Herbals, compendiums of plant lore, have a more complex history than most mediaeval books. They typically consist of short chapters each devoted to a single plant, with its various names, a description of its properties and (usually but not always) an illustration which was more often copied from an older manuscript than drawn from life. Compared with most mediaeval manuscripts, herbals were subject to much editing and rewriting at each copying, in part to suit patrons in different botanical regions of Europe: we therefore speak not of different copies of the same work but of successive works in certain well defined traditions, rather like successive editions of the same atlas or dictionary today. The principal traditions such as Dioscorides and Pseudo-Apuleius go back to individual books written in classical antiquity, as is shown in the recent comprehensive survey of the subject by Minta Collins.

The Voynich manuscript has been compared to a particular herbal tradition known by the slightly misleading name of 'alchemical herbals' (they are simply herbals and are not about alchemy). An examination of works in this tradition shows that the Voynich manuscript is certainly not a copy or translation of any of them, but like the Fontana ciphers they are a close analogue in various ways. The alchemical herbals are characterised by their somewhat surreal illustrations, similar in each manuscript and deriving from a lost original probably composed in early fifteenth century Italy: many of the plants are pictured with strange roots shaped like animals or contorted into geometrical patterns, and some of the leaves are drawn with eyes. They also share a common textual tradition based on a fixed list of 98 plants which is extended in some manuscripts but always appears in the same, non-alphabetical order. The unfamiliar names are derived from Italian folk tradition and enable most of the plants to be identified. This web page has an image of one page from an alchemical herbal.

The alchemical herbals have been studied by Vera Segre Rutz, the material on this page being a summary of her work. Segre Rutz identifies a direct tradition of seven manuscripts and an indirect tradition of seventeen others which rework the same material more freely. Four manuscripts of the indirect tradition were owned by the distinguished naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi (1522-1607) and bequeathed by him to the university library of Bologna. He identified them as describing plants of particular interest to alchemists (for instance the herba lunaria was reputed to aid the transmutation of base metal into silver and gold). Aldrovandi himself was not an alchemist and his own herbal belongs to a later, more scientific period in the history of botany.

Manuscripts in the direct tradition

• Fermo, Biblioteca Comunale MS 18
• s. 15, North Italy
• Florence, Biblioteca di Botanica dell'Universita MS 106
• s. 15, North Italy
• Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Can. Misc. 408
• October 1378, Milan
• Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale MS Lat. 17844
• s. 15, North Italy
• Paris, Bibiliotheque Nationale MS Lat. 17848
• s. 15, North Italy
• Pavia, Biblioteca Universitaria MS Aldini 211
• s. 14 end, North Italy
• Vicenza, Biblioteca Bertoliana MS G.23.2.3 (362)
• s. 15, Italy and Germany

Manuscripts in the indirect tradition

• Bologna, Museo Aldrovandiano, Biblioteca Universitaria MS 151(1)
• s. 15, East Lombardy
• Bologna, Museo Aldrovandiano, Biblioteca Universitaria MS 151(2)
• s. 15 late, North Central Italy
• Bologna, Museo Aldrovandiano, Biblioteca Universitaria MS 152
• s. 16, Bologna
• Bologna, Museo Aldrovandiano, Biblioteca Universitaria MS 153
• s. 15, North Central Italy
• Brescia, Biblioteca Queriniana MS B.V.24
• s. 15, Lombardy
• The first five pages contain a treatise on gynaecology
• Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana Ashb. 456
• s. 15, Tuscany
• Florence, Biblioteca Marucelliana MS 168/C
• 1512, Tuscany
• London, Wellcome Historical Medical Library MS 261
• s. 15, Veneto
• London, Wellcome Historical Medical Library MS 334
• s. 15, Italy
• London, Wellcome Historical Medical Library MS 337
• s. 16, North Central Italy
• Pages 35-43 contain a treatise by the Venetian Luigi Dardano on conception and astral influences on birth.
• New York, Pierpont Morgan Library MS 22.222
• s. 15, Germany
• A manuscript bound together with printed material. No illustrations.
• Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Add. A. 23
• s. 15, South Central Italy
• Padua, Biblioteca Universitaria MS 604
• s. 15, North Italy
• Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale MS Hebr 1199
• s. 15 late, North Italy
• A Hebrew translation; Christian references replaced with Jewish ones.
• Trent, Museo Provinciale d'Arte MS 1591
• s. 15, North Italy
• Venice, Biblioteca Marciana MS It. III.11 (5004)
• 1463, Tuscany
• Venice, Biblioteca Marciana MS It II.12 (4936)
• s. 15, Veneto

History of the direct tradition

Bibliography

• Lupo, Michelangelo
• L'erbario di Trento: il manoscritto n. 1591 del Museo provinciale d'arte.
• Trento, 1982.

