Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 457/395
Medical tracts and recipes
Contents
Introduction:
This manuscript contains a large collection of Middle English and Latin medical recipes,
alongside
alchemical and craft preparations, charms and magic tricks, all copied by numerous
hands of the late 15th and first
half of the 16th century. Unfortunately, a key piece of evidence for our understanding
of how and in what order the
manuscript was produced is not available. The current binding is so tight that the
physical evidence of quire
divisions - specifically, sewing at the centre of the quires - is not visible. Secondary
evidence such as leaf
signatures or catchwords is not available, either: these may have been lost to trimming
or damage, or were never used.
The placement on adjacent leaves of two apparent catchwords (ff. 13v and 14v) casts doubt on whether either indicates a quire division. Quires made of paper
tend also to be larger than those of parchment, which are usually formed of six, eight,
ten, twelve or fourteen
leaves. It is thus harder to spot where one quire might end and another begin simply
by counting forwards from a
likely starting-point, such as where a text commences at the top of the page. It appears,
though, that two paper
stocks were used, the change occuring at ff. 67-68. With the aid of specialist imaging
techniques, it might in theory
be possible to reveal the location of every watermark and thereby identify symmetrical
patterns in their occurrence
and thus the structure of the quires, but this remains out of scope for ordinary digitisation
programmes.
However, similarities in scribal hand and presentational choices allow us at least
to identify a number
of sections within the manuscript: a core set of texts, perhaps, produced at the same
time and around which further
additions then coalesced. The first of these is a variant version of a cosmological
treatise known as The Wise Book of Philosophy and Astronomy, interpolated with The Book of
Ypocras (ff. 13r-17r), and followed by a treatise on the correspondence
between signs of the zodiac and certain illnesses (f. 17r-17v), and a collection of
medical recipes spuriously attributed to Aristotle that begins with ailments of the
head but proceeds in no particular
order (ff. 18r-21r). A few leaves later, there continues a treatise on the virtues
of various herbs (ff. 22r-25r), and then a sequence of collections of medical
remedies by genre: drinks (ff. 26r-27v), powders (ff. 29r-30r), electuaries (ff. 31r-32r), syrups (ff. 32v-33r), plasters (ff. 34v-37v), ointments, unguents,
'entretes' and salves (ff. 38v-44r), and ointments used in surgery spuriously
attributed to Galen (f. 44r-44v). A short tract on surgery and list of medicinal
waters, oils and unguents intervene on f. 34r. In each of these, the scribe has
used a distinctive display script for headings, broadly akin to Anglicana Formata
but including letter forms drawn
from Secretary script, which are sometimes also rubricated by underlining in red.
The text meanwhile is copied
consistently in a cursive Secretary script. These are the only parts of the manuscript,
moreover, which contain
painted decoration of any kind: simple, plain initials in red at the beginning of
each section.
There are further, though less obvious, sections in the manuscript, copied by other
hands. One
immediately following those described above contains texts on healthy living throughout
the year (f. 46r-46v), the humours (ff. 46v-47r), an extract on physiognomy
from the Secretum Secretorum (ff. 47r-50r), and a series of
prognosticatory texts and others on bloodletting, the planets, the humours, and urines
(ff. 50r-60v) - all apparently copied by a scribe named 'Whyston', who signed his name at the
end. Later in
the manuscript, on leaves provided only with frame ruling, another hand has copied
a prose lunary text (its litterae notabiliores ornamented with dots), further prognosticatory texts, and the Book of Ypocras (ff. 68r-78v). A final hand (not obviously
the same) has copied some astrological texts after this (ff. 79r-83v).
Many other hands then made further additions to the manuscript, in the blank spaces
and on the blank
leaves between these texts. Most of these are medical recipes, but there are also
ten medical charms, dealing with
fevers (ff. 3v, 4r, 8v), toothache (ff. 4v, 64r),
bleeding wounds (ff. 4v, 8r (twice)), hallucinations
and evil spirits (f. 5r) and migraine (f. 86r).
The very first item in the manuscript is a further charm 'to gather rats and drive
them from a place' (f. 1v). The ailments addressed by the medieval remedies are seemingly miscellaneous, and
the texts presented in no apparent order but simply as chance and available space
dictated. One for a 'principall
water to clere þe syth of eyȝen' is notable for its reference to spectacles: it claims
that a man treated this way was
able to discard his 'spectakelys' after having worn them for seven years. Both the
charms and the medical recipes
among which they are interspersed are all fairly close in date to the initial productions
discussed above: that is,
from the late 15th and early 16th century or thereabouts. However, other additions
attest to a longer history of use.
A hand of the later 16th century added a declaration at the end, explaining why 'Thys
boke off medesynes ys veri
necessary and profytabull for seche as be languente [i.e. ill] or dolent [in pain],
for they [the medicines] haue ben
persuaded and proued uppon pascyons that haue bene Restored too Confortabull state
of body'. In a couple of places,
further pieces of paper were added to the manuscript (ff. [63a] and [63b] and [74a])
that also bear medical recipes, but copied in a hand of the 17th century.
Several names have been written into the manuscript by roughly contemporary hands:
'Grymston' (f. 3r), 'Thomas Sowman of Raylegthe' (f. 84r), 'James
Hyll' and 'John Whyte' (f. 86v). None has yet been identified. Some clues as to the
sort of person who might have owned this manuscript lie in its contents. Medical recipes
could be organised by a
number of systems or none at all; most commonly, they occur in head to toe order,
and less often in alphabetical order
by disease or according to the different systems of the body. Their arrangement by
category of medicine is more
unusual. Across the corpus of manuscripts covered by the Curious Cures project, only one other
contains such groupings: Cambridge, Trinity College, MS
O.9.32. There one finds lists of common preparations such as pills and clysters, tisanes,
balms,
oils, plasters and unguents, but also repercussives, resolvatives, mollificatives,
maturatives, spasmadraps,
incarnatives, dessicatives and caustics. These latter medicaments were specifically
concerned with the healing of
wounds and the removal and repair of damaged flesh: particular specialisms of medieval
surgeons. Among the medicinal
collections and added medical recipes in Gonville and Caius MS 457/395, there are
likewise frequent references to
afflictions the surgeon was tasked with addressing: the treatment of sores, swellings,
cankers and bruises, to
removing dead flesh and encouraging new flesh to grow, to cleansing and healing wounds,
to stopping bleeding, and to
dealing with broken and dislocated bones. There are also occasional references to
the materia
medica mentioned in Trinity MS O.9.32, such as maturatives (f. 36r),
mundificatives (ff. 37r, 43v), salves (f. 44r), powders for wounds or to remove dead flesh (f. 30r), ointments for all manner of wounds (ff. 39r, 42r), plasters to deal with broken bones (ff. 21v, 37r) and unguents for helping broken bones to knit (f. 42r). There are also short treatises on surgery (f. 34r) and ointments
used (f. 44r-44v), as well as a warning against letting women see wounds sustained
in battle (f. 44r).
Other texts bear witness to intellectual interests beyond surgical treatment and simple
remedies,
however: tracts on the principles of humoural medicine, astrological medicine and
uroscopy, or forecasting the future
according to the occurrence of thunder or when New Year's Day or Christmas Day fall.
