Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries

A catalogue of Western manuscripts and papyri at Cambridge University Library, the Fitzwilliam Museum and selected Cambridge colleges

Cambridge, Clare College, MS 12

Medical treatises

Contents

Introduction: This composite manuscript comprises four parts, each originally belonging to separate medieval books, but which were all bound together by the time the manuscript was given to Clare College. The manuscript was given at an unknown date by John Heaver (d. 1670) , who had been a student at the College and in later life was a Fellow of Eton College and a Canon of St George's Chapel, Windsor. Part 1 contains eight leaves, divided into two groups: four leaves at the beginning of the volume (ff. 1-4) and four leaves at the end (ff. 230-232, 234). The leaves in Part 1 contain part of a poem in medieval French about the death of Thomas Becket, copied in the 13th century. Part 2 is the oldest and largest part of the composite. It contains a selection of popular medical texts in Latin and was probably copied in Italy in the late 12th or early 13th century. The start of each major text in this section is accompanied by a beautiful decorative initial - see, for example, ff. 63r and 104v - and there are also pen-flourished initials and small marginal creatures and grotesques in several places - see f. 101v for a combination of these motifs. The final few leaves of Part 2 (ff. 125v-130v) contain a group of medical and culinary recipes in Latin. Part 3, like Part 2, is medical, but it contains a single text, Book 2 of De dietis uniuersalibus et particularibus by Isaac Iudaeus, now misbound with the final three quires in this part presented out of order. Part 3 was probably made in England in the 13th century. Part 4 likewise contains medical material in Latin, and includes popular medical treatises such as the Antidotarium Nicholai, the De curis mulierum attributed to 'Trota', and Hippocrates' De regimine acutorum. Part 4 was probably made in England in the second half of the 13th century. Dr Sarah Gilbert| Project Cataloguer| Curious Cures in Cambridge Libraries

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Parchment.
Extent: Codex: ii + 4 | 122 | 46 | 45 | 4 + ii leaves.
Foliation:

?17th-century foliation

[i]-[ii] + 1-4 | 5-23, 25, 28-109, 111-130 | 131-132, 134-146, [146a], 147-176 | 177-190, 200-221, [221a], 222-229 | 230-232, 234 + [iii]-[iv]

Foliated in the upper outer corner of each recto in ink in Hindu-Arabic numerals. Several mistakes in the foliation sequence; many folio numbers are skipped or duplicated. Numbers for the paper endleaves (ff. [i]-[ii] and [iii]-[iv]) and for those leaves bearing duplicate folio numbers (ff. [146a] and [221a]) are enclosed in [square brackets] and were assigned in 2022 by the Curious Cures project for use in this online record. Folio 85 an inserted slip of parchment; counted in the total number of leaves in Extent. Folio 25 had been numbered 27 in the original foliation, but was later cancelled and changed in pencil to '25'.

Collation

A composite manuscript comprising mostly quires of 8 leaves:

  • Four leaves (ff. 1-4) |
  • Quire 18-1 (1st missing; ff. 5-11)
  • Quire 28 (ff. 12-19)
  • Quire 38 (ff. 20-30; misfoliated and miscorrected)
  • Quires 4-98 (ff. 31-78)
  • Quire 108+1 (ff. 79-87: a slip inserted after the 6th leaf)
  • Quires 11-128 (ff. 88-103)
  • Quire 136+1 (ff. 104-111: 7th leaf inserted; misfoliated, f. 110 skipped)
  • Quires 14-158 (ff. 112-127)
  • Quire 16three (ff. 128-130: perhaps originally a quire of four with the last leaf excised, probably blank) |
  • Quire 174 (ff. 131-135: misfoliated, f. 133 skipped)
  • Quire 188 (ff. 136-143)
  • Quire 198 (ff. 144-146 [146a]-150: misfoliated, f. 146 duplicated)
  • Quire 208 (ff. 151-158
  • Quire 2110 (ff. 159-168
  • Quire 228 (ff. 169-176)|
  • Quire 238 (ff. 177-184)
  • Quire 248 (ff. 185-201: misfoliated, foliation skips from f. 190 to f. 200)
  • Quires 25-268 (ff. 202-217)
  • Quire 278 (ff. 218-221, [221a]-224: misfoliated, f. 221 duplicated)
  • Quire 286-1 (ff. 225-229: 6th leaf excised, perhaps blank or former pastedown) |
  • Four leaves (ff. 230-232, 234)

