The Voynich Manuscript, Dr Johannes Hartlieb and the Encipherment of Women's Secrets.

This article examines the Voynich manuscript—an early fifteenth-century European enciphered codex known for its herbal, pharmaceutical, astrological, anatomical illustrations, and numerous depictions of naked women—through the lens of late-medieval medical culture surrounding "women's secrets," a term referring to female sexual and reproductive knowledge. Focusing on Dr. Johannes Hartlieb (c. 1410–68), a Bavarian physician who expressed deep anxieties about the vernacular dissemination of gynecological knowledge and advocated for the use of secret ciphers to conceal recipes for abortifacients and contraceptives, the study situates the manuscript within a broader context of self-censorship, erasure, and encipherment of sexual and gynecological information in medieval medical texts. The authors propose that the manuscript's largest illustration, the Rosettes, symbolically represents human coitus and conception, aligning with contemporary anatomical and embryological models such as the seven-chambered uterus and related medical theories. This interpretation connects the Voynich manuscript to prevailing patriarchal attitudes that regarded female sexual knowledge as both alluring and dangerous, warranting secrecy and restricted access, and suggests avenues for further research into its origins and cultural milieu.