Any attempt to label this
manuscript simply as a surgeon's manual and commonplace book is thus resisted by the
varied nature of its contents.
Besides medical recipes, there are also clusters of other short, instructional texts,
such as a handful of alchemical
or craft preparations: for making ink (ff. 2v-3r), poisoning birds (f. 5r), or gilding (f. 6v). A further entry on how to
write in ink with only water in your pen (f. 6v), while drawing on alchemical
knowledge, seems more like a clever trick to astonish or amuse one's friends. Indeed,
there is also a cluster of texts
of practical magic on ff. 66v and 67v that
testify to the imagination and humour, anxieties and preoccupations of late medieval
readers. There are instructions
on how to make fish swim into your hands, or make a horse seem dead and then bring
him to life again, how to stop dogs
barking at you or make them follow you, how to win every game or overcome your enemies,
drive flies out of your house,
identify a thief, or create the illusion of a hare or other animals running through
your house. These place the
manuscript or its readers outdoors or in domestic spaces other than a patient's bedside.
For the heartsick reader,
there was also advice 'ad habendum amorem puelle', i.e. how to make a girl fall in
love with you: one should take the
blood from a white cockerel and write your name and the girl's name with it on a vine
leaf, then 'touch her with the
leaf and she will love you'. One wonders how many unsuspecting girls were brushed
with such vine leaves by hopeful
suitors - and whether it was believed to work for as well as on women.
Dr James Freeman| Medieval Manuscripts Specialist| Cambridge University Library
Language(s): Middle English, English, Latin
1. 1r
Blessings
Language(s): Latin and Middle English
Incipit: 1r 'Jhesus preser you and lyfe you', 'Benedictus qui venit in Nomine'
Added by two different hands. Full transcription.
2. 1r
Title inscription
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 1r Booke of Fisike
Full transcription.
3.1. 1v
Charm against rats
Language(s): Middle English and Latin
Rubric: 1v ffor to gedryn Ratownys and dryve þem from a place
Incipit: 1v I commaunde alle the Ratoyns þat arn in this place withinne and
witoute
Explicit: 1v dominus deus sabaott be the whiche this place ye kepe ffrom alle wykkyd
whehtes and ffrom alle Ratonys and alle odyr aventorys In nomine patrys et filij et
spiritus sancti Amen
NIMEV 1290-2
DIMEV 2150-2
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4.1. 1v-2r
Medical recipes
Added by hands of the late 15th/early 16th century. They address the following:
- f. 1v: for swelling of a man's penis ('For swellyng of a mannys pyntill') and for a scalded ?head ('[...] a scallyd he[...]'); title partially lost to damage)
- f. 2r: for the heat in a leg or arm that men call a fire ('For the hete in a legge or arme þat men call a feyr'); two for ache in the knees or joints; to draw out a thorn, iron or arrow; and two for bite of a wild dog ('For Bytyng off a wood hound')
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5. 2r
Verse
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 2r folia voluere non ea frangere sit tibe cure / Inspice perlege bene conspice
claude recede
Added in a different contemporary hand. Full transcription.
6. 2v-3r
Thirteen recipes for making ink of different colours
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 2v ffor to make Reed take lyme ungueynt and put þerto water
Explicit: 3r and ster it ofte when it is cold put in youre gumort
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3r
Medical recipe
For an ague.
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3.2. 3v
Charm against fever
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 3v ffor a ffeuer
Incipit: 3v Take mowsere both þe leeffe and þe roote and bray it þe quarte off iij
sponfull þan lett a prees say þe ouer iiij gospellys of þe iiij euangelistes and spryng
holy water ther ouer þan vse
it iij days ffastyng euery day a sponfful þat gete þe a hete with goyng orlyyng euery
day þere afftyre
Full transcription.
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4.2. 3v-5v
Medical and cosmetic recipes
Language(s): Middle English, with some rubrics in Latin
Added by hands of the late 15th/early 16th century. They address the following:
- f. 3v: for canker, for toothache, to draw out a tooth, to make a white face, for ?toothache (rubric partially lost to damage)
- f. 4r: for the bite of wild dog (For the bytyng off a wood hownd')
- f. 4v: three for toothache; to staunch bleeding, for dropsy, for colic.
- f. 5r: for a sore ('For to draw a sore where þu wylt haue it'), for colic and the stone, to restore appetite ('For the stomake to make a man to ete')
- f. 5v: for colic or ?womb pain ('For the Colyk or þe mothyr'), for haemorrhoids, to make a laxative, for swollen testicles, for burning or scalding, for rubbing or chafing, for the pestilence.
Folio 6r is blank.
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3.3. 4r
Charm against fevers
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 4r In nomine Christi omnipotens sempiterne deus qui ffecisti manum beato petro
apostolo fac mihi famulo tuo .N. ut non amplius nec calores nec frigores habeant potestatem
super me
Explicit: 4r Coniuro vos febres que estis septem sorores prima vocatur yllya secunda
sitillia tercia coyllia quarta soffocalia quinta sincia sexta genena septiam
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3.4. 4v
Charm for healing toothache
Language(s): Middle english
Rubric: 4v Pro dolere dencium
Incipit: 4v Take an herbe þat men calle sperward and make a cros þer off
Explicit: 4v Say he [sic] fyue pater noster[is] and fyue Aveis while þat ye makyth þe
cros and whan he gothe to bedde say xv iij ave maria etcaetara
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3.5. 4v
Charm for staunching a bleeding wound
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 4v Take a penne or a strawe and wryte þis iij wordes with the same blode above
the wounde + agla + agla + aglos + otheos ++ it xal staunche with the grace of god
Amen
Full transcription.
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7. 5r
Two recipes for killing birds
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 5r ffor byrdys to be take
Incipit: 5r Take vngueynt lyme and make lye þeroff
Explicit: 5r and as many as ete þeroff shal not fle but deye etcaetera
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3.6. 5r
Charm against hallucinations and evil spirits
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 5r For þe ffantesye
Incipit: 5r Tak betayne and seynt mary leke gaderyd betwix seynt mary daye and bere it
aboute and þer xal no spirits touche þe nor do þe non harme
Full transcription.
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8. 6v
Two alchemical recipes for making gilding
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 6v A water for to gelde syluer oþer coper: Take newe leid eyryn and rost hem or
sethe hem hard
Explicit: 6v whan a drope wyll thirlen a tyn foyle þan it is good þan lett it kele and
put it in bladderis and kepe it in bladderis
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4.3. 6v-12r
Medical recipes
Added by hands of the late 15th/early 16th century. They address the following:
- f. 6v: for the pestilence, for a cut, for burning or scalding, two for toothache
- f. 7r: three for canker, for ringworm, two to break a boil, for the colic and stone, for the bloody flux
- f. 7v: for sciatica or gout, two for the flux, two for migraine
- f. 8r: for haemorrhoids, for bloody flux or white flux
- f. 8v: for ague, for biting of a dog, for worms in a man's ear, for burning or scalding, for pestilence, for headache, for dropsy
- f. 9r: for migraine, for breaking ('For Brakyng' - ?hernia), to make a restorative, for digestion in the stomach, to make a laxative, for the stone, for gout, for toothache, for ulcer or carbuncle ('For to sle wolffe or Carbokyll'), for swelling in a joint or sciatica ('For the oncomth in a joynt or siatica')
- ff. 9v-10r: several for sickness or wasting ('A Noble medesyn for man or woman þat besekenesse or any dissesis wastriþ þis nature')
- f. 10r: for the stone ('Herbys to make a stewe offe for hym þat haþe þe ston grauell'), plus a stronger alternative ('For þe strongour medesyn')
- f. 10v: for sores in a man, woman or child
- f. 11r: to staunch bleeding, for palsy, for dropsy
- f. 11v: two for canker in the nose, for gunshot wound ('For hurtyng with a gonne for the have out þe feer'), for flux, for morphew
- f. 12r: for the stitch, for colic, to remove a boil within three hours ('For to sle a felone with inne iii oris'), for the pestilence
Folio 12v is blank.
