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 373/593

Medical texts

Contents

Introduction: Cambridge, Gonville and Caius, MS 373/593 is a compendium of medical treatises with a particular focus on the work of Bernard de Gordon (fl. c. 1270-1330) , a physician and professor of medicine at the medieval university in Montpellier, France. Bernard's most famous work, known as the Lilium medicinae or just the Lilium is not present here, but several of his other shorter works are, and he is named throughout in the opening and closing rubrics. Other works present in the volume are popular medical texts by Alexander of Tralles and Walter Agilon as well as a version of a popular medical work known as the Antidotarium Nicholai. The volume as it exists now bears evidence of having been rearranged since it was originally copied and bound, and the current disposition of the quires appears to be the third representation of the texts in this volume. The manuscript was foliated in ink in the medieval period, and before 1477, but this sequence now runs as:
  • 32-87 for ff. 1-56
  • 8-31 for ff. 57r-79v
  • 118-125 for ff. 81r-88v
  • two unnumbered leaves (ff. 89-90)
  • 2-7 for ff. 91r-96v
  • one unnumbered leaf (f. 97)
  • 113-117 for ff. 98r-102v
  • one unnumbered leaf (f. 103)
  • and 153 for f. 104
This sequence lacks the designations 1 and 88-112, although '1' and '112' can probably be assigned to extant leaves ff. 90 and 97 respectively. The unnumbered remainder consists of a gap between 88-111, i.e., 24 leaves, probably arranged as three quires of eight leaves, or two quires of twelve leaves. This manuscript, like many others included in the Curious Cures in Cambridge Libraries project was once owned or used by Roger Marchall (c. 1417-1477) , a doctor and physician to Edward IV who wrote his name on ff. [ii] verso and [iv] verso. In common with numerous other manuscripts he encountered, Marchall added a table of contents to the beginning of the manuscript (f. [iv] verso) as well as rubrics and running headings for some of the treatises in the volume (see e.g., f. 85r). Marchall's ownership or use of manuscripts is very well-attested, with forty-four 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. Since the contents of the manuscript remain in the order that Marchall recorded them, the disrupted foliation sequence described above must pre-date his arrangement of the volume. However, the manuscript as we find it today does not survive in quite the same form that Marchall appears to have known or arranged it. Of the 17 items recorded in his table of contents, only 11 remain: the items that Marchall numbered as 12-17 were noted as 'desunt' (i.e. 'lacking') by an early modern hand. These texts are:
  • '12. Thesaurus pauperum per Magistrum Petrum Hispanum' = the Thesaurus Pauperum of Petrus Hispanus
  • '13. Tractatus de formacione hominis' = perhaps either De opificio Dei (sometimes known as 'de formacione hominis') of Lactantius or De formatione humani corporis by Giles of Rome
  • '14. Anothomia Magistri Ricardi medici probatisii' = probably the Anatomia attributed to Richard the Englishman (Ricardi anglici)
  • '15. De virtutibus aque vite' = probably the De virtutibus aquae ardentis (sometimes known as 'De virtutibus aque vite vel ardentis') of Arnald of Villanova
  • '16. Sinonomia medicinalia' = many of the medieval Latin 'sinonima' texts are alchemical rather than strictly medicinal in nature, but there are, nevertheless, medicinal synonym lists that have survived as hapax legomena or highly divergent texts that begin with the same lemma. This text may have resembled Oxford, Exeter College, MS 35, ff. 41ra-46r (eTK 0990B)
  • '17. Cirurgia cuiusdam ignoti' = there were several very popular medieval treatises on surgery available in England by the mid-15th century, it is not clear which one is indicated here
The circumstances in which this section of the manuscript was lost are not entirely clear. Certainly, they were no longer part of the manuscript when it was recorded as no. 967 in Edward Bernard's Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum of c. 1697: the last item in Bernard's inventory of the manuscript is Bernard de Gordon's De gradibus. The manuscript was first recorded in the possession of Gonville and Caius College in Thomas James's Ecloga Oxonio-Cantabrigiensis of 1600, as no. 171 (which number is written in the upper margin of f. 1r). The Ecloga does record all 17 items, which, at first glance, indicates that items 12-17 must have gone missing after 1600 but before c. 1697. However, the wording of Thomas James's list is very close to Marchall's table of contents - and likewise omits the titles of texts not noted by Marchall (and only added later by a post-medieval hand): 'De medicinis ex accipitre ex libro de nature Rerum' (i.e. ff. 81r-84v) and 'Compilationes urinarum Isaac' (i.e. ff. 93r-95r). It is possible, therefore, that James merely copied out Marchall's table of contents and therefore cannot be relied on as a guide to the history of the manuscript's contents. As described by Linda Voigts, the present manuscript is one of eighteen (possibly nineteen) manuscripts at Gonville and Caius College that may be linked to Marchall, and which were probably donated by him to Gonville Hall (as Gonville and Caius then was); King's College and Peterhouse, where the study of medicine was also supported, received gifts of books from him too. 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| and | Dr James Freeman| Medieval Manuscript Specialist| Cambridge University Library| 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

