Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 379/599
Johannes de Sancto Paulo, Liber virtutem medicinarum simplicium and other medical texts
Contents
- Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 59/153 (Voigts 1995, no. 2)
- Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 98/50 (Voigts 1995, no. 4)
- Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 105/57 (Voigts 1995, no. 5)
- Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 159/209 (Voigts 1995, no. 9)
- Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 178/211 (Voigts 1995, no. 10)
- Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 181/214 (Voigts 1995, no. 11)
- Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 345/620 (Voigts 1995, no. 12)
- Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 373/593 (Voigts 1995, no. 13)
- Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 379/599 (Voigts 1995, no. 14)
- Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 401/623 (Voigts 1995, no. 16)
- Cambridge, Peterhouse, MS 95 (Voigts 1995, no. 24)
- Cambridge, Peterhouse, MS 222 (Voigts 1995, no. 28)
- Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.8.31 (Voigts 1995, no. 29)
- Cambridge, University Library, MS Add. 9213 (possible Marchall connections) (Voigts 1995, no. 48)
Physical Description
Late-19th or early-20th century foliation
1-20 | 21-56 | 57-107 | 108-195
Foliated in pencil in Hindu-Arabic numerals in the the upper outer corner of the first recto of each quire.Collation
The manuscript is composed of four composite parts; the date of their union is unknown but all parts were almost certainly together by the end of 15th century. The original quire structure is not intact, occasional text-leaves are missing throughout and an entire quire of eight leaves has been lost between Quires 11 and 12. Many of the quires are slightly irregular and are arranged as follows:
- Quire 18 (ff. 1r-8v)
- Quire 2twelve (ff. 9r-20v: stitching visible between ff. 13v and 14r) |
- Quires 3-68 (ff. 21-52)
- Quire 74 (ff. 53-56) |
- Quires 8-98 (ff. 57-72)
- Quire 108-2 (ff. 73-78: 3rd and 4th leaves cancelled)
- Quire 118 (ff. 79-86)
- Quire 1210-3 (ff. 87-93: 1st leaf missing, 4th and 5th leaves cancelled)
- Quire 136 (ff. 94-99)
- Quire 148+1-1 (ff. 100-107: original 8th leaf excised, probably blank; singleton inserted after 7th leaf) |
- Quires 15-1612 (ff. 108-131)
- Quire 1710 (ff. 132-141)
- Quires 18-238 (ff. 142-189)
- Quire 246 (ff. 190-195)
18 2?twelve | 3-68 74 | 8-98 108-2 (3rd and 4th cancelled) 118 1210-3 (1st missing, 4th and 5th cancelled) 136 148-1+1 (8th excised, singleton inserted after 7th) | 15-1612 1710 18-238 246
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. Note that the signature for Quire 13 was inscribed incorrectly on f. 93r one leaf ahead of the start of Quire 13 on f. 94r.
Binding
Fully bound in blind-stamped calf over wood boards with matching decoration to front and rear covers. Covers are each decorated with two concentric triple-fillet frames with Oxford corners, the outer frame set at the perimeter of the boards, and the inner frame offset by c. 30mm from the perimeter of the boards. The space inside the inner frame is further subdivided into three horizontal sections, the upper and lower sections filled with matching decorative motifs achieved with a zoomorphic panel stamp of pairs of squirrels, dragons, eagles and ?vulning ?pelicans set in round frames, and the central section filled with closely set repetitions of a small square stamp of two birds with necks entwined.
On the front cover, an early modern hand has written a description of the volume very faintly in dark ink and now mostly faded: ‘Liber [...] medicamendum cum alijs [...]’
On the rear cover there is a fenestra with original horn layer and metal tacks; the handwritten label bears the title of one of the works in the volume 'Cure magistri poncii' (referring to the Curae of Pontius de Sancto Aegido on ff. 114r-140r).
