Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries

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

Cambridge, Emmanuel College, MS 95

Medical recipes

Contents

Introduction: There are numerous challenges to the systematic study of medieval medical recipe texts. They are almost always anonymous, with generic titles that typically specify only the illness to be cured. They are often very short – rarely more than half a dozen sentences – and highly mutable, with slight variations in the ingredients, quantities, instructions or prescriptions that are revealed only through close textual comparison. The traditional method of cataloguing texts – by recording rubrics, incipits and explicits – is thus of limited use, since it is unlikely to enable their connection to a known author or text and might furthermore disguise important differences between manuscript witnesses of the 'same' recipe. The variability of the collections in which medical recipes are found also make problematic any attempt at editing them as group. The digitisation and cataloguing of manuscripts containing medical recipes across fourteen library collections in Cambridge by the Curious Cures in Cambridge Libraries project aims to address some of these challenges. It is facilitating researchers' access to the manuscripts in which these important texts are found, and revealing the intellectual and material contexts in which recipes were recorded and transmitted: cataloguing describes which texts are found alongside them, while the digitisation shows where and in what way the recipes were copied in manuscripts, and how they were organised or arranged on the page. This information all provides useful clues towards our understanding of the reading and reception of this form of medical knowledge in late medieval England. The value of such an approach is illustrated by this example from Emmanuel College. The loss of several leaves, perhaps a whole quire, from the beginning of this manuscript disguises the fact that it contains much the same compilation of medical recipes and charms that is found in five other manuscripts covered by the project: Furthermore, with the exception of the Trinity College manuscript, none of these is recorded in the Manual of the Writings in Middle English, 1050-1500 (vol. 10, p. 3839 [264]) (MS Add. 9308 and two manuscripts from collections outside were subsequently noted by George Keiser (2003)). Making further such identifications has perhaps been hampered by the limited availability of the text in print, with only one edition having been published, by Fritz Heinrich in 1896, from a single manuscript witness: London, British Library, Add. MS 33996 . The text in Emmanuel MS 95 opens part-way through what we know from these other manuscripts to be a cure for the stone, and continues on the same page with treatments for other genito-urinary complaints: blood in one's urine, difficulty in passing urine, swollen testicles, and 'apysgalle' or 'scalding' of the penis (probably a urinary tract infection or symptom of venereal disease). The prescriptions for these terribly uncomfortable ailments are, except for minor variations of wording, all but identical to one another across this group of manuscripts – and where the leaves of one have been damaged, we are able infer with reasonable confidence what the missing text might have been from other examples. 'For man þat pyssyt blode', a handful each of ambrose and sanguinary and half a handful of parsley seed were to be crushed and tempered with goat's milk and given to the sufferer to drink. A similar concotion was prescribed 'For man þat may nat wele pysse', using the herbs rue, gromwell and parsley, crushed and tempered with white wine, and served warm. To cure swollen testicles, powdered cumin, barleymeal and honey are fried together; from this, a plaster is made, which is kept luke warm and bound around the sore area. For the last of this group, a linen cloth should be cleaned, burned and ground into a powder and mixed with 'oyle of eggys': the sore should be anointed with this, and the powder put in the sore holes. On further examination, however, there are differences between these compilations that point to a more complex history of textual transmission that still awaits detailed study and analysis. For instance, St John's MS E.6 omits the cures for blood in the urine and swollen testicles, but includes an extra cure for 'skaldidd pyntill' that involves cooking mallows and mercury with 'a mese of pork' (probably minced) and making from that a pottage that the sick should eat, served with white wine. The first set of recipes in Trinity MS O.1.13 gives only the first two before moving on to remedies for 'wildfire', dry cough and the white or black morphews; four cures for swollen testicles appear a few pages later (f. 49r), of which the third is the closest match but with several changes: the same quantity of wormwood, 'bene mele' and powdered cumin are tempered with white wine and fried to make a plaster, which was to be applied warm. Apparently, this formulation had a more general purpose application, since 'it is good for alle wykkyd humours of ballokkis'. A cure for the final ailment is omitted altogether from this set of recipes in this manuscript. The recipes continue in Emmanuel MS 95 with cures for aching or swelling in the thighs or feet, for aching or swelling in the legs or feet, and two for feet that have become swollen through travelling (one using mugwort fried in boar's grease to make