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 213/228

Pseudo-Aristotle, Secreta Secretorum

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Parchment
Extent: Codex: 4 | 64 | 1 leaves.
Foliation:

20th-century foliation

1-64

Partial numbering in pencil, in the top right-hand corner of the recto side of the first leaf of each quire (ff. 9r, 17r, 25r, 33r, 41r, 49r, 57r, 64r); and the final leaf (f. 64r).

Collation

  • Bifolium (ff. [ii]-[iii])
  • Quires 1-88 (ff. 1-64)

1-88

Binding

Original 15th- or early 16th-century binding: reversed whittawed leather over wooden boards, with the remains of a leather strap on the front cover and a hole for a pin on the lower cover

Binding height: 170 mm, width: 110 mm, depth: 25 mm

History

Provenance and Acquisition

Perhaps given to the Gonville and Caius College by William Moore (1590-1659) , librarian and collector of manuscripts, as suggested by M.R. James. The College's printed armorial bookplate with the classmark number '228' inscribed in red ink, and a separtae paper pastedown with the number '213' inscribed in brown ink, on the inside of the upper cover.

Part 1 [Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 213/228, ff. [i], [iv], [v]]

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1. [i] recto, [iv] verso
Household accounts (fragment)
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: [iv] verso ffeod. et vad.
Incipit: [iv] verso-[i] recto Idem comput. in denar. solut. Radd[...] Botiller milit. dominus de Suedeley Constabular. Castri d[e] Conwy

f. [i] and f. [iv] originally formed of a single leaf, but it has been folded in half to create a bifolium of flyleaves for the current manuscript. Consequently, the texts on f. [i] recto and f. [iv] verso run continuously and the original document begins on f. [iv] verso.

2. [v] verso
Household accounts (fragment)
Language(s): Latin

This leaf is part of the same document as ff. [i] recto-[i] verso and [iv] recto-[iv] verso. While the latter leaves form a bifolium, f. [v] has lost its counterpart, the preceding folio, which has been excised.

Physical Description

Form: unknown
Support: Parchment
Extent: This part is a fragment, consisting of three parchment leaves that originally were part of a single parchment document, perhaps a charter or roll. These fragments make up a single bifolium (ff. [i], [iv]) at the beginnig of the manuscript - with another bifolium (ff. [ii]-[iii]) bound inside it that comes from another manuscript - and a single leaf at the end (f. v) that was taken of the same document and also folded into a bifolium to create flyleaves for this manuscript. However, the first leaf of the latter bifolium was cut out, leaving only a stub. 3 leaves. 165 × 105-110 mm.

Condition

ff. [i] and [v] contain various tears and many small holes, perhaps caused by insects.

Layout

No ruling visible. Since the original document has been cut up, the number of lines to the page cannot be established.

Hand(s)

Written in a Gothic cursive script of the 15th century, containing both Anglicana and Secretary features.

Decoration

One large brown initial on f. [iv] verso.

History

Origin: 1441×1461. ; England.

The text opens with a payment to Ralph Boteler (c. 1394-1473) [previously unidentified], soldier and administrator, who is here referred to as 'Lord of Sudeley' and 'Constable of Conwy Castle'. Since he was created 1st Baron Sudeley in 1441 and was Constable of Conwy Castle between 1436 and 1461, the document must have been written between 1441 and 1461.

Part 2 [Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 213/228, ff. [ii]-[iii], 1-64]

Contents

Language(s): Latin and Middle English

1. [ii] verso-[iii] verso
Eight medical recipes
Language(s): Middle English

Four recipes for the stone, three for fevers and one for wind. The first four are identical to the Middle English recipes on f. 58r-58v and the latter three are identical to the Middle English recipes on ff. 61r-61v and may be copied by the same hand.

