Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries

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

Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 159/209

Medical texts

Contents

Introduction: Cambridge, Gonville and Caius MS 159/209, like many others included in the Curious Cures in Cambridge Libraries project was once owned or used by Roger Marchall (c. 1417-1477) . The manuscript is a composite volume, comprised of several smaller Parts, and one larger Part, a late-13th or early-14th century copy of Lanfranc of Milan's Chirurgia maior which occupies roughly three quarters of the volume (pp. 111-444). The other texts in the volume that accompany the Chirurgia maior are, for the most part, short popular medical treatises, and include the Practica medicinae and the Regula urinarum of Bartholomaeus Salernitatus, the Practica breuis attributed to (?Iohannes) Platearius, and, somewhat incongruously, copies of several letters and grants by various bishops of Durham and popes all relating to the foundation and management of hospitals in and around Durham in the north east of England. There are several pieces of evidence that indicate that the copy of the Chirurgia maior was once a discrete and separately-bound codex before it was bound with the rest of the material in what is now Gonville and Caius MS 159/209. In the first place, pp. 111-444 have their own separate foliation sequence in red ink, beginning with '.fo.m p.m ('folium primum', i.e., 'first leaf') on p. 111, and continuing all the way to what is now p. 445 which is marked 'fo. 168'. In addition, the quires in this Part have their own discrete signature sequence in ink on the first recto of each quire, beginning with quire 'a' on p. 111 and continuing through to quire 'Q' on p. 431. All of the Parts of the manuscript must have been together by 1477 at the latest, as Roger Marchall (d. 1477), a former owner of the volume and perhaps the person responsible for its composite arrangement, added a table of contents to the volume on p. ii which includes entries for texts in all of the Parts. Marchall added a table of contents to several other manuscripts that he owned and used, and there is evidence that he may have been responsible for the creation of several of the composite volumes in his collection. The nature of the composite Parts included in this volume is of interest for the study of the production and use of books in 15th century England. While the text of the Chirurgia maior seems to have been complete when it was selected for inclusion in the newly-planned composite volume, some of the other texts seem to have been acephalous and/or atelous at the time of their selection, and these acephalous and atelous texts were subsequently repaired by a 'correcting scribe'. A plausible explanation for these correcting stints is that the 'correcting scribe' worked at the direction of Roger Marchall, who commisioned the 'correcting scribe' to make good these imperfect texts intended for his new composite volume by copying the missing sections of text from other exemplars. The 'correcting scribe' supplied the missing end (pp. 17-43) of the Practica medicinae of Bartholomew of Salerno, the oldest atelous Part of which is just eight leaves (pp. 1-16) and breaks off mid-sentence. The 'correcting scribe' prepared new quires and continued the text on p. 17 by picking up the text exactly from the abrupt and imperfect end on p. 16. In the case of the deficient copy of the Practica breuis (pp. 51-90), the 'correcting scribe' improved an older acephalous and atelous core by adding the beginning of the text to p. 51, and he also prepared another quire to supply the missing sections at the end of this text (pp. 87-90). The codicology and scribal history of the Practica breuis in this manuscript is particularly odd as the older scribal stint begins on p. 52, but not quite at the beginning of that text. The first few lines of text on p. 52, which are not the opening words of the treatise have been struck through, presumably by the 'correcting scribe', but the recto of that leaf, p. 51, which contains the opening portion of the Practica breuis and was entirely written by the 'correcting scribe' does not appear to be palimpsest. In addition to rectifying the textual deficiencies in the Practica breuis, the 'correcting scribe' clearly also paid close attention to the contents of the extant text, and made a number of alterations to the Practica breuis, both in the margins and by scraping away parts of the main text and rewriting them. The 'correcting scribe' also enhanced the contents of the volume by adding supplementary medical texts in the spare leaves of the quires inserted to accommodate the missing portions of the Practica medicinae and the Practica breuis. After the Practica medicinae of Bartholomew of Salerno, he added another, short text by the same author, the Regula urinarum (pp. 43-44) and, similarly, after the Practica breuis, he added a small collection of medical recipes in Latin and Middle English. The 'correcting scribe' also added extracts from the Chirurgia parua - a text often attributed to Lanfranc of Milan - to the last leaf of the last quire of the Part containing Lanfranc's Chirurgia maior. It should be noted that none of these additions is noted in Marchall's table of contents, raising the possibility that they post-dated Marchall's ownership of the book or at least the insertion of the table of contents - but if so, the scribe's style of handwriting suggests that it must have been close in time. The 'correcting scribe' makes a final appearance on the last leaf of this volume (now pp. 445-446). The copyist of the Chirurgia maior (pp. 111-443) also copied a series of extracts onto p. 444 from a text described in the manuscript as 'extracte de paruo compendio' - i.e., the Chirurgia parua, an epitome-text on surgery also attributed to Lanfranc of Milan in some