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9. 6v
Alchemical recipe for writing without ink
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 6v Item ffor to wryte withoute ynke take þe poudyr off coprose and robbe yt on
clene paper and þenne take þe poudyr off galle and rubbe þerouer and þenne take ffayr
watris and depe a penne þerinne
and wryte vpon þe paper and yt wyll schewe blakke letteris
Full transcription.
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3.7. 8r
Charm for staunching a bleeding wound
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 8r ffor to staunche bledyng sey þis iij tymys and iij pater noster[is]
Incipit: 8r Christus in bethlem natus est: in Jordane batizatus est: Iordanis aquas
ffecit stare Sic faciat tuum sanguinem cessare .N.
Full transcription.
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3.8. 8r
Charm for staunching a bleeding wound
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 8r Contra ffluxum sanguinis
Incipit: 8r Johannis baptista decollatus est latus Christi a longuino milite perforat
est
Explicit: 8r Sicut uerum credimus quod sancta maria uerum inffantem genuit Christum Sic
retrahat vena sanguinem suum In nomine patris etcaetera
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3.9. 8v
Charm against acute fever
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 8v Item Anothir
Incipit: 8v Tak iij bolyis or iij almaundys wryte with a pynnys poynt vpon þe ffyrst
oblyi pater est vita and gyff yt to þe seke þe ffyrst day
Explicit: 8v And al þese must be wreten withouten any tetyl aboven and euery off þe iij
days v pater noster[is] and v Aveis and a crede and be hole with goddys grace
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10. 10v-11r
Recipe for oil of Exeter
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 10v
Incipit: 10v The maner how oyle off exceter shulde be made
Explicit: 11r In þe ffirste begynnyng off þe moneþe off maye take i [pound] or ij off
flouris of cowslyppys and put þem in swete oyle de olyfe
Final rubric: 11rand be þe sure hit is a noble and sure oynement to dystroye alle ache
on mannys body or lyme except goutes etcaetera
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12r
Instruction to know what others are thinking
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 12r a precious ston
Incipit: 12r Geroticon is a blak ston yf a man washe clene his owne mouþe and beryth þe
ston ther in he may telle what men þinke on hym
Full transcription.
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11. 13r-17r
The Wise Book of Philosophy and Astronomy (Variant version)
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 13r Here bygynneth the book of astronomye and phelosophie contryved and and
[sic] mused by the wises phelisofers that euer wern sithen that the world began
Explicit: 17r the first hwore of the nyght next swyng is mercoury the ijde the mone the iijde saturne the iiijthe iubiter the vthe marsthe vjte the sone the
vijvenus the viijthe mercoury the ixthe the mone the xthe saturne the xjthe mars
Variant version interpolated with The Book of Ypocras (see below).
See IMEP, vol 17 (2001), p. 94 for other texts.
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Griffin (2013)
12. 14r-16v
The Book of Ypocras
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 14v ffirst as it is to know it is nedefull to take kepe of the Mone when that
he is at the full ffor then wexeth the blood in man and woman and marow and brayn
of other humours
Explicit: 16r-16v while the Mone is in this signe for it is vncurable that is to say:
If the Sonne or Mars or Saturne but afterward the signes so past men may attend the
which with the grace of god may
helpe hym
For other texts, see IMEP, vol 17 (2001), p. 94.
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13. 17r-17v
Tract on zodiacal signs and associated maladies
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 17r Now whereas it is determyned the courses of the xij signes the iiij
elementis the vij planetis as they reygne dayly the complexions of man
Explicit: 17vastronomyens and phelosophers sith aristotell ipocras or plato which hath
complied [sic] and studyed this book made in actraite to know how a man shuld werk
as well in phesyk as in surgery to
avoyde and to conddissend all bad humours in man to deprave and avoyde
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14. 17v
Note on amounts of tax and tithe due
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 17v The summe of þe taske is xxxviij Mlo Co and liiij li x d ob. / The summe of þe dymys is xviij Mlo vj
Co xxxviij li vj d ob.
Full transcription; note added in a later 15th-century hand.
15. 18r-21r
Collection of seventy-five medical and household recipes
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 18r Primus liber Aristotelis ffesiquh[ae]
Incipit: 18r First how the ach in the hed if so be that it be of the mygrayn then it
will take diuers parties of the hed
Explicit: 21r washe thy her wel therwith and bene then if ther be eny plaas that is
herelese tak and anoynt it with the blod of a bak
Attributed to Aristotle in the rubric, probably referring to his Physics.
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4.5. 21r-21v
Medical recipes
Language(s): Middle English
Added the late 15th/early 16th century. They address the following:
- f. 21r: a powder for the canker, for canker and wounds ('for to knowe þe skeying off the bredyng off þe cankre and in what plase it is take kepe ther as a wounde or an old sore þat is euyl helyd and brekyth out a gayn...')
- f. 21v: to know if a worm be in a sore or not, for biting of a ?snake ('For the Bytyng of a spetyr'), for a tooth falling out, for women's breasts that are aching or rankled, for canker in a man's body, to make a plaster to draw out broken bones, for wounds that are full of blood
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16. 22r-25r
Tract on the virtues of herbs
Language(s): Latin (10 herbs) and Middle English (35 herbs)
Rubric: 22r Incipit liber secundus aristotelis 1534 Maser de cognicione herbarum
Incipit: 22v Igitur virtutes et naturas singulorum debemus agnoscere
Explicit: 25r medeworte is on iij maners and all hath one maner vertu is is hote and
dry in both degrees and if it be with peper and mirre dronken togedir and dry in both
degrees and that thu anoynt thy
gomes therwith it doth away the stynk of the toth recipe and put in thy mowt and it
doth away the tothwerk
Not a translation of Macer's Floridus de viribus herbarum; on the text, see IMEP, vol 17 (2001), pp. 95-96.