Language(s): Latin and Old French

1. [iv] verso
⟨List of the contents of the volume ⟩ Roger Marchall
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: [iv] verso Contenta in hoc libro sunt ista

List of the contents of the volume in the hand of Roger Marchall. Marchall counted 17 texts, but an early modern hand has subsequently annotated the list to add some glosses and to note that items 12-17 were no longer present in the volume. The list is as follows (numbering by Marchall):

  • 1. Antidotarium Nicholai
  • 2. Tractatus de felobotomia Magistri Bernardi de Gordonio
  • 3. Tractatus de conseruacione sanitatis per eundem
  • 4. Tractatus de Urinis per eundem
  • 5. Tractatus de dosi medicinarum
  • 6. Tractatus de fleobotomia per Magistrum Maurum
  • 7. Ingenia curationis morborum bernardi de gordonio
  • 8. Compilaciones Urinarum Egidii
  • 9. Regimen acutorum Magistri Bernardi de gordonio
  • 10. Tractatus de dosibus medicinarum Magistri J. de Parma
  • 11. Tractatus de graduacione medicinarum Bernardi
  • 12. Thesaurus pauperum per Magistrum petrum hispanum
  • 13. Tractatus de formacione hominis
  • 14. Anothomia Magistri Ricardi medici probatissimi
  • 15. De uirtutibus aque uite
  • 16. Sinonoma medicinalia
  • 17. Cirurgia cuiusdam ignoti

2. 1r-13v
Antidotarium Nicholai with prologue Nicholas Salernitanus
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 1r Inc⟨ipit⟩ Antidotarius Nicholai
Incipit: 1r Ego Nicholaus rogatus a quibusdam
Explicit: 13v digestionis Iuuat vicio pectoris ex fra'te is ⟨pre⟩nes confortat libidinem competenter exercat
Final rubric: 13v Explicit antidotarius nicholi

Verses on weights and measures are inserted between the explicit and the colophon of this text.

This appears to be Item 1 in Marchall's list of the contents of the volume on f. [iv] verso

0490B (prologue)
0166B (main text)
3. 13v
De ponderibus medicinarum (verse) Nicholaus Salernitanus (attrib.)
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 13v Collige triticeis medicine pondera granis | grana quater quinque scripuli pro pondere pone
Explicit: 13v sordescant sint 3 ⟨yl⟩icca | Non eris illusus si credis que tenet usus

Inserted between the explicit and the colophon of the Antidotarium nicholai

eTK 0234D
4. 13v-14r
De agnoscendis febribus et (ex) pulsibus et urinis Alexander of Tralles
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 13v Omnium causarum cum esset difficilis ratio dimenciones ⟨uel⟩ munuetis(?) spiritus poruidere
Explicit: 14r rubea et spissa modo supradicto mortem futuram nunciat urina rubea et spissa ||

Text breaks off abruptly.

This item does not appear in Marchall's list of the contents of the volume on f. iv verso.

eTK 1004K/L
5. 14r-14v
Medical notes and recipes
Language(s): Latin

Folio 14r: notes on spasm and narcotics, how to know if a man is sterile, the use of diagredium for treating dropsy and strangury, the ?properties of laxatives, ?signs of pregnancy, ephemeral fever, baths, and plasters, and a recipe for a mundificative electuary. Folio 14v: division of signs of disease into health, danger and death; ?pregnancy, treatment of stomach and lungs, headache, nausea; notes on aromatics; ?five methods for strengthening the members of the body.

