Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries

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

Cambridge, Peterhouse, MS 222

Medical texts

Contents

Introduction: This manuscript, like many others included in the Curious Cures in Cambridge Libraries project was once owned or used by Roger Marchall (c. 1417-1477) , a doctor and physician to Edward IV. In common with numerous other manuscripts, Marchall added a table of contents to the beginning of the manuscript (f. 7v) as well as rubrics and running headings for some of the treatises in the volume (see e.g., ff. 16r, 72r, 102r, and 170r). Marchall's ownership or use of manuscripts is very well-attested, with forty-five surviving books (including this one) bearing evidence to connect him to them in some way; six others may have been his or accessed by him, and a further twelve are recorded but not traced. Thirteen manuscripts owned or used by Marchall (and another with possible Marchall connections) have been digitised, catalogued and conserved as part of the Curious Cures in Cambridge Libraries project: Dr Sarah Gilbert| Project Cataloguer| Curious Cures in Cambridge Libraries References:
See L. Voigts, 'A doctor and his books: the manuscripts of Roger Marchall (d. 1477)', in R. Beadle and A. J. Piper (eds.), New science out of old books: studies in manuscripts and early printed books in honour of A.I. Doyle (Aldershot, 1995) pp. 249-314

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 2r ponat
Secundo Folio: 9r uel apes
Form: codex
Support: Parchment
Extent: Codex: 8 | 8 | 86 | 31 | 22 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 12 leaves.
Foliation:

Foliated in the second half of the 20th century, or the first quarter of the 21st century.

[i] (front pastedown) + 1-7 | 8-15 | 16-101 | 102-132 | 133-154 | 155-160 | 161-164 | 165-169 | 170-181

Foliated in pencil in the upper outer corner of each recto.

Collation

A composite manuscript, formed of quires from several different original manuscript sources. The collation is as follows:

  • Quire 18 (ff. [i] - 7: 1st leaf is the front pastedown) |
  • Quire 28 (ff. 8-15) |
  • Quires 3-1010 (ff. 16-95)
  • Quire 116 (ff. 96-101) |
  • Quires 12-1312 (ff. 102-125)
  • Quire 1410-3 (ff. 126-132: 7th-9th cancelled) |
  • Quire 158+4 (133-144: 4 leaves added after the 1st)
  • Quire 168 (ff. 145-152)
  • Quire 172 (ff. 153-154) |
  • Quire 186 (ff. 155-160) |
  • Quire 194 (ff. 161-164) |
  • Quire 208-3 (165-169: 6th-8th cancelled) |
  • Quire 2112 (ff. 170-181)

18 (1st leaf is [i] the front pastedown) | 28 | 3-1010 116 | 12-1312 1410-3 (7th-9th cancelled) | 158+4 (4 leaves added after the 1st) 168 172 | 186 | 194 | 208-3 (6th-8th cancelled) | 2112

Condition

This is a composite volume and many of the quire-groups have been tightly cropped to fit the shared dimensions of the volume.

Additions

Peterhouse stamp in purple ink on f. 1r.

Some quires have alphabetical signatures, written by a modern hand in the lower outer corner of the first recto of the quire (e.g., f. 46r, marked 'd'.

Binding

18th-century binding. Cover is a washed and reused document over thin pasteboards. Five raised bands tangible on spine, but inside the volume there are three clearly visible sewing supports, none in alignment with the tangible bands on the spine. All of the Parts of this manuscript were probably together by the late-15th century, and so the discrepancy between the visible supports inside the manuscript and the tangible supports apparent on the spine may be the result of the 18th century rebinding; for example, it is possible that during the rebinding some of the older sewing were retained and then three newer supports added and laced into the new binding. A description of some of the contents of the volume are written in ink on the spine: 'Ordo Baptizandi et Sponsalium'; a faded list of the contents of the volume is present below, but is now illegible. The shelfmark '222' present on the spine in pencil.

Folio [i], the present front pastedown is the verso of the first leaf of the first quire and contains the following inscriptions:

  • 'James Nº 200' in ink, which refers to this item in the Ecloga Oxonio-Cantabrigiensis by Thomas James (1600)
  • 'M R James 222' in pencil, which refers to this item in A Descriptive Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library of Peterhouse by M. R. James (1899)

The rear pastedown is a paper leaf bearing a purple Peterhouse library stamp.

History

Provenance and Acquisition

All parts of this manuscript were probably together by the late 15th century. There is a list of the contents of the volume on f. 7v, the final leaf of Part 1, in the hand of Roger Marchall (see Acquisition) that refers to texts in Parts 2, 3, 4, and 9.

Probably given to Peterhouse by Roger Marchall (c. 1417-1477) , physician to Edward IV, who gave several other scientific and medical books to the College. Marchall added a partial list of the contents of the volume to f. 7v and supplied titles to texts beginning on ff. 16r, 72r, 102r, and 170r. A list of Marchall's donations to the College is now preserved with the general inventory of the books belonging to the College, in a document now known as Cambridge, Peterhouse Archives, Registrum Vetus (printed in CBMLC 10 as part of UC48). Marchall's donations are recorded in his hand on an inserted slip in the Registrum Vetus, now p. 22 and number twelve items pledged by Marchall to the College; Peterhouse MS 222 is probably item 'ix' on that list described as a 'Phisica plinii' (UC48.393). Marchall as a book owner and donor is discussed in Voigts, 'A doctor and his books', and Peterhouse MS 222 is no. 28 in Voigts' list of manuscripts associated with Marchall.