manuscripts. On the following leaf, the 'correcting scribe' added further extracts from the Chirurgia parua, closing his additions with a final rubric (now badly rubbed) 'Hec extracta(?) sunt de paruo compendio lamfranci ad eiusdem mamdatum[sic]', which explicitly ties their work to the excerpt-text that began on p. 444. The only Part of the manuscript not to be emended by the 'correcting scribe' is Quire 8 (pp. 99-110), which contains copies of documents relating to the foundation and upkeep of hospitals around the city of Durham. This quire sits between the Practica breuis and the Chirurgia maior in the volume's current order. The inclusion of the Durham hospital documents does not appear to be a post-medieval addition to the volume, as, like all of the other quires in the volume besides Quire 1, it bears a medieval quire signature that belongs in a medieval sequence that runs consecutively through the volume from 'i' to 'xxiii' (pp. 18 seq.). Taken together, the interventions of the 'correcting scribe' and the Roman numeral quire signatures indicate that the current arrangement of the volume has been stable since the later middle ages. Complications arise, however, due to the volume's association with Roger Marchall (c. 1417-1477) , a doctor and physician to Edward IV. Marchall added a selective list of the contents of the volume on p. ii, and may have also added his name below the list of the contents, although all that remains now is an erasure in the position where Marchall typically signed his books. Marchall's ownership or use of manuscripts is very well-attested, with forty-five surviving books (including this one) bearing evidence to connect him to them in some way; six others may have been his or accessed by him, and a further twelve are recorded but not traced. For her article on Marchall's manuscripts, Voigts examined the Registrum Vetus of Peterhouse, essentially a living catalogue of the Peterhouse library holdings in the 15th century that was begun in 1418 (for printed versions of the Registrum Vetus see M.R. James's Catalogue of the Peterhouse manuscripts and vol. 10 of the Corpus of British Medieval Library Catalogues, where it is UC.48). The Registrum Vetus includes a donation list of books in Marchall's hand that Marchall intended for Peterhouse Library. Marchall's list was sewn onto one of the pages of the Registrum Vetus where it was then annotated by a Mr Roukeshawe (a fellow of Peterhouse from c. 1450 until his death in 1504) who added a note at the top of the list: 'Billa magistri Rogeri Marshall de dono suo scripta propria manu sua anno domini 1472' ('Magister Roger Marchall's list of his donation written by his own hand in the year of the Lord 1472'). The eighth item on the donation list is described by Marchall as a 'Cirurgia lamfranci [sic]'. Voigts notes that Gonville and Caius MS 159/209 'contains [a] Cirurgia Lanfranci as text 3, a physically separable section (pp. 111-443 of a 445-page manuscript) with RM title'. Voigts seems to be suggesting that what is now Gonville and Caius MS 159/209 (or perhaps just pp. 111-443) are a match for the book described by Marchall as his copy of the Cirurgia Lanfranci in his 1472 list of donations to Peterhouse. It is no great obstacle that the description 'Cirurgia lamfranci' should signify the medieval entirety of what is now Gonville and Caius MS 159/209: the Chirurgia maior is approximately three-quarters of the extant volume and so referring to the volume by its most substantial text may have been sufficient means of identification. Other items in the Peterhouse donation list are described by one text when their codices in fact contain several. In addition, there is no evidence that all twelve of the items descibed on Marchall's 1472 list of donations to the Peterhouse library actually entered the library or that they remained there permanently, despite his encouragement for the books to be stored 'in vinculis' (in chains). According to Voigts, of the twelve books listed by Marchall for donation to the library, three can be identified with certainty among the Peterhouse collection, six have plausible identifications among the Peterhouse collection either in the current holdings or former library catalogues, and three cannot be identified in the current holdings or any previous library catalogues, including one manuscript on the Peterhouse list, 'Tabule Philippi Aubyn', which Voigts notes was seen by John Leland (d. 1552) at Gonville Hall and has since (probably) been lost. It is unclear, then, when or by what means this manuscript came to Gonville and Caius, except that it must have arrived by 1600, when it is recorded as no. 120 in the Ecloga Oxonio-Cantabrigiensis by Thomas James (1600). Gonville and Caius College possesses 17 (perhaps 18) other manuscripts owned by Marchall that seem to have arrived at the College before his death in 1477, so it is possible then that the volume entered the Gonville and Caius Library before 1477, rather than c. 1477-1600. If the 'Cirurgia lamfranci' of the Peterhouse donation list is the same as pp. 111-443 of this volume then it must have been redirected between 1472, when Marchall made the list of his donation to Peterhouse, and his death in 1477. Thirteen manuscripts owned or used by Marchall (and another with possible Marchall connections) have been digitised, catalogued and conserved as part of the Curious Cures in Cambridge Libraries project: Dr Sarah Gilbert| Project Cataloguer| Curious Cures in Cambridge Libraries References:
See L. Voigts, 'A doctor and his books: the manuscripts of Roger Marchall (d. 1477)', in R. Beadle and A. J. Piper (eds.), New science out of old books: studies in manuscripts and early printed books in honour of A.I. Doyle (Aldershot, 1995) pp. 249-314
M. R. James, A descriptive catalogue of the manuscripts in the library of Gonville and Caius College, vol. 1 (Cambridge, 1907)
CBMLC 10, UC.48

