El Protocolo de las Ninfas

Te damos la bienvenida. Una novela histórica inédita, un folio del manuscrito Voynich cada lunes y una biblioteca de textos del siglo XV. Welcome: an unpublished historical novel, a Voynich folio every Monday and a library of 15th-century texts. elprotocolodelasninfas.com

Library · The baths of Petriolo in four medieval physicians. Ugolino admits he never saw them; Savonarola has people taking the shower lying on a bench, in perforated caps. Full Latin text and translation. https://elprotocolodelasninfas.com/en/biblioteca/bagni-di-petriolo/

Biblioteca · I Bagni di Petriolo nei medici del Tre e Quattrocento: Gentile da Foligno, Ugolino da Montecatini, Michele Savonarola e Mengo da Faenza. Il testo latino trascritto per intero, con la traduzione italiana. Gratis. https://elprotocolodelasninfas.com/it/biblioteca/bagni-di-petriolo/

From the archive · Folio 9v, “A pansy?” Blue flowers with yellow centres and a smaller yellow one. https://elprotocolodelasninfas.com/en/folios/9v/

El folio de la semana · f. 81v. Dieciséis mujeres en un estanque verde, en dos filas de ocho. En la novela, Alessandra escribe: «Con estas manos medí trece años.» https://elprotocolodelasninfas.com/folios/81v/ Imagen: Beinecke MS 408, f. 81v, Yale. Dominio público. #quattrocento

Folio of the week · f. 81v. Sixteen women in a green pool, in two rows of eight. In the novel, Alessandra writes: «With these hands I measured thirteen years.» https://elprotocolodelasninfas.com/en/folios/81v/ Image: Beinecke MS 408, f. 81v, Yale. Public domain. #quattrocento

Il foglio della settimana · f. 81v. Sedici donne in una vasca verde, in due file da otto. Nel romanzo, Alessandra scrive: «Con queste mani ho misurato tredici anni.» https://elprotocolodelasninfas.com/it/folios/81v/ Immagine: Beinecke MS 408, f. 81v, Yale. Pubblico dominio. #quattrocento

From the archive · Michele Savonarola’s Libreto (Venice, 1515) Savonarola’s book on everything that is eaten, fully transcribed, with a link to every page of the original. https://elprotocolodelasninfas.com/en/biblioteca/libreto-savonarola-1515/

El folio de la semana · f. 75r. Mujeres en el agua, una tras otra. En la novela, Alessandra escribe: «Donde dice once baños seguidos, debe decir seis y descanso.» https://elprotocolodelasninfas.com/folios/75r/ Imagen: Beinecke MS 408, f. 75r, Yale. #ManuscriptMonday

Folio of the week · f. 75r. Women in the water, one after another. In the novel, Alessandra writes: «Where it says eleven baths in a row, it should say six and a rest.» https://elprotocolodelasninfas.com/en/folios/75r/ Image: Beinecke MS 408, f. 75r, Yale. #ManuscriptMonday

From the archive · Folio 75r, “The bathers” A green stream runs down the page with women in the water, one after another, until it opens into two pools. https://elprotocolodelasninfas.com/en/folios/75r/

«Among the glories of princes, the health of the body holds no small place.» Michele Savonarola, around 1450: the physician in whose house Alessandra spends a summer, in the novel.

A pliego is a folded sheet, and Alessandra, the woman at the heart of El Protocolo de las Ninfas, writes in them. Now the novel has its own letter in English, Letters: one pliego a month about her world, free, with the opening chapters as a gift. https://letters.elprotocolodelasninfas.com/subscribe

Un pliego es una hoja doblada, y Alessandra escribe así. Desde hoy, El Protocolo de las Ninfas tiene su carta, Pliegos: un pliego al mes sobre su mundo, gratis, con el prólogo y los dos primeros capítulos de regalo. https://pliegos.elprotocolodelasninfas.com/subscribe

Un pliego è un foglio piegato, e Alessandra scrive così. Da oggi El Protocolo de las Ninfas ha la sua lettera, Pliegos: un pliego al mese sul suo mondo, gratis, con i capitoli iniziali in regalo. https://pliegos.elprotocolodelasninfas.com/s/italiano

«Entre las cosas gloriosas de los príncipes, la salud del cuerpo no ocupa un lugar pequeño.» Michele Savonarola, hacia 1450, el médico en cuya casa pasa Alessandra un verano en la novela.

