Cambridge, Jesus College, MS Q.D.2
Dioscorides, De uirtutibus herbarum and other medical texts
Physical Description
20th century foliation
[a]- [c] + [i]-[ii] | 1-5 | 6-9 | 10-16 ; 17-60, [60a], 61-93, [93a], 94-147 ; 148-160 + [d] - [f]
Foliated in pencil in Hindu-Arabic numerals in the upper outer corner of each recto. Three leaves were omitted from this sequence: a post-medieval slip of paper fixed to the upper margin of f. 45v with an adhesive, a post-medieval stub of paper between ff. 60 and 61, and the leaf between the leaves designated f. 93v and f. 94r. These omitted leaves have been assigned the folio designations [45a] [60a] and [93a] respectively, in order to produce a functional TEI-XML catalogue record. Some endleaves were also not included in this sequence and so were assigned folio numbers in order to produce a functional TEI-XML catalogue record; these designations are enclosed in [square brackets].Collation
A composite manuscript with binding fragments, two small parts, and one larger part in codicological units:
- A parchment bifolium placed horizontally in the volume (the first is a stub; ff. [i]-[ii])
- Quire 14+1 (ff. 1-5: a single leaf inserted after the 4th leaf) |
- Quire 24 (ff. 6-9) |
- Quire 38-1 (ff. 10-16: 7th leaf excised, no loss of text) ;
- Quire 48 (ff. 17-24)
- Quire 510 (ff. 25-34)
- Quire 68 (ff. 35-42)
- Quire 74 (ff. 43-46: includes a post-medieval paper slip fixed to f. 45v with an adhesive; not counted in collation)
- Quire 88 (ff. 47-54)
- Quire 98 (ff. 55-62: includes a post-medieval paper stub, added after f. 60; not counted in collation)
- Quire 108 (ff. 63-70)
- Quire 114-1 (2nd missing; ff. 71-73)
- Quires 12-158 (ff. 74-93, [93a], 94-104)
- Quires 16-1810 (ff. 105-134)
- Quire 198 (ff. 135-142)
- Quire 206-1 (ff. 143-147: 6th leaf excised, no loss of text) ;
- Quire 218 (ff. 148-155)
- Quire 226-1 (ff. 156-160: 5th leaf excised, no loss of text)
No leaf signatures common to the entire volume.
No quire signatures common to the entire volume.
No catchwords common to the entire volume.Binding
Medieval binding, perhaps 13th-century with extensive late 20th- and early 21st-century repairs. Fully bound in undecorated tawed skin over wood boards. Original tawed skin covers lifted, a replacement tawed skin cover added over the boards and back, and the original tawed skin covers replaced over the faces of the boards. Two raised bands on the spine. Replacement head and tail bands visible and sewn in a neutral cream yarn through the cover material over the back. Remnants of a strap-and-pin fastening visible as a slit for the strap end in the centre of the fore edge of the front board and a puncture mark in the centre of the cover material on the rear board, and aligned puncture marks with metal-oxide staining on the medieval parchment endleaves at the end of the volume (e.g., f. 160v).
Original parchment pastedowns and guard strips lifted, these are now ff. [i]-[ii] and f. 160. Replacement parchment pastedowns and endleaves ff. [a]-[c] and [d]-[f] added in the late 20th or early 21st century.
All quires taken down and remounted during late 20th or early 21st century conservation work, small paper guardstrips visible between most quires and some (?all) quires resewn.
Housed in a dark green box with a label bearing the shelfmark 'MS QD 2' in gold.
Cover dimensions (L x W x D): 215 x 155 x 60 mm.
Accompanying Material
Parchment bookmark tabs added to ff. 6r. 10v, 17r and 148r.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Owned by a Master Herbert the Doctor , who gave this book and supposedly six others to the community of Durham Cathedral Priory : the donation is recorded in this manuscript on f. 2r in a ?mid 13th century hand. A record of this donation 'Hii sunt libri magister herbertus medicus dedit sancto cuthberto' is preserved in a mid-12th century hand in Durham, Cathedral Library, MS B.IV.24 ('The Durham Cantor's Book'), f. 2r , which records the donation of seven multi-text medical manuscripts by Master Herbert. The entry for Jesus MS Q.D.2 in the donation list preserved in the Durham Cantor's Book is as follows: 'Exceptiones de libro pauli . Priscianus de accentibus . Parabolae Petri amphulsi . Liber Aurelii Ambrosii . Liber Diascoridis . Liber de natura lapidum . in uno uolumine'.
