Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries

A catalogue of Western manuscripts and papyri at Cambridge University Library, the Fitzwilliam Museum and selected Cambridge colleges

Cambridge, Jesus College, MS Q.D.1

Medical treatises

Contents

Introduction: This manuscript begins and ends with four parchment leaves (ff. 1r-4v and 161r-164v: Part 1) that have been taken from a late 13th- or early 14th-century legal manuscript and recycled as flyleaves for this 15th-century medical manuscript. While M.R. James dated the leaves to the 14th century, the dates of the law cases and features of the script leave open the possibility of an earlier composition around c. 1300. The core of the manuscript (ff. 5r-160v) consists of paper leaves with watermarks that are difficult to identify due to their poor visibility. Throughout, there are medical works and medical recipes in Latin and Middle English that were copied by various 15th-century hands, possibly with some marginal additions made in the early 16th century. Although the core of the manuscript may originate from a single milieu or location, it is possible to identify at least three parts that may have been produced separately from one and another: ff. 5r-69v (Part 2); ff. 70r-123v (Part 3); and ff. 124r-160v (Part 4). That these three parts were created independently of one another is suggested by differences in their layouts, scripts, and quire numbers. Nevertheless, they were almost certainly joined together by the end of the 15th century: the same 15th- or 16th-century hands can be identified among the marginal annotations in all three parts. What is known about the manuscript suggests that its parts were created and owned in the East of England. While Middle English dialectal features point towards Suffolk and Norfolk [see Language(s)], the manuscript's earliest known owners may have been members of the Spelman family of Narborough, Norfolk [see Provenance]. Dr Clarck Drieshen| Project Catalouger | Curious Cures in Cambridge Libraries|

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Paper manuscript with four parchment leaves taken from an older manuscript and reused as flyleaves both at the beginning and end.
Extent: Codex: 4 | 65 | 55 | 36 | 4 leaves. 225 × 145 mm.
Foliation:

20th-century foliation:

1-4 | 5-69 | 70-74, [74a], 75-123 | 124-133, 135-164

Numbering in pencil in the upper right-hand corner of the rectos. f. [74a] is a small piece of paper that has been stitched to f. 74v with a metal pin. In order to produce a functional electronic catalogue record for this item for the Curious Cures project, the the unpaginated strip was assigned the designation f. [74a]. The modern foliation skips number '134'. This is the result of an error and does not signify that there is a missing leaf between f. 133 and f. 135 (such leaves are sometimes counted in historic foliation practices).

Collation

This collation deviates from that of James (1896) who identified Quire 4 as a booklet of 6 leaves with an added leaf (6).

  • Quire 14 (ff. 1-4) |
  • Quire 212 (ff. 5-16)
  • Quire 316 (ff. 17-32)
  • Quire 48-1 (ff. 33-39: 1st leaf cancelled)
  • Quire 512 (ff. 40-51)
  • Quire 614-1 (ff. 52-64: 14th leaf excised, probably blank)
  • Quire 76-1 (ff. 65-69: 5th leaf cancelled) |
  • Quire 88+1 (ff. 70r-77v: 1 leaf attached to 6 (f. [74a])
  • Quire 98 (ff. 78r-85v)
  • Quire 10-1112 (ff. 86r-109v)
  • Quire 1214-1+1 (ff. 110r-123v: 1st leaf missing and replacement leaf added) |
  • Quires 13-1512 (ff. 124-160) |
  • Quire 164 (ff. 161-164)

14 | 212 316 48-1 (1st leaf cancelled) 512 614-1 (14th leaf excised, probably blank) 76-1 (5th leaf cancelled) | 88+1 (1 leaf attached to 6 (f. [74a])) 98 10-1112 1214-1+1 (1st leaf missing and replacement leaf added) | 13-1512 | 164 |

Binding

17th-century [NB: James (1895) dates the leather to the 18th century] brown leather binding with triple-filetted frames over old (? original) wooden boards with beveled edges and an indentation at the centre of the outer edge of the front board for a strap with potentially the remains of a metal pin protruding through the paper pastedown at the centre of the inside of the rear cover; the spine with four raised bands and a brown leather label featuring a gold-stamped title inscription: ‘MISCELL. MEDICA MSS.’.

Binding height: 230 mm; width: 145 mm; depth: 50 mm.

History

Provenance and Acquisition

Anne Spelman (fl. 16th century) and Thomas Spelman (fl. 16th century) : probably owned the manuscript since their names are inscribed on f. 160v: ‘Anne’ [2x], ‘Anne Spelman’ [2x], and ‘Thomas Spelman’; f. 168v: ‘Exem. [...] Anne Spelman - Thomas Spelman’; and f. 169r: ‘Anne Spelman [...]’; perhaps the siblings Anne and Thomas whose parents were John Spelman (c. 1475-1546), Esquire of Narborough, Norfolk, and Elizabeth Frowyke (c. 1479-1556), co-heir of Gunnersbury, Middlesex. John Spelman owned a collection of Yearbooks, now London, British Library, Additional MS 37659 (see Connolly (2013), p. 62 fn. 47).

Acquired by Jesus College library by 1700: the college's armorial bookplate with the text ‘Collegium Jesu Cantabrigiense 1700’ printed on a paper pastedown on the inside of the front cover; its classmark 'Q. D. 1.' inscribed in pencil aboce the bookplate and in brown ink in the upper margin of f. 1r [‘Q - Δ - 1’ changed from ‘N - Δ - 1’] and printed on three paper labels pasted on the spine. An old shelfmark ‘H. I.’ and ‘H.1.’, which were part of an aborted shelf-mark system used between 1700 and 1705 [see Hanna (2020), p. 73], inscribed in dark ink on the bookplate on the inside of the front cover and in the upper margin of f. 1r. Another old shelfmark ‘N - Δ - 1’ inscribed in brown ink at the top of ff. 1r [but the ‘N’ has been crossed out and replaced with a ‘Q’], 5r, and 164v.

Part 1 [Cambridge, Jesus College, MS Q.D.1, ff. 1r-4v, 161r-164v]

Contents

Language(s): Latin and Anglo-Norman

1. 1r-4v
Law cases
Language(s): Middle French (Law French)

Among the cases are the following personal and place names: ‘Predic comes Gloucestrie et herford et matild’ [? Richard de Clare (1222-1262), 5th Earl of Hertford, 6th Earl of Gloucester and Maud de Lacy (1223-1289), Countess of Gloucester] f. f.1r); ‘Norff. Johannes de Manteby et Petre frater eius petit uersus Robertum de Manteby’ (f. 1v); ‘scilicet in villis de Saxethorp . Matelask . Steuekeye . Manyngtone . Salle . Welhyngham’ (f. 2v); ‘Willelmus de Ancrenges tenuit Baron. de ffolkestan’ and ‘Radulphus de Sonderlond […] tenuit in Bunewelle in Comitatu Essex’ (f. 2v); ‘Angn[es] que fuit vxor Rogeri Duk. […] uersus Simonem de Dullingham’ (f. 3r); ‘Herbertus de Rysele . Robertus de Heyle […] priori de Symplyngham’ (f. 3v); ‘Radulphus Basset et Johannes le Heyward […] Willelmo de Tyfford persone med. Eccl. de Weledon’ (f. 4r); ‘Johannes Basset de Welledon Henricus le sergant Hugo Wynnyg.’ (f. 4r); ‘Placita apud Westm. de quindena Pasch. coram E de Weylond et socer suis Anno r.r. E. sexto decimo’ [1287/8] (f. 4r).

