Sign in

Lisa Fagin Davis

@lisafdavis.bsky.social
6.7K followers 1.2K following 2.1K posts

Medievalist, Paleographer, Codicologist, Voynichologist; Executive Director, @medievalacademy.bsky.social; Brown Univ. and Yale Univ. alum; PhD; Red Sox fan

PostsRepliesMedia
Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 1h
Thanks, Jim!
000
Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 4h
Wonderful schematic!
110
Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 4h
That's exactly what we're saying! How can you read a book if the pages are out of order?
110
Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 4h
Correct! The composition of the various inks & pigments are CONSISTENT with the early 15th c., but their date cannot be firmly established with current forensics. All we can say is that the animals (whose skin became the parchment pages) were slaughtered in the first half of the 15th c.
000
Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 6h
I have no idea. But we really know very little about knowledge that may have depended on oral traditions.
130
Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 6h
Another Voynich researcher just created a resource that let's you reorder the manuscript, and they pre-populated the "order" dropdown in the upper right corner with my hypothetical sequence! voynichviewer.com
voynichviewer.com
Voynich Viewer
Read the Voynich Manuscript (Beinecke MS 408) page by page, unfold its foldouts, and see it as a book in 3D, in its current binding or with Lisa Fagin Davis's corrections.
131
Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 6h
We have no way to know who wrote the manuscript until, and if, we can read it. There were women physicians, even if they weren't going to university.
140
Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 7h
There's no connection to Galen and no reason why we should assume it was written by men.
140
Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 11h
But without the reward...
100
Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 11h
Yes!
110
Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 11h
Well, it represents the *current* state, which is important! Fortunately, we can use digital tools to hypothetically reconstruct the original order.
160
Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 12h
That's not what we're arguing. The argument is that there were five scribes working at the same time. If you read our article that is linked in the Guardian, you will see how it plats out
150
Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 13h
In today's @theguardian.com, an article about the #Voynich work Colin Layfield and I have been doing: www.theguardian.com/culture/2026...
theguardian.com
A medieval manuscript has confounded scholars for centuries. Have they been reading it wrong all this time?
Researchers argue incorrect binding of Voynich manuscript radically changes ideas about its drawings and indecipherable text
815152
Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Over on VoynichNinja (an excellent discussion board with lots of solid linguistic & cryptological work), someone posted this new resource based on my (credited!) work that lets you visualize structure & rearrange quires, bifolia, and pages! It's incredibly cool and really valuable. voynichviewer.com
08722
Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
HWÆT BABY
031
Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL INTELLIGENCE
1244
Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
We are thrilled to be supporting the publication of these books! MAA first-book Subvention awarded to Jessica Hines, and the MAA Inclusivity & Diversity Subvention awarded to Matthew Delvaux. Congratulations!
092
Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
We want to give you $$$!
093
Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Important changes afoot! We have increased the amounts awarded for several of our grants, something that hasn't happened in decades.
061
Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Honor your favorite medievalist by nominating them for the CARA Prize for Outstanding Service to Medieval Studies, or for the CARA Teaching Prize. Nominations due Nov. 15! More info below:
094
Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Self-nominations are welcome! More info here:
031
Reposted by Lisa Fagin Davis
The Medieval Academy of America @medievalacademy.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
MAA News - Self-Nominate for MAA Committee Service: Nomination forms due Dec. 1 Volunteer committee service is critically important to our mission, and we welcome your expertise and efforts. www.themedievalacademyblog.org/?p=9…
021
Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
how soon 'til pitchers and catchers report
111
Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
LET'S GO @redsox.com!!! #MedievalistsWhoLoveBaseball
270
Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Hey @adapalmer.bsky.social I am deep into "Too Like the Lightning" and it is MIND-BLOWING! All that plus my favorite #BlamePetrarch book. You're my hero.
2161
Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
An excellent point.
010
Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Every page is available online, freely downloadable, shareable, & reusable, per Yale's #OA policies! If you're going to post about the manuscript, please use real images, not AI. It's not helpful for fakes to be circulating. Here are some actual images: collections.library.yale.edu/catalog/2002...
0329
Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
It's not necessary to use generative AI to create images of the #Voynich Manuscript, so why do people continue to do it? There is so much wrong in this online image. Neither of the pages shown here is actually from the manuscript. The verso is labeled "r" ("recto") & the language is not Voynichese.