6. 15r-29v
De flebotomia (Part 1 of De conseruatione uitae humanae) Bernard de Gordon
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 15r Tractatus de flebotomia bernardi de gordonia
Incipit: 15r Homo enim est princeps et rex omnium animalium et ideo incedit capite elenato[sic]
Explicit: 29v ad minus per xl dies Item non debent fieri nisi corpore mundificato
Final rubric: 29v Explicit tractatus de flebotomia Editus a magistro bernardo de Gordonia benedictus deus

Followed by two notes in a hand that adds annotations to several other places in the volume.

This appears to be Item 2 in Marchall's list of the contents of the volume on f. [iv] verso

?eTK 0637E
eTK 0563G (t0109530000)
7. 30r-56r
De regimine sanitatis (Part 4 of De conseruatione uitae humanae) Bernard de Gordon
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 30r De regimine vij etatum
Incipit: 30r Secundum intencionem Aristotilis primo ethicorum vita humana est triplex scilicet voluptuosa
Explicit: 56r magni dei nono die nouembris eiusdem anni ciclo lune exeunte in virgine
Final rubric: 56r Explicit liber de conseruatione sanitate editus per magistri B de Gord in preclaro studio monte pessullano

This appears to be Item 3 in Marchall's list of the contents of the volume on f. [iv] verso where it is described as the 'De conseruacione sanitatis' by Bernard de Gordon.

eTK 1420A (t0271930000)
eTK 0884F (t0170800000)
8. 56r-56v
Medical recipes and notes
Language(s): Latin

Recipes added in two hands, one writing on f. 56r and the other on f. 56v. On f. 56r, the first recipe (for treating the kidneys) begins: 'Pro renibus secundum priore de Cogges', perhaps a reference to the Benedictine priory of Cogges in Oxfordshire. Although the recipe is undated, in the middle of the 14th century, Cogges had a prior who was also a surgeon to King Edward III, William Hamon, who appears as Prior of Cogges in documents dated to 1347 and 1367, so he is a plausible source for the recipe. The second recipe, also attributed to the same source, is for the stomach. A third recipe is also for the kidneys.

On f. 56v, there are notes on scrofula and its treatment with an electuary and a plaster, on inflammation arising from corrupted humours and its treatment, and an unguent for quickly healing wounds.

9. 57r-72v
De urinis (Part 2 of De conseruatione uitae humanae) Bernard de Gordon
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 57r Incipit ars curandi diuersas egritudines secundum diuersitatem urinarum
Incipit: 57r Dilexi ueritatis scientiam Inuestigare credens nullo melius posse Iuuare . in mundo et magis proximus fieri
Explicit: 72v cum aceto al[sic] tepido uel cum uino mal ga(?) et una gutta occulis[sic] instilletur
Final rubric: 72v Explicit ars curandi egritudines secundum diuersitatem urinarum

This (or the following item) may be Item 4 in the list of the contents of the volume by Roger Marchall on f. [iv] verso

eTK 0433G (t0085670000)
10. 72v-74v
Tractatus urinam Bernard de Gordon
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 72v Incipiunt quedam notabilia de bernardo de gordo
Incipit: 72v Intelligendum quod color creatur a vite et diaphono et opaco terminato
Explicit: 74v quando supernatat significat quod ibi est animalis calor resoluens materiam et vaporem
Final rubric: 74v Explicit tractatus urinarum magistri bernardi de gordonia

Additional title added in upper margin of f. 72v, 'Incipit tractatus urinarum secundum bernard de gordonia ...(?) medic', this title matches the title given for the work in the final rubric, but differs from the title offered in the opening rubric.

This (or the previous item) may be Item 4 in the list of the contents of the volume by Roger Marchall on f. [iv] verso

eTK 0756H (t0145510000)
11. 74v
Medical notes
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 74v Nota quod aqua carnis multum ope(?) stomacho paruo et vinum citrinum
Explicit: 74v magna fuerit infectus est sanguis sicut in curo proprio sano

In the same hand as the previous item.

12. 75r-[77a] recto
⟨Compilacio breuis de diuersis medicinis⟩
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 75r Digna mensura melagegum(?)
Explicit: [77a] recto flores camomille melliloti nenufar(?) electuaria triasandus zuccaro viol diaborag et cetera(?)