2. 2v
Pen trials
Language(s): Middle English and Latin

Added in the 15th century.

3. 2v
Pen trials
Language(s): Middle English and Latin

Added in the 15th century.

4. 161r
Latin-English synonyms for plant resins and medical conditions
Language(s): Latin and Middle English
Incipit: 6r persidia id est ryndde of ponie garnett - Ylica passio id est dolor stomachi - Persidia id est þe ryndde of ponie garnett - Ylica passio id est dolor do[...]

Full transcription; added by the same hand that copied the synonyma on ff. 6r, 69r, 159r. This item is not included in Lucas (2016).

5. 161r-164v
Law cases
Language(s): Middle French (Law French)

Among the cases are the following personal and place names: ‘Johannes de Hilde tulit breue quod vocatur quare impedit versus quandam Margaretam et dicit quod ipsa’ [probably the 1270s or 1280s, see Brand, The Earliest English Law Reports, IV (2007), pp. 556-558 [edition and translation of ff. 162v-163v], and Seipp no. 1280.011ss, in Legal History: The Year Books. An index and paraphrase of printed year book reports from medieval English legal history, 1268-1535, compiled by David J. Seipp (Boston University School of Law) ] f. 161r); ‘[Rob]ertus filius Ricardi de Adeston Ricardus Gerlande Thomas Styre etcaetera’ (f. 161v); ‘Thomas de Ashamton’ (f. 162r); ‘Leycestre . Joan de Wauacour porta vn quare inpedit sur Hadwysa de Neuton’ [dated to 1276, see Brand, The Earliest English Law Reports, I (1996), pp. 44-46 [edition and translation of ff. 161r-161v], and Seipp no. 1276.001ss, in Legal History: The Year Books. An index and paraphrase of printed year book reports from medieval English legal history, 1268-1535, compiled by David J. Seipp (Boston University School of Law) ] (f. 162v); ‘mester Roger de Seytoun’ (f. 162v and f. 163r) ‘Nicholam de Weston’ (f. 163r) ‘Margareta que sunt vxor Hugonis de Wynestuwe petit uersus Abbatem de oseneye’ (f. 163v) ‘Ricardum de Bions Emmam vxorem eius Ranulphum fil Ranulphi de Asrope et Willmam vxorem eius Hugonem de Hinton et Matildam vxorem eius’ (f. 163v).

Brand, The Earliest English Law Reports, I (1996), pp. 44-46 [edition and translation of ff. 161r-161v]
Brand, The Earliest English Law Reports, IV (2007), pp. 556-558 [edition and translation of ff. 162v-163v]
Seipp no. 1276.001ss and no. 1280.011ss [on ff. 161r-161v and ff. 162v-163v]
6. 164r (upper margin)
Date inscriptions (1400 / 1484)
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 164r (upper margin) Anno domini M.o ccccmo - Anno domini M.o ccccmo octagesimo iiijto.

Full transcription. Added by a 15th-century hand.

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 2r: Ricardus vt filius
Form: fragments
Support: Parchment
Extent: Codex: 8 leaves.

Collation

  • Quire 14 (ff. 1-4)
  • Quire 164 (ff. 161-164)

Condition

The leaves are torn, have holes, and feature ink and/or water stains. Folio 1r is especially affected by these types of damage. A strip of parchment was cut from the lower half of f. 2, causing loss of text.

Layout

225 × 150 mm. Ruled in leadpoint, frame only. Single columns. 32-37 lines to the page, written below top line.

Hand(s)

Copied by a single hand in a cursive Anglicana script.

Decoration

This part of the manusript does not contain any significant decorative features.

History

Origin: Late 13th or early 14th century. ; England.

Part 2 [Cambridge, Jesus College, MS Q.D.1, ff. 5r-69v]

Contents

Language(s): Middle English and Latin

1. 5r
On apothecaries' weights
Language(s): Middle English and Latin
Rubric: 5r A scrupill is þe wyte of a peny and hath þis fygure ℈ a drame is [crossed out: þis] þe wythe of iij penys and hath þeys ffygurys .ʒ.ʒ. an vnce is þe wyte of iiij shillings and hath þis fygure ℥ ℥ a pownd is þe wyte of .xx. shillings secundum aliquo or xl shilings wyth þeys fyguris . lb lb lb

Full transcription.

eVK2 0686.00 (v0072990000)
Lucas (2016), p. 126 [other copies]
2. 5r
Medical recipes
Language(s): Middle English with some Latin

They address the following: to make 'colman' (a kind of black plaster), salve and an unguent called 'vulpum' (for gout).

eVK2 5869.00 (v0073000000)
3. 5r
Line from a liturgical song
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 5r ffuit homo missus a deo

This line is repeated, sometimes with only the first two words, various times, on the same page. It is also repeated in the lower margins of ff. 5v, 7r, 8r, 9v.

4. 5v-10r
De proprietatibus rerum (extracts) Bartholomaeus Anglicus
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 5v Castor est bestia mirabilis que cum quadrupedibus vivit et graditur in terris sub aquis autem natat et comaratur cum natalibus sicut pissis
Explicit: 10r alterius tamen est nature quia frigida et sicca in secundo gradu bedellium uero calidum et humidum ut dicitur in plateario

On the medicinal properties of the secretions of animals and plants, extracted from Books 11 ('tractat de accidentibus scilicet de coloribus et saporibus siue liquoribus et odoribus') and 17 ('tractat de herbis et plantis'). The text includes tracts on castoreum(‘Castor’), honey (‘Oximel’), wax (‘De cera et uirtutibus eius’), butter (‘De butiro’), cheese (‘Caseus’), gum of the balsam tree (‘Balsamum’), aromatic gum (‘Bedelium’), with citations that are attributed to Isidore of Seville (‘Ysodoris doctor’) and Pliny (‘Plinius doctor’).

eTK 0195H (t0037350000)
5. 6r
Latin-English synonyms for wood resin
Language(s): Latin and Middle English
Incipit: 6r colyphony [crossed out: "polyphony"] id est pykke

Full transcription; added by the same hand that copied the synonyma on ff. 161r, 69r, 159r. This item is not included in Lucas (2016).

6. 10r
Medical recipes
Language(s): Middle English

They address the following: a water of nine herbes for all diseases of sores, for broken sinews, for insomnia.

eVK2 5933.00 (v0073010000)
7. 10v-12v
De proprietatibus rerum (extracts) Bartholomaeus Anglicus
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 10v Crocus de quo dicitur canticorum .iiij. et trenorum vltimo est erba ab vrbe coricio
Explicit: 12v Nam sumus eius menstrua prouocat et educit secundinas expellit renua conpescit capud et sensus confortat tussientes iuuat et fluxum ventris cedat et in multis medicinis adhibetur vtiliter

Extracts from book 17 ('De herbis et plantis'). Includes passages on ‘Crocus’, ‘Porrom’ [sic: "Porrum'], ‘Balsamum’, ‘Edera’.

