A rare-book dealer acquired a medieval manuscript filled with strange writing in 1912; 114 years later, no decipherment has won broad acceptance

Mysteries from the medieval world remain to fascinate historians, researchers and curious readers. Among the most enduring is the Voynich Manuscript, an illustrated book which has unusual writing that has resisted generations of attempts to know its meaning. Over a century after rare-book dealer Wilfrid Voynich acquired it, the manuscript continues to be undeciphered, leaving researchers uncertain whether it includes an encoded text, an invented language or a comprehended historical hoax.

A mysterious manuscript enters the spotlight

In 1912, Voynich acquired the manuscript from the Jesuit College at Frascati near Rome, as per Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, which has housed the document since 1969. Its pages include unfamiliar writing along with illustrations of plants, celestial diagrams and human figures.

Voynich believed the manuscript had been written by Roger Bacon, a 13th-century English Franciscan friar connected with scientific inquiry, philosophy and the study of secret writing. A letter discovered with the manuscript appeared to support the theory by discovering Bacon as its author.


Voynich promoted the document as a discovery that could change understanding of medieval knowledge. However, scientific examination later undermined his theory regarding its origins. In 2011, researchers at the University of Arizona used radiocarbon dating to establish that the manuscript's calfskin pages dated to the early 15th century, around two centuries after Bacon's lifetime. The ink also dated to the 15th century, making it unlikely that the manuscript was a contemporary text written on old parchment.

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The contents of the Voynich Manuscript are unknown.

The manuscript is more than 200 pages long, and the full collection more than 230 pages, Yale’s Beinecke Library said. Measuring around 6.2 by 8.8 inches, it is comparable in size to a paperback book.

Although its writing cannot be read, the illustrations indicate that the manuscript may have been intended as a collection of knowledge about the natural world. Researchers commonly identify six sections regarding the subjects depicted.

The botanical section occupies almost half the manuscript and contains comprehended drawings of plants, some recognizable and others seemingly imaginary. Another section has diagrams of the sun, moon and stars, while a zodiac section resembles illustrations discovered in other 15th-century texts, although the arrangement of signs sometimes varies.

The biological, or balneological, section includes unusual illustrations of naked women in pools of green water. These photos have been interpreted as potential depictions of therapeutic bathing or natural hot springs. Elsewhere, the pharmaceutical section features containers filled with combinations of herbs and roots.

A final section includes around 300 short paragraphs, each accompanied by a star-shaped symbol. As the text remains unreadable, researchers cannot confirm whether these passages have recipes or other kinds of details.

Some pages also unfold into large, multi-page illustrations, an unusual feature for a manuscript of its period.

Why has the writing resisted translation?

The writing in the Voynich Manuscript looks like an alphabet, but experts haven’t agreed on its characters or the structure behind it. Estimates of the number of distinct characters range from 34 to 70.

Its apparent patterns have encouraged researchers to consider many explanations. The distribution of words in the text is like that of natural languages and not a random sequence of symbols.Certain groups of words also pop out more in certain sections, suggesting that there may be an underlying structure to the writing.

Nevertheless, these patterns have not generated a widely accepted translation.

The manuscript attracted attention as a potential cipher as early as the 17th century. In 1639, an alchemist in Prague named Georgius Barschius, who possessed the manuscript, sent copies to Athanasius Kircher, a scholar popular for his claimed work on Egyptian hieroglyphics.

Barschius explained the document as a puzzle in a letter. Later attempts generated competing theories rather than a definitive answer. William Newbold, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, argued that the characters have microscopic shorthand. His interpretation was subsequently debunked, partly as it relied on the implausible idea that Bacon had invented a microscope centuries before such technology existed.

Cipher, invented language or historical hoax?

Science journalist Garry Shaw explored the manuscript in his book Cryptic: From Voynich to the Angel Diaries, the Story of the World's Mysterious Manuscripts. He believes its unresolved nature helps describe its enduring appeal.

Shaw also cites that ordinary medieval ciphers were often simpler, sometimes substituting individual letters or numbers with other symbols. Such approaches generally protected certain words or sentences rather than concealing complete manuscripts.

The manuscript might have been a hoax, too. Shaw focuses on The Subtlety of Witches, a 17th-century cipher text in the British Library that was decoded to disclose random Latin words taken from a dictionary. He argues that mystery itself can be used to make an object appear valuable or important.

The manuscript's complete pages are available via Yale University's Beinecke Library. Despite centuries of investigation, its authorship, purpose and language continues to be uncertain. Whatever its purpose, the Voynich Manuscript is an extraordinary historical conundrum, a complex code of lost knowledge, or a deliberate attempt to mislead readers.

Source: HISTORY and All That's Interesting