a purely commercial project

 
The Voynich manuscripts are a purely commercial project on which people have been making money for 600 years in a row. It is a hoax written by a group of doctors, astrologers, balneologists, diplomats, advisers, poets, writers, magicians, philosophers and alchemists from the inner circle of Duke Albrecht the Third of Bavaria-Munich and Emperor Sigismund the First of Luxembourg for sessions of white magic, in which the authors of the manuscripts (and there were from 5 to 12 slightly different unbound copies) were selling their recipes, advices and services. Sessions of white magic were often conducted by duchesses (who were fond of the occult sciences) in their castles, and the doctors wrote out prescriptions for the participants in the sessions, who were mainly women from noble and wealthy families. A Duchess could predict anything from the manuscript. Other women believed her because they were fascinated by the mysterious manuscript. To achieve the predicted happiness, ladies were recommended to pay a fee either to improve their health, or to receive a “verse of happiness” from the poet, or to consult an adviser, or to draw up a personal horoscope, or to use an alchemical remedy, etc. It was cool! Therefore, the Voynich manuscripts were aimed primarily at women. (feeria.de)