L. Voigts, 'A doctor and his books: the manuscripts of Roger Marchall (d. 1477)', in R. Beadle and A. J. Piper (eds.), New science out of old books: studies in manuscripts and early printed books in honour of A.I. Doyle (Aldershot, 1995) pp. 249-314
CBMLC 10 - UC48.393

Part 1: Liturgical Forms (Thomson Part I) [Cambridge, Peterhouse, MS 222, [i] (front pastedown) + ff. 1r-7v]

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1. [i] (front pastedown) to 7v
Fragment of an liturgical manuscript including the liturgical forms for baptism and marriage
Language(s): Latin and Middle English
Incipit: || [i] (front pastedown) tizo te . N . nomine patribus etc . Modo supradicto scilicet continua ratione
Explicit: 7v qui trinus est in numero et unus est in nomine. Amen
Final rubric: 7v Hiis [sic] peractis aspergat eos aqua benedicta et discedat et dimittat eos in pace

Contains liturgical forms for baptism and marriage, with the vows given in English.

In the rubricated text on f. 6r there is a reference to a papal decree on marriage dated M.C.C.C.XXI (1321).

2. 7v
Partial list of the contents of the volume written before 1477 Roger Marchall (d. 1477)
Language(s): Latin

Partial list of the contents of the volume by Roger Marchall with a further addition recording the presence of the 'Canonis Avicennae' in a later hand. Full transcription, numbering Marchall's: | Contenta in hoc volumine sunt ista .

  • 1. Tractatus de interpretacione sompniorum secundum danielem prophetam
  • 2. Breuiarius plinii secundi iunioris
  • 3. Excerpta de libro naturalis historie plinii predicti
  • 4. Tractatus Augustini de spiritu et anima
  • 5. Macer de virtutibus herbarum . specierum mineralium . etc
  • 6. Anothomia Galieni
  • Liber 3us Canonis Avicennae

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 2r ponat uir
Form: codex
Support: Parchment (HFFH).
Extent: Codex: 8 leaves. 225 × 160 mm.

Collation

One quire of 8 leaves, the first leaf stuck down and used as the front pastedown.

Quire 18 (1st leaf is [i] the front pastedown; ff. [i], 1-7)

No leaf signatures particular to this Part.

No quire signatures particular to this Part.

No catchwords particular to this Part.

Condition

Leaves have occasional stains and some text illegible due to rubbing.

Layout

185 × 110 mm. Ruled in single-column format, frame and lines. Ruled in ink, 27 lines to the page and written below top line.

Hand(s)

Written in a northern European textura quadrata.

Decoration

Extensive rubrication.

Instructions for decorative initials in their unfilled spaces.

Spaces for unfilled decorative initials throughout.

History

Origin: 14th century (after 1321). ; Probably England.

On f. 6r in the rubric de secundis nuptiis there is a reference to a papal decision of 1321, so the main text must have been copied after that date: 'et sciendum est quia ista questio discussa erat determinata in sacro palacio domini pape. Anno domini M.C.C.C.XXI'.

The liturgical form of the marriage ceremony presented on ff. [i]-7v includes the vows in Middle English in the same hand as the Latin text, so this part of the volume was almost certainly copied in England.

Part 2: Somniale danielis (Thomson Part II) [Cambridge, Peterhouse, MS 222, ff. 8-15]

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1. 8r-15v
Somniale danielis with prologue
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 8r Cum in ueteri testamento
Explicit: 15v mutaciones quam maxime considerantur

See discussion in M. R. James, Catalogue, p. 272 for further information.

Text printed in M. Forster, Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen und Literaturen 125 (1910), 39-70 and Archiv ... 127 (1911), 31-84
See also L. T. Martin in Manuscripta 23 (1979), pp. 131-141
Reider (2015), no. 7

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 9r uel apes capere
Form: codex
Support: Parchment (HFFH).
Extent: Codex: 8 leaves. 225 × 160 mm.

Collation

One quire of 8 leaves.

  • Quire 28 (ff. 8-15)

No leaf signatures particular to this Part.

No quire signatures particular to this Part.

No catchwords particular to this Part.

Condition

Thick parchment trimmed to fit the dimensions of the composite volume - some marginal decoration lost to trimming.

Layout

185 × 120 mm. Ruled in single-column format, frame and lines. Ruled in ink, 24 lines to the page and written below top line.

Hand(s)

Written in a northern European textura quadrata.

Decoration

Blue initials with red decorative elements and marginal extension at the major and minor divisions of the text.

Red and blue line-fillers at the end of minor divisions of the text wherever necessary to maintain the appearance of a 'justified' mise-en-page.

Alternate red and blue paraph marks throughout.

Additions

On f. 9r, '3' with a medieval -us abbreviation (i.e. 'tertius'), in ink in the upper margin.

History

Origin: 14th century. ; England.