Four leaves | 18-1 (1st missing) 28 38 4-98 108+1 (a slip inserted after the 6th leaf) 11-128 136+1 (7th leaf inserted) 14-158 16three | 174 188 198 208 2110 228| 238 248 25-268 278 286-1 (6th excised) | Four leaves

Additions

Quire signatures ('1-28') in the bottom right-hand corner of the recto side of the first leaf of each quire, written in pencil by a hand of the 19th/20th century.

Binding

Late-17th century binding. Full bound in calf over millboard with matching decoration in blind to left and right covers. Covers are decorated with two concentric double-fillet frames, the outermost frame set at the perimeter of the board, the innermost frame inset from the outer by c. 25mm. A fleuron set at each corner of the inner frame pointing towards the nearest corner of the outer frame; fleuron is a stylised fleur-de-lys. Spine is capped at head and tail openings by the cover material folded over and inside the spine; no head or tail bands visible. Five raised bands and a half-band at the tail. Perimeter of each spine compartment decorated with a double fillet. Red morocco label applied to spine with the title ‘TRACTATUS MEDICI’ tooled in gold.

Paper pastedowns set over the turn ins. Right pastedown is blank. The left pastedown contains:

  • Former shelfmark 'Kk.3.13' in ink, struck out
  • Ownership inscription in pencil 'Clare College James 12'
  • A Clare College shelfmark 'G'.3.2' in ballpoint pen

Rust stains on ff. 1r and 234v indicate the presence of a metal fastening in the centre of the fore edge of a previous binding.

History

Provenance and Acquisition

Given to Clare College by John Heaver who was admitted as a sizar at Clare College 20 August 1635 matriculated in 1636, gained a B.A. in 1639-40, an M.A. in 1643, and a D.D. (Lit. Reg.) in 1661. Heaver also gave MSs 14, 18, 24, and 26 to Clare College. Heaver's ownership inscription can be found on f. 1r: ‘Iohannes Heaver dono dedit ’. See also: Venn HVR635J.

Part 1 [Cambridge, Clare College, MS 12, ff. 1-4 and 230-232, 234]

Contents

Language(s): Old French and Latin

1. 1r-4v, 230r-234v
Vie de saint Thomas le martyr Beneit le moine
Language(s): Old French
1.1. 1r-4v
Vie de saint Thomas le martyr Beneit le moine
Language(s): Old French
Incipit: || 1r For sul i tant il mesprist | Ke larceweske pas nelfist | Seint thomas | Kar cil ke la curune imist
Explicit: 4v E de ses biens seum parcener| Et od li puissum regner| Finablement . Amen
Final rubric: 4v Explicit liber sancti thome martyris
1.2. 230r-232v 234rv
Vie de saint Thomas le martyr Beneit le moine
Language(s): Old French
Incipit: 230r A mer le deust e seruir | Des ke a la mort
Explicit: 234v Seignors dist il si vos pleist | Quant mi sane espandre deit ||

Before their (re-)use as endleaves, ff. 1-4 and 230-234 once existed as a single quire of 8 leaves. In their present state the leaves are designated ff. 1, 2, 3, 4, 230, 231, 232, 234 (the designation 'f. 233' was skipped by the foliator in error as a leaf does not appear to have been lost), but these designations do not reflect the original sequence of the leaves. The leaves were originally arranged ff. 1, 2, 230, 231, 232, 234, 3, 4, i.e., the opening four leaves were once the two outer bifolia of the quire, and the closing four leaves were once the two inner bifolia of the quire.