Owned by Thomas Man (b. c. 1655, d. 1690), who was admitted to Jesus College as a pensioner in 1671, took his B.A., M.A., and M.D., there, was a Fellow of that College from 1676 until his death in 1690.
Donated to Jesus College by Thomas Man (b. c. 1655, d. 1690). Man donated 47 medieval manuscripts to Jesus on 21 January 1684/5.
Part 1: Binding fragments from a service book with lessons and antiphons from Isaiah [Cambridge, Jesus College, MS Q.D.2, ff. [i] recto - [ii] verso]
Contents
Language(s): Latin
These leaves are inserted 'sideways' (rotated 90° clockwise) relative to the main texts in the book.
Folio [i] recto is a stub (approximately 20 mm wide) and [ii] recto is a former pastedown.
Physical Description
Collation
Two leaves (f. [i] a stub and f. [ii] a former pastedown) formed from what was originally a single leaf, that was subsequently folded in half to make a guard strip and a pastedown.
No leaf signatures particular to this Part.
No quire signatures particular to this Part.
No catchwords particular to this Part.Condition
Layout
Ruled in ink, frame and lines. Ruled in two column format, the original dimensions of the text-space and the position of the text above or below the topline cannot be determined due to the fragmentary nature of the leaf.
Hand(s)
Written in a script with features of late protogothic minuscule and early northern textualis libraria.
Decoration
No significant decoration in this Part. Spaces left for musical staves and neumes, but all are blank.
Additions
Inscription in ink obliterated by striking through and then washing on f. [ii] verso, probably a former ownership inscription.
Pre-1705 Jesus College shelfmark for the manuscript 'M-H-27' in ink, struck out on f. [ii] verso.
Former Jesus College shelfmark in ink 'H.9.' in ink on f. [ii] verso.
Binding
Folios [i] and [ii] were once a guard strip and the former left pastedown in an earlier form of the binding. Jesus College MS Q.D.2 has been conserved in recent decades (probably in the late 20th or early 21st century), and the guardstrip and pastedown were lifted and are now free leaves
History
Date and location of production based on palaeographical features.
Part 2: Extracts from the Epitome Medica (Book 3) of Paulus Aegineta [Cambridge, Jesus College, MS Q.D.2, ff. 1-5 ]
Contents
Language(s): Latin
Three recipes for hair dyes. The first two recipes are in one hand, the third recipe is in a different hand.
The three dyes are to make hair blonde ('Ut capilli flaui fiant'), black ('nigri') and golden ('croceos').
Physical Description
Collation
This Part is comprised of a single quire of four leaves and a singleton added after the fourth leaf:| Quire 14+1 (ff. 1-5: a single leaf inserted after the fourth leaf)
No leaf signatures particular to this Part.
No quire signatures particular to this Part.
No catchwords particular to this Part.Condition
Layout
150 × 100 mm. For ff. 2v-4v (all other pages in this Part have an informal mise-en-page): ruled in leadpoint, frame and lines. Ruled in single-column format, 29 lines to the page and written above top line.
Hand(s)
The main text on ff. 2v-4v is written in a 12th-century protogothic minuscule.
Decoration
Plain initials in red in the 'Arabesque' style at the start of each minor division of the text.
Chapter headings in red at the minor divisions of the text.
Additions
On f. 1v, a former shelfmark '
N
\Q/
-Δ-2' in ink struck out, the 'N' struck through and replaced with a Q above.
On f. 1v, a former shelfmark 'M-H-9' in ink struck out.
On f. 1v, a note in ink recording the donation of the manuscript by Thomas Man: 'Liber Coll Jesu Ex dono Mri Man Coll Socij Jan. 21. 1685'.