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4.6. 25v
Medical recipes
Language(s): Middle English
Added in the late 15th/early 16th century. They address the following:
- f. 25v: for blows/wounds ('For strokis þat arn bloo and nott brokyn'), for pricking of a thorn or needle in the joints, to diagnose skull fracture ('For to knowe when a man is smetyn in the heed with a staffe yff þe panne be broke or nat and þe flesche be hole a bove'), to induce menstruation or effect an abortion ('For to make a woman to have her flouris when þei ben distroied [...] þis medesyn faylyth neuer but loke sche be nat with schylde'), to reduce menstruation
eVK2 4338.00 (v0076400000)
26r-27v
Collection of recipes for medicinal drinks
Language(s): Middle English
They address the following:
- f. 26r: for dry cough, for spitting blood after a bruise, for worms, for dropsy, for frenzy, two to restore appetite, for swelling in the stomach, to warm the stomach, for wind in the stomach
- f. 26v: to cleanse blood from a body, two for the breast, for all manner of maladies in the breast or lungs or arising from the cough, for soreness in the heart, for womb/?period pain ('wryngyng in the wombe'), if one is vomiting blood, two for all manner of fevers, a special drink to end long fevers and 'cold dispeyres', for ?inflammation ('enflure')
- f. 27r: for a clear voice, for all manner of evils in the body, two for all manner of poisons and venoms, a special drink for headache, a special drink for the pestilence, for colic, for dropsy ('be it cold or hote to hele eny man that may holpen')
eVK2 4112.00 (v0076410000)
27v-28v
Medical recipes
Language(s): Middle English
Added in the late 15th/early 16th century. They address the following:
- f. 27v: herbs for the stone
- f. 28r: for swellings ('For eny Mormale or festre or uncome off old soris of mannis skyn'), for swollen testicles, to make a laxative, a drink to give a man or woman in order to know whether they will live or die, to know whether a man who has not been wounded shall live or die
- f. 28v: to make an ointment called 'vade mecum', a precious ointment of 'lyght cost', a good water for all manner of sores, for worms in the body that are called 'lumbrylys', a drink for the same issue
eVK2 4338.00 (v0076400000)
eVK2 4112.00 (v0076410000)
17. 27v
Notes on perilous days for eating birds and bloodletting
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 27v ffor gose etynge: These be þe fforeboden days ffor etyng gose or peion
vpon peyne off his wellfare
Explicit: 27v These be þe forbodyn days ffor bledyng: The laste daye off aprille þe
ffurste daye off Auguste and þe ffurste day off Septembre
For other texts, see IMEP, vol 17 (2001), p. 97.
eVK2 7263.00 (v0076430000)
eVK2 7264.00 (v0076420000)
29r-30r
Collection of recipes for medicinal powders
Language(s): Middle English
They address the following:
- f. 29r: four for the stone, for web in the eye or redness or watering eyes, for canker, for web in the eye, for the stomach and wind and rumbling ('hurlyng') in the bowels
- f. 29v: for menstruation, to stop fevers that affect the feet or arms or legs, for festering sores, for itching, for canker in the gums, another for uncertain purpose ('[...] to cast yf a man be hurst on his ygh to hele it and dry it'), to detroy dead flesh and cleanse a wound and dry it and encourage new flesh to grow, for migraine
- f. 30r: for health, to remove dead flesh in sores and flesh that grows under nails, for migraine, for all manner of wounds, four for canker, for the stomach
eVK2 4112.00 (v0076410000)
30r-30v
Medical recipes
Language(s): Middle English
Added in the late 15th/early 16th century. They address the following:
- f. 30r: for blister or cyst in the mouth ('For the Bladdere in the Rooffe of the mowth')
- f. 30v: for the flux, to staunch bleeding, for migraine or pain in the head
eVK2 4338.00 (v0076400000)
31r-32r
Collection of recipes for medicinal electuaries
Language(s): Middle English
They address the following:
- f. 31r: for dry cough, for the breast and heart, for grievous maladies of the heart, for evil in the heart
- f. 31v: for worms, for the sight and a confortative, to purge the stomach of wicked humours, to comfort the heart and restore appetite, for the cough and breast and rattling in the throat and soreness in the side and for the stomach, for the cough
- f. 32r: for dry and parlous cough, and a water for constipation
eVK2 4112.00 (v0076410000)
18. 32r
List of names of herbs
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 32r These be the sondry namys off erbys þat have ij or iij or iiij namys
Incipit: 32r Consolyda þe maior þat ys comffery
Explicit: 32r Broþerwort þat is puliolle þe monteyn
Compare with eVK2 7421.00
32v-33r
Collection of recipes for medicinal syrups
Language(s): Middle English
They address the following:
- f. 32v: an emetic; syrup of violets as a laxative; syrup of wormwood to restore appetite and for feebleness of the stomach, bowels and liver, and all manner of aching in the breast; syrup of liquorice for the cough and to cleanse the lungs and breast; syrup of hyssop for the lungs and for tightness in the chest and sides; syrup of purslane for fevers and to comfort and cleanse the body of 'all superfluitees'
- f. 33r: syrup to cleanse blood from a man's body; a syrup for constipation
eVK2 4112.00 (v0076410000)
33r-33v
Medical recipes
Language(s): Middle English
Added in the late 15th/early 16th century. They address the following:
- f. 33r: two for toothache, for canker in the mouth, head ache, the stone, red eyes, watering eyes, and to kill worms that eat the eyelids (continuing on f. 33v)
- f. 33v: for sore throat, loss of speech, for a purgation, for wildfire, two for shingles
eVK2 4338.00 (v0076400000)
19. 34r
Tract on surgery
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 34r Now ye haue herd the determinaciouns of phesyk of medcyns ayenst all maner
of ivellis within the menbres of man and in the body of man inwardis as in drynkis
in letwards in powderis and in
suripe now shal we determyne be praktike of surgery to avoyde the superfluitees regnyng
of appostemacions outwardis or
othere hurtes of eny menbres
Explicit: 34r This Rewle is generalle for alle maner of Surgery of eny Appostemacions
owtward
eVK2 3816.00 (v0076440000)
20. 34r
List of medicinal waters, oils, and unguents
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 34r Colman wilt hele hote and cold
Explicit: 34r Aqua Betayn is good for heryng and for alle maner of syknesse within the
body
eVK2 1429.00 (v0076450000)
34v-37v
Collection of recipes for medicinal plasters
Language(s): Middle English
They address the following:
- f. 34v: for a boil ('feloun') that makes the head swell, for swelling or aching in the thighs or feet, two for the hands or wrists or chin, for swollen testicles, two for swelling, for swelling in legs or thighs or feet, two for veins 'that ben sprong', for swollen head or sore wound
- f. 35r: for rankled wounds, for a wound that is over-healed, for canker or rankling in a woman's breasts, for the stomach, for insomnia, an emetic to comfort the stomach, a plaster called 'Dyapalma'
- f. 35v: for the eyelids 'that ben Chaciows so that the liddes be turnid be nyght', for gout, for 'evil' that comes in the testicles or wind, for swelling in the feet, for boils, an antiemetic, for vomiting blood, for quartan fever, for swelling ('Enflure'), for erysipelas ('wildfyre')
- f. 36r: two to break an aposteme, to open an aposteme, a maturative to reduce pain, two for haemorrhoids, six for flux and haemorrhoids