The overall design of the binding is similar to Flemish and then English bindings of the last quarter of the 15th century and the first quarter of the 16th century. As with most other finely cut decorative binding tools in use in England at this time, the zoomorphic panel stamp of four pairs of animals set in round frames was probably engraved in Flanders, and it may have been used there for a time before being imported into England. G. D. Hobson identified two other volumes that bear this stamp on their bindings:
- California, Huntingdon Library, 59497 - A copy of the Nova statuta angliae printed by Willem van Mechelen (William de Machlinia) in London in 1484. An image of the binding can be viewed at The Scott Husby Database at Princeton University Library, no. 177611
- Bruges, Bruges Seminary, MS 003/164 - A late 13th or early 14th century bible, rebound in the late 15th or early 16th century. A digital facsimile of the manuscript and its binding can be viewed as part of the Mmmonk project here: Bruges, Bruges Seminary, MS 003/164
The manuscript has had a conservative recasing - the original stamped leather covers were lifted and new leather covers were wrapped around the wood boards, before the remains of the original leather covers were replaced on top of the new leather covers. Three raised bands on spine. Head and tail bands, if present, are capped by the replacement cover. The portion of the original leather covers over the back (i.e., the spine) of the volume is gone. The imprint of the original metal fittings for the fastening, probably a hook-and-catch clasp, is visible on the rear cover, the original portion of the front cover at the site of the fastening has been torn away and the board underneath has a shallow irregular depression.
Two small printed paper labels affixed to the spine '599' in red and '379' in black indicating the current Gonville and Caius shelfmark.
See:
History
Provenance and Acquisition
First recorded as part of the collection of Gonville and Caius College in 1600 as no. 42 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 and folios 108r-194r bear running headings in his hand. Marchall may also have added the rough table of contents to the front pastedown and may even have had the manuscript assembled and bound. See Voigts (1995) for further discussion.
Part 1: Fragments (front and rear pastedowns) [Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 379/599, ff. [i] and [ii]]
Contents
Language(s): Latin
Notes relating to the Hussey family including a Nicholas Hussey who is described as being the brother and heir of a Thomas Hussey who had recently been Baron [Galtrim]. The Thomas Hussey mentioned is presumably the 5th Baron Galtrim who was murdered before 1439, and the Nicholas is probably the 6th Baron Galtrim, Thomas' heir, who had died by 1493.
Note relating to a member of the Bottiler (Butler) family, describing him as an Earl of Ormond and one of the recent Chief Justicars of Ireland. Several members of the Butler family held this title and this role between 1359 and 1427.
Several references to the counties of Louth and Meath, and references to places including Dunboyne, Kilkenny, Rathfarnham and others.
Partial list of the contents of the volume, now mostly cropped away. Linda Voigts was able to reconstruct the following: 'two references to Platearius (two versions of De medicinis, the second incomplete, occupy fols 57r-103r, a text having to do with eyes (Secreta Petri Yspani ad Oculus, fols 142r-48r), and Tractatus de coitu, (Constantine, Liber Coitus, fols 49v-54v).' Linda Voigts has suggested that this may be an informal list of the contents of the volume in the hand of Roger Marchall (c. 1417-1477) , who also added a gloss to the Curae Magistri Poncii de S. Egidio on ff. 107r-134r and running headers to the Modus medendi Gerardi on ff. 167r-195r, and may have written the label in the fenestra on the rear cover.
Physical Description
Condition
Layout
130 × 212 mm. Ruled in leadpoint, frame and lines. The fragments have a mise-en-page typically seen in account books and rolls with a narrower column on the left side of the page for each heading, and a wider column to the right with more detailed information.
Hand(s)
Written in the English form of Cursiva Antiquior typically referred to as Anglicana.
History
The fragment refers to the heirs of Thomas Hussey (‘herede Thome Hussee nuper Baronis...’), probably 5th Baron Galtrim, who died in 1439.
Part 2 [Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 379/599, ff. 1-20]
Contents
Language(s): Latin
Another hand has added a note to the rubric 'cum 13 aliis tractibus', i.e., 'with 13 other treatises' but the texts to which the note refers are not clearly identified.
Unprinted.
Written in the bottom margin. For an unguent called 'laxinum' for treating an unspecified ailment in the left side of the body.
Another part of this text can be found in this volume on ff. 157v-167v.
20v blank.