Part 3: Medical Texts (Thomson Part III) [Cambridge, Peterhouse, MS 222, ff. 16r-101v]

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1. 16r-46v
Medicina Plinii (with prologue) Pliny the Elder (attrib.)
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 16r Breuiarius Plinii Secundi minoris
1.1. 16r-17r
Prologue
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 16r Incipit prologus Plinii Secundi minoris
Incipit: 16r Frequenter mihi in peregrinationibus accidit
Explicit: 17r enim a capite
Final rubric: 17r explicit prologus
1.2. 17r-46v
Text
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 17r Capitis dolori
Incipit: 17r Capitis dolor leuatur
Explicit: 46v qui percussus est spes super est
Final rubric: 46v Explicit liber tertius

Presented in 3 books; list of capitula before each book.

Title in the hand of R. Marchall.

Text edited in A. Önnerfors, Corpus medicorum latinorum (Berlin, 1964)
eTK 0188B (t0036000000)
2. 46v-47r
Short prognostic note
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 46v Incipit de obseruatione tocius anni ut incolumitas custodiatur
Incipit: 46v Ab octauo kalendarum Ianuariae usque in diem .viii. Kal. April utendum calidis cibis.
Explicit: 47r hec ut dixi obseruans incolumi sospitate uite spatia curres nec ulla indigebis expectatione medicorum
Final rubric: 47r Finit

Also in Leiden, Universiteitsbibliotheek, MS Voss.Lat.O.92, f. 79r.

3. 47r
Cosmetic recipes
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 47r Folia fagi ex aceto trita capillos denigrant
Explicit: 47r similiter denigrant . Item acini sabuci[sic] . Item lentis ci[sic] lacrima

Four short recipes to dye hair black. Also in Leiden, Universiteitsbibliotheek, MS Voss.Lat.O.92, f. 79r.

4. 47r
Sphaera Apuleii Platonici
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 47r Spera apulei
Incipit: 47r Spera apulei platonici de morte uel omnibus negotiis
Explicit: 47r uel causis requiris

Text and diagram.

Also in Leiden, Universiteitsbibliotheek, MS Voss.Lat.O.92, f. 79r.

See H. E. Sigerist, 'The Sphere of life and death in early mediaeval manuscripts' Bulletin of the History of Medicine 11, (1942), p. 294
eTK 1522K (t0291460000)
5. 47v-71v
De nutrimentis olerum Quintus Gargilius Martialis
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 47v Medicina de radice
Incipit: 47v Raphano calidam inesse virtutem omnium medicorum opinione
Explicit: 71v et expauescente natura refrigescunt

Extensive notes in margins of ff. 68v-69r, by scribe who copied the main text on those leaves.

eTK 1314A (t0252000000)
Text edited in S. Condorelli, Gargilii Martialis quae exstant Testi e Studi 11 (Rome, 1978)
5.1. 68v-69r
Medical recipes
Language(s): Latin

Not noted by Thompson. Written in the fore-edge and bottom margins by a near-contemporary hand to the main text. Heavily cropped and purposes unclear, but some at least concerning haemorrhoids (cf. rubric 'De emoroida' added by a later hand).

6. 71v
Medical recipe
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 71v Urina tauri ad spissitudinem cocta fistulam interficit

Full transcription. For fistula.

Full translation: The urine of a bull, cooked down as a reduction, destroys fistulas.'

7. 71v
Medical recipe
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 71v Endiuia, quae similis lactuce, lac multis emittens cum rumpitur et spinas habet multas in spina dorsi, curat yctericiam per effusionem multe urine. eius succo decocto et spumato et colato in bona quantitate et sepius si expedit propinato patienti

Full transcription. For jaundice.

Full translation: Endive, which is similar to lettuce, emits much juice when it is crushed; and, it has many thorns in the spine of the back, [which] cure jaundice through the passing of much urine. If it is effective, this juice - cooked, aerated and strained - should be given as a drink to the patient, in good quantity and often.

8. 72r-101r
Natural history (extracts) Pliny the Elder
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 72r Excerpta de libro natruralis historie Plinii Secundi
Incipit: 72r Plinius secundus nouem menses equestribus miliciis industrie functus
Explicit: 101r uis obedientissima fraxino ad omnem materiam

Title in the hand of R. Marchall.

Note in the lower margin of f. 100v in the same hand as the main text on the page: Vide quod nichil est hic excerptum de pronosticis serenitatis et tempestatis et parum de medicinis et gemmis.

Full text printed by L. van Jan and K. Mayhoff (Leipzig, 1892-1906)
9. 101r
Liber aggregationum (extract) Serapion the Younger
Incipit: 101r Denelch Alchit Arabico nomine cauda equina uocatur
Explicit: 101r eum eis curat rupturam intest...(?) ||

Thi is ch. 137, 'De cauda equina'

Text lost to cropping of the leaf.

Written in an informal minuscule of ?English appearance.

Printed by Otto Brunfels (Strasbourg, 1531); this recipe pp. 102-103 in that edition
10. 101v
List of payments (erased)
Language(s): Latin

Leaf erased, text almost entirely gone, part of a date 'festum sancti mich⟨aelis⟩' still visible.

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 17r: enim a capite
Form: codex
Support: Parchment (HFFH).
Extent: Codex: 86 leaves. 225 × 160 mm.