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: p. 3 meno simplices cognoscetur
Form: codex
Support: Parchment, for the most part arranged HFFH.
Extent: Codex: ii + 1 | 8 | 17 | 18 | 6 | 6 | 168 + ii leaves.
Foliation:

19th-century pagination.

[a]-[d] + i-ii | 1-16 | 17-50 | 51-86 | 87-98 | 99-110 | 111-144 [144a]-[144b] 145-446 + [e]-[h]

Paginated in ink in Hindu-Arabic numberals in the upper outer corner of each recto; one leaf accidentally skipped in the ink pagination. In order to produce a functional electronic catalogue record for this item for the Curious Cures project, the the unpaginated leaf was assigned the designations pp. [144a]-][144b] and the paper endleaves were assigned the designations [a]-[d] and [e]-[h] in August 2023; these designations are enclosed in [square brackets] in this catalogue record.

Foliation:

15th century foliation.

1-168 for pp. 111-446

Foliated in red ink in the standard medieval forms of Hindu-Arabic numerals in the upper outer corner of each recto. The designations in this foliation sequence are given in the form, e.g., 'fo. 15.'.

Collation

This is a composite manuscript, which is comprised of one large final Part preceded by smaller Parts deriving from originally separate manuscripts. All quires apart from the first quire are numbered in ink in Roman numerals in the lower margin of their last verso in what appears to be a medieval signature sequence. This medieval sequence begins at p. 18, which has the designation 'i' and continues to p. 446, which has the designation 'xxiii'. This sequence of quire signatures is medieval and suggests that at one point, this manuscript existed without pp. 1-16 since p. 16 does not bear a signature from this sequence. Interestingly, Quire 2 ('i' in the medieval sequence) is a single leaf, and as it bears a quire signature, it would normally be assumed that several preceding text leaves had been lost, but in this case the text proceeds without interruption from Quires 1-2 and Quires 2-3 (i.e., from the unmarked quire to Quire 'i', and Quires 'i'-'ii' according to their medieval designations). The collation of the entire manuscript is described below:

  • One parchment flyleaf (pp. i-ii) |
  • Quire 18 (pp. 1-16) |
  • Quire 2, one leaf (pp. 17-18)
  • Quires 3-48 (pp. 19-50) |
  • Quire 56 (pp. 51-62)
  • Quire 612 (pp. 63-86) |
  • Quire 76 (pp. 87-98) |
  • Quire 88 (pp. 99-110) |
  • Quire 98 (pp. 111-126)
  • Quires 10-1410 (pp. 127-144 [144a]-[144b] 145-224)
  • Quire 15-1812 (pp. 225-320)
  • Quire 1912+1 (pp. 321-346: a slip added between the 6th and 7th leaves)
  • Quire 2012 (pp. 347-370)
  • Quires 21-2310 (pp. 371-430)
  • Quire 248 (pp. 431-446)

One parchment flyleaf | 18 | 2 (one leaf) 3-48 56 612 76 | 88 | 98 10-1410 15-1812 1912+1 (a slip added between the 6th and 7th leaves) 2012 21-2310 248

No leaf signatures common to the entire volume.

Quires are numbered in ink in Roman numerals in the lower margin of the last verso of most quires. This sequence begins at p. 18, which has the designation 'i' and continues to p. 446, which has the designation 'xxiii'. This sequence of quire signatures is medieval and suggests that at one point, this manuscript existed without pp. 1-16 since p. 16 does not bear a signature from this sequence.

No catchwords common to the entire volume.

Condition

Leaves are of various tones from almost white to dark yellows and light browns. Some leaves slightly irregular.

Additions

Quire signatures ('1-24') 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

Rebound in 1909. Fully bound in leather over wooden boards with matching blind-tooled decoration on both covers. Each cover is decorated with a double-fillet frame inset from the perimeter of the board by c. 10mm, and further divided into two unequal-width vertical panels by an additional double-fillet inset from the joints by c. 45mm. The narrower left panel is decorated with two fleurons, one set at the upper-, and the other at the lower-right corner of the panel. The broader right panel is decorated with two fleurons, one set at the upper-, and the other at the lower-left corner of the panel. Head and tail bands with alternating segments of red and cream yarn. Five raised bands on spine. Two small printed paper labels fixed to the spine, '209' in red and '145' in black for the present shelfmark.

Paper pastedowns at each end of the volume; the front pastedown contains a fragment of tawed skin from the former binding and the stamp of the bookbinder J.P. Gray and Son , Cambridge, 1909.

Dimensions (L x W x D): 235 x 160 x 55 mm.

Medieval binding, seen and described by M. R. James prior to the 1909 rebinding of this volume: 'white skin over boards, back and clasps gone'. The leaves pp. i-ii and 445-446 were used as the pastedowns in an earlier binding, but as there is text and a quire signature on p. 446, it is clear that the leaf was not always used as a pastedown. A fragment of the tawed skin of the former binding (c. 60 x 100 mm (H x W)) has been fixed to the front pastedown with an adhesive. The fragment bears a list of the contents of the volume in ink, now badly rubbed: | Liber Medicinar...(?) | Practica Bartholoma...(?) | ⟨Practica⟩ Plat...(?) | Chirurgia Lanfranci

M. R. James, A descriptive catalogue of the manuscripts in the library of Gonville and Caius College, vol. 1 (Cambridge, 1907)

History

Provenance and Acquisition

One Part of this manuscript, pp. 99-110, contains copies of letters about and grants to hospitals in the vicinity of Durham by various Popes and medieval bishops of Durham; nevertheless CBMLC 10 (UC48.392) says of the manuscript as a whole that there is 'nothing to suggest Durham priory as the manuscript's provenance'.