- f. 36v: two to break boils, five for scab/boil ('mormale'), for wounded and for festered breasts, for sustained excretion of blood ('for Blood Shetyng of long tyme'), for headache, for pain in the eye or above it
- f. 37r: to cleanse a wound and increase new flesh, for the stomach, for dropsy in the legs, a mundificative, for swelling from dropsy, for ulceration and scaling of the skin ('a wild Tetir'), for all manner of swelling, bruising and broken bones, to staunch blood from a vein
- f. 37v: for sciatica, for swollen legs, two for a boil ('feloun') deep in the flesh, for gout in the foot, for the stomach, for soreness in the belly
eVK2 1429.00 (v0076450000)
4.8. 37v-38r
Medical recipes
Language(s): Middle English
Added in the late 15th/early 16th century. They address the following:
- f. 37v: for migraine, to staunch bleeding
- f. 38r: for deafness, congestion ('For the Brest þat ys combred with glett'), canker on a woman's breast, canker and festered gout, 'A noble and provyd Medesyn for þe stone' whether in the bladder or elsewhere and for any winds and rising of winds or humours about that place
eVK2 1429.00 (v0076450000)
38v-44r
Collection of recipes for medicinal ointments, entretes and salves
Language(s): Middle English
They address the following:
- f. 38v: for headache and ?skull fracture ('for the Moold fallen down'), for the spleen, two for the skull, for scab, for swelling in the thighs, for erysipelas or another inflamed or gangrenous skin condition ('the Fyre of Helle'), for rankling of wounds or a man's limbs
- f. 39r: for pain or aches ('anguissez or aches'), for scab/boil ('mormal'), for palsy, cold gout and bruising, for bruising, for all manner of wounds and sores
- f. 39v: for 'Unguentum Populeori', for 'Unguentum Citrinum', to ?help a man rest, for web in the eye and all manner of sight loss
- f. 40r: for watering eyes, two for gout, for fester, three to make hair grow (continuing on f. 40v)
- f. 40v: for haemorrhoids, for disease in male or female genitals ('in mans or womans shappe'), for swelling, for 'Unguentum Aureum' for the stone or erysipelas or cold
- f. 41r: for 'Unguentum Agrippa' for dropsy and swelling and as a laxative, for 'Unguentum Fuscum' for cleansing and healing, for 'Unguentum Laxativum' for a laxative, swelling and strangury
- f. 41v: for 'De altea'/'Dentee' for headache and achie in the breast from cold, for 'Unguentum Album' for saucefleme and burning and rubbing when the skin is broken, for 'Unguentum Nardi pistici' for all manner or fevers, choler, stone, aching in the thighs and kidneys, and migraine
- f. 42r: for all manner of wounds, for 'Unguentum Rasis' for making skin again, burning or scalding from hot water or oil, for 'Unguentum Sigillatum' for knitting of broken bones and dislocated joints, for a mollificative and comfortative for broken limbs, dislocated joints and ulcers
- f. 42v: for mollifying all hardness and for coughs from dryness in the breast, for boil/scab ('mormal') and removing melancholy in the extremities and removing itching, for 'Unguentum sine quo' for gout, sciatica and all manner of aches, scabs, menstruation and inflammation/swelling, for 'Unguentum Scala celi', for shrunken sinews, for bruised sinews, for 'Vade mecum' for inflammation/swelling and all manner of apostemes
- f. 43r: for haemorrhoids, for sores, for aches, for 'Apostolicon', for 'Otticrocium', for bruising, for bruises that run, for bruises and aches
- f. 43v: for 'Syroyne' for bruising, for sores called 'Donum Dei' for all manner of wounds and as a mundificative and engendering new flesh, for wounds, 'Scroffores' and apostemes in the abdomen, liver and spleen, for drawing open and healing common sores
- f. 44r: for a black salve for healing wounds, for a grey salve for cleansing a sore, for a white salve
eVK2 1429.00 (v0076450000)
21. 44r
Warning against letting women see wounds sustained in war
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 44r If a man be woundid be war lete no woman se þe wounde ffor yf so were þat
sche hadde deled with a man withine xxiiijti ourys the same wounde of the man schuld
breste owt on a bledyng þat yt were gret aventure off the mannys lyffe
Full transcription.
22. 44r-44v
Collection of ointments used in surgery
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 44r Galyene
Incipit: 44r A syrugien worchyng craftely wheresoeuer he go shuld bere with hym these v
maner of oynementis that is to wete basilicoum for materyng
Explicit: 44v To clense blood owt of a mans body aftir that he is hurt and bled inward.
Recipe: the rote of parselle ffenell the leves of isope centory and rew and put therto
mustard alle these stamped the
juse yef hym in wyn.
Final rubric: 44v Explicit
eVK2 4647.00 (v0076450000)
4.9. 45r-45v
Medical recipes
Language(s): Middle English
Added in the late 15th/early 16th century. They address the following:
- f. 45r: for a festered sore, worms in the belly, the stone, migraine
- f. 45v: for canker in the nose, two for ache and canker in the mouth, for canker on a woman's breast, for canker in the mouth
eVK2 5173.00 (v0076470000)
23. 46r-46v
Advice for healthy living throughout the year
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 46r De canicularibus diebus
Incipit: 46r Ther be .l. canicler days
Explicit: 46v take mesure and non and non oþer for in mesure ys vertue and þat wylle
holy men kepe
For other texts, see IMEP, vol 17 (2001), p. 102.
Taavitsainen (1994), p. 298
eVK2 7134.00 (v0076480000)
24. 46v-47r
Tract on the four humours
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 46v De complexcionibus
Incipit: 46v Right as þer be iij elementis so þere be iij complexiouns according in all
maner qualites to the iiij elementis
Explicit: 47r and moche spyttyng dul and harde of wytt ffat vysage and white of
colour
For other texts, see IMEP, vol 17 (2001), p. 103.
eVK2 4355.00 (v0076490000)
25. 47r-50r
Physiognomy, extracted from the Secretum Secretorum
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 47r De phisonamia
Incipit: 47r Alysaunder the gret conquerour in alle hys conquest and warres was rulyd
by arystotille
Explicit: 50r And þen þow schalt be praysed and be holde wyse before god moch e more
for þan yeff the makyng of þy complexioun were yeffe alle to vertue for he þat is
made most brytull and standyþe
strengest schall most be thanked of god herto accordyþe Seint poule sayyng on þys
maner no man schal be crouned but as
he haþe lawfully and stalwortþy stryvyn
For other texts, see IMEP, vol 17 (2001), p. 103.
eVK2 0802.00 (v0076500000)
26. 50r-50v
Prognostications based on thunder in each month throughout the year
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 50r Thundir in Janyver: signifieþe þat same yere grete wyndis plente of corn
and batell par auenture
Explicit: 50v thundir in decembre signifieþe þat same yere plente of corn and of whete
pes and accorde in þe pepull
For other texts, see IMEP, vol 17 (2001), p. 103.
eVK2 7563.00 (v0076510000)
27. 50v-51v
Tract on twenty-four perilous days in the year
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 50v De diebus nociuis per lunares menses
Incipit: 50v In eche changyng of eche Mone bere .ij. days in whiche what thing euer be
bygun late or neuer schal it come to þe inde and þoo days be perlius for mony thinges
Explicit: 51v and þus þat yere sycurly þow schalt be wavshed from the ffeueres ffrom
the ffallyng evyll and oþer goutis and gout ffesteres and fro lose of þy siȝt
For other texts, see IMEP, vol 17 (2001), p. 104.