Collation

Quires of mostly 10 leaves:

  • Quires 3-1010 (ff. 16-95)
  • Quire 116 (ff. 96-101)

No leaf signatures particular to this Part.

No quire signatures particular to this Part.

No catchwords particular to this Part.

Condition

Some marginal annotations lost to trimming. Text on f. 101v lost to washing or scraping. Sewn repair in lower margin of f. 60.

Layout

160 × 110 mm. Ruled in leadpoint, frame and lines. Ruled in double-column format, typically 30 lines to the column and written above top line.

Hand(s)

The main text is written in a northern European textura rotunda.

Decoration

Flourished initials, red intitial with blue flourishing and marginal extension or the reverse at the major and minor divisions of the text.

Incipits, explicits, and chapter titles in red.

History

Origin: First half of the 13th century. ; England.

Text written above top line.

Part 4: Odo of Meung, De uiribus herbarum (Thomson Part IV) [Cambridge, Peterhouse, MS 222, ff. 102r-132v]

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1. 102r-131v
De uiribus herbarum Odo of Meung (Macer Floridus)
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 102r Macer Vniversalis de viribus herbarum specierum lapidum etc.
Incipit: 102r Herbarum quasdam dicturus carmine uires
Explicit: 131v In calidis morbis apponitur ista sirupis
Final rubric: 131v Explicit Macer universalis

Title in upper margin of f. 102r in Roger Marchall's hand.

132rv blank.

eTK 0610A
Text printed by L. Choulant, 1832, pp. 28-123
2. 131v
Versus de virtutibus scabiose
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 131v Ffert scabiosa pilos verbena non habet illos
Explicit: 131v euacuatur
eTK 0555B (t0107900000)
3. 131v
Regimen sanitatis salernitanum (extract)
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 131v A nona noctis donec sit tertia lucis
Explicit: 131v sit uia sola
See Viriginia de Frutos González,'Edición crítica del "Regimen Sanitatis Salernitanum" transmitido por los manuscritos Add. 12190 y Sloane 351 de la British Library de Londres', Minerva. Revista de filología clásica Bd. 23 (2010) pp. 143-195, esp. ll. 73-74
4. 131v
Regimen sanitatis salernitanum (extract)
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 131v Sudor et urina ventrisque solucio sputum sanguinis apostema vomitus sunt cretica signa
Explicit: 131v oculus fluxumque cruoris

Close to the Regimen text, but the final line is different.

See Viriginia de Frutos González,'Edición crítica del "Regimen Sanitatis Salernitanum" transmitido por los manuscritos Add. 12190 y Sloane 351 de la British Library de Londres', Minerva. Revista de filología clásica Bd. 23 (2010) pp. 143-195, esp. ll. 823-824
5. 131v
Regimen sanitatis salernitanum (extract)
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 131v A nona noctis sanguis sex estuat horis
Explicit: 131v post coleram fleuma per sex; post terrens humor
See Viriginia de Frutos González,'Edición crítica del "Regimen Sanitatis Salernitanum" transmitido por los manuscritos Add. 12190 y Sloane 351 de la British Library de Londres', Minerva. Revista de filología clásica Bd. 23 (2010) pp. 143-195, esp. ll. 80-81
6. 131v
Verse on rain (part of ?De pluvia fulgure tonitruis et vento)
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 131v [...](?) fumus pluuia fulgor que tonitura fulmine
Explicit: 131v post coleram fleuma per sex . post terrens humor
7. 131v
?Extract from the Regimen sanitatis salernitanum
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 131v Febris acuta ptisis scabies pedicon sacer ignis
Explicit: 131v Antrax lippa lepra uobis contagia prestant

This text may instead be a distich attributed to Bernard de Gordon, see eTK 0550L.

See Viriginia de Frutos González,'Edición crítica del "Regimen Sanitatis Salernitanum" transmitido por los manuscritos Add. 12190 y Sloane 351 de la British Library de Londres', Minerva. Revista de filología clásica Bd. 23 (2010) pp. 143-195, esp. ll. 635-637

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 103r Situs
Form: codex
Support: Parchment (HFFH)
Extent: Codex: 32 leaves. 225 × 160 mm.

Collation

  • Quires 12-1312 (ff. 102-125)
  • Quire 1410-3 (7th-9th cancelled; ff. 126-132)

No leaf signatures particular to this Part of the manuscript.

No quire signatures particular to this Part of the manuscript.

No catchwords in this Part of the manuscript.

Layout

175 × 105 mm. Ruled in leadpoint, frame and lines. Ruled in double-column format, typically 46-50 lines to the column, written below top line.

Hand(s)

Written in a very small, compressed anglicana.

Decoration

Plain initials at the major and minor divisions of the text in red.

History

Origin: 15th century. ; England.

Part 5: Medical Texts (Thomson Part V) [Cambridge, Peterhouse, MS 222, ff. 133r-154v]

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1. 133r-142r
Epitome of Book 3 of the Canon medicinae Avicenna (980–1037)
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 133r Tertius liber canonis Auiceni
Incipit: 133r Oportet in primis ut ille qui laborat in conseruando sanitatem oculi

Ends imperfectly. Fen3:Tract2:C5 - Fen10:Tract5:C5.