a plaster, the other using cumin instead of mugwort with the addition of olive oil for frying). Only in CUL MS Dd.6.29 are all four presented in the same order. In CUL MS Add. 9309, the cure for legs and feet is entitled 'For all manere swellyng'. The sequence is interrupted after that by a treatment 'For him þat hath ache oþer swellyng in his brayn', which is out of place in a section dealing with the lower half of the body. In the second set of recipes in Trinity MS O.1.13, the first remedy is omitted, whereas in CUL MS Add. 9308 it is the second, and where the last two for swollen feet are given instead under the heading for aching or swelling in the legs or feet. Only the mugwort cure for swollen feet is found in St John's MS E.6. Altogether different remedies for aches and swellings in the legs or feet are found in the first set of recipes in Trinity MS O.1.13, not after the first genito-urinary cures but later, below the four treatments for swollen testicles. These compilations of Middle English recipes are also found in varying manuscript contexts. Perhaps the most similar in terms of script and layout to Emmanuel MS 95 are CUL MS Add. 9309 and Trinity MS O.1.13 (first set): both are written on paper in cursive scripts of variable neatness, with a fluctuating number of lines on each page. In Trinity MS O.1.13, the rubrics are a simply underlined, whereas slightly more formal display scripts are used for the rubrics in CUL MS Add. 9308 and Emmanuel MS 95 (where they are also underlined in red). The second set in Trinity MS O.1.13 is also written on paper, but frame ruling and greater scribal care resulted in a more regular layout, and a semi-formal Anglicana script was used for the text and rubrics alike, the latter marked by a paraph and underlining, both in red. The production of CUL MS Add. 9308 and CUL MS Dd.6.29 is more polished, and was probably executed by professional craftsmen. Each page is ruled with a consistent layout, the formal scripts Anglicana formata in the former and textura in the latter are used for copying the text, and decorated initials mark the beginning of each recipe; the first of these in CUL MS Dd.6.29 is even in gold leaf. MS Add. 9308 is the smallest, St John's MS E.6 and Emmanuel MS 95 being slightly larger but both about the same size as each other, and CUL MS Add. 9309 and then CUL MS Dd.6.29 each larger than the previous. Trinity MS O.1.13 is taller than the largest of these, but narrower. These differences notwithstanding, the recipes are in each manuscript presented in small and portable formats. Setting aside the other, later additions to Emmanuel MS 95 (catalogued here as Parts 1 and 3), it appears to have been made as a standalone compilation of medical recipes - like CUL MS Add. 9308 and 9309. So, too, may have been those found in CUL MS Dd.6.29 and Trinity MS O.1.13, however these were evidently soon integrated into more wide-ranging compilations. The inclusion in both manuscripts of a number of urinoscopy texts as well as some elements of astrological medicine resembles the combination of such material in the folding almanacs that were being produced around the same time, and suggests a possibly more learned readership for this collection of recipes. The outlier in the group – and the only one for which we have identifiable medieval provenance – is St John's MS E.6, which was compiled by Thomas Betson (d. 1516), a university educated lawyer and priest who later entered Syon Abbey as a Bridgettine monk. Its contents reflect Betson's wide range of intellectual interests: medical, but also herbal, chemical, legal, poetic and devotional. His collection of recipes is the most selective of this set, copied by his own hand in his commonplace book. He may have had access to an exemplar preserving only part of the collection seen in these other manuscripts, or made a selection from it based on his own preferences and expertise, but either way it confirms that vernacular recipes were of interest to learned, Latinate readerships as well as to practitioners of the healing arts for whom Middle English provided invaluable access to medical knowledge. Evidently, the contents of these manuscipts continued to be valued into the 16th century and beyond. Bound into Emmanuel MS 95 at the end are four bifolia and a quire of eight leaves, all of paper. Onto the first leaves, a later owner of the manuscript added a table of contents for the preceding recipes - evidently made after the loss of the leaves at the beginning of the manuscript, since it opens with the cure for blood in the urine. The compiler used a simple substitution cipher for words he considered taboo (for another instance of this phenomenon, see Cambridge, University Library, MS Dd.6.9 ). Further recipes have then been added by several hands. Where one or more these owners may have lived is suggested by a sheet of paper from an account book - presumably added as an endleaf when the other material was bound in - which refers to places near Peterborough and Cambridge. Dr James Freeman|Medieval Manuscripts Specialist|Cambridge University Library| Bibliography:
  • Ein mittelenglisches Medizinbuch, ed. by Fritz Heinrich (Halle: Niemeyer, 1896)
  • George R. Keiser, 'Verse introductions to Middle English medical treatises', English Studies 84 (2003), 301-317
  • A Late Middle English Remedy-Book (MS Wellcome 542, Ff. 1r-20v): A Scholarly Edition, ed. by Javier Calle Martín and Miguel Ángel Castaño-Gil, Late Middle English Texts, 5 (Bern: Peter Lang, 2013)