Flores azules de cinco pétalos y una amarilla: muchos ven aquí un pensamiento. En la novela, Alessandra se crió entre tintes: «El azul de las uñas no lo quita el jabón. Lo quitan los años.» https://elprotocolodelasninfas.com/folios/9v/ Imagen: Beinecke MS 408, f. 9v, Yale.

Saturday question: we're transcribing books from Alessandra's time for our Library (Savonarola on food, complete; on baths, in progress). Which text on medicine, food, baths or plants would you like to read transcribed?

Blue five-petalled flowers and a yellow one: many see a pansy here. In the novel, Alessandra grew up among dyers: «Soap doesn't take the blue off your nails. The years do.» https://elprotocolodelasninfas.com/en/folios/9v/ Image: Beinecke MS 408, f. 9v, Yale.

Pregunta de sábado: estamos transcribiendo libros de la época de Alessandra para nuestra Biblioteca (cocina de Savonarola, ya entero; baños, ahora). ¿Qué texto de medicina, cocina, baños o plantas os gustaría leer transcrito?

Well this is a lovely surprise! Very honoured to have been awarded the @urbanhistory.bsky.social Dyos Prize Thank you so much to the editors and judges #histmed #histSTM

Many congratulations to Jack Hartnell whose book Wound Man has been shortlisted for the @srsrensoc.bsky.social's Book Prize! The committee calls the book "a dazzling synthesis of medical history, natural philosophy, book history and art history." Learn more about the prize here: buff.ly/vqOpi7a

Some horses from a medieval psalter. The Morgan Library and Museum. MS M.155 (c.1290-1305). ica.themorgan.org/manuscript/t...

This remains one of my favourite manuscripts... I love the purple-dyed parchment. Thanks to the Biblioteca Civica Berio and @archive.org for making this available online. #medievalsky #earlymodern

Del taller · Padua, 1422. Su universidad formaba a médicos de media Italia: Galeno, Avicena, el cielo para elegir el día de una sangría. En la novela, Alessandra pasa allí un verano, en casa de Savonarola. https://elprotocolodelasninfas.com/ Imagen: Beinecke MS 408, f. 2r, Yale. #quattrocento

Padua, 1422. Its university trained physicians from half of Italy: Galen, Avicenna, the stars read to time a bloodletting. In the novel, Alessandra spends a summer there, in Savonarola's house. https://elprotocolodelasninfas.com/en/ Image: Beinecke MS 408, f. 2r, Yale. #quattrocento #booksky

Savonarola dedica a Borso d'Este un libro «de los baños y las termas naturales de toda Italia». En la novela, Alessandra pasa un verano en su casa de Padua. https://elprotocolodelasninfas.com/biblioteca/?utm_source=bluesky&utm_campaign=debalneis Imagen: BSB (@bsbmuenchen.bsky.social).

Savonarola dedicated to Borso d'Este a book on «the baths and natural hot springs of all Italy». In the novel, Alessandra spends a summer in his house in Padua. https://elprotocolodelasninfas.com/en/biblioteca/?utm_source=bluesky&utm_campaign=debalneis Image: BSB (@bsbmuenchen.bsky.social).

Antes del texto, este ejemplar de un libro de baños del siglo XV guarda una santa con una torre en la mano: santa Bárbara. Mañana, el libro. https://elprotocolodelasninfas.com/biblioteca/ Imagen: Savonarola, De balneis, incunable. BSB Múnich (@bsbmuenchen.bsky.social). Dominio público.

Before the text begins, this copy of a 15th-century book on baths keeps an image: a saint holding a tower. Saint Barbara. Tomorrow, the book. https://elprotocolodelasninfas.com/en/biblioteca/ Image: Savonarola, De balneis. Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (@bsbmuenchen.bsky.social).