8. 12v-52r
De proprietatibus rerum (extracts) Bartholomaeus Anglicus
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 12v Incipit liber de infirmitatibus et venenis
Incipit: 12v Postquam compleuimus auxiliante deo tractatum de illorum proprietatibus que homini naturam perficiunt
Explicit: 52r succus [...] confert claritati oculorum huc usque plinius

Extracts from Books 7 ('tractat de infirmitatibus et venenis'), 11 ('tractat de accidentibus scilicet de coloribus et saporibus siue liquoribus et odoribus'), 16 ('tractat de lapidibus et metallis') and 17 ('tractat de herbis et plantis'). The text on ff. 13r-52r corresponds with De proprietatibus rerum, Book 7, Chapters 1 ('De dolore capitis et eius signis')-69 ('De medico et eius officio'); it is followed by short accounts of plants, stones, and organic substances from Books 16 and 17, including: ‘Lac’, ‘lilium’, ‘lactuca’, ‘pulegium’, ‘pix’, ‘plantago’, ‘petrocilum’, ‘palmirus’, ‘singnites’, ‘quirini’, ‘quamdros’, ‘gagates’, ‘celidonius’, ‘vua immatura’, ‘vinum’, ‘vinum rubrum’, ‘vinum conductum’, and ‘viola’.

eTK 1069A (t0205760000)
9. 32r
Medical note for or by John Pekeryng [Pickeryng]
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 32r John Pekeryng the lefte legge from the calfe above þe kne down to the fote

Full transcription; added in the late 15th or early 16th century by a hand that has added various marginal notes in the manuscript's third part (see ff. 79r, 80v, 82r, 89r, 95r, 95v, 117r, 132v).

10. 52r
Medical recipes
Language(s): Middle English

They address the following: for worms in the womb, for heat in the liver.

Lucas (2016), p. 126 [full transcription].
11. 52r-61r
Anonymous treatise on affections of the eye
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 52r De passionibus ol [sic] oculorum
Incipit: 52v Auctor iste determinans de passionibus oculorum
Explicit: 61r hec colirium quo vtebatur imperator frethericus et hec sufficit
eTK 0161J (t0031180000)
12. 61v-64r
Uroscopic treatise on the twenty colours of urine
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 61v [A]lle maner men and women þat willyn knowen a manees or womans state be here watyr comyth cum a see þis treteys and ȝe xul knowen perfytly alle here medicinis aȝeyns þo infirmitees Qweche medicynes bene apriuyd be ypocras and be galyene be mawre and be alle docturus þat tretyn of þe same matyr
Explicit: 64r cold is cawse of wyte colowr drye is cawse of thynne colowr substawns and moystnes is cawse of thyk substawns Euery vryne ath in regiowns þe lowest
eVK2 0812.00 (v0073020000)
eVK2 1580.00 (v0073030000)
Tavormina (2014), 47 no. 6.2b [Rufus Subrufus with the "Ipocras" prologue]
Lucas (2016), pp. 36-37 [other copies].
13. 64v
Medical recipe
Language(s): Middle English

For swelling in the body or pain in the heart.

Lucas (2016), p. 37 [full transcription].
14. 65r-68r
Medical recipes
Language(s): Middle English

They address the following:

  • f. 65r: for an unguent made from flowers ('flos vngwentorum') for a variety of ailments, 'For þis mayster herry arthowres cure in open sorys ofte provide...'; a powder for removing a tooth without touching or instruments (continuing on f. 65v)
  • f. 65v: for vomiting/antiemetic, for dropsy, for pestilence
  • f. 66r: for thirst, for incontinence, for aching and swelling in the knees, for trembling hands, for numbness/paralysis in the body, for the stone
  • f. 66v: for strangury, for incontinence, for migraine, for numbness during sleep ('For a man þat is nome in his slepe'), for morphea
  • f. 67r: for white or black morphea, for carbuncle, an oil used by masters of Salerno for aches of various kinds
  • f. 67v: for worms, for stab wounds, for dead flesh and aching legs or gout
  • f. 68r: for obstruction of eyesight ('a perle or a pyn in þe eye'), for the flux, for a bad stomach, for ringworm, for phthisic cough and wind, for removing scales (?dandruff) and making hair grow.

eVK2 5883.00 (v0073040000)
eVK2 5659.00 (v0073050000)
15. 68v-69r
De proprietatibus rerum (extracts) Bartholomaeus Anglicus
Incipit: 68v Resina vt dicit ysodorus . liber xvij est lacrima sudore lignorum exalata
Explicit: 69r ut patet in plateario quere supra de venis terre .li. xvo.

Extracts from Books 17 ('tractat de herbis et plantis') and 19 ('tractat de accidentibus scilicet de coloribus et saporibus siue liquoribus et odoribus'). The extracts are on ‘Resina’, ‘Therebintus’, ‘Galbanum’, and ‘Atramentum’.

16. 69r
Latin-English Synonyms for plant names
Language(s): Latin and Middle English
Incipit: 69r Albenkege id est Moreel þe more Ventemary bery id est morelle þe lesse - Nota

Full transcription; added by the same hand that copied the synonyma on on ff. 6r, 159r, 161r. Lucas (2016) transcribes this item as part of a subsequent recipe for a mouthwash. Nevertheless, there is no obvious connection between the synonyms and the recipe. The synonyms were also added by a different hand; the same hand that added the synonyma to margins elsewhere in the manuscript.

17. 69r
Medical recipe
Language(s): Middle English with a Latin rubric

For a mouthwash. Added to the bottom of the page with ‘plawnteyn and vynegyr’.

Lucas (2016), p. 127 [full transcription]
18. 69v
Medical recipe
Language(s): Middle English

For blocked nostrils.

Lucas (2016), p. 37 [full transcription]
19. 69v
Recipes to make soap
Language(s): Middle English

The recipes are ‘[i]ff þow wylt make blac sope’ and ‘yf þow wylt make wyte sope’.

eVK2 6222.00 (v0073060000)

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 6r: -paliter ambulat
Form: codex
Support: Paper, folded in quarto. Folios 5-69: watermarks are not clearly visible but perhaps include a ? hand in the centre of the inner margin of the page.
Extent: Codex: 65 leaves.

Collation

This collation deviates from that of James (1896) who identified Quire 4 as a booklet of 6 leaves with an added leaf (6).

  • Quire 212 (ff. 5-16)
  • Quire 316 (ff. 17-32)
  • Quire 48-1 (ff. 33-39: 1st leaf cancelled)
  • Quire 512 (ff. 40-51)
  • Quire 614-1 (ff. 52-64: 14th leaf excised, probably blank)
  • Quire 76-1 (ff. 65-69: 5th leaf cancelled)

Leaf signatures consisting of combinations of letters from the Roman alphabet with Roman numbers visible in the lower right-hand corners of the rectos of the first halves of quires 3 (‘b’), 5 (‘d’), and 6 (‘c’). Quire 7 only contains Roman numerals on its 2nd and 3rd leaves: ‘ij’-‘iij’. In quire 3, the leaf signature ‘b ij’ is followed by ‘2 b ij’, possibly correcting an error.

 One catchword in the lower right-hand corner of the last verso of Quire 4.

Layout

5v-52r 160-165 × 95-120 mm. Ruled in hardpoint, frame only, but also partial ink ruling on ff. 44v-52r. Single columns. 37-38 lines to the page, written below top line.

52v-61r 160-165 × 100-105 mm. Ruled in ink, frame ruling, with occasional line ruling on ff. 52v-54v, and continuous line ruling on ff. 55r-61r. Single columns. 30-34 lines to the page, written below top line.