Title added in upper margin in later hand.

This may be Item 5 in the list of the contents of the volume by Roger Marchall on f. [iv] verso

13. [77a] verso
⟨Uersus de quattuor humoribus superhabundantibus cum febre et sine febre⟩
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: [77a] verso Flegma supergrediens ... ...(?) satetur | Febrem non faciens si passio tota notetur
Explicit: [77a] verso ex squilla paciens bibat ...(?) | preualet(?) in splene purgetur cum diasene
Final rubric: [77a] verso Expliciunt uersus de quattuor humoribus superhabundantibus cum febre et sine febre

Title supplied from final rubric.

This item does not appear to be in Roger Marchall's list of the contents of the volume on f. [iv] verso.

Similar texts present in Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm 13701, ff. 36rv and Ansbach, Staatliche Bibliothek, MS Lat. 120, f. 242v, where the text appears to be 'Uersus de complexionibus' with the incipit 'Quatuor humores statuit natura priores'.

?eTK 0565F (t0109970000)
14. 78r-79v
De flebotomia
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 78r Incipit tractatus de flebotomia
Incipit: 78r Presentis negocii breuiter est pertractare etiam quibus egritudinibus competat flebotomia
Explicit: 79v insistendum est cineres vero calidi in lexiuia superdiccti[sic] valent
Final rubric: 79v Explicit tractatus de flebotomia

This text is difficult to read due to the lack of contrast between the colour of the parchment and the ink.

This appears to be Item 6 in the list of the contents of the volume by Roger Marchall on f. [iv] verso

This text is often attributed (although not in this manuscript) to a 'Maurus', i.e., Maurus of Salerno .

eTK 1086B (t0209300000)
15. 79v
Medical notes
Language(s): Latin

Ink faded and rubbed and partly illegible. In the same hand as the previous item.

Text ends abruptly.

16. 81r-84v
Extracts from the Speculum maius Vincent of Beauvais (d. 1264)
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 81r De medicinis ex acipitre[sic] ex libro de natura rerum
Incipit: 81r Accipiter efficacissimus In oleo rosaceo decoccus[sic] ad omnium(?) uiciorum(?) uitiorum(?) accipitur
Explicit: 84v Alece scabies pectoris sanatur infusa per ciccem incisam et contra [ ] draconis marini ||

This appears to be a redacted version of the Speculum maius of Vincent of Beauvais, specifically, Book 16, chs. 21, 24 (partial), 28, 31, 37 (partial), 42 (partial), 59, 45 (partial), 47 (partial), 60 (partial), 62 (partial), 67 (partial), 80, 81, 86, 91 (partial), 99, 107, 108 (partial), ?116 (partial), 119, 121, 125, 130, 142 (partial), 144 (partial), 146 (partial),148 (partial), 153, 162, 163, 164, and Book 17, chs. 38, 39, 43 (partial), 45, 30 (partial).

This item does not appear to be in Roger Marchall's list of the contents of the volume on f. [iv] verso.

17. 85r-88v
De decem ingeniis curandorum morborum Bernard de Gordon
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 85r Ingenia curacionis morborum . secundum bernardii de gordonio
Incipit: 85r Ingenia curacionis morborum quantum est de presenti sunt x Primum sumitur ex morbo iuxta illud
Explicit: 88v postea compilauimus opus totum de crisi et criticis diebus breuiter sicud(?) scitis
Final rubric: 88v Explicit tabula ingeniorum secundum magistrum b. de gordon

This appears to be Item 7 in the list of the contents of the volume by Roger Marchall on f. [iv] verso, who supplied the rubric in the top margin.

eTK 0743L (t0143090000)
eTK 0743L (t0143100000)
18. 88v
Medical recipe
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 88v Recipe plantago
Explicit: 88v in mai(?) potell .i.

For unstated purpose.

19. 88v
Craft recipes for red, green and blue ?chalk
Language(s): Old French and Latin
20. 88v
Medical notes and recipes
Language(s): Latin

These notes are in the right-hand, written by two hands. Includes an excellent powder for the stomach.