eVK2 1179.00 (v0076550000)
eVK2 1182.00 (v0076540000)
eVK2 1233.00 (v0076560000)
eVK2 1234.00 (v0076530000)
eVK2 2778.00 (v0076520000)
28. 51v-52r
Tract on the reign of planets
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 51v De regimine planetarum in dibus [sic]
Incipit: 51v Euermore þus reignyþe planettis in her cors ffirst saturnus þan iubiter
þan mars þan mars þan sol þan venus þan mercurie þan lune
Explicit: 52r lune ys cause of moystere huge waterez and violent flodes
For other texts, see IMEP, vol 17 (2001), p. 104.
eVK2 1541.00 (v0076570000)
29. 52r-53r
Prognostications based on the weekday on which New Year's Day falls
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 52r This suyng chapetle shewys how all þe ȝere ys ruled by þe ffirst day of
ianyuer
Incipit: 52r Yeff the first day of ianyuer be sonday þan wynter schal be good and
warme
Explicit: 53r ffrutis shal shewe and fayle shippys shull be in peryll sumdell moren of
bestes mony schul be seeke but namely of the feuer trestian and old folke schall die
For other texts, see IMEP, vol 17 (2001), pp. 104-105.
eVK2 2650.00 (v0076580000)
30. 53r-53v
Tract on the four humours and the four seasons, the four parts of the day and night,
the four ages of man
and the four pats of the human body
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 53r Now take hede lerne and bewarre in the yere be iiij quateres rewled by the
iiij complexons
Explicit: 53v melancolie reignyþe in all the lymes fro the reignes downward
For other texts, see IMEP, vol 17 (2001), p. 105.
eVK2 3048.00 (v0076590000)
31. 53v-55r
Tract on the planets
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 53v Saturnus houre ys good and stronge to all thinges þat askyþe strenþe
only
Explicit: 55r he haþe a lytull tere and an albugyn id est a white stryke in his
eyen
For other texts, see IMEP, vol 17 (2001), p. 105.
eVK2 4491.00 (v0076600000)
32. 55r-55v
Introduction to Ptolemy and the Almagest
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 55r De regimine signorum
Incipit: 55r Aftour þat Alysaunder the gret kyng conquerour of al the world was gon to
Macedonye
Explicit: 55v and þese iij be signes of wynter
For other texts, see IMEP, vol 17 (2001), pp. 105-106.
eVK2 0748.00 (v0076610000)
33. 55v-56r
Bloodletting lunary
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 55v De tempore secundum cursum lune minuendi luna
Incipit: 55v Luna i all the day to lett blode ys good but namely to fore vnder luna
Explicit: 56r luna xxx bled not þat day by no way
For other texts, see IMEP, vol 17 (2001), p. 106.
eVK2 3425.00 (v0076620000)
56r-57r
Tract on weights and measures
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 56r De ponderibus legalibus
Incipit: 56r Per discretionem totius populi anglie fuit mensura domini Regis composita
videlicet
Explicit: 57r Item centena mulbellorum et durorum pistium constant ex xxvi
pistibus
34. 57r-57v
Tract on bloodletting based on the reign of the signs of the zodiac
Language(s): Middle English, with Latin rubric
Rubric: 57r De regimine lune cum signis
Incipit: 57r Thow schalt vnderstande þat euery quarter of þe Mone contenet in luna
.vij. days fully
Explicit: 57v piscis kepe þy feet and the vtter partiez of them. Explicit
For other texts, see IMEP, vol 17 (2001), pp. 106-107.
eVK2 7531.00 (v0076630000)
35. 57v-60v
Tract on urines
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 57v Rubicunda colour aqua as þe ius of pomeorounge wrogoun out: this
bytokenyþe the same þat dyd þat oþer but not so sore
Explicit: 60v and oþerwhile þe residence ys blacke and þen yef hyt be suche vren yt ys
expulcioun of venomous mater and signifieþe deþe
Final rubric: 60v Explicit quod Whyston
eVK2 4402.00 (v0076640000)
eVK2 7749.00 (v0076650000)
4.10. 60v-61r
Medical recipes
Language(s): Latin and Middle English
Added in the late 15th/early 16th century. They address the following:
- f. 60v: two for morphew
- f. 61r: for pricking of a thorn, canker, two for colic, for migraine
eVK2 5706.00 (v0076660000)
60v
Note on the elements and their properties, the seasons and related humoural temperaments
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 60v Ignus calidus est et siccus / Aer calidus et humidus / Aqua frigida et
humida / Terra frigida et sicca // Estas colericus / Veer sanguineus / Yemps fflematicus
/ Atumpnus
Melancolicus
36. 61v-62v
Extract from a translation of French version of the Secretum Secretorum
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 61v The body is dyuyded into iiij parties
Explicit: 62v kepe the ffro other ffishis þat be grete and off hard skyn ffor suche
ffishis be wyndy and this sufficethe as nowe
For other texts, see IMEP, vol 17 (2001), p. 108.
eVK2 2487.00 (v0076680000)
eVK2 6626.00 (v0076670000)
37. 63r
Medical recipes
Language(s): English
Added in the 16th century. They address the following: for men and women 'that can not make water', two for the ?stomach/?stone, and to staunch nosebleeds. Added in the 16th century.
eVK2 5263.00 (v0076690000)
4.11. 63v-67v
Medical recipes
Language(s): Middle English
Added in the late 15th/early 16th century. They address the following:
- f. 63v: for the stomach, dust in the eye, wind, quinsy ('swynsy'), cramp/pain in the kidneys ('schote in þe reynes') or in the joints, congestion in the stomach ('For glett and glaym in þe stomake'), a purgation, to vomit blood ('...and he xal spit out blod at his mouthe'), for aposteme, for dropsy in the spleen
- f. 64r: a laxative, to restore appetite, to restore sanity ('For a man þat has lost his witt'), for saucefleme, eyesight
- f. 64v: for congestion in the heart ('For to reyse clett ffrom the herte'), 'for þe [?]homonle', 'pins' or cloudiness in the eye ('For pynnyn in eyn...for pynnyns and webbys), an entrete for wounds, for the colic and stone, for feloun
- f. 65r: for aposteme inside or outside the body, to heal a bruise, to stop vomiting phlegm ('ayens vomyte off glett'), a principal medicine for many maladies, for the stone
- f. 65v: for colic and the stone, scalded head, for swelling wounds ('yff a wonde bolne'), for swollen penis ('For swellyng of a mannys veretro alias pyntil'), for sore throat or mouth
- f. 66r: a plaster for swelling in the stomach and to restore appetite and for colic, for aching joints in the leg or hand, for bruises, for strangury and migraine, to make a woman conceive, for shaving of the liver or spleen and jaundice
- f. 66v: a laxative, for black or yellow or white or green jaundice, for snakebite, for burning or scalding
- f. 67r: for the stone, colds in a man's breast, deafness, the stone, dropsy, blow to the neck, deafness, digestion, to comfort the stomach, to heal broken legs and arms
- f. 67v: for wounds, for strangury
eVK2 5706.00 (v0076660000)
38. [63a] recto-[63b] verso
Medical recipes
Language(s): English
The recipes include the dates 24 October 1617 and 30 May 1619
f. [63a] verso contains two notes preceded by the place name 'Teddington' concering payments to 'Thomas Cwsse' and 'Gregory Cadge'
Added by the same 17th-century hand that added the texts on f. [74a]recto-[74b]verso.