R. M. Thomson, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Medieval Manuscripts in the Library of Peterhouse, Cambridge (Woodbridge, 2016)
2. 134r
Medical recipe
Language(s): Latin

Written in the bottom margin. For serpigo and scabies.

3. 142v
Secreta Secretorum (extract) pseudo-Aristotle
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 142v Cum sit corpus corruptibile eique accidat corruptio ex opposicione calorum
Explicit: 142v et ceteris que omnino uitari non possunt

Translated by John of Seville. From the Epistola Aristotelis ad Alexandrum de regimine sanitatis. The word 'hereford' in the same ink and by the same scribe directly below the final line of this text.

eTK 0342D (t0067280000)
4. 142v-144r
Medical recipes
Language(s): Latin

The outer edges of the leaves have been cropped, and the text also runs into the gutter. Consequently the purpose of the recipes is sometimes unclear. They include the following:

  • f. 142v, col. 1: for eye ailments (rubric added by a later hand and references in the recipes)
  • f. 142v, col. 2: for a stomach ailment, for deafness, for restoring hearing, for making a suffumigation, for an ailment of the breasts and shoulders ('in mamilla [...] usque ad spatulas'), for ?swelling/fatness ('pinguedo'),
  • f. 143r, col. 1: a collirium for itching, red and watering eyes; for fevers; for ailments of the teeth; for stopping menstruation; for gout, colic, swollen knees, and pain ?when urinating; for leprosy and canker ('noli me tangere'), serpigo and impetigo; for fistula.
  • f. 143r, col. 2: for watering eyes, for loss of appetite and nausea, for cough
  • f. 143v, col. 1: for scabies on the hands, for watering eyes, for swollen feet, to stop bleeding, for bladder stone
  • f. 143v, col. 2: a wax plaster ('cerotum') for all ailments, for mouth ulcers

Several names of physicians and patients, usually included as part of the main recipe text, but sometimes added near the incipit of a recipe in a hand of similar appearance, but using different ink to the main-text-ink:

  • Folio 142v, col. 1: 'Comitissa Dov' or 'Comitissa Dou'
  • Folio 142v, col. 1: 'Berkinges'
  • Folio 142v, col. 1: An eye-salve by a 'Magister .h. grossos' for a 'Comes Warenn' (Talbot and Hammond, p. 80)
  • Folio 142v, col. 1: 'Magistri . Richardi de Wendorum[sic]' - according to Talbot and Hammond this refers Richard of Wendover (d. 1252), a canon of St Paul's, London (see Talbot and Hammond pp. 284-285 for further information)
  • Folio 142v, col. 1: 'Magistrum Iohannum de Sancto egidio' - according to Talbot and Hammond this refers to John of Saint Giles, a physician active in Paris in the early 13th century (see Talbot and Hammond pp. 179-180 for further information). A further reference precedes the remedy for loss of hearing in col. 2
  • Folio 142v, col. 2: 'Magistri Th...' - Talbot and Hammond read the name as 'Thomas Sinet', but Thomson reads the name as 'Thomas Surdus'; nothing more is known about a medieval physician with either name (Talbot and Hammond, p. 356)
  • Folio 142v, col. 2: 'Magister Patricius' - according to Talbot and Hammond this may be Patrick of Carlisle who was a royal physician and clerk to Henry III c. 1242-1253 (see Talbot and Hammond, pp. 239-240 for further information)
  • Folio 142v, col. 2: 'Cuiusdam militis Comitis War...'
  • Folio 142v, col. 2: 'Quedam domina nobile' (treated by Master Philipp le Ver)
  • Folio 142v, col. 2: 'Magister philippus le Ver' - this Master Philipp treated the certain noble woman ('quedam domina nobile'); nothing more is know about this physician (Talbot and Hammond, p. 258)
  • Folio 143r, col. 2: 'Magister .R. de necton' - this is almost certainly a reference to Ralph Necton, royal physician to Henry III c. 1236 (see Talbot and Hammond pp. 264-266 for further information)
  • Folio 143r, col. 2: 'Fratris .w. de Bristoll predicatoris' - this refers to a 'Brother William of Bristol'; nothing more is known about this physician (Talbot and Hammond, p. 389)
  • Folio 143r, col. 2: 'Electuarium regis secundum magistrum .R. de necton' - this is almost certainly a reference to Ralph Necton, royal physician to Henry III c. 1236 (see Talbot and Hammond pp. 264-266 for further information)

C. H. Talbot and E. A. Hammond, The Medical Practitioners in Medieval England: A Biographical Register (London, 1965)
R. M. Thomson, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Medieval Manuscripts in the Library of Peterhouse, Cambridge (Woodbridge, 2016)
eTK 1509I (t0288860000)
5. 144r-145v
Experimenta dietarum particularium
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 144r Incipiunt experimenta dietarum particularium
Incipit: 144r Contra diuersas passiones spiritualium . Ad mundificacionem pectoris et pulmonis ius de faruba tritici
Explicit: 145v et pauco ...(?)

This does not appear to be an extract from a similarly named work by Isaac Israeli.

eTK 0260M (t0050330000)
145v
Medical recipe
Language(s): Latin

Written at the bottom of the first column. For an uncertain purpose.