Text is edited by B. Schlyter (Lund 1941); this manuscript has the designation 'C' in the edition. According to Schlyter's edition, Clare College MS 12 contains lines 1207-1824, 2095-2100, 2113-end

B. Schlyter, 'La Vie de Thomas Becket par Beneit', Études Romanes de Lund IV (1941)

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 2r Sil reseurent
Form: codex
Support: Parchment (HFFH)
Extent: Codex: 8 leaves. 205 × 140 mm.

Collation

Originally 1 quire of 8 leaves, now endleaves ff. 1-4 and 230-232, 234. The opening four leaves were once the two outer bifolia of the quire, and the closing four leaves were once the two inner bifolia of the quire.

Condition

Leaves are in good condition. Small rust stains in the centre of the outer margins of the leaves caused by the metal fitting for a fastening on a former binding. Minor rat damage to the centre of the outer margin, but no damage to text.

Layout

175 × 95 mm. Ruled in single-column format, frame and lines in both ink and leadpoint. 40 lines to page, written below top line. Formatted for verse, with a majuscule initial at the beginning of each line set slightly apart from the remainder of the word.

Hand(s)

Written in a northern textualis formata of the 13th century.

Additions

Ownership inscription ‘Iohannes Heaver Dono dedit’ in the outer margin of f. 1r in ink in a late 17th century hand, the last two words struck out. A former Clare College shelfmark ‘Kk-4-8 Aul: Clare’ in the outer margin of f. 1r in ink, in a late 17th century hand.

History

Origin: 13th century. ; England.

Part 2 [Cambridge, Clare College, MS 12, ff. 5-130]

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1. 5r-62v
De dietis uniuersalibus et particularibus Isaac Iudaeus (Ishaq Ibn Suleiman)
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: || 5r et perfeccio accionis eorum regineritium est
Explicit: 62r mollibus uero post
Final rubric: 62r Explicit liber dietarum uniuersalium

The text is defective at the opening and begins part of the way through De dietis uniuersalibus et particularibus, Lib. 1, Cap. 1, Lect 2 according to the numbering of the Lyon edition.

Printed with the commentary of Petrus Hispalensis in Omnia opera Ysaac (Lyon, 1515); note that Clare College MS 12 does not contain the commentary of Petrus Hispalensis.

M. R. James says that this text is 'no doubt in an Italian hand', but the hand in fact appears to be English or French.

2. 63r-103v
Practica medicinae Bartholomaeus Salernitanus
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 63r Incipit practica .M. bartholomei
Incipit: 63r PRACTICA diuiditur in duo scilicet in scienciam conseruatiuam sanitatis et curatiuam egritudinis
Explicit: 103v Postea purgetur cum apozimate quod recipit||
Final rubric: Lower margin of 103v Explicit

Slip of parchment (f. 85r) added with text (recto only) in a contemporary hand that supplies text missing on f. 84v: the scribe has added a signe-de-renvoi to the lacuna and at the start of the text on f. 85r.

Glosses in hands of ?16th century English appearance as follows:

  • 88v outer margin 'the ravenynge evyll' glossing mania
  • 89r outer margin 'the slommerynge evyll' glossing litargia
  • 91v outer margin 'the pose' glossing Coriza
| These glosses were all noticed by Professor Faith Wallis of McGill University and shared in a private communication.

3. 104r-125v
Liber aureus Johannes Afflacius
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 104v Si dolor capitis est uel fit
Explicit: 125v si aduesicam descenderit non fetet
Final rubric: 125v Finit liber aureus

On f. 104r: List of capitulae (3 columns, lemma initial in alternating red or blue): ‘De dolor capitis ... De ypostasibus urinarum’

4. 125v-130v
Medical and culinary recipes
Language(s): Latin
eTK 1570F (t0299810000)

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 5r et perfeccio accionis
Secundo Folio: 6r tis . corporm[sic] uero suspitientium[sic] neglectis
Form: codex
Support: Parchment (HFFH)
Extent: Codex: 122 leaves. 205 × 140 mm.