3.10. 64r
Charm against toothache
Language(s): Latin and Middle English
Rubric: 64r A good charme ffor the toþe ache
Incipit: 64r Dominus noster jhesus Christus super petram marmoriam sedebat
Explicit: 64r vt non habeas potestatem ueri istum hominem vel mulierem N neque in capite
neque in vllo loco corporis sui nocere valeas. Adiouro te per illum qui passus est
pro nobis in cruce Amen
eVK2 5706.00 (v0076660000)
66v
Instructions to make fish come to your hands
Language(s): Middle English
66v
Instructions to make a horse appear dead and make him rise again
Language(s): Middle English
67r
Charm to put out a fire
Language(s): Middle English
39.1. 67v
Instructions to prevent dogs from barking at you
Language(s): Middle English
39.2. 67v
Instructions to win every game
Language(s): Middle English
39.3. 67v
Instructions to overcome your enemies
Language(s): Middle English
39.4. 67v
Instructions to drive flies out of your house
Language(s): Middle English
39.6. 67v
Instructions to make dogs follow you
Language(s): Middle English
39.7. 67v
Instructions to make a woman fall in love with you
Language(s): Middle English
39.8. 67v
Instructions for creating the illusion of a hare and other animals running through
the middle of your
house
Language(s): Latin
39.9. 67v
Instructions for identifying a thief
Language(s): Latin
40. 68r-74r
Prose lunary
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 68r God off hys grace mad adam vppon þe ffyrst day off the mone in the vale
off Ebrew
Explicit: 74r the wheche rule may not ffayle into þe day off dome but what perell be
ordeynyd to man or woman god and good preyeres may defende yt ffro hem etcaetera.
Explycyt
eVK2 2050.00 (v0076700000)
42. 74r-75r
Prognostications based on the weekday on which Christmas Day falls
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 74r If Crystemesse day ffall vpon a Sonday þat schalle be an esy
wynter
Explicit: 75r and therffor knowe we oure god with good lenyng and thorwe hys mersy he
wyl defende vs ffrom alle mysaventurys that schulde byfalle among vs by dyuerys tymys
afftyr comyng
For other texts, see IMEP, vol 17 (2001), p. 109.
eVK2 2583.00 (v0076710000)
41. [74a] recto-[74a] verso
Medical recipes
Language(s): English
f. [74a]verso contains a note on prices for goods, including wheat and barley
Added by the same 17th-century hand that added the recipes on f. [63a] recto-[63b] verso.
43. 75r-75v
Dieta ypocratis (English translation)
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 75r In the monyth of ianuare let the not blood on the ffyrst day
Explicit: 75vand in this monythe nyghe no ffyre thy thankys
For other texts, see IMEP, vol 17 (2001), p. 109.
Braekman (1988), pp. 55-60
Mooney (1994), pp. 251-255
eVK2 2979.00 (v0076720000)
44. 75v
Tract on perilous Mondays
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 75v That one is the ffyrste monday off ffevruare
Explicit: 75v he soo þat ys born in eny off hem hys body schal neuer rote that ys ffor
to seye the xij day of ianuare the xxiiijti day
For other texts, see IMEP, vol 17 (2001), p. 110.
eVK2 0893.00 (v0076740000)
eVK2 6595.00 (v0076730000)
45. 75v
Note on the three Egyptian Days
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 75v Tres dies sunt in anno in quibus non licet homini uel pecori sanguinem
minuere seu porcionem accipere quia vix et numquam convalesset Scilicet prima dies
lune Augusti et vltima dies lune
Apprilis et vltima dies lune decembris
Full transcription.
4.12. 76r-76v
Medical recipes
Language(s): Middle English
Added in the late 15th/early 16th century. They address the following:
- f. 76r: a 'principall water' to clear eyesight 'for it hath don men left here spectakelys þat haue usid hem vii yer togethir', a medicine for a man who cannot pass water and whose genitals/testicles are swollen ('...for a man þat his water be with sett and his cod be bolnyd' (also of use for colic and the stone), a syrup to cleanse the stomach and breast.
- f. 76v: for festering ('rankelyng') of a sore or wound, for a 'fyllyng' (?swelling), for burning, for sore legs, for swelling in the body, for bruising
Folio 77r is blank.
eVK2 0679.00 (v0076750000)
eVK2 5006.00 (v0076760000)
46. 77v-78v
Book of Ypocras
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 77v Thys ys þe boke off ypocras in þis booke he techith ffor to knowe by what
planete sykenesse lyffe and deth and þe tymys theroff
Explicit: 78v þis rule is generall ffor al maner off surgyrye off postemys outeward
here endyth the booke off Ipocrace off lyffe and dethe translatyd off astronomyerys
the beste vpoun
For other texts, see IMEP, vol 17 (2001), p. 111.
eVK2 2704.00 (v0076790000)
eVK2 3065.00 (v0076770000)
eVK2 8038.00 (v0076780000)
47. 79r-83v
The Marvellous and Sotfast Cunning of Astrologie
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 79r Here begynnythe the merveyllys and the sothffast kunnyng of astrologie
ffounded and proued trewe cc yer or crist was borne by the gret philosopher tholomeus
Explicit: 83v þat is to saye to cancer leo virgo lybra scorpio and sagittaryo
For other texts, see IMEP, vol 17 (2001), p. 111.
Means (1993)
eVK2 2248.00 (v0076800000)
eVK2 8185.00 (v0076810000)
48. 83v
Zodiacal moonbook
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 83v Here begynnyth þe mone off tholomee ffounden by olde doctryne off
Astrologye more þan iij Ml wynter passide off gret Alysainder [sic] and oþer grett
werryores and conquerroures
Explicit: 83v and the clypsys þat here is icallyd dyssemale days þe
astrolaboure or þe quadraunt þe wheche ffallythe||
Ends mid-sentence due to the loss of a folio.
For other texts, see IMEP, vol 17 (2001), pp. 111-1112.
eVK2 3785.00 (v0076820000)
4.13. 84r-85v
Medical recipes
Language(s): Middle English
Added in the late 15th/early 16th century. They address the following:
- f. 84r: a salve for all manner of wounds, for burning and aching wounds, for aching sinews, for rankled wounds, a plaster for 'fillying' (?swelling)
- f. 84v: for biting of a dog, to cleanse a wound in three days, for a wound that is 'ouerhelyd' and sore underneath
- f. 85r: for the ague that comes with a cold
- f. 85v: a good water for canker in a man's lips, a drink for many diseases in the body and head.
eVK2 5091.00 (v0076830000)
49. 84v
Note on the usefulness of this volume
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 84v Thys boke off medesynes ys veri necessary and profytabull ffor soche as be
languente or dolent ffor they haue i ben persuaded and proued vppon pascyens that
haue bene restored too comfortabull
state off body by soche as war prudent and wyse mynysters off the medesynes in thys
present boke contaynyd so that the
dolentes war desyruus too \be/ ordryd off after the aduyce off ther physycyouns ffor
who that dothe the contrary can
not haue the operacion off the medycyn acordyng to the sayng off wyse auncyant doctors
of physyke: Qui contempuit
medicum recusat sanitatem
Full transcription.
