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 247

Compilation of medical texts

Contents

Introduction: Peterhouse MS 247 is a medical compendium containing works by Hippocrates, Galen and others, which texts formed the basic curriculum - the ars medicine - of a university-trained doctor. It is one of only three manuscripts to have survived from the Augustinian priory of Lanercost in Cumbria. The priory's position close to the Scottish border left it subject to frequent cross-border raids, vividly recounted in the Lanercost Chronicle ( London, British Library, Cotton MS Claudius D.vii ). The third manuscript, containing the house's cartulary, is preceded by a register of writs ( Carlisle, Cumbria County Record Office MS DZ/1 ). The Chronicle and cartulary/register were written in-house in the mid-fourteenth century. Peterhouse MS 247, meanwhile, was written elsewhere, in England or France, and professionally produced in small, neat rotunda bookhands dating from the late twelfth to the early fourteenth century. Guide letters remain in the margins of the first section of the manuscript, ff. 1-44, indicating what initials should be provided; these have been supplied in red or blue. Assembled from different sources, ff. 1-44 came from a larger volume perhaps produced in Paris, since a note on f. 34v refers to pecia production: 'xma pecia debet incipi hac in linea'. The pecia system appears not to have been adopted in England. Since this compendium was compiled from different booklets, some of the texts have been repeated. Thus, both Hippocrates' Aphorismi and Prognostica are each present, written in three different copies, each produced on different occasions. Complete copies of the Prognostica are found three times (ff. 5r-11r, 113r-120v, and 156r-160r). One copy of the Aphorismi begins imperfectly in Book IV (ff. 1r-5r), and elsewhere only a single leaf survives of another copy (f. 169rv). A fuller text is found elsewhere in a separate booklet (ff. 95r-111v). The manuscript has been heavily used, as extensive marginalia throughout in tiny glossing hands bears witness. Some annotations refer to texts which are not in Peterhouse MS 247. Thus, the annotator of Johannitius' Isagoge (ff. 162r-168v), an introduction to Galen's Tegni and central to the Articella, twice refers to works by 'Filosofus' (i.e. Aristotle). On f. 162v, the reference is to his De generatione ('Filosofus in secundo de generacione dicit...'), while that on f. 168v is to De animalibus ('Filosofus dicit quod omne animal habet vnam mandibulam...'). Medical texts were first taught in Paris within the framework of Aristotle’s works on natural philosophy. The manuscript belonged to Lanercost by 1354 at the latest, when John of Bewcastle, prior 1338-54, had the use of it: 'Liber Fratris Nicholai de Morland ex dono Willelmi de Langedale cuius vsum proprium idem Nicholaus concessit cessit (sic) domini Johanni de Buchcaster' (f. 175r, the last leaf). Bewcastle, Morland and Langdale are all Cumbrian place names. An ex-libris is also found on f. 79r, at the end of the second booklet: 'Liber sancte marie magdalene de lanrecost. Si quis inde eum asportauerit anthema sit'. A note in yet another booklet - 'contra H de Burgo', at the foot of f. 115v - probably refers to Prior Henry, d. 1315. His verses commenting on local events and national affairs are found in the Lanercost Chronicle: a rubric by one short poem records 'Hugo de Burgo scripsit' (Chronicle, fol. 195v). How the manuscript reached Peterhouse is unknown. Pam Robinson| Institute of English Studies, University of London Bibliography:
  • Chronicon de Lanercost MCCI-MCCCCXLIV, ed. by Joseph Stevenson, Bannatyne Club (Edinburgh, 1839), pp. 105-47
  • Cornelius O'Boyle, The Art of Medicine: Medical Teaching at the University of Paris, 1250-1400, Education and Society in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, 9 (Leiden: Brill, 1998)
  • A.G. Rigg, A History of Anglo-Latin Literature 1066-1422 (Cambridge University Press, 1992), pp. 227-28
  • Henry Summerson, 'The History of Lanercost Priory', in Lanercost Priory, Cumbria: A Survey and Documentary History, ed. by Henry Summerson and Stuart Harrison, Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, Research Series 10 (2000), pp. 1-80