On f. 1v, a Jesus College armorial bookplate with escutcheon, helmet, crown, mantling,
and crest and bearing the label 'Collegium Iesu Cantabrigiens
i
\e/
1700'
On f. 2r, three lists of the contents of the volume from perhaps, the late 12th/early 13th century, the late 15th/early 16th century and the 17th century, the lists are as follows:| List 1 - 'Liber Sancti Cuthberti de Dunelm . Ex dono magistri Herberti medici . Diascorides . Liber de natura lapidum . Excepciones de libro pauli . Dicta quedam petri petri alfunsi . Quedam per prisciani de accentibus . Pars libri aurelii ambrosii' | List 2 - 'Contenta: diascorides per modum alphabeti de uirtutibus herbarum et compositione(?) olerum . item lapidarus quidam liber de natura lapidum per modum(?) alphabeti . priscianus de accentibus . Item notabilia quedam in libro primo . 2a 7i ffe' | List 3 - 'Content: 1. Excerpt de libro Pauli de cura egritudinum per tocius corporis(?) 2. Anonymi Fragmentum ... (?) 3. Priscian : de accentibus 4. Diascorides , de uirtut Herbarum &- composicione Olerum alphabetice 5. de Natura Lapidum Pollice & alphabetice'.
On f. 2r a note in ink in an early modern humanist hand 'tempus doloris medicus', this hand added a similar note to f. 5r.
In the upper margin of f. 3r, a Durham title and pressmark: 'Diascorides . Liber de natura lapidum O.2a 7i ffe'. This shelfmark is a close match for the one on f. 2r at the bottom of the second list of contents in the volume.
On f. 5r a note in ink in a humanist hand 'contra uim mortis non est medicamen in hortis' and then a little offset from the main note, 'cupiunt' in ink in the same hand and two roughly drawn five-line music staves with four notes added to each.
History
Part 3: Extracts from the Saturnalia of Macrobius and other texts [Cambridge, Jesus College, MS Q.D.2, ff. 6-9]
Contents
Language(s): Latin
Divided into four parts with the following incipits:
- 1. Animo melius distincta seruantur
- 2. Cum quidam stolidus audiente socrate diceret
- 3. Apius claudius crebro solebat dicere
- 4. Cato octogesimum sextum agens annum
Attributed to Petrus Alfonsi in the late 12th/early 13th century list of the contents of this volume on f. 2r ('dicta quedam petri alfunsi'), but the text itself in this Part is untitled. This text has also been identified as the Parabolae of Petrus Alfonsi by E. Kealey, but J. V. Tolan rejected this identification and classifies it as extracts from the Saturnalia by Macrobius. Tolan also identified another manuscript which contains the same incipit, Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Reg.lat.1575, ff. 93r-94v , but was unable to compare the manuscripts directly. As BAV Reg.lat.1575 has been digitisied, it has been possible to compare the two manuscripts, and BAV Reg.lat.1575 contains the first of the four sections (ff. 6r-7r 'Animo melius distincta ... loquacitatis agitantur') of this text.
In light brown ink in a ?16th century hand.
First recipe in Latin, second recipe in Middle English. For an empty/fasting stomach ('ieiunio stomacho') and for an unstated purpose (?diagnosis of infertility).
Folio 9v is blank.
Physical Description
Collation
This Part comprises one quire of four leaves:| Quire 24 (ff. 6-9)
No leaf signatures particular to this Part.
No quire signatures particular to this Part.
No catchwords particular to this Part.Condition
Layout
170 × 110 mm. Ruled in crayon, frame and lines. Ruled in two-column format, 46 lines to the column and written above top line.
Hand(s)
Folios 6r-8v are written in protogothic minuscule.
Decoration
Flourished initials in the 'Arabesque' style in combinations of red, yellow, and green with acanthus 'frills' at the divisions of the texts on ff. 6r-8v.
History
Date and location of production based on palaeographical and decorative features.
Part 4: pseudo-Priscian, De accentibus; Dioscorides, De virtutibus herbarum; Liber de natura lapidum [Cambridge, Jesus College, MS Q.D.2, ff. 10-16 ; 17-60, [60a], 61-93, [93a], 94-147 ; 148-160]
Contents
Language(s): Latin with some Middle English and Old French
Folios 15v-16v are blank.