6. 145v
Medical recipe
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 145v Contra spasmum ex repletione . lauentur et fomententur pedes et tibie et loca paciencia in [de]coccione foliorum malue, et cum desictata fuerint inungantur cum oleo qui recenti

Full transcription. Written at the top of the second column. For spasm caused by repletion (i.e. build-up of excess humours).

Full translation: Against spasm caused by repletion. Wash and dress the feet and legs and the suffering parts in a decoction of mallow leaves and when they have been dried they should be anointed with fresh oil.

7. 145v-154v
Micrologus Richardus Anglicus
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 145v Acutarum egritudinum alia est terciana
Explicit: 154v et etiam hoc pes cuiuslibet ||

Note in the lower margin of f. 146r in a red wavy frame: ‘Micrologus Ricardi magne laudis sed maioris efficacie de causis signis et curis frequenciorum et curabilium morborum’, followed by 4 lines of verse: ‘Prologus . Sicut odor nardi spirabit sermo Ricardi | Splendet micrologi lux quasi flamma rogi | Ars prius insurget in causam que magis urget | Dampnaque maiora releuet prius hincque minora’. | The first two lines of this poem can also be found in London, British Library, MS Sloane 3282

In the lower marin of f. 150v a note: ‘Hoc solo experimento curauit magr. R. quendam cui nulli medicorum poterant subuenire.’ etc

See Thorndike, 'Latin Manuscripts of Works by Rasis at the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris', Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 32 (1958), 54-67, esp. p. 65 for a discussion of the Sloane manuscript.
eTK 0029B (t0005720000)
8. 148r
Medical recipes
Language(s): Latin

Written in the top margin (in leadpoint), for an unstated purpose; and in the bottom margin (in ink), for sore throat/rough voice ('Contra rancredine vocis').

9. 151v-152r
Medical recipes
Language(s): Latin

Folio 151v: written in the bottom margin, below the second column. For heat in the heart with tremor ('calorem cordis cum tremore') and for fainting and heart tremor.

Folio 152r: written in the bottom margin. For stopping watering eyes, for serpigo, for inducing urination, for tremor.

10. 153v
Medical recipes
Language(s): Latin

Written in the bottom margin. For strengthening the stomach.

9. 154v
Charm
Language(s): Middle French
Incipit: 154v Au si uerement si cum deu dit et fit . Au si uerement cum deu dit et fit bien . Au si uerement garice cest home .I. de cancre et de rancle de festre et de farcine \e de uermine/. mort ceit la rancle emort ceit le chancre . mort ceit le festre ele farcine e la uermine . etute maladies ke uus tinent . Io te con iur . Ke acest hume male ne facet . en un de per et fiȝ e sauunt espirit .+. bibat paciens ap[...]

Full transcription. Written in the bottom margin, the last line partly cropped. For canker, fester, farcy and worms. ?Veterinary and medical.

R. J. Dean, and M. B. M. Boulton, Anglo-Norman Literature: A Guide to Texts and Manuscripts, Anglo-Norman Text Society Occasional Publications Series, 3 (London: Anglo-Norman Text Society, 1999), no. 440

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 134r
Form: codex
Support: Parchment (HFFH).
Extent: Codex: 22 leaves. 225 × 160 mm.

Collation

  • Quire 158+4 (4 leaves added after the 1st; ff. 133-144)
  • Quire 168 (ff. 145-152)
  • Quire 172 (ff. 153-154)

No leaf signatures particular to this Part.

No quire signatures particular to this Part. No catchwords particular to this Part.

Condition

Some leaves cut or torn before text was added. Some text lost to trimming for rebinding.

Layout

195 × 140 mm. Ruled in leadpoint, frame and lines. Ruled in double-column format, typically 45-55 lines to a column, written above top line.

Hand(s)

Written in a tiny northern European textualis libraria.

Decoration

Plain initials in red at the minor divisions of the text.

Chapter headings in red.

Paraph marks in red.

History

Origin: 13th Century, probably first half. ; England.

Part 6: Medical Notes (Thomson Part VI) [Cambridge, Peterhouse, MS 222, ff. 155-160]

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1. 155rv
Medical and cosmetic recipes
Language(s): Latin

The last recipe is attributed to 'Magistri Nicole de Derleng', identified by Thomson as Master Nicholas de Derlega (active c. 1174-1215). See Thomson, Catalogue for more information on de Derlega.

The text is faded and not always legible. The recipes include the following:

  • f. 155r, col. 1: for cough and tightness of the chest; for headache; a purgative for the teeth, bad breath, the eyes and the whole body; for a laxative; for an electuary 'contra melinam'; a syrup for quartan fever; for swelling and pain in the penis; for flux of the stomach; for ?kidney ailments; for removing ?blemishes on the face; for freckles; for bad breath ('ad oris festoris')
  • f. 155r, col. 2: for aposteme and for carbuncle, for headache, for insomnia in delirium ('Contra vigilias in frenesi'), for cough,
  • f. 155v, col. 1: for strengthening the stomach, for a laxative, for cough, for enhancing the beauty of one's eyes ('qui pulcros oculos habunt')
  • f. 155v, col. 2: for a blemish, for quinsy, for swollen testicles, for twisting of the stomach ('Ad torcionem ventris'), for rheum, for pain when urinating, for restoring eyesight (attributed to 'Magistri Nicol' de derleng').

