Petersen also pointed out that the merlons in the VM picture could be symbolic rather than literal, and that it is hard to find evidence of the swallow tail merlons outside of northern Italy/Lombardy/Bohemia before the late 15 th century. Also, the political dispute is mentioned between the Guelfs and the Ghibellines. The illustrations in the Cocharelli codex are related to persecution of Templars. He pointed out that these illustrations might not be literal and might have something to do with Philip IV of France, who was вЂagainst the papacy and open to allegiances with the Holy Roman EmpireвЂ™. He is pointing at another picture in the Cocharelli codex where one side of the walled place had swallowtail, and another side the rectangular merlons. Petersen explains this structure as a castle, or a city surrounded by a wall with a Ghibelline merlons (the swallowtail in the front), and more common square merlons on the back walls. They were erected much higher than the outside walls. The medieval European castle had the watch towers usually build-into the castle itself. On the sketch, there seem to be two watch towers outside the walled area. This suggests that the church compound is surrounded by a wall. It is true that the castles had their own chapel, but the steeple on this picture looks like a church steeple. However, there are several reasons why this does not look like a castle.

Most researchers assume the picture represents a castle. The building in the top righthand corner of Cosmology (at the bottom of this picture) is subject of intense research. He is speculating that the image on both sides represent a steep escarpment, or perhaps terraces. Petersen reasons that the structure in the middle of the top part of this picture could not be a lighthouse, because the lighthouses had round or octagonal tops. (Slovenian language enabled both interpretations, due to the meaning of the word SVETI вЂ“ (he, it, she) shines, enlightens, makes holy. In the Middle Ages, the Carthusian monasteries were like lighthouses in the spiritual darkness, protecting true Christianity. A lighthouse represents an early warning for seafarers in the darkness of the night. I believe the author intended to use this image as an analogy for the bottom image.

Voynich manuscript pictures