54412
Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I mean, it wasn't his best day...
000
Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Definitely not the same. Women's authorship is absolutely a legitimate possibility, but it's just that...a POSSIBILITY, one among many. The TikTok poster is stating conclusions with absolute certainty (about menstrual blood and "moon water," whatever that is) that are not justified by the imagery.
120
Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
They may be astrological, but that is not the same as calendrical. So while we definitely can't discount the possibility that it was written by women for women, there just no evidence to support the conclusions she leaps to. Sorry to disappoint...
0130
Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Years ago, I really really wanted those to be calendars, but they just aren't. The medieval analogues that she shows aren't actually analogous...they typically have all 12 signs on one page, whereas the Voynich gives one sign per page.
1130
Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
In particular, the video claims that the astrological pages are calendrical. The numeric evidence just does not support affiliating those pages with lunar phases. The moon cycle is 28 days...the astrological pages have 30 women arranged concentrically, so it really doesn't work.
180
Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
I'm the first in line to argue that it MIGHT have something to do with women's health and gynecology (I mean, just look at this detail from f. 77v...uterus and fallopian tubes and ovaries, anyone?) , but we won't know FOR SURE until we can read it. Counting on you, @chirila.bsky.social!
1110
Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Just got around the watching the #Voynich = moonwater + menstrual blood TikTok and while I am all for the possibility of the manuscript having been written by women for women, the video's interpretation of the images really doesn't work.
2349
Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
A terrific thread on #WomenWhoVoynich!
090
Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
This is such a great thread, Claire! Thank you for digging into #WomenWhoVoynich! I'm honored to be included in this list of luminaries, including yourself!
040
Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
#OA from @monicamedhist.bsky.social! Check it out!
0175
Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
This is a great opportunity to apply for funding to attend @rarebookschool.bsky.social! You might even apply for a scholarship to attend my Fragmentology class next summer...
01812
Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Are you #TeamScroll or #TeamCodex when it comes to texts with genealogical diagrams? Join me and @leoba.bsky.social on Thursday as we resolve this burning question once and for all! (hint: read my recent article if you want to know which team I'm on! muse.jhu.edu/pub/56/artic...)
3163
Reposted by Lisa Fagin Davis
Dot Porter @leoba.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
*bangs pots and pans* NEW SPECIAL COLLECTIONS CATALOGING JOB JUST DROPPED (and it's at the University of Rochester, which is pretty great) rochester.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/UR_Sta...
rochester.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com
Special Collections Metadata Librarian
As a community, the University of Rochester is defined by a deep commitment to Meliora - Ever Better. Embedded in that ideal are the values we share: equity, leadership, integrity, openness, respect, ...
08249
Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
So grateful to @harvardmedieval.bsky.social for my appointment as a Research Associate this year while I work on my manuscript studies textbook! Access to Harvard's resources will be incredibly important for this project. medieval.fas.harvard.edu/people/lisa-...
1172
Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Thank you for catching that!
010
Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
I'm afraid I don't know. The scripts that I am introducing my students to are the ones that Beit-Arié describes and records.
120
Reposted by Lisa Fagin Davis
The Medieval Academy of America @medievalacademy.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
MAA News - Upcoming Grant Deadlines We are very pleased to announce that the MAA is continuing its partnership with the American Trust for the British Library! www.themedievalacademyblog.org/maa-…
064
Reposted by Lisa Fagin Davis
The Medieval Academy of America @medievalacademy.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
MAA News - Call for 2027 Publication Prize Nominations Submissions for the 2027 MAA Publication Prizes are now being accepted. Submissions and dossiers must be submitted by Oct. 15 using our Publication Pri www.themedievalacademyblog.org/maa-…
054
Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Breathtaking!
020
Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
SO MUCH PALEOGRAPHY GOODNESS! Enjoy!
290
Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Arabic calligraphic scripts develop in the 7th century for the specific purpose of writing the Qur'an. This makes the letters themselves sacred, and makes graphic design an important part of the development of the various scripts, designed by calligraphy masters like al-Bawwab in 11th-c. Bagdhad.
171
Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Latin script, by contrast, develops organically in insular, relatively isolated monastic communities (important exceptions are Caroline and Humanistic which were generally designed and circulated with intention). Latin script is therefore localizable in a way that Hebrew isn't.
170