Collation

Quires of 8 leaves, the first leaf lost from the first quire. A slip of parchment (f. 85) inserted during the main copying stint to supply a lacuna in the text on f. 84v. Quire 13 is a quire of 6 leaves, with a singleton inserted at the end of the quire at the time the text was copied. Quire 16 was probably once a quire of 4 leaves; 3 leaves are extant, the 4th leaf presumably excised:

  • Quire 18-1 (1st missing; ff. 5-11)
  • Quire 28 (ff. 12-19)
  • Quire 38 (ff. 20-30; misfoliated and miscorrected)
  • Quires 4-98 (ff. 31-78)
  • Quire 108+1 (ff. 79-87: a slip inserted after the 6th leaf)
  • Quires 11-128 (ff. 88-103)
  • Quire 136+1 (ff. 104-111: 7th leaf inserted; misfoliated, f. 110 skipped)
  • Quires 14-158 (ff. 112-127)
  • Quire 16three (ff. 128-130: perhaps originally a quire of four with the last leaf excised, probably blank)

Medieval quire signatures I, II, III, IV, I in ink in the lower margins of the last versos of Quires 8-11 and 13. Catchwords in the lower margins of Quires 8-11 and 13.

Condition

Good condition. Minor rodent damage to centre of fore edge of each leaf. Minor textual losses to marginalia due to trimming. A portion of the lower margin of f. 6 cut away with no disruption to text.

Layout

85 × 145 mm. Ruled in ink in single columns, frame and lines. Typically 34 lines to the page and written above top line.

Hand(s)

Written in a southern Textualis libraria of perhaps Italian origin by at least two scribes.

Marginal annotations by a scribe writing a 13th century northern Textualis currens of English appearance. The scribe of the marginal annotations also added punctuation and corrections to the main text.

Decoration

Marginal illustrations as follows:

  • 79r: a feline creature outlined in red and tinted with blue and anchored to an initial 'M' on the same page by a decorative tendril
  • 80r: human faces incorporated into a spray border in the outer and lower margin extending from an initial 'Y' on the same page
  • 80v: a naked human figure outlined in blue and holding their right knee in the outer margin and anchored to an initial 'A' (for 'arthetica', i.e., arthritic pain) on the same page by a decorative tendril
  • 93v: A dragon's head outlined in red with a decorative spray of red and blue flourishes emerging from its mouth into the lower margin and anchored to an initial 'S' on the same page by a decorative tendril
  • 94v: a man's head in profile outlined in red and anchored to an initial 'D' on the same page by a decorative tendril
  • 96v: a ?feline creature outlined in red and tinted with ochre and green in the outer margin but enclosed within the matrix of an initial 'D' on the same page
  • 100v: a bird outlined in red in the outer margin of the page, with beak open as if to peck a decorative flourish off an initial 'S'
  • 101v: a dragon outlined in blue and incorporated into a decorative border in the outer and lower margin extending from an initial 'S' on the same page

Outline sketches of busts of a man and a woman in the lower margins of ff. 29v-30r. The male figure's hat and hairstyle are suggestive of late-15th or early 16th century fashions.

Inhabited initial on f. 104v, the main body of the initial painted with gold. Major decorative initial on f. 63r with use of gold and foliate motifs. A face outlined in red added to the counterspace of an initial 'O' (for 'Oculi patiuntur' i.e., a chapter on various eye problems) on f. 89r.

Flourished initials in red and blue at the major divisions of the text, with the most significant initials further embellished with flourishes extended along the inner and/or lower margin, e.g., ff. 9v, 47r, etc.

Plain initials in red or blue at the minor divisions of the text.

Rubricated headings (red only) at the divisions of the text.

Decorative line fillers in red at the end of some rubricated headings, e.g., f. 58v.