The text in this manuscript is the alphabetical recension of the herbal of Dioscorides, usually described in Anglophone scholarship as the 'Alphabetical Latin Dioscorides' to distinguish it from the older non-alphabetised recensions. The oldest survivng copy of the Alphabetical Latin Dioscorides is dated to the 11th century, is incomplete, and is now Leiden, Bibliotheek der Universiteit, MS Voss. lat. 4° 1 ('VLQ 1'), ff. 1r-32v. Jesus College MS Q.D.2 is the second or third oldest surviving copy alongside the one in Bologna, Biblioteca Universitaria, 620 (lat. 378), ff. 22r-104v, which is also dated to the 12th century. See Riddle, 'Dioscorides', esp pp. 23-27 for further information.
For 'emelas id est uermes qui radciem segetis crescentis comedat', i.e. worms that eat the roots/base of growing crops. Written in the bottom margin by a late 12th-/13th-century hand.
Written in a slightly later (?13th century) hand.
This text was translated by James of Venice .
Text breaks off abruptly.
Added by a later 16th- or 17th-century hand. They address the following:
- f. 145v: to make leeks and onions grow big, two to make various plants grow out of one stalk, to make many flavours ('sauors') be found in one herb
- f. 146r: sowing beans to protect a garden from frost ('Certeyne grekes write...')
- f. 146v: to protect chickens from weasels
Added by a later 16th- or 17th-century hand. They address the following:
- f. 146r: to prevent drunkenness, to heal and make the skin fair, a plaster to heal the bite of a dog ('Plinye wryteth...'), to encourage children to walk, to prevent drunkenness, to restore appetite
- f. 146v: for helping the joints, for strengthening the sick, for bad breath, to preserve health, to staunch bleeding from the nose and ?menstruation
- f. 147r: to delouse clothing, for headache or insomnia, for venereal disease
Added by a later 16th- or 17th-century hand. Two for making the face fair and clear.
The stones are arranged from 'aimant' to 'trisites'.
This text is in verse.
Medieval annotation in the upper margin of f. 148r: 'Incipit lapidarius De Sancti spiritus assit nobis gratia . damante'.
According to Dean and Boulton, this text is attributed to Phillipe de Thaon by Meyer.
Also found in Cambridge, Pembroke College, MS 87, ff. 204v-208r
Physical Description
Collation
This Part is comprised of 20 quires arranged in three codicological units:|
- Quire 38-1 (ff. 10r-16v: 7th leaf excised, no loss of text) ;
- Quire 48 (ff. 17-24)
- Quire 510 (ff. 25-34)
- Quire 68 (ff. 35-42)
- Quire 74 (ff. 43-46: includes a post-medieval paper slip fixed to f. 45v with an adhesive; not counted in collation)
- Quire 88 (ff. 47-54)
- Quire 98 (ff. 55-62: includes a post-medieval paper stub, added after f. 60; not counted in collation)
- Quire 108 (ff. 63-70)
- Quire 114-1 (ff. 71-73: 2nd leaf missing)
- Quires 12-158 (ff. 74-93, [93a], 94-104)
- Quires 16-1810 (ff. 105-134)
- Quire 198 (ff. 135-142)
- Quire 206-1 (ff. 143-147: 6th leaf excised, no loss of text) ;
- Quire 218 (ff. 148-155)
- Quire 226-1 (ff. 156-160: 5th leaf excised, no loss of text)
Occasional leaf signatures added inconsistently in this Part. The first four rectos of Quire 12 are marked with a nesting 'v' shape in their lower margin according to their position in the quire, e.g., f. 76r is the third leaf in that quire and it has 3 'v's in its lower margin. The first four rectos of Quire 15 are marked with tally marks in their lower outer corner according to their position in the quire.
There are several sets of medieval quire signatures in this Part - all appear to be roughly contemporary with the production of the volume and so each will be described in turn and then the relationship(s) between them will be discussed.
The first set of quire signatures in this Part uses large Roman numerals set in the centre of the lower margin on the first recto of each quire (see e.g., the 'VII' on f. 25r for an untrimmed example); this sequence runs from 'VI' on the present Quire 4, to 'XXII' on the present Quire 20, and several of these signatures have been fully or partially trimmed away. There is a possible remnant of a XXIV signature at the bottom of f. 156r at the start of the present Quire 22, but it is not possible to be completely certain due to trimming.