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: ff. [a]-[b] | pp. 1:1-1:120 | and ff. 2:1-2:16: all consist of paper leaves
Extent: Codex: ii + 2 | 59 | 16 + ii leaves.
Foliation:

A note on numbering sequences used in this description:

The modern endleaves at the front and back of this manuscript have not been numbered, so for the purposes of this description they have been assigned the folio numbers i-ii and iii-iv, and (as editorial additions) are given in square brackets.

Similarly, the endleaves added to the manuscript in the 16th century, here designated as Part 1, have not been numbered either, so for the purposes of this description they have been assigned the folio numbers a-b, and (as editorial additions) are given in square brackets.

In its main section, here designated as Part 2, this manuscript contains multiple sequences of both foliation and pagination, of different dates and different degrees of completeness and consistency. For the sake of clarity, for the purposes of this description, the most functional sequence is followed: i.e. the 16th-century pagination, 1-75 and 78-118, written in ink in the centre of the upper margin of both the recto and verso side, here displayed as 1:1-1:75 and 1:78-1:118, and continued with 1:119-1:120 where the upper part of that leaf is missing.

In the supplementary section, added to the manuscript in the 16th century and here designated as Part 3, this description follows the 20th-century foliation, 1r-16v, written in pencil in the lower right-hand corner of the recto side only, here displayed as 2:1r-2:16v.

Foliation:

15th-century foliation:

30 (pp. 1:1-1:2); 30-42 (pp. 1:3-1:28); 48-90 (pp. 1:29-1:116); 43 (pp. 1:117-1:118); [?] (pp. 1:119-1:120)

Numbering in ink in the center of the upper margins of the rectos. From 30 to 48, these numbers have been struck through in ink. The folio number on the leaf with pp. 1:119-1:120 has been cut off.
Foliation:

15th-/16th-century foliation:

10-19 (pp. 1:9-1:28); 25-67 (pp. 1:29-1:116; 20 (pp. 1:117-1:118); [?] (pp. 1:119-1:120).