Guide letters for decorative initials visible in the left margin of some leavees; note that where guide letters are present in the left margin of a recto, the letter is almost always too deeply situated in the gutter to be visible in the photograhic images of this manuscript.

History

Origin: Last quarter of the 12th century, or first half of the 13th century. ; ?Italy.

Part 3 [Cambridge, Clare College, MS 12, ff. 131-176]

Contents

1. 131r-176v
De dietis uniuersalibus et particularibus Isaac Iudaeus (Ishaq Ibn Suleiman)
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 131r Compleuimus in prio libro uniuersalem significationem
Explicit: 176v quibus non castratis sunt meliores . omnes non decrepiti . in

Begins at De dietis uniuersalibus et particularibus, Lib. 2, Prologus. Final portion of text is at f. 168v (end of misbound Quire 21) De dietis uniuersalibus et particularibus, Lib. 2 ‘... eorum sunt nutribiliora . et in sanguinem conuertibiliora’ .

Catchwords indicate that the Quires in this Part are misbound: the correct order of the quires according to the catchwords is: 17, 18, 19, 22, 20, 21.

Printed in Omnia opera Ysaac (Lyon, 1515) in the version with the commentary of Petrus Hispalensis; Clare College MS 12 does not contain the Petrus Hispalensis commentary.

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 132r et parum nutrit . et ad digerendum etiam durum
Form: codex
Support: Parchment (HFFH)
Extent: Codex: 46 leaves. 205 × 140 mm.

Collation

Quires of mostly 8 leaves (Quire 17 a quire of 4 leaves), now misbound. Catchwords indicate that the correct order of the quires should be Quires 17, 18, 19, 22, 20, 21.

  • Quire 174 (ff. 131-135: misfoliated, f. 133 skipped)
  • Quire 188 (ff. 136-143)
  • Quire 198 (ff. 144-146 [146a]-150: misfoliated, f. 146 duplicated)
  • Quire 208 (ff. 151-158
  • Quire 2110 (ff. 159-168
  • Quire 228 (ff. 169-176)

Catchwords in the lower margin of the last verso of Quires 17-20, and 22, no catchword in Quire 21. The catchwords in Quires 19, 20, and 22 indicate that the correct order of the quires in this sequence

Condition

Good condition. Minor rodent damage to centre of fore edge of each leaf. Minor losses to marginalia and decoration due to trimming.

Layout

140 × 85 mm. Ruled in ink, in single columns, frame and lines. Written above top line, typically 35-36 lines to the page.

Hand(s)

Written in an English textualis libraria.

Decoration

Flourished initials at the major and minor divisions of the text, either a red letter with blue flourishing or the reverse. Puzzle initial on 131r, with flourishes extended across the upper margin and the majority of the way down the inner margin.

Paraph marks in red or blue to separate minor sections of text.

History

Origin: 13th century. ; England.

Part 4 [Cambridge, Clare College, MS 12, ff. 177-229]

Contents

1. 177r-212v
Antidotarium Nicholai Nicholas Salernitanus
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 177v Antidotarium nicholai
Incipit: 177v Ego nicolaus a quibusdam rogatus in practica medicine
Explicit: 212v Dabis drachm .ii. cum calida ||
eTK 0490B (t0095900000)
eTK 0490B (t0095910000)
2. 212v-213r
Medical recipes
Language(s): Latin
3. 213v-221r
De regimine acutorum Hippocrates
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 213v Qui de egrotantium accidentibus
Explicit: 221r et in hiis minus congruum est qui solo dicuntur potu sed conu ||

An early modern reader has added a title for the work 'Experimenta Atrote' in the upper margin of f. 213v. The early modern reader seems to have read this text De regimen acutorum (ff. 213v-221r) with the following text De curis mulierum (ff. 221v-227r) which ends with a final rubric Expliciunt Experimenta Atrote' and taken De regimen acutorum as the first part of De curis mulierum, and so they supplied a title to what they assumed to be the start of a single work.

eTK 1205K
4. 221v-227v
De curis mulierum
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 221v Incipit liber trote de curis mulierum
Incipit: 221v Ut ait ypocras de curis mulierum compendiosa nobis traditio facit uiuendum est que tam superfuerit
Explicit: 227v quasi uirgo esset
Final rubric: 227v Exspliciunt[sic] Experimenta Atrote

This is the 'DCM 2' version of the text according to the classification system described by M. Green in 'The Development of the Trotula'.