2. 155r-160v
List of synonyms
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 156r Aloe calidum et sicca est sicut omne pure amarum
Explicit: 160v Zimsa apua fomum de fle...(?) . ut in iohannicio
Final rubric: 160v explicit

The incipit for this text is close to the opening of the Circa instans. Addition to the top margin of f. 156r: Apocrustica id est repercussiua.

159v-160r
Medical and cosmetic recipes
Language(s): Latin

Written in the top margin across the opening of ff. 159v and 160r: for various ailments of the ?rectum.

Written in the bottom margin of f. 159v, below the second and third columns: for fistula and canker and other wounds, for canker in the mouth whether starting or completed, for pustules on the face.

Written in the bottom margin of f. 160r: for uncertain purposes (below first and second columns), for pain and for swelling or inflammation of the lower leg.

3. 160v
Medical notes and recipes
Language(s): Latin

Written by several 13th-century hands. One recipe is attributed to a 'Wendofer' or 'Wendover', possibly Richardus Anglicus , also known as Richard of Wendover, a physician active in the first half of the 13th century who served Pope Gregory IX for some of his career and later became a canon of St Paul's. The purposes of the remedies are rarely stated, but include dropsy, blemish in the eye and phthisis.

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 156r Aloe
Form: codex
Support: Parchment (HFFH)
Extent: Codex: 6 leaves. 225 × 160 mm.

Collation

One quire of 6 leaves:

  • Quire 186 (ff. 155-160)

No leaf signatures particular to this Part.

No quire signatures particular to this Part.

No catchwords particular to this Part.

Condition

Some text lost to trimming. Folio 158 badly torn. Most of the ink in this Part is faint and difficult to read.

Layout

190 × 130 mm. Ruled in pencil, frame and lines. Folios 156-160 ruled in triple-column format, typically 64-66 lines to the column. Folio 155 ruled in double column format, 64 lines to the column. Written above top line, text lost to trimming.

Hand(s)

Written in a tiny northern European textualis libraria.

Decoration

Plain initials in red at each new letter in the alphabetised Synonyma.

Single red lines used as linefillers in each column of the Synonyma

History

Origin: 13th Century, probably first half. ; England.

Part 7: Medical texts (Thomson Part VI) [Cambridge, Peterhouse, MS 222, ff. 161-164]

Contents

Language(s): Latin and Middle Dutch

1. 161rv
Diagram of urine diagnoses
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 161r Urina citrina uel subcitrina et spissa
Explicit: 161v Urina rubi uel subrubi
1.1. 161v
Medical recipes
Language(s): Latin

Written in the bottom margin. For drawing out rheum and phlegm from the head, for toothache, for swelling of the stomach ('discoloratus') and for strengthening the stomach, for loss of eyesight and severe headache

2. 162v
Alphabetical Herbal
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 162v ⟨A⟩rthemisia menstrua prouocat matrici iuuat
Explicit: 162v non leditur ictu scorpionis succus eius clarificat uisum ⟨A⟩triplex
3. 162v-163r
Medical treatise
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 162v Cum medicina et dieta maxime corpori proficiunt
Explicit: 163r in quam fit de fumo penetrante ad partem cerebri anteriorem . Unum sp⟨ecies⟩
eTK 0317C (t0061970000)
4. 163v
Medical recipes
Language(s): Latin

In the first column of text. For an uncertain purpose, for inducing urination ('fiat puluis de diuraticis aromaticis').

5. 163v
Medical recipes
Language(s): Flemish

For ?leprosy and ?bleeding ('contra venam').

6. 164r
Medical recipes
Language(s): Latin

For a good electuary of proven effectiveness ('cura probatum [...] vnguentum bona') and for a laxative, both written partly in cipher. A third for an unstated purpose, but attributed to 'martinus de vrisele'.

7. 164v
Medical recipe
Language(s): Flemish
8. 164v
Couplet in Latin
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 164v Augustiantes cristantes suspirantes et nascentes
Explicit: 164v mortes

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Parchment (HFFH).
Extent: Codex: 4 leaves. 225 × 160 mm.

Collation

One quire of 4 leaves:

  • Quire 194 (ff. 161-164)

No leaf signatures particular to this Part.

No quire signatures particular to this Part.

No catchwords particular to this Part.

Condition

Some text lost to trimming. Some text in light brown ink on f. 163v is difficult to read.

Layout

205 × 160 mm. Folios 162v-163v ruled in pencil, frame and lines. Ruled in double-column format, 60-61 lines to the column and written below top line. All other leaves in this Part have an informal layout.

Hand(s)

Main texts written in cramped and informal northern European textalis libraria by several scribes. Annotations added by several further scribes writing contemporary and later scripts.

Decoration

No notable decoration in this Part.

History

Origin: 13th Century, probably in the first half. ; England, or perhaps Flanders.

