The Voynich Manuscript – a medieval codex with unusual illustrations and an unreadable script – has resisted every attempt to decipher its secrets for over a century, gaining it the reputation of the world’s most mysterious manuscript. But in recent years, renewed scholarly interest has shed new light on its history, including when and where the manuscript was likely created. Even so, the central mystery still remains: Why was the Voynich Manuscript made and what does it say? Is its unusual writing a complex cipher or an artificial language and script? Or could the manuscript simply be a late-medieval hoax? In this lecture, we’ll see what the latest Voynich research tells us, and explore other cryptic European manuscripts that provide insights into its purpose.