Do you remember the ado about the Sagittarius’ costume?
Well, while strolling through the venerable city of Würzburg the other day, in the Marienkapelle church I came across this epitaph:
Martin von Seinsheim, died 1434 *)
Compare to the notorious Sagittarius crossbowman:
I was amazed at the similarites like headgear, skirt, and sleeves.
Let’s draw the following conclusions from the dead dude:
- The Sagittarius’ costume resembles early-fifteenth century costume,
- This style of costume was in use in Germany, too,
- As opposed to previous suggestions (and opposed to what I insisted upon earlier), it might well be that the Sagittarius in fact is not a hunter, but a warrior: The dead knight is wearing at least a breastplate, gauntlets, greaves, and a sword, perhaps even more armour. Yet most of his armour is hidden under the garments, and if he was depicted in a style similar to the VM drawings, it’s well possible that the armour would be completely lost — especially if we assume that the colouring was done at a later point. Hence, it’s quite plausible that the Sagittatrius was originally a knight like the guy in Würzburg.
*) Photo by Sina Borchert.
Thoughts about the Voynich Manuscript 
Is this, then, the source of the expression: “I
would not be caught dead in this suit”?
A fast and less than meticulous survey turned up enough results to make most conclusions redundant, and any certain ones unlikely. Unless you start by assuming the manuscript contains only material created in fifteenth-century Europe. That does narrow the vision somewhat – and in which case the figure is pretty likely to represent a Genoese archer.
http://voynichimagery.blogspot.com.au/p/crossbow.html