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Composite manuscript comprised of five major Parts and several fragments, all of parchment.
Extent: Codex: ii + 3 | 45 | 34 | 77 | 6 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 4 + ii leaves.
Foliation:

20th-century foliation

[a]-[b] + [ia]-i-ii | 1-41 41A 42-44 | 45-78 | 79-94 ; 95-112 ; 113-121 ; 122-155 | 156-161 | 162-169 | 170-173 | 174 | 175 | 176-[179] + [c]-[d]

Foliated in pencil in Hindu-Arabic numerals in the upper outer corner of each recto. The folio designation f. 41A was duplicated in error, and a Peterhouse librarian has redesignated the second f. 41 as 41A. N.B.: When this manuscript was examined by M. R. James for his Catalogue of the Peterhouse manuscripts, he described the folio designations in this manuscript per-part, i.e., Part I pp. 1-45, Part II pp. 1-34 etc., rather than in a single foliation sequence from the beginning to the end of the manuscript. Peterhouse MS 247 was rebound in 2023 and underwent extensive conservation and repair at that time. During the 2023 rebinding, the former pastedowns were lifted and have been assigned folio numbers during the production of this catalogue record, f. [ia] for the former front pastedown, and f. [179] for the former rear pastedown. Two new parchment endleaves were also added at the front and rear of the volume, and these have been assigned the folio numbers ff. [a]-[b] and [c]-[d] respectively.

Collation

A composite manuscript comprising five major parts and several fragments. The medieval endleaves at both ends of the volume (ff. [ia]-i-ii and ff. 176-[179] derive from a single original manuscript. The main quires are occasionally irregular with leaves both lost and added. In Part 4, each of the main texts was copied on a physically distinct booklet or group of booklets, as follows: ff. 79-94 (Quires 10-11), 95-112 (Quires 12-13), 113-121 (Quire 14) and 122-155 (Quires 15-17). The text on Quires 15-17 ends imperfectly, indicating the loss of one or more quires after Quire 17.

  • Three medieval endleaves (ff. [ia]-i-ii. From the same manuscript as ff. 176-[179]) |
  • Quires 1-310 (ff. 1-30)
  • Quire 48 (ff. 31-38)
  • Quire 58-1 (ff. 39-41 41A 42-44: 4th leaf cancelled) |
  • Quires 6-78 (ff. 45-60)
  • Quire 810 (ff. 61-70)
  • Quire 98 (ff. 71-78) |
  • Quire 1012 (ff. 79-90)
  • Quire 114 (ff. 91-94) ;
  • Quire 1212 (ff. 95-106)
  • Quire 136 (ff. 107-112) ;
  • Quire 1412-3 (ff. 113-121: 10th, 11th and 12th leaves missing) ;
  • Quire 1512-2 (ff. 122-131: 1st and 2nd cancelled)
  • Quire 1614 (ff. 132-145)
  • Quire 1710 (ff. 146-155) |
  • Quire 186 (ff. 156-161) |
  • Quire 198 (ff. 162-169) |
  • Quire 202+1+1 (ff. 170-173: bifolium with two inserted singletons after the first leaf) |
  • Fragment - one leaf (f. 174) |
  • Fragment - one leaf (f. 175) |
  • Four medieval endleaves (ff. 176-[179]. From the same manuscript as ff. [ia]-i-ii)

Additions

Quire signatures ('a-e | A-D | a-b ; a-b ; [...] ; a-c |') in the bottom right-hand corner of the recto side of the first leaf of Quires 1-17 (none thereafter), and '+' in the same position on the first leaf after the centre of the quire, written in pencil by a hand of the 19th/20th century.

Binding

Rebound in September 2023 by James Cassels . Tawed goat skin over quarter-sawn oak boards. Two silver pin-and-ring fore edge fastenings with tawed goatskin and vellum straps. Four raised bands on spine; double linen cords fitted to the medieval sewing stations. Head and tail bands of linen and finished with decorative sewing of alternate blue and cream segments.

Handmade paper pastedowns pasted over the turn ins. Two parchment endleaves (unphotographed) added at each end of the volume, ff. [a]-[b] and [c]-[d] respectively, all blank.