With later additions. The larger texts in this part are written in informal textualis libraria that are of English aspect, but the medical recipes in Flemish mean that an origin in Flanders cannot be entirely discounted

Part 8: Theological Texts (Thomson Part VII) [Cambridge, Peterhouse, MS 222, ff. 165-169]

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1. 165r-169r
De spiritu et anima pseudo-Augustine
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 165r Augustinus de spiritu et anima
Incipit: 165r Quoniam dictum est mihi ut me ipsum cognoscam
Explicit: 169r aliud non sit quam ratio
Final rubric: 169r Explicit tractatus de spiritu et anima
PL 40, 803-832
2. 169r
De cognitione uera uitae pseudo-Augustine
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 169r Sapientia Dei que os muti apparuit
Explicit: 169r quam ad presens presentium presento scrutinio

Also in  Durham, Cathedral Library, MS B.II.20, ff. 106v-111r

3. 169v
Theological notes
Language(s): Latin

In two hands.

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 166r passiones colligit
Form: codex
Support: Parchment (HFFH)
Extent: Codex: 5 leaves. 230 × 160 mm.

Collation

Originally a quire of 8 leaves:

  • Quire 208-3 (6th-8th cancelled: ff. 165-169)

No leaf signatures particular to this Part.

No quire signatures particular to this Part.

No catchwords particular to this Part.

Condition

Minor loss of text to trimming on f. 169v. Red pigment used for initials and rubrication very powdery and friable, and has become very smudged.

Layout

210 × 140 mm. Ruled in leadpoint, frame and lines. Ruled in double-column format, typically 65 lines to the column and written below top line.

Hand(s)

Main text is written in a northern textualis libraria.

Shorter texts on f. 169v written in northern textualis libraria by two different scribes.

Decoration

Red and blue puzzle initial at the opening of the main text (f. 165r. Flourished initials (red initials, blue flourishing) at minor divisions of the text; blue flourishing stops at f. 167v.

History

Origin: 13th century. ; England.

Part 9: Galen (Thomson Part VIII) [Cambridge, Peterhouse, MS 222, ff. 170-181]

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1. 170r-181v
De anatomia uiuorum Galen
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 170r Anothomia[sic] Galieni
Incipit: 170r Medicorum anathomicos necesse est precognoscere
Explicit: 181v ad nutrimentum cordis et ad generationem ||

Title in the hand of Roger Marchall added to the upper margin of f. 170r

Text preceeded by a list of capitula.

Printed Lyon (1515)
eTK 0862J (t0166690000)

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 171r suorum uehemenciam
Form: codex
Support: Parchment (HFFH).
Extent: Codex: 12 leaves. 225 × 160 mm.

Collation

One quire of 12 leaves:

  • Quire 2112 (ff. 170-181)

No leaf signatures particular to this Part.

No quire signatures particular to this Part.

No catchwords particular to this Part.

Condition

Some marginal annotations lost to trimming.

Layout

180 × 110 mm. Ruled in leadpoint, frame and lines. Ruled in double-column format, typically 51 lines to the column, written below top line.

Hand(s)

Written in a northern European textualis rotunda.

Some annotations added in an anglicana hand.

Decoration

Plain 'lombardic' initial 'M' at the opening of the text.

Instruction letters for minor initials in their unfilled spaces throughout.

Unfilled spaces for minor initials throughout.

History

Origin: 14th century. ; ?France.

Additional Information

Record Sources

This catalogue entry draws substantially on R. M. Thomson, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Medieval Manuscripts in the Library of Peterhouse, Cambridge (Woodbridge, 2016); readers of this record are strongly encouraged to consult Thomson's Catalogue for further information. This catalogue entry also draws on: M. R. James, A descriptive catalogue of the manuscripts in the library of Peterhouse (Cambridge, 1899); CBMLC 10; L. Voigts, 'A doctor and his books: the manuscripts of Roger Marchall (d. 1477)', in R. Beadle and A. J. Piper (eds.), New science out of old books: studies in manuscripts and early printed books in honour of A.I. Doyle (Aldershot, 1995) pp. 249-314; and unpublished notes made by Dr Debby Banham in 1999 and 2000 as part of a survey of medical manuscripts in Cambridge.

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.

Custodial History

Recorded as Peterhouse no. 200 in the Ecloga Oxonio-Cantabrigiensis by Thomas James (1600).
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. 71v-72r and 145v-146r).

Bibliography

    A doctor and his books: the manuscripts of Roger Marchall (d. 1477) New science out of old books: studies in manuscripts and early printed books in honour of A.I. Doyle, Voigts, Linda Ehrsam (Aldershot, 249-314, Scolar Press, 1995) Anglo-Norman literature: a guide to texts and manuscripts Anglo-Norman Text Society occasional publications series, Dean, Ruth J.Boulton, Maureen Barry McCann (London, Anglo-Norman Text Society, 1999) A Previously Unidentified Somniale Danielis Text in Takamiya MS 33 with an Updated Handlist of Latin Somniale Texts from England Journal of the Early Book Society for the Study of Manuscripts and Printing History, Reider, Alexandra (18, 213-227, 324-325, 2015, https://www.proquest.com/docview/1823023284/abstract/F809B867B1454C3FPQ/12) The Medicine of the Friars in Medieval England Health and Healing in the Middle Ages, Jones, Peter Murray (Woodbridge, Boydell & Brewer, 2024, https://www.jstor.org/stable/jj.5558126)

Funding of Cataloguing

Wellcome

Digital Images

Cambridge Digital Library