61v-64r 160-165 × 95-105 mm. Ruled in ink, frame and line ruling. Single columns. 32 lines to the page, written below top line.

65r-69v 170 × 110 mm. Ruled in ink, frame only. Single columns. Variable numbers of lines (c. 32-38) to the page, written below top line.

Hand(s)

Folios 5v-52r and 68v-69r were copied by a single hand in a script with both anglicana and secretary features.

Folios 51v-61r were copied by a single hand in a textualis script. This hand may be the same hand that copied ff. 70r-109v and 111r-121r in the manuscript's third part.

Folios 52v-64r were copied by a single hand in a script with both anglicana and secretary features.

Folios 65r-67v were copied by a single hand in a cursive anglicana script.

Medical texts and recipes on ff. 5r 64v 67v-68r, 69v were copied by various hands in cursive scripts with both anglicana and secretary features.

Decoration

Large (2 lines) plain initials in red ink on ff. 56r, 57v, 58v, 59r, 59v.

A title rubricated in red ink on f. 52v.

On ff. 52v-60r, plain capitals are highlighted with red ink.

Additions

Marginal notes that highlight particular recipes in various 15th- and 16th-century hands.

In the lower margin of f. 44r is a rubbing of the reverse of a shilling (measuring about 23mm in diameter) from the reign of Charles II (r. 1660-1685), featuring the garter star in centre with crowned cruciform shields of royal arms with interlinked double C cypher in the angles. The coin may have been a so-called touch piece, which may explain why a rubbing of it was added to a medical manuscript.

History

Origin: 15th century. ; England.

Part 3 [Cambridge, Jesus College, MS Q.D.1, ff. 70r-123v]

Contents

Language(s): Middle English and Latin

1. 70r-75v
Trotula, English translation [Version D]
Language(s): Middle English text with Latin rubrics
Rubric: 70r Assit principuo sancta maria meo
Incipit: 70r Whanne god maker of alle þynkes in þe furst ordinawns and of þe world departyd naturis of þynges to euerry creatur aftyr hys kende he halowed mankend wyth a synguler dignite abouyn al oþir to þe weche above al oþir bestes he ordenynyd condicioun resown and undyrstandyng to þe wurchyp and þe fredam of þe same ordynawns
Explicit: 75v lete hem sette þer fore in watyr þat malows be sodyn inne and pulyoll and sche schall be delyueryd þerof in schort tyme wythowten dowt
Final rubric: 75v Expliciunt secreta mulierum
eVK2 7951.00 (v0073070000)
eVK2 3803.00 (v0073080000)
Green (1992), p. 71
Green (1997), p. 87
Green (2000), IV, pp. 60, 71; V, p. 179
Green (2008), p. 187 n. 70
Lucas (2016), p. 38 [other copies].
2. [74a] recto
Medical recipe
Language(s): Latin with a Middle English plant name

For an unspecified purpose. The recipe refers to spearwort with its name in the vernacular: ‘sperewort’.

3. 75v-121r
Circa Instans, English translation of the Liber de simplici medicina Matthaeus Platearius
Language(s): Middle English with Norfolk and Suffolk dialectal features and Latin
Incipit: 75v Aloe is hote and dreye in þe secunde degre and it is made of þe juse of an erbe þat is callyd aloe and þat erbe is fowd [sic] in jude in perse in grece and in apuleye also
Explicit: 121r Zucarium Sugyr is temperat hote and moyst and is vertu is to moste and to norysche and to lose and if he is medyllyd wyth cold þyngys to a kele in surryppis to ij li of sukyr þer schal be putt j li of watyr and þowe þer be more it is non harm but for þe enduryng and here ende þanke be god
Final rubric: 121r Explicit liber platearum

Folio 110 is an added leaf with entries on plants copied by a different 15th-century hand; see MacKinney (1936), p. 412 fn. 46.

eVK2 0862.00 (v0073090000)
MacKinney (1936), p. 412 fn. 46
Keiser (2004), p. 243
Garrido Anes, Addenda (2005), p. 146
Garrido Anes, De simplici medicina (2005), pp. 79, 91, 112, 129-130, 585
Garrido Anes, Geographical and Dialectal Distribution (2005), pp. 96-97
Keiser (2008)
Lucas (2016), pp. 127-128 [other copies]
Garrido Anes (2019), pp. 210, 223
4. 121r-121v
Notes on herbs and plants
Language(s): Latin

Refers to agrimony, acacia and buglossa.

4. 121v-123v
Medical recipes
Language(s): Middle English with some Latin

They address the following:

  • f. 121v: for a cold rheum and other sickness of the head and epilepsy; two for strangury, 'disfurrye' and other grievances of the bladder; to heat the stomach and help digestion; two for bad breath; to induce menstruation; for loss of control of the bowels ('thenasmon') as a consequence of cold, and for the liver and spleen; to dissolve, consume, open and comfort the members, for epilepsy and other cold sicknesses of the head.
  • f. 122r: three for palsy; for gonorrhea; for lethargy; to make liquorice juice; for 'ayseyx'(?); for dropsy
  • f. 122v: for all swellings and pain and to cleanse wounds; for all swellings whether in the knee or elbow or other ?joint ('mentura') of a man or a horse with a wound or without; for weakness of the stomach or inability to retain food/vomiting; for stomach pain from weakness or wind; for dropsy; for boil/scab ('malum mortuum', i.e. mormal); for rheum of the head; for purging the chest
  • f. 123r: to gently purge the stomach, for stomach pain, for removing and cleansing all swellings across the body, a plaster to heal scars, a laxative powder, for wind, for the flux
  • f. 123v: two laxatives for constipation (the second entitled 'Ad solucionem faciendum sine molestia'), a salve for any kind of wound, for purging the stomach, for the lungs, for indigestion, for sores

eVK2 0862.00 (v0073090000)
eVK2 5843.00 (v0073100000)
123r
Cosmetic recipe
Language(s): Middle English with Latin rubric

For a face that appears leprous ('Pro facie leprosa' / 'For a face þat semys leprose'). Not recorded in Lucas (2016).

123v
Prognostic texts on bloodletting and disease

On three days of the year on which bloodletting and the beginning of disease will certainly be followed by death.

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 71r: dropsy
Form: codex
Support: Paper, folded in quarto watermarks are poorly visible but perhaps including a ? bull's head in the centre of the inner margin of the page.
Extent: Codex: 55 leaves.

Collation

  • Quire 88+1 (ff. 70r-77v: 1 leaf attached to 6 (f. [74a])
  • Quire 98 (ff. 78r-85v)
  • Quire 10-1112 (ff. 86r-109v)
  • Quire 1214-1+1 (ff. 110r-123v: 1st leaf missing and replacement leaf added)

Leaf signatures consisting of combinations of letters from the Roman alphabet with Roman numbers visible in the lower right-hand corners of the rectos of the first halves of quires 8 (‘a’), 9 (‘a’), 10 (‘c’), 11 (‘d’), and 12 (‘e’). The leaf signatures in Quire 9 are unusual: ‘a v’, ‘a vj’, ‘a iij’, ‘a iiij’.

 Catchwords in the lower right-hand corners of the last versos of all quires.