Physical Description
Collation
Two quires, the structure of the latter uncertain, but fundamentally a quire of ten with two further leaves. The final leaf of Quire 2 is c. 180 mm high (typical height c. 210 mm) with an uneven lower edge, perhaps the edge of a sheet of parchment.
- Quire 18 (ff. 1r-8v)
- Quire 2twelve (ff. 9r-20v: stitching visible between ff. 13v and 14r)
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 light brown ink, frame and lines, single column, typically 44 lines to the page, written below top line.
Hand(s)
Written in a compressed and bold Textualis Libraria or perhaps even a Textualis Currens, with irregularity in the letterforms and frequent rushed and incomplete strokes. Crossed Tironian et.
Decoration
Initials in red, Lombardic Capital forms, 1-3 lines high at the start of each significant section of text, typically 3-10 per leaf.
Rubricated (red only) headings to each new significant section of text. Main title of work not rubricated, added instead in light brown ink in the upper margin of 1r perhaps in a later hand.
History
Part 3 [Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 379/599, ff. 21-56]
Contents
Language(s): Latin
Capitula list on f. 21rv.
Written in the bottom margin. For swollen limbs and for morphea, impetigo and serpigo.
Written in the bottom margin. For ailments of the ?womb.
For unstated purpose. Includes instructions for making a bath.
For leprosy.
For the 'felon' (boil/carbuncle or purulent swelling). The first charm contains a version of the 'Tigað Tigað Tigað' incantation also found in London, British Library, MS Harley 585 , f. 136rv and Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Junius 163, f. 227r. See Storms, Anglo-Saxon Magic (The Hague, 1948) pp. 301-302. Storms prints the first of the two charms on p. 302.
The text usually finishes with a treatment ending 'in qua cocta fuerit solum apium', but this treatment appears as the penultimate item in the text copied by this scribe. The final treatment in this version of the text is for 'libidinem prouocandem'.
Three recipes, each copied by a different scribe. For a 'singular pill' for ?tertian fever, for a drink for healing wounds, and for a pill for tertian fever.
This manuscript contains the shorter form of the text, and finishes at the end of the Ep. ad Macenatem.
This text was traditionally attributed to Galen, but the attribution is no longer believed to be correct.
A branching diagram on the humoral qualities hot, cold, wet, and dry follows the text.
A note on different properties of ?urine, followed by a recipe for uncertain purpose (f. 56r). Notes on the causes of blood in the urine, constipation and fevers.
In the lower margin.
The lengths of the reigns are given as follows:
- William 'the Bastard' - 23 years
- Wiliam 'Rufus' - 13 years
- Henry (I) - 35 years
- Stephen - 19 years
- Henry (II) - 36 years
- Richard - 10 years
- John - 10 years
King John reigned from May 1199 to October 1216, more than the 10 years given in this list, and given that John is the last king to appear in the list, it is possible that the list was copied when John was in the 10th year of his reign, i.e., 1209/1210.
Physical Description
Collation
- Quires 3-68 (ff. 21-52)
- Quire 74 (ff. 53-56)
No quire signatures.
No catchwords.Layout
160 × 75 mm. Ruled in leadpoint, frame and lines, typically 36 lines to the page. Mainly single columns, but f. 21rv ruled in double columns for capitula. Written above top line.
Hand(s)
Written in late protogothic minuscule by at least three scribes working on the main texts and adding various marginal annotations.
Decoration
Illustration of a stylised plant executed in red and blue linework in the outer margin of f. 55r.
Decorated initial 'M' in dark blue and red with white acanthus frills on f. 21r.
Puzzle initials in red and blue on ff. 22r, 22v, 23v, 34r, 35v and 46r.
Pen-flourished initials in red and blue throughout at the start of many of the minor sections, either a red initial with blue pen-flourishing or the inverse. Some initials in this style have acanthus-leaf and botanical flourishing as well as the typical labrynthine style flourishing.
Coloured initials in alternating red and blue at the start of each capitulum entry on f. 21rv.
Rubrics (red only) to mark the beginnings and ends of texts or sections of texts on ff. 35v, 49v and 55r.
Stylised botanical line filler in red on 55v.