Numbering in ink in the upper right-hand corner of the rectos. The folio numbers on the first four leaves (pp. 1:1-1:8) have been torn off; and the folio number on the final leaf of the medieval part (pp. 1:119-1:120) has been cut off. Number 40 has been overwritten in pencil, incorrectly, as '30'.
Foliation:

16th-century pagination:

1-75, 78-118

Numbering in ink in the center of the upper margins of the rectos and versos; the paginator accidentally jumped from 75 to 78; the page numbers 119-120 were cut off with the upper part of the final leaf but a modern hand added them again in pencil on what remains. This pagination is followed in this record.
Foliation:

20th-century foliation:

2:1-2:16, [iii]-[iv]

Numbering in pencil in the lower right-hand corners of the rectos of ff. 2:1-2:16. This foliation is followed in this record.

Collation

  • Quire 114 (pp. 1:1-1:28)
  • Quire 224 (pp. 1:29-1:78)
  • Quire 324-4+1 (pp. 1:79-1:120: four leaves missing and one from a missing quire (pp. 119-120) inserted) |
  • Quires 4-72 (ff. 2:1-2:8)
  • Quire 88 (ff. 2:8-2:16)

114 224 324-4+1 (four leaves missing and one leaf from a missing quire, pp. 1:119-1:120, inserted) 4-72 88

Binding

Modern limp vellum binding, replacing a quarter brown leather binding with marbled paper sides over paper boards (old front cover-old rear cover) and a gold-stamped title inscription on its spine: ‘Receipts in Physic’ (old spine), now kept in a separate envolope with the manuscript inside a box that was made using a donation from Bernard Ramsbottom in 2013; the former binding features three unfoliated paper flyleaves, as well as two melinex folders: one containing binding materials (binding materials) and the other containing a paper fragment with fragments of a 15th-century cursive text (fragment), probably English and possibly belonging to the original contents of the manuscript.

Binding height: 165mm; width: 120mm; depth: 20mm.

History

Provenance and Acquisition

Andrew Skinner [Skynner] (fl. 16th century) : may have owned or accessed the manuscript since his name features in the lower margin of p. 1:51 (‘Andru skynner’) without a suggestion that it is part of account notes or a memorandum by another owner.

Robert Hancock (fl. 16th century) : his name inscribed 3x inscribed in cypher on f. 2:13v; and his ownership inscription on f. 2:16r: ‘Robert Hancock oweth this book’.

Not identified but probably recorded in Bernard's Catalogi Manuscriptorum Angliae et Hiberniae (1697). The College's classmarks 'MS 95' inscribed in pencil on f. [i] recto with an early modern paper pastedown with the College's armorial bookplate. The manuscript is kept in a box that was ‘made using a generous donation from Bernard Ramsbottom, 2013’. This box contains the manuscript's previous binding, which contains, on its spine, the old College's classmarks printed on three paper labels: '1' '4' '16'.

Part 1 [Cambridge, Emmanuel College, MS 95, ff. [a]-[b]]

Contents

Language(s): English

1. [a] verso-[b] recto
List of names from an (?) account book
Language(s): English

This leaf was cut from a a larger document and reused as a flyleaf for this manuscript. For this purpose, the document was turned a quarter, which means that the document's text is now in a vertical orientation. The document contains a list of names that was perhaps part of an account book. Although the text is cropped, the following names are legible:

  • ‘[...] Thrapston’
  • ‘[Will]iam neathercoote’
  • ‘[Ma]thew Laurance’
  • ‘[Rich]ard Banks’
  • ‘William Cols Senior - Peterborow - Henry Tayler’
  • ‘William feild’
  • ‘[Richa]rd Hitchcock’
  • ‘Robert Morton’
  • ‘-ington’
  • ‘[...] Battson’
  • ‘[...] Thurston’
  • ‘[...] Comfort’
  • ‘Richard Bretine’
  • ‘Richard Ekinse’
  • ‘St Jues - Thomas Mansfeild’
  • ‘Kimbolton - Richard Younge’
  • ‘Wim[bl]ington [?] - Mr John ffitz Jeffery’
  • ‘Sharnbrook - John Clare and Thomas Clare’
  • ‘Attleborow - Thomas Andrew’
The places named appear to refer to locations near Peterborough and Cambridge, and may suggest the region of origin for the acount book.