Layout

70r-109v and 111r-123v 170-190 × 110-115 mm. Ruled in hardpoint on ff. 70r-71v and in ink on ff. 72r-123v, frame and line ruling. Single columns. 34-37 lines to the page, written below top line.

Hand(s)

Folios 70r-109v and 111r-121r are written by a single hand in a textualis script. This hand may be the same hand that copied ff. 51v-61r in the manuscript's second part.

Folios 110r-110v are written by a single hand in a script with both anglicana and secretary features.

Folios 121r-121v and 122r-123v are written by a few hands working in scripts with both anglicana and secretary features.

Folios 121v-122r features recipes written by a single hand in a textualis script. This hand may be the same hand that copied ff. 124r-158r in the manuscript's fourth part.

Decoration

Large (2 lines) plain initials in red ink throughout.

Titles rubricated in red ink on f. 121v and f. 123r.

Plain capitals are highlighted with red ink throughout.

Additions

Marginal notes that highlight particular recipes in various 15th- and 16th-century hands. One is a late 15th- or early 16th-century hand that has added "Notas" in light-brown ink on ff. 79r (‘Nota for makyng of many thyng profytable’), 80v (‘Nota for the Stomake’), 82r (‘Nota for a frenesy’), 89r (‘Nota for Chylde to conseyve’), 95r (‘Nota for the stone stranguria and gowtes’), 95v (‘Nota for Schabbe’) 117r (‘Nota for þe louer and for the splene’, 132v (‘Nota for rednes in the face’). The same hand has added a medical note on a certain John Pekeryng in the manuscript's second part (f. 32r) and "Notas" to the manuscript's fourth part (f. 132v).

A parchment tab on ff. 92r-92v is inscribed with titles for the recipes found on these pages: ‘for clenyng of lyppys’ and ‘splene’.

History

Origin: 15th century. ; England.

Part 4 [Cambridge, Jesus College, MS Q.D.1, ff. 124r-160v]

Contents

Language(s): Middle English and Latin

1. 124r-126v
Collection of recipes for medicinal oils
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 124r Here begynnyth þe makyng of oyles for diuerse infirmitees and furst we schalle declare þe makyng of oyl of laurus and aftyrward procede of oyþir
Incipit: 124r Take þe bayes of þe laurell or of þe leuys grene and stampe hem smale and take an erthen pott wyth a lede corde\g/ þer to and put þer ynne a potell oyle or a galown aftyr þin pott may suffice
Explicit: 126v To make oyle of al mawntys or of oþyr kyrnellys: Take almawdes and blawnche hem þanne putt hem in a poot an set it a noþir seþinge pott and þe breey of þat seeþinge potte schalle ryse an entre into þe kernell and þat wole be godde oyl wan it is wrungune þorough a clene cloth
eVK2 6047.00 (v0073110000)
Lucas (2016), p. 38 [other copies]
2. 126v-128r
The Letter of Ipocras
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 126v Thys book ypcras sent vnto kynge sasar þat he desyryd of hym and now I haue made it I send it to yow and wete ȝe wele it is gode tresore kepe it welle as yowre owne lyff for I haue made to helpe and hele of yowre body
Incipit: 126v Euery mani [sic: or "mam"] beste and fowle hayth .iiij. humerus weche bene humerus of mannes body þat is to seye . oon is hote . a noþir is colde . þe þrid moyst. þe iiij. drye.
Explicit: 128r and vse hem be þe morn and at evyn and þeyes þinges schulle put awey þe superfluite of flewme and kepe þe body in gode temperawnce and in helthe
Final rubric: 128r Explicit dieta ypocracij
eVK2 7354.00 (v0073120000)
eVK2 1558.00 (v0073130000)
Robbins (1970), p. 409 fn. 47
Tavormina (2007), p. 634
Lucas (2016), p. 38 [other copies]
3. 128r-129r
Treatise on the four regions on the human body where afflictions occur
Language(s): Middle English text with Latin heading
Rubric: 128r De quatuor infirmitatibus corporum vbi insurgunt . These bene þe .iiij. partes þer þe sykenes of þe body begynnen
Incipit: 128r þat is to sey in þe hede in þe breste in þe wombe and in þe bladder
Explicit: 129r but he vse þis [crossed out: "is"] medycen he schalle haue þe dropsye or þe lyuere chafed or þe intrayles stoppyd or ellys þe stone
eVK2 7274.00 (v0073140000)
Tavormina (2007), p. 639
Lucas (2016), p. 39 [other copies]
4. 129r-131r
Tract on the nine pulses
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 129r Intra Taury pulsus primus Spira primus compeccionis Colericis significat Tavrus
Incipit: 129r For to knowe þe dissese of a coleryk man þat is for to seye a brown man take Take \hese/ pulse in þin hande and if it meve fast above betwene þe fel and þe flesh þat is smalle be þe spase of iij vnches to þe pameward þanne lyth þe maledye above þe mydreff
Explicit: 131r And yf he slepe not and hese botche wex rownd it is toekene of lyff . so þat þe kende swellyth þat is to seye þe hote agew smytte not in to þe hede . he is curable ynow ageynne þe hote sykenes he mote haue cold medicynes
eVK2 1912.00 (v0073150000)
Robbins (1970), p. 400 fn. 10
Lucas (2016), p. 40 [other copies]
5. 131r
Tract on the nine sage leaves
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 131r þe .ix. sawge leuys
Incipit: 131r For to knowe be þe vij speryis a forseyd wanne þe levys bene leyd in þe myddys of þe hand and holden þer inne .ij. owres or .iij. tyl þey haue take odowr of þe palme of þe hand kende swete þan it is token of lyff and yf þe swetynge ouyr þe odowr of þe sawge þan is þe stomak and þe herte stoppyd ful of glett and englewmed and þat is a takynyng of deeth

Full transcription. Lucas (2016) considers this tract as part of the preceding tract on the nine pulses.

eVK2 1910.00 (v0073160000)
6. 131r-133v
Treatise on bloodletting
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 131r To wete an to knowe þe veynes off blode letynge
Incipit: 131v The veyne in þe forhede þe myddyll veyne þat is gode to blede on . ffor þe hed ache and for þe myggryne þat euyll taketh þe halff heed and and [sic] maketh þe hede to ake
Explicit: 133v Tho lete blood on veynes oon þe feet lete be sett in watyr
Final rubric: 133v Explicit Minucio sanguinis ffaciendi
eVK2 7062.00 (v0073170000)
Lucas (2016), p. 40 [other copies; transcribes the final rubric as ‘Explicit agnicio sanguinis ffaciendi’]
7. 133v-135r
Tract on the four bodily complexions or constitutions
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 133v De iiij compleccionibus quomodo apparent in corporibus humanis
Incipit: 133v The coleryk man hayth a brown face and somdelle blak and brown or blak herre and brown yeen
Explicit: 135r saue hisse face is sumdele brown þerwyth a malyncolyk man medyllyd with flewme is a pale man and hys but schort lyvyd
eVK2 6644.00 (v0073180000)
Lucas (2016), p. 41 [other copies]
8. 135r
Tract on the number of bones and veins in the human body
Language(s): Middle English with a Latin heading
Rubric: 135r [T]her ben in a mannys body .ij. C. bonys and xvij. And also þer bene in a mannys body .m.C. veynys. and .lxv. Also þer ben in a mannes hede þat hath parfyte age .xxx.ij teth . Vndyrstandyng is in þe forhede . Mende in ve brayn . Wrathe in in [sic] þe galle Auarice in þe stomak þe galle auarice in þe stomak . loue in þe hert . Breeth and blood. troste and feyth in þe lungys . Joye in þe splene . jowght in þe body . hope in þe sowle Mynde in þe spryt and feyth