CBMLC 10, UC48.392

Another Part (pp. 111-446) or perhaps the extant entirety of this manuscript may once have belonged to Roger Marchall (c. 1417-1477) and may have been donated by him to his former College, Peterhouse in Cambridge. For her article on Roger Marchall's ownership and use of manuscripts Linda Voigts examined the Registrum Vetus of Peterhouse, which includes an added slip (now p. 22 of that book) in Marchall's hand and which records a list of twelve manuscript donations to the College ('Billa magistri Rogeri Marshall de dono suo scripta propria manu sua anno domini 1472' / 'Magister Roger Marchall's list of his donation written by his own hand in the year of the Lord 1472'); Marchall describes the 8th item on the list as the 'Cirurgia lamfranci'. Voigts then notes that this volume, i.e., Gonville and Caius MS 159/209 'contains Cirurgia Lanfranci as text 3, a physically separable section (pp. 111-443 of a 445-page manuscript) with RM title.' It is possible then that either what is now Gonville and Caius MS 159/209 pp. 111-446 or what is now Gonville and Caius MS 159/209 in its entirety is the same item referred to in Marchall's 1472 list of manuscripts for donation to the Peterhouse library. There is no clear record of when or by what means MS 159/209 entered the library collection of Gonville and Caius, but the present manuscript is one of eighteen (possibly nineteen) manuscripts at Gonville and Caius College that may be linked to Marchall, the others of which were probably donated by him to Gonville Hall (as Gonville and Caius then was) before his death.

See L. Voigts, 'A doctor and his books: the manuscripts of Roger Marchall (d. 1477)', in R. Beadle and A. J. Piper (eds.), New science out of old books: studies in manuscripts and early printed books in honour of A.I. Doyle (Aldershot, 1995) pp. 249-314

First recorded as part of the collection of Gonville and Caius College in 1600 as no. 120 in the Ecloga Oxonio-Cantabrigiensis by Thomas James (1600); this catalogue number is present in ink in the upper margin of p. 1. However, the manuscript may have been at Gonville Hall (as it then was) since the later part of the 15th century, since it has annotations in the hand of physician and College manuscript donor, Roger Marchall (c. 1417-1477) . Marchall is known to have given several other medical volumes to the College and he is the scribe of the table of contents on p. ii. See Voigts (1995) for further discussion.

See L. Voigts, 'A doctor and his books: the manuscripts of Roger Marchall (d. 1477)', in R. Beadle and A. J. Piper (eds.), New science out of old books: studies in manuscripts and early printed books in honour of A.I. Doyle (Aldershot, 1995) pp. 249-314

Part 1: former pastedown, list of the contents of the volume [Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 159/209, pp. i-ii]

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1. ii
Selective list of the contents of the volume Roger Marchall
Language(s): Latin

Selective list of the contents of the volume in the hand of Roger Marchall, a physician, and former owner of the volume. The list is headed 'Contenta in hoc Volumine', and describes the following items (numbering by Marchall):

  • 1. Practica Bartholomeius
  • 2. Practica Platearij
  • 3. Cirurgia magna magistri Lanfranci de mediolano
. This leaf was a pastedown in the pre-1909 binding, and was lifted during the 1909 rebinding. There is adhesive residue on p. i.

See also L. Voigts, 'A doctor and his books: the manuscripts of Roger Marchall (d. 1477)', in R. Beadle and A. J. Piper (eds.), New science out of old books: studies in manuscripts and early printed books in honour of A.I. Doyle (Aldershot, 1995) pp. 249-314

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Parchment, a former pastedown.
Extent: Codex: 1 leaf. 225 × 140 mm.

Collation

One leaf.

No leaf signatures particular to this Part.

No quire signatures particular to this Part.

No catchwords particular to this Part.

Condition

Used as a pastedown in a pre-1909 binding. There is adhesive residue on p. i. The leaf is slightly irregular in shape and has small irregular tears and holes. One tear has been patched up rather haphazardly with what appears to be masking tape, but most of the small holes and tears have been repaired carefully with conservation tissue.

Hand(s)

Written by Roger Marchall (c. 1417-1477) , a former owner of the volume in an Anglicana hand that also exhibits some Secretary features.

Decoration

No significant decoration in this Part.

Additions

Gonville and Caius bookplate present on p. ii and the shelfmark '209' added in red ink to the bookplate. A small paper label pasted below the bookplate with the shelfmark number '159' added in ink.

Binding

Used as the front pastedown in the pre-1909 binding of this volume.

History

Origin: 15th century (before 1477). ; England.

Date given relates to the addition of the table of contents.

Part 2: Practica medicinae of Bartholomaeus Salernitanus [Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 159/209, pp. 1-16]

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1. 1-16
Practica medicinae Bartholomaeus Salernitanus
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 1 Practica bartolomei incipit
Incipit: 1 Practica diuiditur in duo . in scienciam conseruatiuam sanitatis et curatiuam(?) egritudinis
Explicit: 16 herbas uero non comedat . ut(?) cepe ; porros bis elixos . pisces non comedat

The text continues without interruption from p. 16 to p. 17 even though the text from pp. 17-50 derives from a later copy of the text, perhaps made to complete this first, incomplete, portion of the text.

eTK 1080F (t0208230000)
Edition of this text (not based on this MS) in S. De Renzi, C. V. Daremberg, and G. E. T. Henschel, Collectio Salernitana Ossia Documenti Inediti, e Trattati Di Medicina Appartenenti Alla Scuola Medica Salernitana, 5 vols (Naples: Tipografia del Filiatre-Sebezio, 1852), vol 4., pp. 321-406
2. 16
Medical recipe
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 16 pro pruritu lauetur pa(?) cum leyia'(?) facta de cinere uel uino alba . J. Berker

Full transcription. For itching.

