Georg Baresch, cs, Jiří Bareš (15851662), was a Czech antique collector and

alchemist Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscience, protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in Chinese alchemy, C ...

from

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

known for his connection to the

Voynich manuscript The Voynich manuscript is an illustrated codex hand-written in an otherwise unknown writing system, referred to as 'Voynichese'. The vellum on which it is written has been carbon-dated to the early 15th century (1404–1438), and stylistic ana ...

Biography

Baresch received his baccalaureate in 1602. He studied at the

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

College of

Clementinum The Clementinum (''Klementinum'' in Czech) is a historic complex of buildings in Prague. Until recently the complex hosted the National, University and Technical libraries; the City Library was also nearby on Mariánské Náměstí. In 2009, th ...

Connection with the Voynich Manuscript

Georg Baresch was the earliest confirmed owner of the Voynich manuscript. He was apparently just as puzzled as modern cryptologists about this "Sphinx" that had been in his library for many years. On learning that

Athanasius Kircher Athanasius Kircher (2 May 1602 – 27 November 1680) was a German Jesuit scholar and polymath who published around 40 major works, most notably in the fields of comparative religion, geology, and medicine. Kircher has been compared to fe ...

, a Jesuit scholar from the

Collegio Romano The Roman College ( la, Collegium Romanum, it, Collegio Romano) was a school established by St. Ignatius of Loyola in 1551, just 11 years after he founded the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). It quickly grew to include classes from elementary school t ...

, had published a Coptic dictionary and "deciphered" Egyptian hieroglyphs, he sent a sample copy of the script to Kircher in Rome, asking for clues. His 1639 letter to Kircher, recently located by Rene Zandbergen, is the earliest known mention of the manuscript. In 1637, Baresch wrote his first letter to Kircher, and from his later reference to it we may conclude that he was familiar with Kircher's '' Prodromus Coptus'', which appeared in 1636. He sent this letter via the famous Prague mathematician

Theodorus Moretus Theodorus Moretus, also known as Theodor or Theodore Moretus (1602–1667) was a Flemish Jesuit priest who was also a mathematician, geometer, theologian and philosopher. He spent most of his working life in Prague and Wrocław, Breslau (now Wrocl ...

S.J. This letter (which should have been accompanied by some transcriptions of the Voynich manuscript) is lost. After no reply was forthcoming from Kircher, he sent a second letter in 1639. This letter has been preserved, though another copy of transcription material from the Voynich manuscript that was sent along with it is also lost. From his 1639 letter, it appears that Baresch had already owned the Voynich manuscript for some time when he wrote his first letter. He also presents Kircher with his view that the Voynich manuscript represents 'Egyptian science' and shows that he may have been familiar with botany. This letter was sent from Prague, but due to the absence of Baresch's name in the tax rolls called 'Berní Rula' (31), we know that he did not own a house in Prague.voynich.com
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References

External links

* http://nabataea.net/vhistory.html * http://www.voynich.nu/letters.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Baresch, Georg 1585 births 1662 deaths 16th-century Bohemian people 17th-century Bohemian people Czech antiquarians Antiquarians from the Kingdom of Bohemia