The first glyph of every line – a hint at a cipher?

[JoJo_Jost]

too structured to be a hoax

I feel that structure must be a necessary requirement for a successful hoax. The writer wanted to give the manuscript a semblance of a genuine piece of writing. Otherwise unstructured random writing would have been quickly dismissed as a fraud.

I see your point, and it’s a good one, but I seriously wonder whether, around 1430—a time when only relatively simple ciphers were known—anyone would have gone to such lengths?

Because one thing is clear: if it’s a hoax, then it must be extremely well-structured, and I’m afraid that’s an anachronism.

If it is a cipher, then the extremely good structure underlying it is precisely the language.

And that is why I am not a believer in the hoax theory...