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.G.23

Guy de Chauliac, Chirurgia Magna (Middle English translation)

Contents

Introduction: Jesus College MS Q.G.23 is of particular interest because it contains a Middle English version of Guy de Chauliac's Chirurgia Magna or 'Great Surgery' (1363; ed. Nicaise (1890)) different from any published in full. For a medical manuscript, the degree of ornament is considerably more than was required for a working copy; for example, foliate initials F and A in gold, blue, green, red and magenta, with border surrounding the whole page interlaced with bars and floral sprays, including corner pieces, occur on folios 20v and 57v respectively, marking the beginning of Treatises I and II. This fact suggests that the manuscript was produced for a particular well-to-do patron. Other manuscripts of Middle English translations of Guy de Chauliac (listed below) were also well produced. MS Q.G.23 has belonged to Jesus College (founded 1496) from the time when it was probably bequeathed by Thomas Man (BA 1674), vicar of Northallerton in the North Riding of Yorkshire, whose manuscripts came mostly from Durham Priory or other northern religious houses. At the time when M.R. James wrote his Catalogue (1895), MS Q.G.23 was missing, and so it was omitted, not being restored to Jesus College Library until 1930. The Middle English translation of Guy de Chauliac's Chirurgia Magna consists of seven 'treatises' or books, each divided into two 'doctrines' or parts: I. Anatomy, with a 'Singular Chapter' or introduction; II. Apostemes; III. Wounds; IV. Ulcers; V. Fractures and Dislocations; VI. Other illnesses; VII. Antidotary (i.e. Cures). Three different Middle English translations of the full text of the Chirurgia Magna are known today, only the first of which survives in complete form in more than one manuscript:
  • Chauliac (1): edited from the earliest surviving copy: New York, New York Academy of Medicine, MS 12 (Treatise I, ed. Wallner (1964); Treatise II, ed. Wallner (1988–89); Treatise III, ed. Wallner (1976); Treatise IV, ed. Wallner (1982–84); Treatise V, ed. Wallner (1969). No edition of Treatises VI and VII)
  • Chauliac (2): edited from: Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, MS Angl. 25 (Ogden (1971); Treatise I, ed. Wallner (1964) in parallel with the above manuscript)
  • Chauliac (3): no edition: Cambridge, Jesus College, MS Q.G.23
Until the rediscovery of MS Q.G.23, this version was known only in partial copies in two manuscripts: The dialect of the Middle English text in MS Q.G.23 is probably to be assigned to an area in or near south Lincolnshire. Unfortunately, the original first two leaves (or more) of the manuscript are missing, so such evidence of origin or provenance as might have been there has been lost; if the manuscript came to Jesus from Thomas Man, a northerly provenance is likely. On the blank pages left by the scribe of Guy de Chauliac at the end of the manuscript, three scribes of the first half of the 16th century added recipes in English. The first (ff. 409r–411r) is a recipe for 'aqua vite geuen by Gallyen proued' ('eau-de-vie given by Galen', the ancient medical expert, 'proved', i.e. tried and tested). Later, a second scribe added two more recipes, one associated with Henry VIII that claimed 'thys pyll draweth downe flegme and coleric mattur and wynd owte of the head and stomack and yt clarifieth the syght', and the other recommending 'the duke of northumbelandis pill', which concludes 'take half a dram'. A third added a recipe for spiced paper to f. 412r. Some marginal annotations reflect use of the manuscript. There are triple points (with 'tail') on ff. 169r-171r, no doubt used to draw attention to matter in the text considered by a reader to be important. The annotations in Treatise VI (Other Illnesses) are heavier than elsewhere in the work. Apart from the fact that it was read and had been annotated, nothing is known of the manuscript's history until it came into the possession of Jesus College c. 1690. Angela M. Lucas|Wolfson College|Cambridge|and|Professor Peter J. Lucas|Honorary Research Associate|Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic|University of Cambridge This introduction is dedicated to the memory of Frances Wilmoth, Assistant Keeper of the Old Library at Jesus College 1996–2017. Her devotion to the library treasures, her skills as an archivist (she was College Archivist from 2003), and her keen interest in herbals and medicinal recipes were an inspiration. Bibliography
  • Albert E. Hartung (gen. ed.), A Manual of the Writings in Middle English 1050-1500, vol. 10, Works of Science and Information, by George R. Keiser (New Haven CN: Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1998), 3646–8, 3831–2, no. 251.
  • Edouard Nicaise (ed.), La Grande Chirurgie de Guy de Chauliac (Paris: Ancienne Librairie Gerner Baillière, 1890)
  • Margaret S. Ogden (ed.), Cyrurgie of Guy de Chauliac I: Text, Early English Text Society, original series 265 (London: Oxford University Press, 1971)
  • Björn Wallner (ed.), The Middle English Translation of Guy de Chauliac's Anatomy with Guy's Essay on the History of Medicine, Lunds Universitets Årsskrift, N.F. Avd. I, Bd 56, no. 5 (Lund: Gleerup, 1964)
  • Björn Wallner (ed.), The Middle English Translation of Guy de Chauliac's Treatise on Apostemes: Book II of the Great Surgery edited from MS. New York Academy of Medicine 12 and related MSS, Skrifter utgivna av Vetenskapssocieteten i Lund 80, 82 (Lund: Gleerup, 1988–89)
  • Björn Wallner (ed.), The Middle English Translation of Guy de Chauliac's Treatise on Wounds: Book III of the Great Surgery, Acta Universitatis Lundensis, Sectio I, Theologica, Juridica, Humaniora 23, 28 (Lund: Gleerup, 1976; also Stockholm: Almqvist and Wiksell, 1979)
  • Björn Wallner (ed.), The Middle English Translation of Guy de Chauliac's Treatise on Ulcers: Book IV of the Great Surgery edited from MS. New York Academy of Medicine 12 and related MSS, Acta Universitatis Lundensis, Sectio I, Theologica, Juridica, Humaniora 39, 44 (Stockholm: Almqvist and Wiksell, 1982–84)
  • Björn Wallner (ed.), The Middle English Translation of Guy de Chauliac's Treatise on Fractures and Dislocations: Book V of the Great Surgery edited from MS. New York Academy of Medicine 12 and related MSS, Acta Universitatis Lundensis, Sectio I, Theologica, Juridica, Humaniora 11 (Lund: Gleerup, 1969)