2. [b] verso
Letter of Thomas Springe from prison
Language(s): English
Incipit: Enquire of John ffurbancke of South hastead for one Henry Merinton and bring mee the townes name where he dewelleth and whether he keepeth house and cattell and in what fashion he liueth. Likewise for Nicholas Place of Colchester and tell him I would entreat him to send mee some money by the bearer hereof Robert Hancocke and tell him I had thought he would haue beene honest. I am still in prison and he know the missery of a prisoner and rest. Your very loving freind Thomas Springe

Full transcription.

Physical Description

Form: fragment
Support: One sheet of paper (no watermark) that has been taken from another manuscript and has been folded, creating one stub (f. [a]) and one leaf (f. [b]).
Extent: 2 leaves. 155 × 105 mm.

Layout

Because the leaf has been taken from another manuscript, its writing is in a vertical position.

Hand(s)

f. [a] verso-[b] recto contain text written by a 16th-century scribe writing in a secretary hand.

f. [b] verso contains text written by a 16th-century scribe writing in a secretary hand.

Decoration

This part of the manuscript does not contain any significant forms of decoration.

History

Origin: 16th century. ; England.

Provenance

Thomas Springe (fl. 16th century) : Wrote a letter with his name on f. [b] verso

Part 2 [Cambridge, Emmanuel College, MS 95, pp. 1:1-1:120]

Contents

Language(s): Middle English and Latin

1. 1:1-1:120
Collection of medical recipes attributed to Hippocrates, Galen, and Socrates
Language(s): Middle English and Latin
Incipit: || 1:1 and put þer to whyt wyne and let hym seþe ouer þe fere and so lete yt stonde yn þe same vesselle and y [g]yf yt hym to drynk lewke warme and þat schall make hym hole
Explicit: 1:120 and do it in a boxe and strawe above poudre of gyngere and þanne is it kendly made

The collection includes diagnostic and prognostic recipes, including a: ‘ffor to knowyn whan a man is smetyn on þe hede with a staf yif þe þan be brokyn or not and þe flessh not brokyn above’ (p. 1:91); ‘ffor to witte yif a a [sic] man shal lyve or dye that is woundid to yeve hym a drynke’ (pp. 1:95; ‘ffor to witte wheþer a man shal lyve or dye þat is seke and not woundid’ (pp. 1:96-1:97).

The collection contains few recipes with attributions, one of which is attributed to Lady Beauchamp: ‘this gracia dei vsed þe lady beachampe þe Erles wife of warewike’ (p. 1:99-1:102); and the Earl of Hereford ‘Here is anoþer maner of gracia dei þat þe goode erle of Hereforde vsed that was calde A noble surgen’ (pp. 1:102-1:104).

eVK2 0265.00 (v0074210000)
eVK2 4954.00 (v0074220000)
eVK2 4954.00 (v0074230000)
eVK2 7350.00 (v0074240000)
Lucas (2016), p. 116
2. 1:59
Charm against thieves
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 1:59 Here is a charme ayenste stevys
Incipit: 1:59 In bedleem god was Borne betwene two bestys to reste he was leyde in þat stede was neyþer theef ne man but the holy trinite whom \þylke selue god þat þere was borne/ deffende oure bodyes and catell and alle mischiffes and harmes wherso we wende by londe or be watir be nyght or be daye by tyde or by tyme Amen

Full transcription.

Smallwood (1989) [without this manuscript]
3. 1:61-1:65
Culinary recipes
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 1:61 ffor to make chare decoynes etcaetera
Explicit: 1:65 þat is frot seye of eche lyche moche and medle hem to geder
4. 1:92-1:93
Household notes (?)
Language(s): English

Added to the lower margins by a 16th-century hand.