21. 89r-89v
Text on bloodletting
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: || 89r necessitatis et intolerancia uirtutis si autem necessitas magna fuerit sicud[sic] in repletis et in ultimo
Explicit: 89v frigida et humida et assimilatur yemi quia igitur 4 sunt qua de ||

This leaf is unnumbered in the ink-foliation scheme, and this text begins and ends abruptly, but f. 88 appears to be the first leaf of a quire of 8 leaves, cojoint with f. 96, and the 2nd-8th leaves in that quire are numbered 1-7 in the ink-foliation scheme.

22. 90r-92v
Compendium urinarum Walter Agilon
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 90r Incipiunt compilaciones urinarum Egidii
Incipit: 90r Cum secundum auctores xx sint vrinarum colores
Explicit: 92v fortem accionem consumit ventositatem eleuatem yposis ad vrine regionem mediam uel suppremum
Final rubric: 92v Expliciunt compilaciones urinarum Egidii

This appears to be Item 8 in the list of the contents of the volume by Roger Marchall on f. [iv] verso

eTK 0338M (t0066590000)
23. 93r-95r
Regula urinarum Iohannes Salernitanus
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 93r Compilacio urinarum Isaac
Incipit: 93r Sciendum est quod urina est duarum rerum significatiua aut enim significat passionem eparis et uenarum
Explicit: 95r debet precedere laxatiuam ad minus per quattuor dies si bene operabit
Final rubric: 95r Explicit compilatio urinarum ysaac

Attributed to 'Isaac', probably the author known as Isaac Israeli in medieval sources.

This item does not appear to be in Roger Marchall's list of the contents of the volume on f. [iv] verso.

eTK 1395M (t0266980000)
24. 95r-96r
Medical notes
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 95r Cruda manent albus lacteus glaucus kareposus
Explicit: 96r habuerit quartanus(?) urinam de succo minoris pollica bibat et ex toto liberaberis

In two hands. The top of f. 96r written in long lines for 9 lines, before reverting to the double-column format found throughout the volume.

25. 96v
Medical notes in index form
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 96v Istum ordinem tenet Iohannes de sancto amando Super exposicionem antitodarii Nicholai pro de sirropis
Incipit: 96v 1 Sirropus rosacius | 2 Oxi(?)acara | 3 Sirropus acetosus | 4 Oximel simplex | 5 Sirropus de absinthio
Explicit: 96v 24 Diapapauer ad prouocandum sompnum | 25 Pillule stiptice contra omnem slir(?)em ventris

Two indices in two columns, the left, 'de sirropis' and the right 'de laxatiuis'.

This item does not appear to be in Roger Marchall's list of the contents of the volume on f. [iv] verso.

26. 97r-99r
Regimen acutorum Bernard de Gordon
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 97r Regimen acutorum magistri Bernardi de gordonio
Incipit: 97r Regimentum acutorum consistit in 3 in dieta pocione et potibus alteratis et secundum hoc opus
Explicit: 99r formantur In sole aut cum cineribus et lambendo sumatur diuteuendo in ore
Final rubric: 99r Explicit

This appears to be Item 9 in the list of the contents of the volume by Roger Marchall on f. [iv] verso, who supplied the rubric in the top margin.

eTK 1344B (t0256990000)
eTK 1345J
27. 99v-100r
Medical recipes
Language(s): Latin and Old French

Recipes for oils in Latin on f. 99v, miscellaneous recipes in Latin on f. 100r, and the last recipe on the leaf in French. Several hands; the scribe of the French recipe is also the scribe of some of the adjacent Latin recipes.

28. 100v
Lunar table and instructions for its use
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 100v Ista tabula docet in quo signa sit luna secundum naturalem lunacionem id est de prima ad primam
Explicit: 100v tocius corporis homores sputa et eg⟨esti⟩onum superfluitates . decrescente luna decrescunt hec omnia

Table for finding the zodiacal segment of the sky in which the moon will rise on a particular date.