Full transcription.

eVK2 7169.00 (v0073190000)
Lucas (2016), p. 41 [other copies]
9. 135r-136v
Medical recipes
Language(s): Middle English and Latin

They address the following:

  • f. 135r: for canker and fester and boils/ulcers ('bottches') and old or new sores, a salve for colic
  • f. 135v: four for colic
  • f. 136r: for gnawing and aching pain and all manner of cold 'cowtys' like sciatica or gout, for swelling or aching wounds, for a dead or dry member, for a purgation
  • f. 136v: to cleanse the breast and remove phlegm and comfort the heart and lungs, for a stitch in the breast or stomach

eVK2 5752.00 (v0073200000)
10. 137r-139r
Tractatus de morbo epidemiae (English translation) John of Burgundy
Language(s): Middle English with Latin rubric
Rubric: 137r Here begynyth a nobil tretyse made of a Physyan John of burdews for medysyn ageyn þe pestylens euylle
Incipit: 137r And it is departyd in to .iiij. partyes The oo partey tellyth howe a man schale kepe hym in tyme of pestilence þat he falle not in to þat syekenes The secunde tellyth how þe sykenesse comyth . The trydde tellyth medycen a geyn þe sykenes The fowrth how he schal be keppe þer inne Thys clerke seyth in þe fyrst capityl þat for defawte of gode rewel ad dietyng in mete and drynk men fallyn ofte in to sykenes
Explicit: 138v-139r and wo so is þer inne blede be tyme as þat oþir chappyttyl telleth And rewylle hym aftyr þe .iij. and thorowe þe grace of god he schalle schappe þys sykenes and be dilyueryd from hym
Final rubric: 139r Explicit tractatus johannes de burdigalia edititus contra morbum pestilencie qui est morbus epidimialis anno domini millesimo trecentesimo nonagesimo
eVK2 2181.00 (v0073210000)
eVK2 7379.00 (v0073220000)
Sudhof (1911), p. 70 n. 2
Singer (1916), pp. 171, 173
Singer and Anderson (1950), p. 35 no. 17
Lucas (2016), p. 41 [other copies]
Honkapohja (2020)
Jones (2021), p. 39
11. 139r
Instructions for treating the plague with glosses of herbs
Language(s): Latin instructions with glosses in English
Incipit: 139r Unum remedium reseruatiuum inter alia insererem [sic] videlicet quod fugiendum esset a loco vbi regnat mortalitas
Explicit: 139r rose herbe johannis amaruste anglice maythe endyiue agrestis anglice sawthistill acedule anglice sorrell

According to Lucas (2016), p. 129 the instructions are appended to John of Burgundys' plague treatise.

Singer and Anderson (1950), p. 35 no. 17
Lucas (2016), p. 129
12. 139r-144v
Medical recipes
Language(s): Middle English some with Latin headings

The recipes address the following:

  • f. 139r: an ointment for gout
  • f. 139v: two for hernia, on the virtues of elecampane ('De virtutibus elenepanpane'), for broken rib, for evil spirits, for venom
  • f. 140r: for eyesight, for the anaesthetic 'dwale', for enlarged spleen or liver ('For þe Elff cake')
  • f. 140v: for breaking a boil/carbuncle, for swollen veins, for a plaster to heal scab/boil ('mormal'), two for rectal prolapse, for migraine
  • f. 141r: ointments and unguents, including for gout
  • f. 141v: unguent for evils, bruises, swellings and sinews; an ointment for the kindeys and all evil bruises and to lessen pain; an unguent to make new flesh grow in wounds and sores (followed by another on f. 142r)
  • f. 142r: a mundificative to clean, comfort and cleanse wounds, an unguent for coughs
  • f. 142v: to make Gracia Dei, for deafness, for scalded head (continuing on f. 143r)
  • f. 143r: for swelling, lesion or eruption ('botche') on a woman's breast, for cramp, for haemorrhoids, for sores, two for loss of appetite
  • f. 143v: for the kidneys, for restoring eyesight, for aching from any wound, two to induce menstruation or abortion ('...but loke wel þat sche be not wyth chylde...'), three to reduce menstrual flow (continuing on f. 144r)
  • f. 144r: for ?festering scabs ('For fowle schalbes'), for pain under the sides, for ringworm, for swollen stomach
  • f. 144v: for the stomach

eVK2 6193.00 (v0073230000)
13. 144v-145r
Tract on the qualities of the Planets
Language(s): Middle English with a Latin heading
Rubric: 144v De quatuor qualitatibus quomodo diuidentur per influenciam planetarum
Incipit: 144v Saturnus is cold and drye and wo so is born vndyr þis planite he schal be halff folysch and slowgh and screwednesse doyyng malencolyows in hert and euyl willyng havyng scharp herys and þinne berd stinkkyng cloþes and vnclene and mowth blak And he is of hygh desyre in hese \and/ colowr is blaak
Explicit: 145r luna: The mone is cold and moyst and þey þat bene born vndyr here þey be somwat medyllyd with þe oþir and þey bene vnstabyl messengeris and þey bene comonly remaynge abowte and of non abydynge here face is rownd of evyn stature and þat oon yee of hem is more þan þe toþir and seelde it is senn þat oon of hem is wythowtyn wemme
eVK2 4473.00 (v0073240000)
Lucas (2016), p. 42 [other copies]
14. 145r-150r
Medical recipes
Language(s): Middle English

Containing sections on the virtues of plants excerpted from Floridus Macer, Viribus Herbarum (ff. 146v-148v). The recipes address the following:

  • f. 145r: for numbness in any member from cold or palsy, for a broken vein, for congested stomach
  • f. 145v: for congested lungs in a child or man, for jaundice, for lice, for diagnosing and two for treating a morbid swelling/aposteme
  • f. 146r: for jaundice, for dropsy, for headache, for sore legs, two for palsy
  • f. 146v: for reviving a man ('For despeyr of a mans lyve'). The virtues of wormwood: to induce sleep, for saving clothes from moths, for swelling under the tongue, for tinnitus, for swollen liver/spleen ('elff cake'), for congestion of the stomach, and for sea-sickness ('Tho saue a man from castynge a specyal mediceyn wo þat hath no wyll to caste in Schyppe on þe see
  • f. 147r: the virtues of nettle: for jaundice, for pain in the flank/abdomen ('male deflank'), for gout, for swelling in the womb, for dog bite, for making flesh grow over a wound, for boil/carbuncle, for gout, for passing urine, for a laxative, to induce sweating. The virtues of garlic: for snakebite, for dog bite, for venom
  • f. 147v: The virtues of garlic (continued): for swollen bladder, for jaundice, for earache, for good digestion, for the eyes, cough and swelling. The virtues of plantain: for flux, for evil in the mouth, for spitting blood, for menstruation, for swollen feet, for swollen gums, for worms in the womb
  • f. 148r: The virtues of rue: for the stomach, to induce labour, for the cough, for pain in the womb, for pain under the ribs, for pleurisy, for eye problems (obstructed vision), for skin ulceration/erysipelas ('For tederis'), for venom. The virtues of violet: for hot swelling on a limb
  • f. 148v: The virtues of violet (continued): for red or swollen eyes, for hot gout, to staunch bleeding. The virutes of horehound: for cough, to induce labour, for loss of eyesight. The virtues of hyssop: for constipation, for cough, for dropsy, for cleansing the breast, for the gums. The virtues of smalache: to staunch bleeding, for the stomach
  • f. 149r: The virtues of smalache (continued): for passing urine, for an antiemetic, for fevers, for mange. The virtues of sage: for biting of venomous beasts or worms or dog bite or snakebite, to staunch bleeding from a wound, for cough, for fester, for sore eyes. The virtues of betony: for eyes sore from a blow, for earache, for bloodshot eyes, for cough
  • f. 149v: The virtues of betony (continued): for venmous worms or snakes. The virtues of camomile: for breaking bladder stone, to induce labour, for jaundice, for fever, for swelling, for headache. The virtues of puliol: for fainting ('malefaccion'), for loss of teeth. The virtues of fennel: for venom, for loss of eyesight
  • f. 150r: The virtues of fennel (continued): for dropsy, for restoring breast milk, for passing urine, for an antiemetic, for pricking or aching in the members, to staunch bleeding