5. 1:99
Charm against fever [Sage Leaf Charm]
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 1:99 A[ls]o here is a medecyne for þe feuers etcaetera
Incipit: 1:99 Take a sauge lef and wryte þeron Christus tonat et lete þe seke ete þat \þe/ fyrst day
Explicit: 1:99 Take vp his honde and blisse hym and sey Aue maria

A note in the lower margin by a late 16th-century hand refers to the charm: ‘god keepe me from this medicine for the ague’.

6. 1:119-1:120
Culinary recipe for making (medicinal) gingerbread
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 1:119 ffor to make Gyngebrede
Incipit: 1:119 Take half a quarte of feyre hony and put it into a brasyn panne and boyle it wele oue þe fiere
Explicit: 1:120 and do it in a boxe and strawe above poudre of gyngere and þanne is it kendly made

Imperfect due to the loss of the upper part of the page.

7. 1:120
Epilogue to the collection of recipes attributed to Hippocrates, Galen, and Socrates
Language(s): Middle English and Latin
Incipit: 1:120 This boke hi[g]te ypocras: on of the beste surgeons þat euer was and galien his felawe and socrates; to þis þis [sic] booke beryn witnesse for all þey weryn felawes in fere. While þey lefde in erþe here and þorough þe grace of hevyn kynge ; þey practiseden medecynes to helpyn [? man] praye we al to ihesu hevyn kyng: he yif here soule gode wonyng Amen - Iste liber Johanni Chancis etcetera Constat

Full transcription.

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 1:4: wylde fyre
Form: codex
Support: Paper, folded in octavo Letter ?.
Extent: Codex: 59 leaves. 155 × 105 mm.

Collation

  • Quire 114 (pp. 1:1-1:28)
  • Quire 224 (pp. 1:29-1:78)
  • Quire 324-4+1 (pp. 1:79-1:120: four leaves missing and one from a missing quire (pp. 119-120) inserted)

Layout

115 × 75-80 mm. Ruled in drypoint, frame only. Single columns. 20-21 lines to the page, written above top line.

Hand(s)

Copied by a single 15th-century scribe in a cursive script with both secretary and anglicana features.

Decoration

Headings for recipes written and underlined in red ink.

Litterae notabiliores in brown ink and highlighted in red ink.

History

Origin: 15th century. ; England.

Part 3 [Cambridge, Emmanuel College, MS 95, ff. 2:1-2:16]

Contents

Language(s): Middle English and Latin

8. 2:1r-2:5r
Table of contents for recipes on pp. 1:1-1:120
Language(s): English
Incipit: 2:1r P 1 - First for man that pisse bloud
Explicit: 2:5r P. 118 - for the stomack that is incombred for him that spatteth bloud
Final rubric: 2:5r 92c23pt[es] 38 166 th2 b44k2: 160: in all that is herein writtne

Added by a 16th-century hand. The scribe used a cypher (1=a, 2=e, 3=i, 4=o, 5=u, 6=l, 7=m, 8=n, 9=r) for taboo words and the final line:

  • ‘for a b5982d 019d2’ [for a burned yarde] (2:1r)
  • ‘for t4 proc592 th2 t29726 4f 554728’ [for to procure the termes of women] (2:3r)
  • ‘Chi972 f4r th252s’ [Charme for theues] (2:3v)
  • ‘ffor sc16d29g 4f your 019d2’ [ffor scalding of your yarde] (2:4r)
  • ‘ffor swellinge of the Ballockes’ [ffor swelling off the Ballockes] (2:4r)
  • ‘92c23pt[es] 38 166 th2 b44k2: 160’ [Receiptes in all the booke: 160] (2:5r)

9. 2:5v-2:8r
Collection of medical recipes
Language(s): English

Copied in the late 16th century; with a reference to the medieval recipes in this manuscript : ‘ffor a Consumption in the great booke p. 92: To make vse of a Cock’.