This item does not appear to be in Roger Marchall's list of the contents of the volume on f. [iv] verso.

eTK 0607I (t0117900000)
29. 101r-102v
Compendium compositionum Bernard de Gordon
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 101r Quoniam de melioribus amicis quidem quos habere videor me rogauerunt quod eis in scriptis redigerem
Explicit: 102v armenius . Medicine composite ad idem sunt eodem cum infrantibus i???es et uecam(?)
Final rubric: 102v Explicit hoc compendium composicionum a magistro b de gordonia

This text is attributed to Bernard de Gordon in this manuscript ('Explicit hoc compendium composicionum a magistro b de gordonia'), but in others manuscripts it is variously attributed to Johannes de Parma, Antonius de Parma, Bernard de Villanova, John of Montpellier; if Marchall knew this text by its attribution to Johannes de Parma, then this would appear to be Item 10 in the list of the contents of the volume by Roger Marchall on f. [iv] verso.

eTK 1270E (t0243650000)
30. 102v
Medical recipes
Language(s): Old French
31. 103r-104v
De gradibus Bernard de Gordon
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 103r De gradibus medicinalibus m. bernardi de gordinio
Incipit: 103r doctrinam de gradibus intendimus tripliciter ordinare quarum prima erit tibi stabilis cum amaritudine intellectus
Explicit: 104v per comparacionem ad tricantia per comparacionem ad gratiam color?? et in ce?alis (?) ||

This appears to be Item 11 in the list of the contents of the volume by Roger Marchall on f. [iv] verso, who supplied the rubric in the top margin.

eTK 0460J (t0090820000)

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 2r et epatis
Form: codex
Support: All medieval leaves parchment (HFFH).
Extent: Codex: ii + 4 + 104 + ii leaves. 220-225 × 135 mm.
Foliation:

20th-century foliation

[a]-[b] + [i]-[iv] + 1-77, [77a]-79, 81-104 + [c]-[d]

Foliated in pencil in Hindu-Arabic numerals in the upper outer corner of the first recto of each quire. The first text-folio is not numbered in this sequence, but the pencil-sequence is applied consistently throughout the volume with the exception of the endleaves. There is one mistake present in the pencil foliation sequence: leaves in Quire 9 are miscounted and 'folio 80' was omitted from the sequence; in order to produce a functional electronic catalogue record the designation folio [77a] was assigned to the unfoliated leaf before 78 in that quire. All folio designations assigned to endleaves and miscounted leaves for the purposes of producing a functional electronic catalogue record for the Curious Cures project are indicated with [square brackets].
Foliation:

Medieval foliation

32-87 for ff. 1-56, 8-31 for ff. 57r-79v, 118-125 for ff. 81r-88v, (two leaves unnumbered) + 2-7 for ff. 90r-96v, (one leaf unnumbered) + 113-117 for ff. 97r-102v, (one leaf unnumbered) + 153 for ff. 103r-104v

Foliated in ink in medieval Hindu-Arabic numerals in the upper outer corner of each recto by a single scribe. The sequence in its current form is disordered, but rearranged produces an almost complete set of designations, i.e., (two leaves unnumbered) + 2-7, 8-31, 32-87, ... , (one leaf unnumbered) + 113-117, 118-125, ... , (one leaf unnumbered) + 153. The foliation sequence predates the current arrangement of the volume (itself apparently set by Roger Marchall in the 15th century).

Collation

This manuscript has a somewhat irregular quire structure, but it has consistent elements of decoration, scribal activity, and medieval foliation throughout the volume, which suggests that it is the result of a single and directed production effort rather than a composite volume. Quire 4 (ff. 31-34) has two cancelled leaves (the original first and fifth leaves), but there is no loss of text across the cancels, and the medieval foliation sequence is not disrupted by the cancels, which indicates that the cancels occured during the copying process and not later after the manuscript was complete.

This manuscript comprises 13 quires of mostly 8 or 12 leaves arranged as follows:

  • Four parchment endleaves (ff. [i]-[iv]) +
  • Quire 18 (ff. 1-8)
  • Quire 212 (ff. 9-20)
  • Quire 310 (ff. 21-30)
  • Quire 46-2 (ff. 31-34: 1st and 5th leaves cancelled)
  • Quire 56 (ff. 35r-40v)
  • Quires 6-78 (ff. 41-56)
  • Quire 812 (ff. 57-68)
  • Quire 912 (ff. 69-77, [77a]-79)
  • Quires 10-118 (ff. 81-96)
  • Quire 126 (ff. 97-102)
  • Quire 132 (ff. 103-104)

14 28 312 410 54 66 7-88 9-1012 11-128 136 142

Medieval leaf signatures in Roman numerals in crayon in the lower margin of the rectos in the first half of Quire 8 only.