2. 1r-58r
Secreta Secretorum Pseudo-Aristotle
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 1r De prohemio cuiusdam doctoris in commemoracione Aristotelis. Incipit Secreta Secretroum Aristotelis.
Incipit: 1r Deus omnipotens custodiat Regem nostrum
Final rubric: 58r Explicit liber Aristotelis de secretis secretorum in regimine sanitatis.
Explicit: 58r completus est tractatus de signis et moribus naturalibus hominum ad regem magnificum Alexandrum qui dominus fuit tocius orbis.
3. 58r-61v
Medical recipes
Language(s): Latin and Middle English

This collection contains four Middle English medical recipes for the stone (3) and fever (1) (ff. 58r-58v), containing the first four recipes of the collection copied on ff. [ii] verso-[iii] verso, and three Middle English medical recipes for wind (1) and fever (3) (ff. 61r-61v), containing the the last three recipes of the collection copied on ff. [ii] verso-[iii] verso.

The collection includes a recipe by Arnaldus de Villanova on f. 58v, beginning: 'Recipe roris madio collecti de mundissimis herbis'.

The collection includes an 'Unguentum album Magistri Petri de Capella' (f. 60r).

Lynn Thorndike, History of Magic and Experimental Science, Vol. III: Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries (New York: Columbia University Press, 1934), p. 72
eTK 1333J (t0255160000)
4. 61v-64r
List of chapters to the Secreta Secretorum
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 61v Hec sunt capitula libri Aristotelis de secretis secretorum
Incipit: 61v De prohemio cuiusdam doctoris in commemoracione Aristotelis
Explicit: 64r De lege Rege et [?]pecuniam .82.
Final rubric: 64r Explicit Capitula
5. 64r
Prayer (fragment)
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 64r to þe ihesu þe sone of god aboue / þat of Marie þe maydyn

Full transcription; added in the (?) 15th century.

6. 64v
Nonsense verse
Language(s): Latin and English
Incipit: 64v In domino confido vit hont parrat is laided / In the coventer[e] and cannat get out than cain / [G]rese[n] gag coit hase ba[r]d and hes mabli share / Wit ho[r]er hur legis all bare to hem sh[...]

Full transcription (attempted); perhaps added in the late 15th or early 16th century.

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 2r fama sua
Form: codex
Support: Parchment (HFFH)
Extent: Codex: 2 + 64 leaves. 165 × 110 mm.

Collation

  • Bifolium (ff. [ii]-[iii])
  • Quires 1-88 (ff. 1-64)

Leaf signatures consisting of letters ('a'-'h') and Roman numerals ('i'-'iiij') on the lower right-hand corners of the rectos of the first halves of quires throughout ff. 1r-64v

 Catchwords on the lower right-hand corners of the last versos of quires throughout ff. 1r-64v

Condition

ff. [ii]-[iii] feature various small holes, perhaps caused by insects. Some minor stains throughout ff. 1-64, but without affecting the text

Layout

115 × 70 mm. Ruled in leadpoint, frame only. Single columns. 19-21 lines to the page, written above top line.

Hand(s)

Written in Anglicana by a single scribe.

Decoration

A line filler consisting of three wavy lines in black ink on f. 1r

Guide letters for large (2- and 3-line) initials throughout ff. 1r-58r

History

Origin: 15th century. ; England.

Additional Information

Record Sources

This catalogue entry partly draws on M. R. James, A descriptive catalogue of the manuscripts in the library of Gonville and Caius College, vol. 1 (Cambridge, 1908), pp. 250-251.

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.

Bibliography

    Towards Reconstructing Manuscript-Collecting in 17th-c. Cambridge: Observations on William Moore's Catalogue and Some Manuscripts Towards Reconstructing Manuscript-Collecting in 17th-c. Cambridge Bulletin des Anglicistes Médiévistes / Etudes Médiévales Anglaises, Pouzet, Jean-Pascal (91, 1, 55-70, 2017, https://www.persee.fr/doc/bamed_0240-8805_2017_num_91_1_1189)

Funding of Cataloguing

Wellcome

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