This text is often attributed in medieval manuscripts and modern scholarship to Trota , but see M. Green 'Development of the Trotula' for a discussion of why this attribution should be rejected.

Title added in the upper margin of f. 221v in a later hand.

eTK 1612L (t0307600000)
M. H. Green, ‘The Development of the Trotula’, in Women’s Healthcare in the Medieval West Texts and Contexts, ed. by M. H. Green (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2000), p. V:119-213, originally printed in Revue d'Histoire des Textes (1996)
Manuscript 11 in M. Green, ‘A Handlist of the Latin and Vernacular Manuscripts of the So-Called Trotula Texts. Part I: The Latin Manuscripts’, Scriptorium. Revue Internationale Des Études Relatives Aux Manuscrits, 50 (1996), 137–75
5. 228r-229v
Compendium Salerni (extracts)
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 228r Duplici me cogente causa socii dilectissimi
Explicit: 229v remoueatur efectus

Text begins with a prologue (f. 228r), followed by a list of capitula (f. 228rv), before the text begins proper ‘Medicina est sciencia apponendi’ on f. 228v.

eTK 0476J (t0093730000)
Renzi V, 201-32 (Supplanting III, 52-65), R. Creutz, Quellen V.iv (1936), pp. 9-37
Giacosa 409

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 178r piretri acori dauci
Form: codex
Support: Parchment (HFFH). Outer margin of f. 204r is a fold-out flap c. 25mm wide, and contains marginal annotations that strayed too far beyond the trimming boundary when the quire stack was being shaped for binding. Small parchment tab marker on f. 210rv; tab is part of an originally wider outer margin with the rest of the margin cut down around the tab.
Extent: Codex: 45 leaves. 205 × 140 mm.

Collation

Quires of mostly 8 leaves, the final quire of 6 with the 6th leaf excised (perhaps a blank or former pastedown).

  • Quire 238 (ff. 177-184)
  • Quire 248 (ff. 185-201: misfoliated, foliation skips from f. 190 to f. 200)
  • Quires 25-268 (ff. 202-217)
  • Quire 278 (ff. 218-221, [221a]-224: misfoliated, f. 221 duplicated)
  • Quire 286-1 (ff. 225-229: 6th leaf excised, perhaps blank or former pastedown)

Condition

Good condition. Minor rodent damage to centre of fore edge of each leaf. Minor losses to marginalia and decoration due to trimming.

Layout

145 × 75 mm. Ruled in ink, in single-column format, frame and lines. Written below top line, typically 32-33 lines to the page.

Hand(s)

Written by several scribes writing an English textualis libraria.

Decoration

Flourished initials at the major and minor divisions of the text, either a red letter with blue flourishing or the reverse. No decoration after f. 215v.

History

Origin: Second half of the 13th century. ; England.

Additional Information

Record Sources

This catalogue entry draws on M. R. James, A descriptive catalogue of the Western manuscripts in the library of Clare College (Cambridge, 1905)

Availability

Visitors to Clare College who wish to consult Special Collections material are required to apply to the Library in advance of their visit. For information on eligibility and admission procedures see: Clare College Archives.

Bibliography

    La Vie de Thomas Becket par Beneit Etudes romanes de Lund, Schlyter, Borje (Copenhagen:Lund, 4, 1941) Women's healthcare in the medieval West: texts and contexts Women's healthcare in the medieval West Collected studies, Green, Monica H. (Aldershot, Ashgate, 2000)

Funding of Cataloguing

Wellcome

Digital Images

Cambridge Digital Library

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Study at Cambridge

About the University

Research at Cambridge