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: p. 3 meno simplices cognoscetur
Form: codex
Support: Parchment (HFFH).
Extent: Codex: 8 leaves. | 220 × 155 mm.

Collation

8

One quire of 8 leaves:| Quire 18 (pp. 1-16)

No leaf signatures particular to this Part.

No quire signatures particular to this Part. No medieval Roman numeral quire signatures.

No catchwords particular to this Part.

Condition

The leaves of Quire 1 are very dark and stained. Damage to pp. 1-2 repaired with conservation tissue. Some marginal text lost to trimming, see e.g., p. 14.

Layout

175 × 130 mm. Ruled in light brown ink, frame and lines. Ruled in double-column format, typically 38-44 lines to the column and written below top line.

Hand(s)

Pages 1-4 written by a scribe writing a northern European textualis libraria. This scribe begins on p. 1, and their stint appears to finish half way down column 'a' of p. 4.

Pages 4-16 written by a scribe writing a northern European textualis currens. This scribe begins half way down column 'a' of p. 4 and continues copying the text until the bottom of p. 16.

Decoration

Plain red initial at the opening of the text.

Headings to minor sections occasionally written in red in the margins.

Paraph marks in red. Initials at the minor divisions of the text often touched with red.

History

Origin: 13th century. ; Probably England.

Date and place of origin based on palaeographical features.

Part 3: Practica medicinae and Regula urinarum of Bartholomeus Salernitanus [Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 159/209, pp. 17-50]

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1. 17-43
Practica medicinae Bartholomaeus Salernitanus
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 17 nec legumina . sed digestibilia ut pullos gallinarum
Explicit: 43 inscinde . et post gargarizet acetum . utatur mollibus cibis . et custodiatur a frigid⟨+⟩
Final rubric: 43 Explicit practica Bartholomei

The text continues without interruption from p. 16 to p. 17 even though the text from pp. 17-50 derives from a later copy of the Practica; this textual item may have been copied deliberately to complete the portion of the text contained in this manuscript on pp. 1-16.

Quire 2 is a single leaf (pp. 17-18), and it has a medieval quire signature in the lower margin of the verso which would typically indicate the loss of several preceding text-leaves, but there is no disruption to the text between either pp. 16-17 (end of Quire 1, beginning of Quire 2) or pp. 18-19 (end of Quire 2, beginning of Quire 3).

eTK 1080F (t0208230000)
Edition of this text (not based on this MS) in S. De Renzi, C. V. Daremberg, and G. E. T. Henschel, Collectio Salernitana Ossia Documenti Inediti, e Trattati Di Medicina Appartenenti Alla Scuola Medica Salernitana, 5 vols (Naples: Tipografia del Filiatre-Sebezio, 1852), vol 4., pp. 321-406
2. 43-44
Regula urinarum Bartholomaeus Salernitanus
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 43 Incipiunt urine Bartholomei
Incipit: 43 Sciendum est quod vrina duarum est proprie significatiua . Aut ⟨enim⟩ significat passionem epatis et venarum .
Explicit: 44 significat . cuius substantia si fuerit subrubea ; in dextro . si alba ; in sinistro .
Final rubric: 44 Expliciunt urine Bartholomei

Probably copied from an English exemplar written before c. 1250: the scribe has misunderstood a typical abbreviation for 'enim' in the exemplar (two short straight vertical lines, crossed through their centres with a longer horizontal line) and rendereded it as .n. in this manuscript in the opening words of the text; in many cases the horizontal cross-stroke on the enim-abbreviation is placed high or slightly slanted which adds to its potential to resemble a letter 'n'.

This text is sometimes attributed to John of Salerno.

The leaves pp. 45-50 are blank, but have frame-ruling.

eTK 1395M (t0266970000)

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: p. 19 uel cum succo
Form: codex
Support: Parchment (HFFH).
Extent: Codex: 17 leaves.

Collation

Three quires arranged as:

  • Quire 2, one leaf (pp. 17-18)
  • Quires 3-48 (pp. 19-50)

No leaf signatures particular to this Part.

No quire signatures particular to this Part.

Catchwords present on pp. 18 and 34.

Condition

Several leaves in this Part have an irregular shape that follows the contours of the original edge of the animal skin.

Layout

170 × 115 mm. For pages 17-50: Ruled in red-brown crayon, frame and lines. Ruled in double-column format, typically 52 lines to the column and written below top line.

Hand(s)

Pages 17-50 written in a northern textualis with a number of Anglicana features by the 'correcting scribe'.

Decoration

Plain red initials at the major and minor divisions of the text.

Headings to some minor divisions of the text in red.

Paraph marks in red.

History

Origin: Probably late 14th century or the first half of the 15th century. ; Probably England.

Date and place of production based on palaeographical features.

Part 4: Practica breuis of Platearius [Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 159/209, pp. 51-86]

Contents

Language(s): Latin

3. 51-86
Practica breuis ('amicum induit') Iohannes Platearius
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 51 Practica platearii
Incipit: 51 Amicum induit qui iustis amicorum precibus condescendit
Explicit: 86 ex rubore et calore loci et eminencia uenarum partis pa ||

Layout of this text: double columns p. 51; single column pp. 52-86.