Several quires have medieval quire signatures, but these have been disrupted and indicate that the volume has been rearranged more than once since it was completed. These signatures are written in ink, in the typical medieval form, in the lower margin of the verso side of the last leaf of each quire, as follows: 4 (for Quire 1); 5 (for Quire 2); 6 (for Quire 3); 7 (for Quire 4); 8 (for Quire 5); 9 (for Quire 6); 10 (for Quire 7); 2 (for Quire 8); 3 (for Quire 9); 14 (for Quire 10); an undetermined number for Quire 11; 13 (for Quire 12); ?15 (for Quire 13).

 Catchwords present in the lower margin of the last verso of some quires; some catchwords enclosed in a simple red frame.

Condition

In generally good condition but some text illegible due to rubbing and staining. The leaves have been trimmed for binding and some marginal decoration and annotations have been lost to trimming. A portion of the lower margin of f. 40 irregularly trimmed with minor loss of marginal annotation.

Layout

190 × 115 mm. Ruled faintly in double-column format, frame and lines. Ruled in leadpoint, typically 40 lines to the column and written below top line. Some leaves written at a density of 55-60 lines to the column. Text in long lines on f. 56v.

Hand(s)

Written by several scribes writing relatively neat forms of Anglicana. A single scribe (the scribe responsible for the Antidotarium Nicholai) is responsible for at least half of the text of the volume, including many of the additional medical recipes.

Decoration

Decorative flourish at the end of the text on f. 92v with a decorative sketch of a shield bearing a heraldic device.

Flourished initials in red, light brown, and dark brown at most major textual divisions. Flourished initials at the major divisions often have hatched shading.

Red initials at the minor divisions of the texts.

Headings and sub-headings in red throughout.

Paraph marks in red.

Additions

Quire signatures ('1-13') 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 August 1850. Fully bound in leather over paste- or mill-boards with matching decoration in blind to the front and rear covers. Covers are decorated with two concentric double-fillet frames, the outermost at the perimeter of the boards, and the inner frame inset from the outer by c. 20mm; double fillets to join the adjacent corners of the outer and inner frames. Diagonal hatched roll applied to the head, fore, and tail edges of the covers and the turn ins. Five raised bands on spine. Spine capped at head and tail by cover leather, no head or tail bands visible. Spine compartments decorated with a double-fillet at the upper and lower perimeters. Small label of red leather fixed to the spine with the title: 'TRACTATUS MEDICI' tooled in gold. Two small printed paper labels fixed to the spine '593' and '373' for the present shelfmark.

Paper pastedowns. Rear pastedown blank. The front pastedown contains:

  • An ownership note, 'Caius Coll' in pencil
  • The shelfmarks '593' and '373' in red and black ink respectively
  • A Gonville and Caius College bookplate
  • A note in ink 'Rebound. August 1850'

Two paper endleaves at each end of the volume, ff. [a]-[b] and [c]-[d]; all blank.

Dimensions (L x W x D): 230 x 150 x 35 mm

The front pastedown and (?some of the) endleaves of the pre-1850 binding are present in the volume as the leaves ff. [i] recto - [iv] verso. Folio [i], now a free endleaf, was almost certainly the front pastedown of the former binding; the leaf has a patina of adhesive on the recto typical of having been fixed to a wooden board. No evidence of the former rear pastedown among the remaining leaves.

History

Origin: Probably first half of the 14th century. ; England.
M. R. James, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library of Gonville and Caius College, vol. II (1908)

Provenance and Acquisition

First recorded as part of the collection of Gonville and Caius College in 1600 as no. 171 (not as 'no. 17' as described by M. R. James) in the Ecloga Oxonio-Cantabrigiensis by Thomas James (1600). However, the manuscript is likely to have been at Gonville Hall (as it then was) since the later part of the 15th century as 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. Marchall added the table of contents on f. [iv] verso and added his name in several places throughout the volume (e.g., f. [ii] verso. See Voigts (1995) for further discussion.

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. II (1908) 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. 171 in the Ecloga Oxonio-Cantabrigiensis by Thomas James (1600), not as 'no. 17' as stated by M. R. James in his Catalogue.
Recorded as no. 967 in Bernard, Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliæ et Hiberniæ (c. 1697).

Bibliography

    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)

Funding of Cataloguing

Wellcome

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Cambridge Digital Library

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