Language(s): Middle English

1. 1r-408v
Chirurgie; Middle English translation (version 3) of the Chirurgia Magna Guy de Chauliac
Language(s): Middle English with dialectal features that point to the northern part of the (South) East Midlands [see Wallner (1991)].
Incipit: || 1r [o]f pocioun and of diete þis maner discripcion [is] assigned of hem al. Cirurgie is science [te]ching þe maner and þe qua[li]te of worching . principa[l]i sowding . cutting and [o]þer mannel worching heling men after þat it [i]s possible
Explicit: 408v let ham be made poudre and temprid wiþ vinegre and þe decoccion of reed colis vpon fire and made enplastre tyme is now to ende þis tale biseking to him þat as we haue seiled about þerin haþ gouerned oure ancre he tolling togidre stable in þe blisse of heuyn alle feiþful soulis þat to me and þat þis reden fouchesaaf to graunte þe blessid god þat liueþ and regneþ in þe world of worldis
Final rubric: 408v explicit liber tractatus guydonis de caulhiaco

The opening is imperfect due to two missing leaves at the beginning.

Following an introduction (ff. 1r-20v), seven books follow: Book 1: ff. 20v-57r; Book 2: ff. 57v-132v; Book 3: ff. 133r-198v; Book 4: ff. 199r-235r; Book 5: ff. 235v-252r; Book 6: ff. 252r-348r; Book 7: ff. 348v-408v.