El folio de la semana · f. 1r. El manuscrito Voynich empieza sin dibujo: texto y unas letras en rojo al margen. Detrás se transparenta la planta del dorso. https://elprotocolodelasninfas.com/folios/1r/ Imagen: Beinecke MS 408, f. 1r, Yale. #ManuscriptMonday #manuscritoVoynich

Folio of the week · f. 1r. The Voynich manuscript begins with no drawing: text and a few red letters in the margin. Behind the ink, the plant on the other side shows through. https://elprotocolodelasninfas.com/en/folios/1r/ Image: Beinecke MS 408, f. 1r, Yale. #ManuscriptMonday #VoynichManuscript

En un manuscrito del siglo XV que guarda Yale hay páginas enteras de figuras en el agua, unidas por canales y estanques. Nadie ha leído el texto. Las imágenes, en cambio, se dejan mirar. https://elprotocolodelasninfas.com/folios/78r/ Imagen: Beinecke MS 408, f. 78r. Yale. #manuscritoVoynich

A Sunday bath. On folio 80v of the Voynich manuscript the figures surround the text: women in vessels, in tubes, in a blue pool at the foot of the page. https://elprotocolodelasninfas.com/en/folios/80v/ Image: Beinecke MS 408, f. 80v. Yale University. Public domain. #VoynichManuscript

In a 15th-century manuscript now at Yale there are whole pages of figures in water, joined by channels and pools. No one has managed to read the text. The images, though, can be looked at. https://elprotocolodelasninfas.com/en/folios/78r/ Image: Beinecke MS 408, f. 78r. Yale. #VoynichManuscript

Domingo de baño. En el folio 80v del manuscrito Voynich, las figuras rodean el texto: mujeres en recipientes, en tubos, en un estanque azul al pie de la página. https://elprotocolodelasninfas.com/folios/80v/ Imagen: Beinecke MS 408, f. 80v. Yale University. Dominio público. #manuscritoVoynich

A friend (not on bsky) is studying a mid-15th c. MS that collects 119 different theological excerpts, exempla. Any help, experience or suggestion for work on particular relationship between miscellany MSS & a local library, where the libraries (or their catalogues) have been preserved? #medievalsky

Petriolo, entre Siena y Grosseto: el agua sale a 43 grados, cargada de azufre. En el siglo XV la frecuentaron papas, Médici y Gonzaga. Esta historia empieza ahí, en el taller de un balneario. https://elprotocolodelasninfas.com/ Imagen: Beinecke MS 408, f. 84r, Yale. #manuscritoVoynich

At the foot of a plant in the Voynich manuscript, a creature drawn in pen, uncoloured, its neck stretched towards the leaves. Dragon? Salamander? https://elprotocolodelasninfas.com/en/folios/25v/ Image: Beinecke MS 408, f. 25v. Yale University. Public domain. #VoynichManuscript

Petriolo, between Siena and Grosseto: the water comes out at 43 degrees, heavy with sulphur. In the 15th century popes, Medici and Gonzaga bathed there. This story begins there, in the workshop of a bathhouse. https://elprotocolodelasninfas.com/en/ Image: Beinecke MS 408, f. 84r, Yale. #booksky

Al pie de una planta del manuscrito Voynich, una criatura dibujada a pluma, sin color, con el cuello estirado hacia las hojas. ¿Dragón, salamandra? https://elprotocolodelasninfas.com/folios/25v/ Imagen: Beinecke MS 408, f. 25v. Yale University. Dominio público. #manuscritoVoynich

We're opening a library: Michele Savonarola's book (Ferrara, c. 1450) on everything that is eaten, fully transcribed from the Venice edition of 1515 (@bsbmuenchen.bsky.social), with a link to every page of the original.

Abrimos una biblioteca: el libro de Michele Savonarola (Ferrara, hacia 1450) sobre todo lo que se come, transcrito entero desde la edición de Venecia de 1515, con enlace a cada página del original.

La lección discreta del estudio de Layfield y Davis sobre los singuliones: en el Voynich la unidad de trabajo era el bifolio suelto, no el cuaderno. Según su lectura, el orden actual lo decidió un encuadernador posterior, no el copista. Toda lectura entre páginas contiguas debe partir de ahí.

The quiet lesson of Layfield & @lisafdavis.bsky.social's singulion study: in the Voynich the working unit was the single bifolium, not the quire. On their reading, the present order is a later binder's decision, not the scribe's. Anything read across adjacent pages has to start there.