christie show," says Bolland. "I first directed 'The Spider's Web' a few years ago and I enjoyed the challenge,"

Zach, as well as several people in his cast, find themselves on stage again in a Christie performance.

Christie died in 1976 at age 86 and lived a very adventurous life. She mirrored her characters with her unusual interests and hobbies. She was known for her love of travel, and spent time researching anthropology and archaeology.

Sometimes her knowledge of chemistry played out in her scripts as she was an apothecary. In "And Then There Were None," the first victim is murdered with poison. Poison is used in over half of her plays.

"And Then There Were None" was a mystery novel rewritten for the stage. The book was well received and Christie received a request from Reginald Simpson to be allowed to dramatize it.

Christie refused, instead relishing the challenge of writing the script herself (even though it would eventually take her two years to finish it). She knew the ending would have to be changed; in the book, all of the characters die.

"I must make two of the characters innocent," she'd said, "to be reunited at the end and come safe out of the ordeal."

After the play was written, most people she discussed it with considered it impossible to produce. She received some encouragement from Charles Cochrane but he was unable to find financial backers. Finally, Bertie Mayer, who produced the 1928 play "Alibi," agreed to stage it.

After a tryout at Wimbledon Theater, the play opened in the West End at St. James Theater. It gained good reviews and ran for 260 performances until Feb. 24, 1944 when the theater was bombed. The show then transferred to the Cambridge Theater, opening on Feb. 29 and running at that venue until May 6. It then transferred back to the restored St. James Theater and finally closed July 1.

Although Christie didn't think it was her best play, she did declare it her best piece of "craftsmanship."

She also considered it to be the first play that formally started playwriting.

A recording in the play tells how all the people on the stage are guilty of something. Christie altered this so she could have a murderer.

"The script provided two endings so we are hoping some people may come back to see the different endings. We hope audience members don't give it away," Bolland says.

The cast for the show is one of the most experienced to perform with Merely Players. Callie Sonnek, who is one of the regulars, says, "When I heard they were doing Agatha Christie, I jumped at the chance. I usually just do musicals but to do a full-length mystery was perfect. And I play a male, a medical doctor."

Sonnek, in addition to being a cast member, pitches in elsewhere, too, including a day when she was busy not reciting lines, but holding a paintbrush.

"Yes we are here painting the set," she says. "I have never seen a cast who is so 'all in' with a show. The cast are always ready to join in to make the show the most it can be."

Sonnek says playing a man presents unique challenges.

"I have to be conscious of my mannerisms and my walking," she said. "It's just another part of playing the part."

The character Phillip Lombard is played by Sergio Salgado, known locally for his stand-up comedy career. Sergio says he's enjoying the role, and says, "It's a lot different than stand-up, especially the timing and the restricted movement."

Sergio has been a major part of the ensembles this season and hopes to do more shows in the future. When quizzed about the ending, he said, "You'll have to come and see for yourself."

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