The truth is that everything is mysterious about this book. We do not really know when it was written, who did it or what it says. Little wonder that the Voynich manuscript (as it is known) is considered the number one literary enigma.
Despite multiple attempts and powerful computer programs, its content has not yet been revealed. It is written in such a strange language that no one has been able to crack the code.
It is believed that it may be a language related to Hebrew, but there is nothing certain about this.
To add to the mystery, the book is filled with detailed illustrations of plants that do not exist and astrological symbols. However, the most striking illustrations are the numerous nude women who constantly appear bathing in fountains, rivers, lakes, etc. There is speculation that it is actually a treatise on women's medicine, but again we are speculating.
Its name comes from the book dealer Wilfrid Voynich who in 1912 "rescued" the codex from a private library in Villa Mondragone, near Rome. Today, the manuscript is at Yale University and its writing remains impenetrable. So much so that some even doubt that it is a real language and is rather Gibberish.
It is interesting to mention the attempt of a team at the University of Alberta that, after using artificial intelligence (algorithms and automatic translators), claimed to have translated the first sentence of the manuscript. The supposed English translation would be:
“She made recommendations to the priest, man of the house and me and people.”
It goes without saying that many doubt the veracity of the translation and since then there has been no further progress.
There is more consensus regarding the date since it was carbon-dated. It is believed that it was made in the early fifteenth century, although we do not know the exact date.
As for its author, several possibilities were considered, including the famous Roger Bacon or that she could be an aristocratic woman who, to combat boredom and keep her medical knowledge secret, dedicated herself to writing and illustrating the manuscript.