Cambridge, Peterhouse, MS 182
Medical treatises
Contents
Language(s): Latin
The recipes are in the hand of Thomas Deynman (see 'Provenance'): according to Thomson (2016), the recipes contain the names of 'William Mascell' and 'Paul Casterton', but these appear to be misreadings for ingredients. Purposes unspecified / unclear.
The tables include the medicines 'Aloen', 'Mirabolam', 'Turbith', and 'Polipodium' (among others).
Added by Thomas Deynman (see 'Provenance').
The recipes are for unstated/uncertain purposes. They are followed by a memorandum that includes a reference to 'l[ad]y Brynkeley de lynesley'.
Physical Description
The first endleaf at the beginning has been pasted on the inside of the upper cover and the last leaf has been pasted on the inside of the lower cover.
280 × 215 mm.Late 14th-century foliation
Numbering in Arabic numerals in brown ink in the upper right-hand corner of the rectos, but mostly cropped due to retrimming of the leaves.
20th-century foliation
i + 1-173
Numbering in pencil in the upper right-hand corner of the rectos.
Collation
The manuscript comprises quires of various sizes, mainly 16 but also 14 and 12 leaves, and one of six leaves. The final quire has been heavily repaired, however the occurrence of the watermarks makes it possible to determine its structure. Both the first and second leaves (ff. 165-166) show watermarks and therefore cannot originally have been conjoint with the rear pastedown, where a watermark is also visible. The third leaf (f. 167), however, does not contain a watermark, and so must be the counterpart to the rear pastedown. The conclusion of the text on f. 173v with a scribal colophon (and the absence of any evidence to indicate the loss of other textual contents) points therefore to the 11th and 12th leaves having been cancelled, rather than lost.
- Quires 1-216 (ff. 1-32)
- Quires 3-414 (ff. 33-60)
- Quires 5-716 (ff. 61-108)
- Quire 814 (ff. 109-122)
- Quire 96 (ff. 123-128)
- Quires 10-1212 (ff. 129-164)
- Quire 1312-2 (ff. 165-173: 11th-12th leaves cancelled, 10th is the rear pastedown)
1-216 3-414 5-716 814 96 10-1212 1312-2: 11th-12th cancelled, 10th is the rear pastedown
Quire numbers in brown ink the lower margins of the first rectos of quires 4, 5, 7; and the number 3 in red ink on the first recto of quire 10
Catchwords written in brown ink and underlined with red ink in the lower right-hand corners of the last versos of quiresCondition
Layout
200 × 140 mm. Folios 1r-108r ruled in ink, frame only. Two columns, 45-46 lines to the page, written below top line.
200 × 140 mm. Folios 109r-173v ruled in plummet, frame only. Two columns, 45-46 lines to the page written below top line.
Hand(s)
Copied by a single scribe in Gothica Cursiva Libraria [according to Thomson (2016), an Anglicana-Secretary script]; the scribe signs his name as 'Scaep' or ' P. Scaep ' throughout the manuscript: ff. 108r, 124r, 132r, 150v, 151v, 173v. Thomson suggests that the surname 'Scaep' points to the scribe originating from the Low Countries.
Decoration
Large (2-8 lines) initials in red with decoration inside the letters; the major (8 lines) initial on f. 1r also features foliate pen-flourishing in brown ink; another one on f. 49v features a human faces drawn in red ink inside the letter.
Headings written in red ink.
Capitals (1 line) higlighted in red.
Paraphs in red ink.
Underlining in red ink.
Additions
A table of contents in a 16th- or 17th-century hand on i verso: ‘ Octo tract. Medic. Magnini / Arnoldus de Villa nova de simpli. medic. / Jo: Mesue Canones vniu. / de simpl. med. et eiusem Antidotarius’.
Quire letters in the lower right-hand corners of the first rectos and crosses in the lower right-hand corners on the second rectos of the inner most leaves of quires written in pencil by a 20th-century hand.
Miscellaneous: the number '170' has been written by a late medieval hand red ink at the top of f. 108v A possible reference or name has been inscribed by a late 15th- or early 16th-century hand at the top of f. 109r: 'f Class'.