History
The regnal list added in the lower margin of f. 56r lists the kings of England and the lengths of their reigns from William I to John; the entry for John's reign is given as 10 years and not the correct 17 years, so it is possible that the regnal list was copied in the 10th year of the reign of King John, i.e., 1209-1210, with the main text copied before that date.
Part 4 [Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 379/599, ff. 57r-107r]
Contents
Language(s): Latin
Includes many additions in the margins, written by near-contemporary and later hands, including extracts from Avicenna.
In the upper margin.
Written in the bottom margin. For snakes/?snakebite ('contra serpentem'), for inducing sweating, for quartan fever, for kidney and bladder stone.
Written in the bottom margin. For swelling in the eyes and sudden inflammation not caused by a blow.
Written in the bottom margin by two hands. For ethic fever, dry cough and phthisic (wasting fever of the lungs).
For tertian and quartan fever.
Physical Description
13th-century pagination:
1-54, 79-103 (for ff. 57r-83v, 87r-99r
Leaves paginated in the upper outer corner of each recto and verso in ink in early 13th century Hindu-Arabic notation. Each numeral is surrounded by punctae. Some numbers have been lost to trimming. There is an interruption to the medieval pagination sequence that suggests the loss of an entire quire between Quires 11 and 12. Folios 57r-83v have the medieval pagination pp. 1-54. The medieval pagination is absent from the leaves ff. 84r-86v. The medieval pagination resumes on 87r beginning with the page number '79' and continues until the designation p. '103' on f. 99r. The jump between the medieval 'page 54' and the medieval 'page 79' indicates a gap of 12 leaves, i.e., medieval pages 55-78. Folios 84-86 are probably medieval pages 55-60, with the numbering trimmed away. Medieval pages 77-78 can be accounted for by the loss of the first leaf of Quire 12. The remaining 16 pages between medieval pages 61 and 76 indicate the loss at this point of a quire of 8 leaves, the typical structure for a quire in this section of the manuscript.Collation
Seven quires, typically of eight leaves. The gap in the medieval pagination between Quires 11 and 12 indicates a loss of an entire quire of eight leaves at this point.
- Quires 8-98 (ff. 57-72)
- Quire 108-2 (ff. 73-78: 3rd and 4th leaves cancelled)
- Quire 118 (ff. 79-86)
- Quire 1210-3 (ff. 87-93: 1st leaf missing, 4th and 5th leaves cancelled)
- Quire 136 (ff. 94-99)
- Quire 148+1-1 (ff. 100-107: original 8th leaf excised, probably blank; singleton inserted after 7th leaf)
Layout
150-155 × 80-85 mm. Ruled in light brown ink, frame and lines in a single column format. Typically 40 lines to the page, but some leaves are ruled for a more sparse or dense format. Written above top line. The final leaf in this part of the manuscript, f. 107v is unruled.
Hand(s)
Written by several scribes in late protogothic minuscules of varying calligraphic quality.
Decoration
Illustration of a man in a cloak and headband holding a flower executed in red and blue linework in the outer margin of f. 57r, probably intended as an illustration of Mattheus Platearius, the author of the adjacent text. Illustration of a bird's head in the inner margin, and a bipedal dragon in the outer margin executed in red and blue linework on f. 59r. Illustration of a stylised flower in red and blue linework in the outer margin of f. 60r. Illustration of a stylised flower in red and blue linework in the inner margin of f. 71r. Illustration of a stylised goat's head in red and brown linework in the inner margin of f. 73v. Illustration of a seated human male wrapped in a cloak and pointing at folding tablets in red and blue linework in the outer margin of f. 92v. Illustration of a human male head in blue and brown linework in the inner margin of f. 93r.
Puzzle initials in red and blue and with pen-flourished decoration at the openings of major sections of text or new texts, e.g., f. 57r.
Pen-flourished initials in red and blue, either a red initial with blue flourishing or the reverse at the openings of minor sections of text, typically 3-5 per page.
Rubrication (red only) at the openings of most major sections of text. The topic of each section of text is given in red in the outer margins of ff. 57r-93v. Paraph marks typically in brown ink and touched with red throughout.