eVK2 6193.00 (v0073230000)
eVK2 6548.00 (v0073250000)
15. 150r-151r
Tract on ointments
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 151r [H]ere begynnyth þe makyng of nitretys and onimentys for alle maner wondes and sorys
Incipit: 151r A good intret for wondes: Take bugyl . sanycle and consownd þe lesse þat is dayse Egrymony . Pimpernol pyclyl plawnteyn Smallache . Cerfoyle and .iij. leuyd gresse þe croppe of þe brymbylle Confery . betany lamcelett pervinccyll Avence strawbery wyse Smerwort Osmund and leec
Explicit: 151r þys onyment schalle be drunke wyth weyn or wyth ale þis oniment is gode ffor þe kanker and for þe feloun and for alle maner woundes be þey neuer so smale no so deep but þat it wole hele wele and fayre
eVK2 5190.00 (v0073260000)
16. 151r-151v
Tract on medicines used in surgery
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 151r Hijs medicinis vtimur in cyrurgia pluribus modis et causibus earum
Incipit: 151r Alie sunt debiles alie fortes Alie sunt forciores et alie iterum forciores
Explicit: 151v et fiat vnguentum

The opening also occurs in Guy de Chauliac's Chirurgia magna.

17. 151v
A medical ointment called ‘Mundificatum de resina’
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 151v Vnguentum bonum ad mundicandum neruos et maturandum et saniem attrahendere et dicitur mundificatum de resina
18. 151v-152r
Tract on the treatment of wounds and abcesses
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 151v-152r Quando cum uulnere fuerit apostema uel mala discrassia non potest curari nec debet nisi sedatur apostema uel mala discrassia congatur et in alio loco dicum est Multum est egris vtile medicum quidem honorabile si membra poterit ab apostemate uulnerata mala que decrassia deffendere nam aliter wulnera non curantur nisi prius ad naturam debitam reducantur
Explicit: 152r et semper agitando cum spatula et de hoc descendatur supra peciam panni et ponatur supra appostema [crossed out: "panni"] donec fuerit maturatum . maturato . nec apostemate fac si potes materiam ad wulnus derivare
19. 152r-154r
Tract on the treatment of flesh wounds
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 152r De uulneribus que sunt in carne tractare uolentes incipimus a simplicis dicentes
Incipit: 152r quod si uulnus factum fiunt in corpore cum telo uel cultello
Explicit: 154r quod oleum factum fuit de oliuis in maturis scilicet uermium terrestriu[m] conglutmositas [sic] remouet illud membrum dampnum
20. 154r
Medical recipe
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 154r Medicina mundificatius nervorum vulneratorum

For wounded nerves.

21. 154r-155r
Tract on the treatment of wounds that result from broken or dislocated bones
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 154r De uulneribus factis cum fractura ossis et dislocacione
Incipit: 154r Quando uulnera sunt adeo profunda nec solum caro uulneratus set os carni tunc considerandum est vtrum sit totaliter inscisum sicut alij insciditur
Explicit: 155r et farma ordei ad mundificacionem uulneris et intus fila panni albi uetusti usque ad plenam mundifcacionem
22. 155r-155v
Tract on the treatment of wounds that result from contusions
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 155r De uulneribus que fiunt ex concussione
Incipit: 155r Vulnera fieri dicimus ex concussione que fiunt casu obmateracionem [?] percussione non acute
Explicit: 155v dicta cura in uulneribus neruorum reperiturum [?]
23. 155v-157v
Medical tract with medical recipes
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 155v In principio cuiuscum operis inuocandum est deum summum artificem medium vnde in isto perhenno inuoco ipsum ut sit michi in auxilum egrotantibus remedium cuius nomen in secula sit benedictum Amen
Incipit: 155v [M]edicina pro corpore humano finaliter componuntur set quia corpus humanum sit ex .iiij. elementis contrarijs . ut ex .igne. aere. aqua. et terra. quibus referuntur etates conplecciones vnde corpus humanum dicitur fragile et transmutabile
Explicit: 157v in estate sic proporcionantur
eTK 0858K (t0165900000)
24. 157v-160v
Medical recipes and charms
Language(s): Middle English and Latin

Added in the later 15th/early 16th century. They address the following:

  • ff. 157v-158r: a long herbal recipe for 'fernale/feruale')
  • f. 158r: for toothache, for tinnitus (wind in the ear), for (?)'horseed', for the sinews
  • f. 158v: for the sinews, for the kidneys, for aposteme, for swelling of the penis, for the chest, for purging the chest, for dizzines ('Ad vertiginem'), for outward or inward rupture/hernia
  • f. 159r: for all swelling in all members, for all ailments of the eyes, for clear eyesight by removing blood, for kidney stone, for lice, for back pain, for flux, for headache
  • f. 159v: ?for the sight, scabies, 'rabien' (?rabies), loss of appetite ('fastidia uentrem'), for the kidneys, for ailments of the heart, for dropsy, for cough, for strengthening the stomach and restoring appetite, for fever, for the lungs, for aposteme, to aid conception, a charm to staunch bleeding
  • f. 160r: for a swelling/boil ('botche') between the neck and shoulder, for tightness in the throat, for removing hair, for verruca, for fevers, for the spleen
  • f. 160v: two for the pestilence, to make 'water imperial'

eVK2 4933.00 (v0073270000)
25. 159r (lower margin)
Latin-English synonym for a plant name
Language(s): Latin and Middle English
Incipit: 159r Anetum id est dylle

Full transcription; added by the same hand that copied the synonyma on ff. 6r, 69r, and 161r.

26. 161v
Saying
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 161v Dum sumus in mundo vivamus corde jocundo

Full transcription. Copied (with minor variations) four or five times to the page.

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 125r: pott it
Form: codex
Support: Paper, folded in quarto. Folios 124r-160v: watermarks are not clearly visible but perhaps include a ?circle in the centre of the inner margin of the page.
Extent: Codex: 36 leaves.

