Raphael Sobiehrd-Mnishovsky of Sebuzin and of Horstein ( cs, Rafael Soběhrd Mnišovský; 1580 in
Horšovský Týn
Horšovský Týn (; german: Bischofteinitz) is a town in Domažlice District in the Plzeň Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 4,800 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument reserv ...
– 21 November 1644 in
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 ...
) was a
Bohemia
Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...
n lawyer and writer. He held various secretarial, diplomatic, and judicial posts under
Rudolf II
Rudolf II (18 July 1552 – 20 January 1612) was Holy Roman Emperor (1576–1612), King of Hungary and Kingdom of Croatia (Habsburg), Croatia (as Rudolf I, 1572–1608), King of Bohemia (1575–1608/1611) and Archduke of Austria (1576–160 ...
,
Mathias,
Ferdinand II, and
Ferdinand III, under whom Raphael was the
attorney-general.
Mnishovsky was also a poet and cryptographer, and is associated with the mystery of 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 anal ...
. According to a 1666 letter which was stored with the manuscript, Raphael had told the letter's writer,
Marcus Marci, that the manuscript had originally belonged to Rudolf, who had purchased it for 600 gold
ducat
The ducat () coin was used as a trade coin in Europe from the later Middle Ages from the 13th to 19th centuries. Its most familiar version, the gold ducat or sequin containing around of 98.6% fine gold, originated in Venice in 1284 and gained wi ...
s.
References
External links
Voynich Manuscript Biographies
1580 births
1644 deaths
People from Horšovský Týn
Pre-19th-century cryptographers
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