Copied by two scribes, the earlier of the two writing pp. 52-86, and the later of the two (the 'correcting scribe') writing p. 51 and correcting the text by erasing some of the older text on pp. 52-86. The earlier version of the text (i.e., the text on pp. 52-86 was deficient at beginning and end the later scribe added the missing sections of the text. The text supplied by the 'correcting scribe' on p. 51 slightly overlaps with the original text on p. 52, but the opening lines of text on p. 52 (Recio Muñoz, 2.2-2.35) have been struck out so that the remaining text flows correctly between pp. 51-52. The text on p. 86 breaks off in the middle of the word 'pacientis' and the text continues in the next Part at p. 87 with '-cientis' (Recio Muñoz, 63.7) by the 'correcting scribe' who completes the word.

The text of the Practica in this MS belongs to the family 'y' in the stemma codicum of Victoria Recio Muñoz.

eTK 0091D (t0017670000) (prologue)
eTK 0484B (main text)
Edited, translated (into Spanish) and studied by Victoria Recio Muñoz, La Practica de Plateario: edición crítica, traducción y estudio (Florence, 2016). Note that this manuscript is described briefly on p. 89, but it was not one of the manuscripts used for the critical edition of the text by Muñoz.

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: p. 53 comestis
Form: codex
Support: Parchment (HFFH).
Extent: Codex: 18 leaves. 220 × 155 mm.

Collation

Two quires arranged as follows:

  • Quire 56 (pp. 51-62)
  • Quire 612 (pp. 63-86)

No leaf signatures particular to this Part.

No quire signatures particular to this Part.

No catchwords particular to this Part.

Condition

Several leaves in this Part have an irregular shape that follows the contours of the original edge of the animal skin.

Layout

170 × 115 mm. For page 51: Ruled in red-brown crayon, frame and lines. Ruled in double-column format, typically 52 lines to the column and written below top line.

185 × 145 mm. For pages 52-86: Unruled and written in single-column format, typically 45 lines to the page, but some leaves have an irregular shape and a reduced number of lines.

Hand(s)

Page 51 written in a northern textualis with a number of Anglicana features.

Pages 52-86 are written in a rapid and very current cursiva antiquior.

Decoration

Plain red initials at the major and minor divisions of the text.

Headings to some minor divisions of the text in red.

Paraph marks in red.

History

Origin: Probably 14th century. ; England.

Date and place of production based on palaeographical features.

Page 51 in the hand of the 'correcting scribe' and probably written in England in the late-14th century or the first half of the 15th century.

Part 5 - Practica breuis of Platearius and medical recipes [Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 159/209, pp. 87-98]

Contents

Language(s): Latin and Middle English

1. 87-90
Practica breuis ('amicum induit') Iohannes Platearius
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: || 87 cientis et tocius corporis
Explicit: 90 triduum soli exponantur . ut desiccentur . puluis . inde factus cum licinio fistule mittatur(?)
Final rubric: 90 Explicit platearius

The text on p. 86 breaks off in the middle of the word 'pacientis' and the later scribe (the 'correcting scribe') who continues the text on p. 87 begins with '-cientis' (Recio Muñoz, 63.7) which completes the word.

The text of the Practica in this MS belongs to the family 'y' in the stemma codicum of Victoria Recio Muñoz.

eTK 0091D (t0017670000) (prologue)
eTK 0484B (main text)
Edited, translated (into Spanish) and studied by Victoria Recio Muñoz, La Practica de Plateario: edición crítica, traducción y estudio (Florence, 2016). Note that this manuscript is described briefly on p. 89, but it was not one of the manuscripts used for the critical edition of the text by Muñoz.
2. 90-92
Medical recipes
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 90 Electuarium patris mei ad restaracionem[sic] humiditatis vnde superius fit mensio capitulo de tysi . Recipe liquiricie
Explicit: 92 zuccare ana quartum i sucti liquiricie unciam ij fiat syrupus .

Texts with this incipit appear in several surivivng medieval manuscripts, often in association with the Practica breuis, sometimes attributed to various Platearius medics and sometimes attributed to other medical authors or to no one at all. See J. Norri, Dictionary of medical vocabulary in English, 1375-1550 : body parts, sicknesses, instruments, and medicinal preparations (Abingdon, 2016) and the lemma 'electuarium patris'. It may in fact be the case that this textual item belongs with the previous and/or following textual items.

This text contains two rubricated headings towards the end of the item on p. 92:

  • 'Capitulum 23 de anthidotis que valent contra passiones nutritiuorum(?) . sicut est stomachus . epar et splen' (One recipe)
  • 'Capitulum 24 continet medicinas que valent contra passiones renum et vesice et iunccurarum' (?3 recipes)

J. Norri, Dictionary of medical vocabulary in English, 1375-1550 : body parts, sicknesses, instruments, and medicinal preparations (Abingdon, 2016)
3. 92-93
Medical recipes
Language(s): Middle English and Latin

This group of recipes in Middle English and Latin are all in a different hand to the preceding group of recipes. They address the following: for shingles, for fester that makes small holes, for fester, for staunching fester, for a good corrosive, for canker, for killing worms

Pages 94-98 are blank.

Middle English recipes described in IMEP 17, p. 19

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Parchment (HFFH).
Extent: Codex: 6 leaves.

Collation

One quire of 6 leaves:| Quire 76 (pp. 87-98)

No leaf signatures particular to this Part.