The second set of quire signatures is written in Roman numerals in light brown ink in the centre of the lower margin of the last verso of most quires in this Part. This sequence has been mostly trimmed away and is not complete, the remaining signatures are a 'i' at the end of the present Quire 4 (f. 24v), the present Quires 10-15 signed 'viii' to 'xiii' and the present Quire 17 signed 'xv'. If the sequence continued uninterrupted from the 'i' on the present Quire 4 then the present Quire 10 should be 'vii' and not 'viii', but there is no obvious loss of a whole quire of text anywhere between the present Quires 4 and 10.
The third set of quire signatures is alphabetical and is found in the lower margin of the first recto of some quires in this Part. Examples of the third sequence are as follows: on the first leaf of the present Quire 8 (f. 47r, the signature 'c. ii'; 'c. xxv' on the first leaf of the present Quire 9; 'cin et ed' on the first leaf of the present Quire 10 and the recipes in that quire run from 'cincus' to 'ediosmum'; 'F .i. I .ii.' on the first leaf of the present Quire 12 and the recipes in that quire run from 'fel' to 'Iacinctus'; '...(?) et o i in lacþ l' on the first leaf of the present Quire 13 and the recipes in that quire run from 'ius' to 'litargirum'. There are traces of this sequence on the first recto of several other quires, but most of the details have been lost to trimming.
Catchwords in ink in the lower margin of the last verso of most quires in this Part, e.g., f. 70v.Condition
Layout
155 × 100 mm. Ruled in leadpoint, frame and lines. Ruled in single-column format, typically 32 lines to the page and written above top line.
Hand(s)
Written in protogothic minuscule by at least two scribes
Decoration
Flourished initials in the 'Arabesque' style in red, green, or blue, with red, green, or blue acanthus frills at some major divisions of the texts, e.g., f. 18.
Plain initials in red, green, or blue from 2-10 lines high at some of the major and most of the minor divisions of the texts.
Additions
Marginal additions to the Dioscorides text in hands from the 12th-17th centuries, typically glossing plant names or adding further recipes or comments.
Post-medieval paper slip, f. [45a] fixed along its upper edge to the upper margin of f. 45v with an adhesive. The slip bears a note in Middle English on f. [45a] verso about a plant the author calls 'botrachium or batrachium', which probably refers to the plant now known as water crowfoot or (Ranunculus subgenus Batrachium). A section of text about the medicinal properties of the plant 'Botracion' begins on f. 45v at the red decorative initial 'B', and so it seems that this note was added to preserve further information about the plant. The slip is written in the same hand that added. f. [60a] to the volume and is on similar paper.
Post-medieval paper slip, f. [60a] fixed in the gutter between ff. 60v and 61r. The slip bears a note in Middle English on f. [60a] verso about a medical ingredient 'cinnabaris a stone called a sanguinari it is called dragons blood'; the author is almost certainly referring to the mineral cinnabar (mercury(II) sulfide (HgS)). A section of text about the medicinal properties of cinnabar begins on f. 61r at the green decorative initial 'C', and so it seems that the note was added to preserve further information about this mineral. The slip is written in the same hand that added. f. [45a] to the volume and is on similar paper.
History
Date and location of production based on palaeographical features.
Additional Information
Record Sources
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)
Les plus anciens lapidaires Français (3 e article) Romania, Meyer, Paul (38, 152, 481-552, 1909, https://www.jstor.org/stable/45043779)
Durham Cathedral manuscripts to the end of the twelfth century, Mynors, R.A.B. (Oxford, Printed for the Dean and Chapter of Durham Cathedral at
the University Press, 1939)
Dioscorides Catalogus translationum et commentatorium. Vol. 4, Riddle, John M. (4, 1-144, 1980)
Petrus Alfonsi and his medieval readers, Tolan, John Victor (Gainesville, University Press of Florida, 1993)
Herbs and healers from the ancient Mediterranean through the Medieval West: essays
in honor of John M.
Riddle Medicine in the medieval Mediterranean, Van Arsdall, AnneGraham, Timothy (Farnham, Surrey, Ashgate, 2012)
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)
Funding of Cataloguing
Wellcome
Digital Images
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
