Mysterious Medieval Manuscripts: Interview with Garry J. Shaw

Now for something completely different from tracing the development of the papacy from bishop of Rome to the papal monarchy--but, don't worry, I will be completing that series soon.  In this episode, I chat with author Garry J. Shaw about his fascinating new book from Yale University Press, Cryptic: From Voynich to the Angel Diaries, the Story of the World's Mysterious Manuscripts. The book tells the stories behind nine puzzling medieval and early Modern European texts. In our interview Garry talks about the three that fall within the chronological confines of the Middle Ages. 

We begin with the "unknown language" and "unknown script" concocted by the remarkable twelfth-century German abbess, mystic, polymath, and composer of sacred music, Hildegard of Bingen.  

We then turn to another strange early fifteenth-century manuscript, the Bellicorum instrumentorum liber, Book of the Instruments of War, by Giovanni Fontana, whom Garry Shaw characterizes as "a true pre-Renaissance man."  Fontana was entranced with the "natural magic of mechanical creations" and the "practical knowledge gained from experiments and observation of nature." But this did nothing to lessen his belief in supernatural forces operating in the world. He was also "a world class prankster" with a fascination for ciphers. All these came together in the Bellicorum instrumentorum liber, an enciphered illustrated catalogue of imagined machines, ranging from rocket-powered chairs and fanciful siege engines to mechanical witches. 

We conclude with perhaps the most famous of all mysterious manuscripts, the early fifteenth-century Voynich codex, whose content has resisted decipherment by professional code-breakers and cryptographers.  (Spoiler: we won't be able to tell you what the Voynich manuscript actually says, but Dr. Shaw has a good idea what the manuscript is, why it was produced, and why no one has been able to decipher it.  If you disagree with him, just go online to Yale University library's posting of Voynich and have your own go at it!)

I hope you will join us.

Cryptic: From Voynich to the Angel Diaries, the Story of the World's Mysterious Manuscripts by Garry J. Shaw. Yale University Press, 2025. (https://www.amazon.com/Cryptic-Voynich-Diaries-Mysterious-Manuscripts/dp/0300266510)

The manuscripts that we discuss in this episode can be viewed online at:

Hildegard of Bingen's Unknown Language: An Edition, Translation and Discussion by Sarah L. Higley (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007): https://epdf.pub/hildegard-of-bingens-unknown-language-an-edition-translation-and-discussion-the-48385c392ef3ce461b6703d8f09d435e57514.html

Voynich Manuscript. Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library:  https://collections.library.yale.edu/catalog/2002046

Giovanni Fontana, Instrumentorum bellicorum liber. The Munich DigitiZation Center (MDZ) https://daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/0001/bsb00013084/images/index.html?fip=193.174.98.30&seite=54&pdfseitex=

This episode includes three musical snippets: 

Hildegard of Bingen's votive antiphon for the dedication of a Church, "O orzchis Ecclesiam" (Ensemble Sequentia, with Barbara Thornton. Deutsche Harmonium Mundi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?)v=AGCAOf9gjBM&t=7s)

O orzchis Ecclesia,
armis divinis precincta
et iacincto ornata, tu es caldemia
stigmatum loifolum
et urbs scientiarum.
O, o, tu es
etiam crizanta
in alto sono et es
chorzta gemma. (Hildegard's 'lingua ig

Listen on Podurama https://podurama.com

Intro and exit music are by Alexander Nakarada

If you have questions, feel free to contact me at richard.abels54@gmail.com