No quire signatures particular to this Part.

No catchwords particular to this Part.

Layout

170 × 115 mm. Ruled in red-brown crayon, frame and lines. Ruled in double-column format, typically 52 lines to the column and written below top line.

Hand(s)

Written in a northern textualis with a number of Anglicana features by the 'correcting scribe'.

Decoration

Plain red initials at the major and minor divisions of the text.

Headings to some minor divisions of the text in red.

Paraph marks in red.

History

Origin: Probably late 14th century or the first half of the 15th century. ; Probably England.

Date and place of production based on palaeographical features.

Part 6 - Copies of the letters relating to the foundation and management of hospitals in and around medieval Durham by various bishops of Durham and popes [Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 159/209, pp. 99-110]

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1. 99-102
Letter of the Bishop of Durham on the Hospital of St Giles of Kepier in Gilesgate, County Durham
Language(s): Latin

The ink for this item is very faded, but the letter discusses the medieval Hospital of St Giles of Kepier in Gilesgate, Durham which is described as the 'domo de kypier' in the letter. The letter begins with a salutation from 'Hugonem episcopum Dunelm' ('Hugh, bishop of Durham') which would be Hugh de Puiset, who was bishop from 1153-1195, but the letter concludes with a dating clause: 'ix. kalend Iulii anno domini millesimo ccc xl' i.e, 23 June 1340 which was during the episcopacy of Richard de Bury .

Medieval title to this text lost to trimming.

2. 102-104
Letter of the Bishop of Durham concerning a hospital in Northallerton, County Durham Richard de Bury
Language(s): Latin

The letter has the heading 'Ordinacio hospitalis de Northallerton' and describes a plan for a hospital in Northallerton. The letter concludes with a dating clause: 'ix die mensis aprilis anno domini millesimo ccc xliii in consecrationis mei x', i.e., 9 April 1343 in the 10th year since Richard de Bury was consecrated bishop.

3. 104-106
Letter of the Bishop of Durham recording the donation of land for a hospital at Greatham, County Durham Robert Stitchill (Stichel) (d. 1274)
Language(s): Latin

The letter has the heading 'Donacio facta Episcopo Dunelm, domus de Gretham'. This letter records the donation by Robert Stichel, bishop of Durham, of some land to build a hospital (later known as the 'Hospital of God') in Greatham, County Durham. The letter has a dating clause: 'xxiii die mensis januarii anno ab incarnatione domini millesimo ducensio(?) septuagesimo secundo', i.e., 23 January 1272.

4. 106-108
Letter of the Bishop of Durham on the foundation of a hospital at Greatham, County Durham Robert Stitchill (Stichel) (d. 1274)
Language(s): Latin

The letter has the heading 'Fundacio hospitalis de Gretham'. The letter concludes with a dating clause: 'anno ab incarnacione domini millesimo cc lxxxii pontificillus nostri anno duodecimo', i.e., 1272.

5. 108
Letter of a Pope Nicholas concerning the hospital in Greatham, County Durham
Language(s): Latin

It is not clear whether the author of this letter is Pope Nicholas III (pope from 1277-1280) or Pope Nicholas IV (pope from 1288-1292).

6. 109-110
Letter of a Pope Clement concerning the hospital in Greatham, County Durham
Language(s): Latin

It is not clear which Pope Clement is the author of this letter.

7. 110
Letter of Anthony Bek, bishop of Durham concerning the hospital in Greatham, County Durham Anthony Bek
Language(s): Latin

The letter is undated, but Anthony Bek was elected bishop of Durham in 1283 and held the post until his death in 1311.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Parchment (HFFH).
Extent: Codex: 8 leaves. 225 × 155 mm.

Collation

One quire of 8 leaves:| Quire 88 (pp. 99-110)

No leaf signatures particular to this Part.

No quire signatures particular to this Part.

No catchwords particular to this Part.

Condition

The leaves are in good condition, but the text is difficult to read in places due to lack of contrast between the colour of the ink and the page surface.

Layout

185 × 115 mm. Ruled in leadpoint, frame only. Ruled in single-column format, typically 36 lines to the page and written below top line.

Hand(s)

Written in an Anglicana style of cursiva antiquior.

Decoration

No significant decoration in this Part.

History

Origin: 14th century (after 1343). ; England.

Date of production based on palaeography and the dating clause of the most 'recent' letter (1343) which provides a terminus post quem for the copying of the letter collection. Place of production based on palaeography and content.

Part 7 - The Chirurgia Magna of Lanfranc of Milan [Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 159/209, pp. 111-446]

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1. 111-443
Chirurgia magna Lanfranc of Milan
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 111 Incipit Cirurgia Lanfranci de mediolano
Incipit: (prologue) 111 Protector in ipso sperancium deus excelsus et gloriosus cuius nomen sit benedictus
Incipit: (text) 116 Omne quod uolumus inuestigare ; per unum trium modorum inuestigari potest .
Explicit: 443 qua nichil perficitur . nullusque langor expellitur qui sit benedictus in secula seculorum amen.
Final rubric: 443 Explicit anno domini .m.cc.xcvi.
eTK 1145H (t0220150000) (prologue)
eTK 0983N (t0188740000) (t0188750000) (main text)
2. 443
Two medical recipes
Language(s): Latin

For consolidating fractured bones and strengthening dislocations once replaced by a doctor, and for an excellent mollificative against nodules/knots in joints.

