Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 609/340
Medical treatises
Physical Description
20th-century foliation
[i] + 1-19 | 20-50 + [ii]
Numbering in pencil in the upper right-hand corner of the rectos. In the first part of the manuscript, only the first leaf of each quire is numbered, on the recto side (f. 9r and f. 17r)Collation
- Quires 1-28 (ff. 1-16)
- Quire 3three (ff. 17-19 |
- Quire 524 (ff. 20-43)
- Quire 68-1 (ff. 44r-50v: 8th leaf missing)
1-28 3three | 524 68-1 (8th leaf missing)
Additions
Quire signatures ('1-3 | 1-2') 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
Seventeenth- or eighteenth-century paneled binding with a triple-line fillet border frame and central frame on brown leather over millboards, with plain pastedowns. The classmarks 609 and 340 are printed on modern stickers on the spine.
Binding height: 325 mm, width: 225 mm, depth: 15 mm
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Acquired by Gonville and Caius from an unidentified source.
Part 1 [Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 609/340, ff. 1r-19v]
Contents
Language(s): Main text in Latin with added English recipes
The Middle English headings read: 'If she be fflayn in hir priuite' and 'If she in þat place be scabbid fflayn and full of quete'; the recipes are not easily legible. Second half of the 15th century.
An incomplete list in alphabetical order of herb and plant names. Added by a 15th-century hand, with further additions.
Two medical recipes for the eyes and one for making aqua imperialis added in the second half of the 15th century.
Physical Description
Collation
- Quires 1-28 (ff. 1-16)
- Quire 3three (ff. 17-19
Condition
Layout
235 × 160 mm. Ruled in ink, frame and lines. Two columns. 45 lines to the page, written below top line.
Hand(s)
Written by a single scribe in Northern Gothic Textualis
The added recipes are written in later 15th-century cursive scripts with Anglicana and Secretary features.
Decoration
Two five-line initials in light brown with penwork decoration in the same colour on f. 1r
One-line capitals highlighted in red ink throughout.
Line fillers in red ink.
Headings rubricated in red ink on f. 3r and f. 4r.
Underlining in red ink for marginal notes and rubricated headings.
Additions
Manicules in brown ink added throughout, and marginal annotations throughout by 15th-century hands.
History
Part 2 [Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 609/340, ff. 20r-50v]
Contents
Language(s): Middle English treatises with additions in Latin
Numerous additions in the margins and other blank spaces by hands of the 15th and early 16th centuries, expanding on entries in the main part of the text. The final two leaves (ff. 44-45) have been torn, which has caused a significant loss of text.
The items have been written in three columns, but half of the items in the first column are only partially legible: f. 46v) has been torn, which has caused a significant loss of text.
The leaves (ff. 46-50) have been torn, which has caused a significant loss of text, and the text is clearly incomplete: it ends in the section 'Knowyng of þe sekeness' which, according to the preceding list of contents, leaves about two-thirds of the original treatise missing.
Physical Description
Collation
- Quire 524 (ff. 20-43)
- Quire 68-1 (ff. 44r-50v: 8th leaf missing)
Condition
Layout
235 × 175 mm. No visible ruling. Mainly single columns (except f. 46v, which has three columns. 32-41 lines to the page.
Hand(s)
The two treatises have been writen by a single scribe in a Gothic cursive script that is a mixture of Anglicana and Secretary features.
The marginal additions have been written in different 15th-century Gothic cursive hands with both Anglicana and Secretary features.
Decoration
Names of herbs and recipes have been underlined in brown ink.
Additions
History
Additional Information
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
-
Manuscripts in the Library of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Index of Middle
English prose, Rand Schmidt, Kari Anne (Woodbridge, D.S. Brewer, 2001)
Geographical and Dialectal Distribution of Platearius' Liber de Simplici Medicina
in
England International Journal of English Studies, Garrido-Anes, Edurne (5, 2, 93-114, 2005)
A Middle English version of the <hi rend="italics">Circa Instans</hi>, edited from
Cambridge, CUL, MS Ee.1.13 Middle English texts, (Heidelberg, Universitätsverlag Winter, 2020)
Funding of Cataloguing
Wellcome
Digital Images
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