History
Part 5 [Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 379/599, ff. 108r-195v]
Contents
Language(s): Latin and Old French
This item bears the rubricated title 'Cure magistri Poncii de sancto Egido', but the text that follows is not actually that text, but rather another, unidentified medical treatise. The Curae of Pontius de Sancto Egidio appears on ff. 114r-140r.
The names of several Arabic authors appear in this text.
With thanks to Professor Peter Jones for his advice when cataloguing this item. Any errors are the responsibility of the author of this record.
The rubric here is a close match for Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS 2459, ff. 33r-46r
My thanks to Professor Peter Jones for his advice when cataloguing this item. Any errors are the responsibility of the author of this record.
Written in the bottom margin. For serpigo and impetigo.
Ascribed in the manuscript to 'Guilbert' (perhaps Gilbertus Anglicus ?).
With thanks to Professor Peter Jones for his advice when cataloguing this item. Any errors are the responsibility of the author of this record.
For a sore stomach and a lack of appetite (f. 141r) and for the treatment of ?a fistula, for the stone (attributed to ?Serapion), a pill for uncertain purpose (attributed to 'Magister [?] de G.', a for ?quartan fever (f. 141v). Text difficult to read due to bleed-through.
This Petrus Hispanus has traditionally been identified, but probably wrongly, with Petrus Hispanus the writer on logic, or alternatively and with Petrus Juliani, the future Pope John XXI, both of whom are probably to be distinguished from 'magister Petrus Hispanus medicus', active in Siena c. 1245-50.
Text finishes in lower margin of f. 152r.
Prologue before main text. Main text perhaps begins at: ‘ ⟨V⟩Idi hominem qui habebat bene 45 annos et eius os erat distortum . ad modum paralitici.’
Compare with London, British Library, Sloane MS 340 , ff. 81r-98v
For an uncertain purpose.
Work variously attributed both to Gherardo of Cremona and Gerard of Montpellier.
Written in the bottom and side margins. They address the following:
- f. 166r: two for alopecia / baldness
- f. 166v: for fever, for preventing conception, for pain after childbirth (further recipes written in the left-hand margin are unclear owing to the cropping of the leaf)
- f. 167r: for ?bad breath, for healing wounds
Written in the bottom margin. An electuary for cough, asthma and tightness in the chest and breathlessness.
Written upside down in the bottom margin. For uncertain purposes, but involving 'trocissi' (pills).
Written in the bottom margin. For ?tertian fever.
Written by in several hands. Roughly a third of the leaf has been cut away.
Physical Description
Collation
Ten quires. The gap in the medieval foliation between the end of Quire 19 and the beginning of Quire 20 (ff. 157v-158r) suggests the loss of a whole quire at this point. Quire 24 was probably originally a quire of 8; the third leaf of the quire is probably missing as the medieval foliation jumps by one leaf between the present ff. 190-191, and the original final leaf is either missing or cancelled.
- Quires 15-1612 (ff. 108-131)
- Quire 1710 (ff. 132-141)
- Quires 18-238 (ff. 142-189)
- Quire 246 (ff. 190-195)
No quire signatures in this Part.
Catchwords in the lower inner corner of the last verso of some quires.Layout
170 × 125 mm. Ruled in faint brown ink, frame and lines in two columns. Written below top line, typically 40 lines to the column.
Hand(s)
Written in a northern textualis libraria.
Decoration
Coloured initials in red at the start of some texts, many texts have space for the initial and a guide letter, but no initial.
Guide letters for coloured initials in the margins of most leaves, many initials unfilled, many guide letters partially or totally lost to trimming.
Rubrics (in red) at the start of most texts and at the start of new sections within each text. Paraph marks in red. Initials at the start of minor sections often in brown and touched with red.
History
Additional Information
Record Sources
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
No. 42 in the Ecloga Oxonio-Cantabrigiensis by Thomas James (1600) as one of the manuscripts belonging to Gonville and Caius College.
No. 966 in Bernard, Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliæ et Hiberniæ (c. 1697).
Funding of Cataloguing
Wellcome
Digital Images
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