There is loose plant material (a straw) in the gutter between ff. 106-107.
Binding
Vellum binding over pasteboard: the vellum consists of a reused lease from Peterhouse, datable to c. 1700-1750, of which the reverse has been turned outwards. The binding contains a 17th- or 18th-century inscription in brown ink that runs from the rear cover to the front cover: ‘ The Master and fellows of Peterhouse - Mr Thomas ?Eale: [..] for 21 years / Michael [...]’. The spine is inscribed with a title inscription in black ink: 'Tract. Med. de Mag. A. de Villa nova / Mesue'; and an old classmark number: '1-8-67' [with the '6' corrected to '7']; it also features a paper pastedown with the printed classmark number '182'. There is another (now illegible) inscription in brown ink on the book's lower edge.
History
The copy of Arnaldus de Villanova's De medicinibus simplicibus concludes with a colophon noting that it was 'scripta anno domini Mo ccco xcix' [i.e. 1399]. The text that follows was copied on the same quire, presumably shortly thereafter, and the rest of the contents - all copied by the same scribe - were probably produced around the same time. As P.R. Robinson (1988) noted, the date of 1360 mentioned in the colophon at the end of Maino de Maineri's Liber medicinalis octo tractatuum more likely relates to the composition of the text rather than this copy.
Provenance and Acquisition
Owned by Robert [? Barnlley], ? fl. 15th century : his name inscribed on f. 122v: ‘Roberd [Barnll]ey’.
Owned by Thomas Deynman (fl. 1473, d. 1501) , Bachelor of Medicine from an unidentified contintental university, physician to Henry VII and Lady Margaret Beaufort, fellow of Peterhouse from 21 April 1473, and Master from 19 November 1500 until his death in early 1501: his ownership inscriptions on f. i verso: ‘Liber thome deynman medici'’ and ff. 108r and 173v: ‘Constat Thome Deynman medico’.
Probably bequeathed to Peterhouse by Thomas Deynman (fl. 1473, d. 1501) . The manuscript is perhaps one of the twenty of his 'better books' that one of the fellows was allowed to select. It was certainly at Peterhouse by 1589 since it is recorded as no. 22 in the shelf-list (now Peterhouse MS 400) of the Peterhouse library's contents compiled c. 1589-1592 and entitled 'Nomina librorum qui erant in Bibliotheca Collegii ante Doctorem Perne mortuum' (The names of the books that were in the library of the college before the death of Doctor Perne). Perne died in 1592. The book was recorded again, several years later, in the Ecloga Oxonio-Cantabrigiensis by Thomas James (1600), as no. 248. Peterhouse's book stamp features in the lower margins of ff. 1r, 77r, and 173v.
Additional Information
Record Sources
Availability
Researchers should note that Peterhouse's western European medieval manuscripts are housed at Cambridge University Library. Scholars who wish to consult Peterhouse manuscripts should contact the Special Collections Reading Room to arrange their visit; all University Library admissions procedures will apply. For information on eligibility and admissions procedures, see Joining the Library. For further enquiries, and to confirm the availability of the manuscript, please contact the Special Collections Reading Room.
Bibliography
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A descriptive catalogue of the manuscripts in the library of Peterhouse, James, M. R. (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1899)
A biographical register of the University of Cambridge to 1500, Emden, A. B. (Alfred Brotherston) (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1963)
Catalogue of dated and datable manuscripts c. 737-1600 in Cambridge libraries, Robinson, P.R. (Cambridge, D.S. Brewer, 1988)
A catalogue of western book illumination in the Fitzwilliam Museum and the Cambridge
colleges Illuminated manuscripts in Cambridge, (London, Harvey Miller, 2011)
A descriptive catalogue of the medieval manuscripts in the library of Peterhouse,
Cambridge, Thomson, R. M. (Cambridge, D.S. Brewer, 2016)
Doctor Deynman (d. 1500/01) and his books, Voigts, Linda Ehrsam (2018, https://perneward.wordpress.com/2018/11/15/doctor-deynman-d-1500-01-and-his-books/)
Funding of Cataloguing
Wellcome
Digital Images
Abbreviations
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