Collation

  • Quires 13-1512 (ff. 124-160)

Leaf signatures consisting of combinations of letters from the Roman alphabet with Roman numbers visible in the lower right-hand corners of the rectos of the first halves of quires 13 (‘a’), 14 (‘b’ [written in red ink]), and 15 (‘a’).

 No catchwords.

Layout

160-170 × 110 mm. Ruled in hardpoint, frame and line ruling, but occasional ruling in ink (ff. 125r-125v [frame and lines], 135r-135v [frame and lines], 138r-138v [frame], 147r-147v [frame], 153r [lines], 156v [lines]). Single columns. 33-35 lines to the page, written below top line.

Hand(s)

Folios 124r-158r were perhaps copied by a single hand in textualis script. This hand may be the same hand that copied a group of recipes on ff. 121v-122r in the manuscript's third part.

Folios 158v-160v were copied by multiple hands in a script that combines both anglicana and secretary features.

Decoration

Large (1-2 lines) plain initials in red ink throughout.

Titles rubricated in red ink throughout.

Plain capitals are highlighted with red ink throughout.

Additions

Marginal notes that highlight particular recipes in various 15th- and 16th-century hands. One is a late 15th- or early 16th-century hand that has added "Notas" in light-brown ink (e.g. ‘N[ota]’ on f. 132v). The same hand has added a medical note to the manuscript's second part on a certain John Pekeryng in the manuscript's second part (f. 32r), and "Notas" to the manuscript's third part (see ff. 79r, 80v, 82r, 89r, 95r, 95v, 117r, 132v).

History

Origin: 15th century. ; England.

Additional Information

Record Sources

This catalogue record draws on M. R. James, Manuscripts in the Library of Jesus College Cambridge (London, 1895) and Angela M. Lucas, Manuscripts in Christ's Church, Emmanuel, Jesus, Selwyn and Sidney Sussex Colleges, Peterhouse and Trinity Hall, Cambridge, The Index of Middle English Prose, Handlist 22 (Cambridge: Brewer, 2016).

Availability

Visitors to Jesus College who wish to consult Special Collections material are required to apply to the Old Library in advance of their visit. For information on eligibility and admission procedures see: Jesus College: Old Library.

Bibliography

    A descriptive catalogue of manuscripts in the library of Jesus College, Cambridge, James, M. R. (London, Clay, 1895) Pestschriften aus den ersten 150 Jahren nach der Epidemie des "Schwarzen Todes" 1348, Sudhoff, Karl (Leipzig, Barth, 1911) Some plague tractates (fourteenth and fifteenth centuries) Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, Singer, Dorothea Waley (9, 159–212, 1916) "Dynamidia" in Medieval medical literature Isis, MacKinney, Loren C. (24, 2, 400–414, 1936) Catalogue of Latin and vernacular plague texts in Great Britain and Eire in manuscripts written before the sixteenth century, Singer, Dorothea WaleyAnderson, Annie (London, Heinemann Medical Books, 1950) Medical Manuscripts in Middle English Speculum, Robbins, Rossell Hope (45, 3, 393-415, 1970, http://www.jstor.org/stable/2853500) "A drynke þat men callen dwale to make a man to slepe whyle men kerven him": A Surgical Anesthetic from Late Medieval England Health, Disease and Healing in Medieval Culture, Voigts, Linda EhrsamHudson, Robert P. (Basingstoke, 34-56, Macmillan, 1992) Obstetrical and gynecological texts in Middle English Studies in the Age of Chaucer: Yearbook of the New Chaucer Society, Green, Monica H. (14, 53-88, 1992) The earliest English law reports. Vol.1: Common Bench Reports to 1284 Publications of the Selden Society, Brand, Paul (London, 1, Selden Society, 1996) A handlist of the Latin and vernacular manuscripts of the so-called Trotula; texts. Part II: The vernacular translations and Latin re-writings Scriptorium: Revue internationale des études relatives aux manuscrits / International Review of Manuscript Studies, Green, Monica H. (51, 80-104, 1997) Women's healthcare in the medieval West: texts and contexts Collected studies, Green, Monica H. (Aldershot, Ashgate, 2000) Scientific, medical and utilitarian prose A Companion to Middle English Prose, Keiser, George R. (Woodbridge, 231–247, Brewer, 2004) De simplici medicina (Circa instans) en ingles medio: vernacularizacion del tratado salernitano de Mateo Plateario, Garrido Anes, Maria Edurne (2005, PhD) Geographical and Dialectal Distribution of Platearius' Liber de Simplici Medicina in England International Journal of English Studies, Garrido Anes, Maria Edurne (5, 2, 93-114, 2005) Addenda al listado de manuscritos del Circa Instans preservados en bibliotecas británicas Cronos: Cuadernos valencianos de historia de la medicina y de la ciencia, Garrido Anes, Maria Edurne (8, 1, 139-146, 2005) The Middle English Letter of Ipocras English Studies, Tavormina, M. Teresa (88, 6, 632-652, 2007, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00138380701706526) The earliest English law reports. Vol. 4: Eyre Reports 1286-9 and Undated Eyre Reports, Exchequer of the Jews Reports, Pre-1290 Assize Reports, Pre-1290 Reports From Unidentified Courts and Additional Pre-1290 Common Bench Reports Publications o the Selden Society, Brand, Paul (London, 4, Selden Society, 2007) Vernacular herbals: a growth industry in late medieval England Design and distribution of late medieval manuscripts in England, Keiser, George R. (York, 292-307, York Medieval Press in association with the Boydell Press and with the Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York, 2008) Making women's medicine masculine: the rise of male authority in pre-modern gynaecology, Green, Monica Helen (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2008) Reading the manuscript page: the use of supra-textual devices in the Middle English Trotula-manuscripts, Juulia Kirsikka, Ahvensalmi (Glasgow, 2013) Uroscopy in Middle English: A Guide to the Texts and Manuscripts Studies in medieval and renaissance history, Tavormina, M. Teresa ([Michigan?], 2014) Legal History: The Year Books. An index and paraphrase of printed year book reports from medieval English legal history, 1268-1535, Seipp, David J. (2015, https://www.bu.edu/phpbin/lawyearbooks/search.php) Dictionary of Medical Vocabulary in English, 1375–1550: Body Parts, Sicknesses, Instruments, and Medical Preparations, Norri, Juhani (Abingdon, Routledge, 2016) Manuscripts in Christ's, Emmanuel, Jesus, Selwyn and Sidney Sussex Colleges, Peterhouse and Trinity Hall, Cambridge Index of Middle English prose, Lucas, Angela M. (Cambridge, D.S. Brewer, 2016) Sixteenth-century readers, fifteenth-century books: continuities of reading in the English reformation Cambridge studies in palaeography and codicology, Connolly, Margaret (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press., 2019) Manuscript relations through form and content in the Middle English Circa Instans SELIM. Journal of the Spanish Society for Medieval English Language and Literature, Garrido Anes, Maria Edurne (13, 1, 2019) The Thomas Mans, their Books, and Jesus College Librarianship The Library, Hanna, Ralph (21, 1, 46-73, 2020, https://doi.org/10.1093/library/21.1.46) Tracing John of Burgundy: manuscript descriptions, 1365-1650 [text], Honkapohja, Alpo (Edinburgh, 2020) Itineraries and Transformations: John of Burgundy's Plague Treatise Bulletin of the History of Medicine,, Jones, Lori (95, 3, 277-314, 2021)

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