3. 444
Extracts from the Chirurgia parua ?Lanfranc of Milan
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 444 Hec sunt composite medicine resolutiue extracte de paruo compendio . que debent addi resolutiuis contentis hoc antidotario
Incipit: 444 Resolutiuum emplastrum bonum . Recipe malue siluestris. foliorum caulis . florum camamille . ana manipulum j
Explicit: 444 necessariam(?) et Si posueris . decimam partem euforbij . erit unguentum optimum contra spasmum .

The text of the rubric states that the text below it is 'extracte de paruo compendio', i.e., 'the smaller/lesser compendium'; this presumably refers to the 'chirurgia parua' a medieval text on surgery that was often attributed to Lanfranc of Milan in medieval manuscripts.

Marginal note on p. 444 attributing part of this text to to Johannes Mesue .

5. 445-446
Extracts from the Chirurgia parua ?Lanfranc of Milan
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 445 ⟨A⟩ntrax et carbunculus quia vnus scilicet antrax ex diuersis est humoribus . alius ex sanguine grosso
Explicit: 446 et carbunculum . Hec ⟨extracta⟩ sunt de paruo compendio lamfranci ad eiusdem mamdatum[sic]

In the same hand as pp. 17-57, 87-93, but not the text on p. 444.

The 'chirurgia parua' is a medieval text on surgery that was often attributed to Lanfranc of Milan in medieval manuscripts.

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: p. 113 Primus itaque
Form: codex
Support: Parchment (HFFH).
Extent: Codex: 168 leaves.

Collation

The quires in this Part are arranged as follows:

  • Quire 98 (pp. 111-126)
  • Quires 10-1410 (pp. 127-224)
  • Quire 15-1812 (pp. 225-320)
  • Quire 1912+1 (a slip added between the 6th and 7th leaves; pp. 321-346)
  • Quire 2012 (pp. 347-370)
  • Quires 21-2310 (pp. 371-430)
  • Quire 248 (pp. 431-446)

Some leaves in this Part have medieval leaf signatures in ink in the typical medieval forms of Hindu-Arabic numerals in the lower outer corners of the rectos in the first half of each quire in this Part, see e.g., p. 299. Some leaves in this Part have medieval leaf signatures in ink in the typical medieval forms of Hindu-Arabic numerals in the lower outer corner of the versos in the first half of each quire in this Part, see e.g., p. 212.

Quires in this Part have medieval quire signatures in ink in the lower outer corner of the first recto of each quire, 'a'-'h' 'j'-'Q'.

 Catchwords present in the lower margins of a number of the versos in this Part, not just the final versos of the quires where they are typically found.

Condition

The leaves in this Part are generally in good condition, but some leaves are stained or rubbed. Some leaves in this Part have an irregular shape and a few have had their lower margins trimmed away rather roughly. Text is legible throughout pp. 111-444, but text on pp. 445-446 is badly rubbed in some places.

Layout

150 × 100 mm. Ruled in ink, frame and lines. Ruled in double-column format, typically 32 lines to the column and written below top line.

Hand(s)

Pages 111-444 are written in a relatively broad northern textualis libraria.

Pages 445-446 are written in a northern textualis with a number of Anglicana features.

Decoration

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

Headings at the major and minor divisions of the text in red.

Paraph marks in red and occasionally in blue throughout the text.

Binding

The leaf pp. 445-446 seems to have been used as a pastedown in a former binding as p. 446 has a coating of adhesive residue.

History

Origin: Probably the first half of the 14th century. ; Probably England.

Date and place of production based on palaeographical features.

Additional Information

Record Sources

This catalogue entry draws on unpublished notes made by Dr Debby Banham, a description by M. R. James, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library of Gonville and Caius College, vol. I (1907) and L. Voigts, 'A doctor and his books: the manuscripts of Roger Marchall (d. 1477)', in R. Beadle and A. J. Piper (eds.), New science out of old books: studies in manuscripts and early printed books in honour of A.I. Doyle (Aldershot, 1995) pp. 249-314

Availability

Visitors to Gonville and Caius College who wish to consult Lower Library material are required to apply to the Library in advance of their visit. For information on eligibility and admission procedures see: Gonville and Caius College: Library Information.

Custodial History

Recorded as no. 973 in the E. Bernard's 1697 Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliae et Hiberniae in unum collecti cum indice alphabetico.

Bibliography

    A linguistic atlas of late mediaeval English, McIntosh, AngusSamuels, M.L.Benskin, Michael (Aberdeen, Aberdeen University Press, 1986) Anglo-Norman medicine. - Vol.1: Roger Frugard's "Chirurgia"; "Practica Brevis" of Platearius, Hunt, Tony (Cambridge, D.S. Brewer, 1994) A doctor and his books: the manuscripts of Roger Marchall (d. 1477) New science out of old books: studies in manuscripts and early printed books in honour of A.I. Doyle, Voigts, Linda Ehrsam (Aldershot, 249-314, Scolar Press, 1995) Inventarium sive chirurgia magna Studies in ancient medicine, de Chauliac, Guy (Leiden, Brill, 1997) La Practica de Plateario: edición crítica, traducción y estudio Edizione nazionale dei testi mediolatini d'Italia, (Firenze, SISMEL: edizioni del Galluzzo, 2016)

Funding of Cataloguing

Wellcome

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Cambridge Digital Library

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