A Re-Evaluation of the Balneological and Astrological Sections in Beinecke MS 408 (Voynich) Within the Context of the Andalusian School of Medicine and Avicennian Gynecology

The Voynich Manuscript, cataloged under shelfmark MS 408 in the Beinecke Library, has occupied a central position in the historiography of medicine since the Early Modern period due to its eclectic and cryptic structure. Existing literature has predominantly attempted to explain the manuscript's balneological (bathing) folios through the lens of Northern European spa culture or Christian alchemy, often framing them within a vague gynecological backdrop. However, these conventional approaches fail to incorporate the humoral codes, water levels, intricate botanical illustrations, and astrological cycles into a cohesive medical theory. Rejecting the fragmented reading of the manuscript's gynecological, astrological, and pharmacological sections, this study posits that the text is an encrypted "Gynecological Operation and Fertility Atlas" produced within the 15th-century Andalusian cultural sphere and deeply rooted in Avicenna’s al-Qanun fi al-Tibb (The Canon of Medicine). Utilizing codicological and textual evidence, this paper establishes direct correlations between the depicted pool geometries and Galenic uterine anatomy, between the water levels and the "Har-Humid" (Hot-Moist) humoral theory, and between the depicted medical instruments or practices (such as esfenc and postural positioning) and Avicennian clinical praxis.