Wallner (1970), pp. 5-43 [corresponding text but without this manuscript]
Wallner (1991), p. 159
eVK2 0411.00 (v0073310000)
eVK2 7644.00 (v0073320000)
eVK2 1836.00 (v0073330000)
Lucas and Lucas (2001), p. 132-44
2. 409r-411r
Medical recipe for Aqua Vitae
Language(s): English
Rubric: 409r Aqua vite geuen by Gallyen proued
Incipit: 409r Take cloues . nottmegges . Gynger . Settwall longe pepper Jenyper beris . sage leues bazell . rosemarye þe rynde of pome citri . þe rynde of orynges . maioram . myntes of the garden . laurell . bayes . þe roote of genciane elder flouers calamynt . the leaues of the flowers of whyte roses and also of red roses spiknarde . lignum aloes . cubybes of þe garden and of the felde of eche a dram . cardamoni cinamon . calamus aromatis . sticados . aloes germander graynes mastik olibanum . sede of dill . seede of mugworte . þe flowers of dil of ech a dram . dry fyges . reasons of þe sonn . pulpe of dates . almons . pynes of ech an ounce pured hony and white vj ounces . fyne sugar ijli looke þat your stuffe be good and then medle hem together
Explicit: 411r This water is so blessid that it maketh an olde man yonge and rayseth a man from death to lyfe in this worlde. this water hath soch vertue that if a man vse therof euery day ij droppes with water made of floures of borage the quantyte of a sponfull and drynke it . yt will make his fleshe his blood and his skyn to be as good as fayer as freshe as thought he weare but xij monthes olde. Amen.

The recipe was addded to the manuscript by a 16th-century hand.

eVK2 5242.00 (v0073340000)
3. 411v
Medical recipes
Language(s): English

Two recipes copied by a single scribe in the 16th century.

The recipes are for phlegm, wind and eyesight, and for a pill for unspecified purpose. They are entitled: ‘Thys pyll draweth downe flegme and coleric matter and wynd owte of the head and stomack and yt clarifieth the syght’ and ‘The duke of Northumbelandes pill’. Next to the first recipe is reference to King Henry VIII: ‘regni regis Henricus viij’ and the recipe ends: ‘kyng henri the viij quod Raf Cotmore claric’.

4. 412r
Medical recipe for a plaster
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 412r The makyng of the spicyd plaster
Incipit: 412r Recipe .li. ij of perrosyn .li.j. of Rosyn .li.ij off vnwrowth . wax .li. [half]. of frakynsense . A quarter of .a. li. of . stone. Piche. quarter. of .a. li. of. dere. sicet. sett. All thes. in. A. pan. vpon. an. esy. fyer. till. thes. be molton
Explicit: 412r ster fast. to . geders. then take yt vpin. youer. handes. and wrynge out the Moystor and . make. hit. in. goo [sic] . Rollye

The recipe was addded to the manuscript by a 16th-century hand.

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: Secundo folio 2r: as a canker
Form: codex
Support: Parchment (FHHF)
Extent: Codex: ii + 413 + ii leaves. 170 × 115 mm.
Foliation:

20th-century foliation:

[i]-[ii] + 1-412, [413] + [iii]-[iv]

Numbering in pencil in the upper right-hand corner of the rectos. In order to produce a functional electronic catalogue record for this item for the Curious Cures project, the the unfoliated leaf after f. 412 has been foliated as '[413]' and the two modern flyleaves at the beginning and end as '[i]'-'[iv]'.

Collation

  • Quire 112-2 (ff. 1-10: 1st and 2nd leaves missing before f. 1)
  • Quires 2-1112 (ff. 11-130)
  • Quire 1212-1 (ff. 131-141: 3rd leaf missing after f. 132)
  • Quires 13-1512 (ff. 142-177)
  • Quire 1610+1 or 12-1 (ff. 178-188: one leaf added to the first half of the quire or one leaf cancelled from the second half of the quire)
  • Quire 1712-1 (ff. 189-199: 11th leaf missing, after f. 198)
  • Quires 18-3612 (ff. 200-[413])

112-2 (1st and 2nd leaves missing) 2-1112 312-1 (3rd leaf missing) 13-1512 1610+1 or 12-1 (one leaf added or one cancelled) 1712-1 (11th leaf missing) 18-3612

Leaf signatures of combinations of letters and Roman numerals in the lower right-hand corners of the first halves of quires: 'a'-'i' (Quires 1-9); 'k'-'n' (Quires 10-13); no signatures visible in quires 14-16; 'r'-'t' (Quires 17-19); 'v' (Quire 20); 'x'-'y' (Quires 21-22); 'y bis' (Quire 23); 'z' (Quire 24); '[ampersand]' (Quire 25); 'A'-'G' (Quires 26-32); no quire signatures visible in quires 33-36.