85v
Versus de virtutibus scabiose
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 85v vertute scabiose
Incipit: 85v Fert scabiosa pilos vernena non habet ullos
Explicit: 85v emplastrum foris negat attractem tribus horis
eTK 0555B
3.11. 86r
Charm against migraine
Language(s): Latin and Middle English
Rubric: 86r ffor the mygryne
Incipit: 86r In nomine patris et filij et spiritus sancti Amen Christus vincit +
Christus imperat + Christus vos deffendat ab omni malo
Explicit: 86r Et sacerdos dicat oracionem per pacient infirmo deus qui caritatis cum se
?oracione et post communio huiusmodi in sua missa cum prima oracione sue misse sub
uno per dominum
Physical Description
Secundo Folio:
2r ffor the hete in a legge or arme
Form: codex
Support:
Paper: 1-67, 84:
Tête de boeuf (
65 × 30 mm.
), in the centre of the folio, comparable to Briquet, nos 15044, 15097 . These
examples are dated to 1455-1470.
68-83: Main (
65 × 20 mm.
), in the centre of the folio, not comparable to watermarks recorded in
eitherBriquet or Heawood: a hand with a cross extending below the wrist.
Extent:
Codex:
i + 86 +
i leaves.
280 × 200 mm.
Foliation:
First half of the 20th-century foliation
[i]-[ii] + 1-63, [63a]-[63b], 64-74, [74a], 75-86 (for ff. 1r-86v) + [iii]
Numbering in pencil in the upper right-hand corner of a select number of rectos: 5, 13, 15, 18, 25, 26, 28, 30, 34, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65, 68, 70, 74, 79Collation
Due to the tightness of the binding, the collation of this manuscript has not been established.
Condition
Brittle edges with much damage to the lower edges, particularly the lower right-hand
corners. The first
folios have been heavily gnawed by a rodent.
Layout
250 × 160-175 mm. Ruled in leadpoint, frame only. 28-42 lines to the page, written below top line.
Hand(s)
Written in Gothic cursive with both Anglicana and Secretaryfeatures, by multiple hands from the second half of the 15th century and first half of the 16th century.
Decoration
Diagram of 12 urine bottles in brown ink on ff. 57v-58v.
Large two- and three-line plain initials in red on ff. 13r-19r, ff. 26r-27r, ff. 29r-30r, ff. 31r-33r, ff. 34r-37v, ff. 38v-44v.
Litterae notabiliores highlighted with red ink on ff. 13r-19r, f. 23r, ff. 26r-27r, ff. 29r-30r, ff. 31r-33r, ff. 34r-37v, ff. 38v-44v.
Line filler in red ink on f. 14v-15r.
Titles rubricated in red ink on f. 18r and f. 46r.
Underlining in red ink on on ff. 13r-14v, f. 23r, ff. 26r-27r, ff. 29r-30r, ff. 31r-33r, ff. 34r-37v, ff. 38v-44v.
The name 'Galyene' [Galen] has been written with cadels inside a banderol of red ink on f. 44r, where it serves as a header at the beginning of a medical text.
Paraphs in red ink on on ff. 13r-19r, f. 23r, ff. 26r-27r, ff. 29r-30r, ff. 31r-33r, ff. 34r-37v, ff. 38v-44v.
Drawing of a man in brown ink upside down at the top of f. 1v added in the late 15th- or early 16th-century hand.
Binding
(?)Nineteenth-century paneled binding with a triple-line fillet border frame and central frame on brown leather over millboards, with plain pastedowns. Gonville and Caius College's armorial bookplate pasted on the inside of the upper cover inscribed with the classmark number '457' (black ink) and '395' (red ink). The spine features a gold-stamped title ('Medical Tracts'), the gold-stamped classmark '457' and both classmarks ('457' and '395') printed on labels.
History
Origin:
Late 15th- and early 16th-century.
; England.
Date refers to the main texts in the manuscript, to which further additions were made.
Provenance and Acquisition
Grymston: their name in a prayer written in a early 16th-century hand on f. 3r: 'Jhesus Mary grymston'.
Thomas Sowman: his inscription in a 16th-century hand on f. 84r: 'y Thomas sowman of Raylegthe'; perhaps also inscribed the name 'Thomas' twice on f. 85r and once on f. 86v.
James Hyll: his name twice inscribed in a 16th-century hand on f. 86v: 'James Hyll / Kbmks Hkll' [a cipher].
John Whyte: his name inscribed in a 16th-century hand on f. 86v: 'John Whyte'.
Henry Goode: his ownership inscription in a late 16th- or early 17th-century hand on f. 1r: 'Henry Good Noui hosp[italis] Socius est verus possessor huius [libri]'.
Perhaps given to the Gonville and Caius College by William Moore (1590-1659), librarian and collector of manuscripts , as suggested by M.R. James in A descriptive catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library of Gonville and Caius College, vol. 2 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1908), p. 531. The College's classmark numbers have been gold-stamped, printed and inscribed on the covers, but the classmark '457' also features on f. [ii] verso (inscribed in pencil) and f. 1r (inscribed in ink).
Additional Information
Record Sources
This catalogue entry draws on the description provided by M.R. James, A Descriptive
Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library of Gonville and Caius College, 2 vols (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1908) and Kari Anne Rand Schmidt, Manuscripts in
the Library of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge (Cambridge: Brewer, 2001).
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
-
A descriptive catalogue of the manuscripts in the library of Gonville and Caius College, James, M.R. (Cambridge, 2, University Press, 1907)
Studies on alchemy, diet, medecine [sic] and prognostication in Middle English Scripta, Braekman, Willy Louis (Brussel, Omirel, UFSAL, 1988)
Medieval lunar astrology: a collection of representative Middle English texts / edited
by Laurel
Means. Medieval lunar astrology, Means, Laurel (Lewiston, N.Y.; Lampeter, E. Mellen, 1993)
Diet and Bloodletting: A Monthly Regimen Practical and Popular Science of Medieval
England, Mooney, Linne Ruth (East Lansing, MI, 245-262, Colleagues Press, 1994)
A Zodiacal Lunary for Medical Professionals Popular and Practical Science of Medieval
England Medieval Texts and Studies, Taavitsainen, Irma (East Lansing, MI, 283-300, Colleagues Press, 1994)
Manuscripts in the Library of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Index of Middle
English prose, Rand Schmidt, Kari Anne (Woodbridge, D.S. Brewer, 2001)
The Twenty-Jordan Series: An Illustrated Middle English Uroscopy Text ANQ: A Quarterly
Journal of Short Articles, Notes and Reviews, Tavormina, M. Teresa (18, 3, 43-67, 2005, https://doi.org/10.3200/ANQQ.18.3.43)
The Middle English Wise Book of philosophy and astronomy: a parallel-text edition:
edited from
London, British Library, MS Sloane 2453 with a parallel text from New York, Columbia
University, MS Plimpton
260 Middle English texts, Griffin, Carrie (Heidelberg, Universitätsverlag Winter, 2013, ©2013, 2013)
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)
The Light Ages: A Medieval Journey of Discovery, Falk, Seb (Penguin, 2021)
Funding of Cataloguing
Wellcome
Digital Images
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
