He wrote & published it to be distributed at his death. 2 copies worldwide.
Raphael Mnischofsky / [Voynich Manuscript]. Funebria Raphaelis Mnischofsky de Sebuzina, et in Lochkow: S. C. Maiestatis appellationum consiliarii, et in regno Bohemiae vice camerii. Quae Sibi ipse vivens ad huc valensque fecit, conscripsit, edidit; & distribui in suo funere testamento cavit Anno domini M. DC. XXXXIV. Aetatis suae LXIV. Pragae: Georgius Ssyparz excudit [colophon], 1644. 4to [18.2 x 14.6 cm], [43] ff. Spine covered in brown sprinkled paper, red sprinkled edges. Small marginal worm tracks in first and last quires not affecting text, minor edge wear and toning.
Very rare (2 copies worldwide: Nat. Lib. of Czech Republic & LMU Munich) first and only edition of this extremely curious work written by the Czech jurist, diplomat, poet & cryptographer Raphael Mnischofsky (Mnišovský) (1580-1644) in anticipation of his own death. The title page states that, “he himself, while still alive and in good health, made, wrote, and published [it] for himself, and in his funeral testament he provided for its distribution.”
The Funebria Raphaelis Mnischofsky consists of 540 Latin epigrams, a great portion of which mention Raphael Mnischofsky. He mostly used distichs, but employed other poetic forms here and there, including diagrammatic writing; musical notation is provided in one instance. The epigrams are grouped under headings relating to different aspects of his life (and death), some of which are rather obscure (Iconica, Peregrinatoria, Linguistica, Officialia, “H. B.,” Sodalitia, Patronalia, Tentatoria, Ultimata, Contritionalia, Valedictoria, Uxoria, Filialia, Socilia, Iudicialia, Intentionalia, Sepulchralia, Alloquialia Exotica, Aenigmatica, Metense, Hamburgicum).
In recent times Mnišovský has been studied for his supposed connections to the mysterious Voynich Manuscript (Yale Beinecke MS 408): He is said to have linked the manuscript with Prague during the Rule of Rudolf II (1583-1612) (see R. Zandbergen and R. Prinke). It is worth nothing that Mnišovský’s book is itself an intentionally obscure work and that it both uses riddles (“Aenigmatica”) and mentions steganography (DXXV-DXXVI).”
Zandbergen & Prinke provide a useful biographical sketch, which I quote here at length: “Mnišovský (originally surnamed Soběhrd) was born in 1580 to a burgher family at Horšovský Týn and received his early education in Prague. He became acquainted with a Polish emigrant and author of important genealogical compendia Bartosz Paprocki (known in Bohemia as Bartoloměj Paprocký of Hloholy and Paprocká Vůle), for whose major work Diadochus (Prague 1602) he wrote two Latin epigrams and probably polished up the Czech language. Interestingly, Paprocki was at the time in close contact with the famous Polish alchemist Michael Sendivogius (1566-1636), whom Mnišovský met (again?) thirty years later.
“After a period of studies in Paris and Rome, he returned to Prague as a doctor of law in 1611 and the then ruling emperor Matthias made him a secretary to the all-powerful cardinal Melchior Klesl (1552-1630), bishop of Vienna and the imperial chancellor. He was involved in peace negotiations between Venice and Styria, and when they proved successful, Duke Ferdinand (later Emperor Ferdinand II) made him his court counsellor and tutor of his son, later Emperor Ferdinand III, whom he taught the Czech language. Mnišovský also served him after he was elected king of Bohemia in 1617 and in 1621 was actively involved as an attorney in the execution of 27 leaders of the Czech Uprising.
“The following year he was ennobled (with the predicate “of Sebuzín and Horštejn”) and became a counsellor of the court of appeal. His career continued in 1622-1626 when he was a member of the reform commission for Moravia and Kladsko, in 1628 became a secretary of the royal court chancellery, in 1635 a royal attorney, and in 1640 vice-chamberlain in charge of land records. For his services, he received a land estate in Moravia and a house in Prague from the emperor, soon buying other houses, estates and vineyards.
“He wrote Latin poems throughout his life and at its end he composed 540 funeral epigrams which were published posthumously as Funebria Raphaelis Mnischofsky de Sebuzina et in Lochkow, s. c. Majestatis appelationum consiliarii et in regno Bohemiae Vice Camerarii (Prague 1644). Besides Latin, he knew German so well that it was his duty to translate imperial decrees arriving from Vienna into Czech before they were printed. Most certainly, he also spoke several other languages and loved learning them, as he himself wrote with pride “Lingua polyglossa mihi” (“My language is multilingual”)…
“Intriguingly, Mnišovský was interested both in secret writing and in alchemy. He is the author of a book about steganography in the style of Johannes Trithemius, but using the Czech language, which is now preserved in the library of Uppsala. As concerns alchemy, he was a great supporter of the Polish alchemist Michael Sendivogius. Specifically, he writes in a 1630 letter to Emperor Ferdinand III on the subject of alchemy” (Zandbergen & Prinke, pp. 307-8).
OCLC & KVK locate 2 copies worldwide of this work: National Library of the Czech Republic and Universitätsbibliothek der LMU München
*R. Zandbergen and R. Prinke, “The Voynich MS in Rudolfine Prague,” in Alchemy and Rudolf II: Exploring the Secrets of Nature in Central Europe in the 16th and 17th Centuries, Ivo Purš and Vladimír Karpenko, eds., pp. 297-314.