 Catchwords written inside decorative banderols highlighted with yellow or red ink in the lower right-hand margins of the last versos of quires.

Layout

120-125 × 75-80 mm. Ruled in red ink, frame and line ruling. Double columns. 26 lines per column, written below.

Hand(s)

ff. 1r-408v were copied by a single scribe working in a neat littera textualis script.

The recipe on ff. 409r-411r was added by a 16th-century scribe in a neat Secretary script.

The recipes on f. 411v were added by a 16th-century scribe in a cursive script with predominantly Secretary and some Ancligana features.

The recipe on f. 412r was added by a 16th-century scribe in a neat Secretary script.

Decoration

In-text miniatures of medical instruments in colours on ff. 184v-185r, 198r, 221v, 234r, 372r-372v.

Large (4- to 5-line) initials in coulours with foliate motifs inside the letters on gold grounds with full bar borders in gold with acanthus leaves and floral sprays in colours and gold on ff. 20v, 57v, 252r, 348v (impressions of removed initials left on ff. 132v and 199r and remains of a mutiliated initial on f. 235r).

Large (3-line) initials in colours with foliate motifs inside the letters on gold grounds with partial (one-sided) bar borders in gold with acanthus leaves, and floral sprays in colours and gold extending into the upper and lower margins on ff. 29r [featuring a human face], 99v, 173v, 216v, 245r, 282r, 398r and 404r.

Large (2 line) Champ-style gold initials in frames with grounds of combinations of green, pink, blue and purple, often but not always with floral sprays in green and gold.

Rubrication in red ink for running headers in the top margins and in-text headings.

Paraphs alternatively in red or blue ink.

Underlining in red ink.

Binding

Modern brown calf over thin (?) wooden boards; ridged spine (7 raised bands) gold-stamped with the title: ‘Translation of Guido de Caolhiacvs on Medicines’. Bound by J.P. Gray and Son in Cambridge after the manuscript's return to Jesus College library (see the stamp on the inside of the front cover).

The manuscript's edges may be red-speckled but this is no longer clearly visible.

Binding height: 175mm; width: 120mm; depth: 70mm.

History

Origin: First half of the 15th century. ; England.

Provenance and Acquisition

Perhaps presented to Jesus College library by Thomas Man (c. 1655-1690) , vicar of Northallerton, North Yorkshire, and Fellow of Jesus College (1685): the college's armorial bookplate with its ownership note ‘Liber Jesu Coll. Cant.’ pasted on the inside of the front cover; and its classmark 'Q G 23' inscribed there and on f. [i] recto.

Additional Information

Record Sources

This catalogue entry draws on the description provided by Angela M. Lucas and Peter J. Lucas, 'A Description of Jesus College MS Q.G.23 containing Guy De Chauliac's Chirurgie: A Supplement to M.R. James's Catalogue' Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, 12:2 (2001) 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). This manuscript is not described in M.R. James, A descriptive catalogue of the manuscripts in the library of Jesus College, Cambridge (London: Clay, 1895) as the volume apparently was missing from the college library at this time. See the note on the inside of the front cover: ‘Restored to the Library in 1930’.

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.

Custodial History

The manuscript was displayed as part of the exhibition Curious Cures: Medicine in the Medieval World (Cambridge University Library, 29 March-6 December 2025) (ff. 184v-185r and 372v-373r).

Bibliography

    A Middle English version of the introduction to Guy de Ghauliac's <hi rend="italics">Chirurgia magna</hi> Acta Universitatis Lundensis, Sectio 1: Theologica juridica humaniora, (Lund, Gleerup, 1970) A newly discovered Guy de Chauliac Manuscript Notes and Queries, Wallner, Björn (38, 2, 159, 1991) A Description of Jesus College MS Q.G.23 containing Guy De Chauliac's Chirurgie: A Supplement to M.R. James's Catalogue Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, Lucas, Angela M.Lucas, Peter J. (12, 2, 132-44, 2001) 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)

Funding of Cataloguing

Wellcome

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Cambridge Digital Library

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