• Ragazzini, Stefania
• Un erbario del XV secolo: il Ms. 106 della Biblioteca di Botanica dell'Universita di Firenze
• Florence, 1983

• Segre Rutz, Vera
• Il giardino magico degli alchimisti: un erbario illustrato trecentesco della Biblioteca universitaria di Pavia e la sua tradizione. Introduzione, edizione critica e commento.
• Milan, 2000.

• Collins, Minta
• Medieval herbals: the illustrative tradition.
• London, 2000.

Lupo presents an edition and facsimile of the Trent manuscript with selected illustrations from other manuscripts in the direct and indirect traditions. Ragazzini gives an edition of the Florence manuscript and Segre Rutz an edition of the Pavia manuscript with pictures of each of its illustrations and a verbal description of all the other manuscripts in the direct and indirect tradition. Collins briefly surveys the tradition of alchemical herbals but avoids duplicating Segre Rutz's work.

Names of the 98 herbs in the alchemical herbals

1. Herba Antolla minor
2. Herba Bortines
3. Herba Torogas
4. Herba Nigras
5. Herba Stellaria
6. Herba Bonifatia
7. Herba Betonega
8. Herba Instanutia
9. Herba Canalaritas romana
10. Herba Rena
11. Herba Triacho
12. Herba Bososilles
13. Herba Angalles
14. Herba Toros
15. Herba Grantia
16. Herba Tortorellis
17. Herba Lingua cornena
18. Herba Trifolio
19. Herba Ariola
20. Herba Superna
21. Herba Faba inversa
22. Herba Paris
23. Herba Ciloga
24. Herba Antollas
25. Herba Antolla lupanas
26. Herba Cofflesanas
27. Herba Cancealis
28. Herba Toffanas
29. Herba Brancha lupina
30. Herba Salsifica
31. Herba Sabastrella
32. Herba Amorsu serpentis
33. Herba Tedorixe
34. Herba Lucea et de nouem una
35. Herba Ditimo biancho
36. Herba Requificia
37. Herba Illocharias
38. Herba Foleas
39. Herba Angalles
40. Herba Luza Mandragora
41. Herba Illioris
42. Herba Tilles
43. Herba Paroischas
44. Herba Corporelis
45. Herba Cipola marina
46. Herba Palma Christi
47. Herba Bazea minor et de nouem una
48. Herba Folio
49. Herba Rigogola
50. Herba Pane porcino
51. Herba Artetica montaria
52. Herba Mula campana
53. Herba Zinziana
54. Herba Oculus Domini
55. Herba Sancta Maria
56. Herba Lunaria greca
57. Herba Capalias
58. Herba Nascurso
59. Herba Belletollis
60. Herba Metries
61. Herba Ystatoris
62. Herba Polexinas
63. Herba Serpentina
64. Herba Pionica
65. Herba Rucha savlaticha
66. Herba Caspetres
67. Herba Brancha
68. Herba Spigonarda
69. Herba Lunaria
70. Herba Erba rigano
71. Herba Sigillo de Sancta Maria
72. Herba Rapillis
73. Herba Bustania
74. Herba Forus
75. Herba Capalarices
76. Herba Luminellas
77. Herba Ruschasia
78. Herba Scudaria
79. Herba Lunaria
80. Herba Tunegi
81. Herba Lactica
82. Herba Barbaria
83. Herba Tura
84. Herba Gerbia
85. Herba Bruza
86. Herba Lunaria tercia
87. Herba Attillia
88. Herba Victoria
89. Herba Rondella
90. Herba Genesiana aliter Genciana
91. Herba Fiorina
92. Herba Capillaria
93. Herba Giralia
94. Herba Gratilia sive Gratiana
95. Herba Granellaria
96. Herba Pionia
97. Herba Consolida mayor
98. Herba Consolida minor

Sample text: description of Antolla minor