Lucas (2016)
10. 2:8v
Draft letter or memorandum
Language(s): English
Incipit: 2:8v Thomas Baxter of harte[...] will sufficid these [...] which was [...] of the same [...] that he knewe one Rich[ard] Morr[i]s of Malden who was a shope kepper and that Richard had 2 Children one sonne and one daughter and he was a yorke shere man borne nere upon the borders of scotland

Added in the early 16th century; full transcription attemped.

11. 2:9v-2:13r
Collection of medical recipes
Language(s): English recipes, some Latin titles

Copied in the late 16th century; including a recipe entitled ‘Sigillum Sallamonium’.

Lucas (2016)
12. 2:13v
Notes
Language(s): English

References to names and places, perhaps all added by Robert Hancock whose name is also inscribed on this page (see Provenance): ‘Henry Scoll of grantham’; ‘Inquire for Appelton in yorkshire’; ‘for Henry Medington’; ‘John Corbyn’; ‘John Knight at Stamford’; ‘to Madengley’; ‘to Childerly’; ‘to Knapwell’; ‘ to (?) Elsworth’.

Copied in the late 16th century; full transcription attemped.

13. 2:14r-2:15v
Collection of medical recipes
Language(s): English

Copied in the late 16th century.

Lucas (2016)
14. 2:16r
Notes and draft letter or memorandum
Language(s): English

This page contains various references to names and places: ‘Henry [...] of Coelchester [...] and Henry Scargille his apprentice’; ‘Ashborne in darbyshire for John Millers’; ‘Belbrough’; and draft letter or memorandum referring to Richard Morris and Thomas Baxter, who ‘was a [...] border of Scottland’.

Copied in the late 16th century; full transcription attemped.

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 2:2r: p 23 for a stinkinge breath
Form: codex
Support: Paper, folded in octavo Grapes.
Extent: Codex: 16 leaves. 155 × 105 mm.

Collation

  • Quires 4-72 (ff. 2:1-2:8)
  • Quire 88 (ff. 2:8-2:16)

Layout

115 × 75-80 mm. Ruled in drypoint, frame only. Single columns. 20-21 lines to the page, written above top line.

Hand(s)

Copied by various 16th-century scribes in secretary hands.

History

Origin: 16th century. ; England.

Additional Information

Record Sources

This catalogue entry draws on the description provided by M.R. James , A Descriptive Catalogue of the Western Manuscripts in the Library of Emmanuel College, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1904) and Angela M. Lucas, Manuscripts in Christ's Church, Emmanuel, Jesus, Selwyn and Sidney Sussex Colleges. Peterhouse and Trinity Hall, Cambridge, The Index of Middle English Prose, Handlist 22 (Cambridge: Brewer, 2016). However, this record does not follow the foliation provided by Lucas which initially appears to be based on the modern foliation ('30') but then changes to follow the 15th-century foliation in pencil in the upper right corners of the rectos and ignores the modern foliation on the additional leaves (ff. 2:1-2:16). Consequently, it suggests that the manuscript has 84 folios instead of 75 folios (excluding ff. [a]-[b]).

Availability

Visitors to Emmanuel 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: Emmanuel College: Special Collections.

Bibliography

    The Western manuscripts in the library of Emmanuel College: a descriptive catalogue, James, M.R. (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1904) God was born in Bethlehem: the tradition of a Middle English Charm' Medium Ævum, Smallwood, T. M. (58, 2, 206-223, 1989) A Late Middle English remedy-book: (MS Wellcome 542, ff. 1r-20v): a scholarly edition Late Middle English texts, (Bern, Peter Lang, 2013, https://doi.org/10.3726/978-3-0351-0541-4) Manuscripts in Christ's, Emmanuel, Jesus, Selwyn and Sidney Colleges, Trinity Hall, Cambridge Index of Middle English prose, Lucas, Angela M. (Cambridge, D.S. Brewer, 2016)

Funding of Cataloguing

Wellcome

Digital Images

Cambridge Digital Library

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Study at Cambridge

About the University

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