Medieval parchment pastedowns lifted; the newly free leaves assigned the designations ff. [ia] and [179] respectively.

Peterhouse MS 247 is now stored in an archival box made from acid free mill board, covered with archival buckram, and lined with museum board. The box also contains an archival folder which contains the remains of the 18th century binding and a printed description by James Cassels of the conservation and rebinding work undertaken in 2023.

18th-century binding preserved in an archival folder stored in the manuscript box after the September 2023 rebinding. Cover is a washed and reused 18th century legal document (perhaps an indenture) over thin rope-fibre boards. Boards attached by laced cords glued into three saw-cuts across the spine. Traces of 4 double-twisted tawed leather supports for an earlier casing visible and cut at the joints.

Description of the contents of the volume written in ink on the spine in an 18th century hand. Small printed paper label fixed to the spine with an adhesive bearing the shelfmark designation '247'. 'Peterhouse Library 247' written in pencil on the front cover.

History

Provenance and Acquisition

The manuscript is a composite and is comprised of nine distinct Parts. Two of the Parts (Parts 4 and 9) have inscriptions demonstrating that they were the property of members of the community of Lanercost Priory in Cumbria by the middle of the 14th century, and it possible that all Parts of Peterhouse MS 247 were copied or at least compiled at Lanercost Priory. Part 4 (ff. 79-155, see f. 79r) has an inscription on its first leaf describing it as the property of the community of Lanercost Priory ('Liber Sancte Marie magdalene de Lanrecost | Si quis inde eum asportauerit anathema sit'), and Part 9 (f. 175, see f. 175r) has an inscription describing the gift of the book (in whatever form it was in then) as the possession of a particular monk, Nicholas of Morland, during John of Bewcastle's tenure as Prior (1338-1354). Please see the provenance information for Parts 4 and 9 and Pam Robinson's introduction to this catalogue record for further information. Several Parts of the manuscript share similar scribal and decorative features so it is possible that the entire volume existed in its current form at Lanercost in the 14th century. This manuscript (or, at least, some of its Parts) is one of only three surviving manuscripts known to have been owned and used at Lanercost Priory, the others being London, British Library, MS Cotton Claudius D.vii ('The Lanercost Chronicle') and Carlisle, Cumbria County Record Office MS DZ/1 .

Date of acquisition unknown. The manuscript was certainly at Peterhouse by the late 18th century, when it was rebound as part of a campaign to repair the college's manuscripts (see Thompson (2016), p. xxxix).

Part 1: Medieval endleaves [Cambridge, Peterhouse, MS 247, ff. [ia]-i-ii and 176-[179] ]

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1. [ia]-ii verso
Astronomical tables
Language(s): Latin

Oriented upside down.

2. ii recto
Partial list of the contents of the volume
Language(s): Latin

Written in an English hand of 17th or 18th century appearance below the tables on f. ii recto

Full transcription:

  • Tractatus Hippocratis ...(?)Galeni Aphorismi & Prognostica
  • Theophilius de Urinis
  • Philaretus de pulsis
  • Antidotarium cum glossula(?)
  • Conferentia & nocentia
  • Joannicius
  • Galeni Tegni

3. 176r-[179] verso
Astronomical tables
Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: ii recto equatio argumenti
Form: codex
Support: Parchment (HFFH).
Extent: Codex: 2 + 3 leaves. 215 × 163 mm.

Collation

Folios [ia]-i-ii and 176-[179] are a series of astronomical tables that derive from the same original manuscript, but are now split into two groups and part of Peterhouse MS 247 as the front and rear endleaves. Folios [ia] and [179] were pastedowns in the volume until they were lifted during conservation and repair work undertaken in 2023. Folios [ia]-i-ii are arranged as two nested bifolia, where ff. [ia]-i are cojoint and inserted upside down; these leaves seem to have been nested inside f. ii, and another leaf that has now been cut away. The present collation of folios 176-[179] is undetermined.

  • Medieval endleaves - three leaves (ff. [ia]-i-ii) |
  • - Intervening leaves -
  • Medieval endleaves - four leaves (ff. 176-[179])

Condition

The leaves have been stabilised through conservation and repair but are generally in poor condition with numerous tears and cuts and loss of text due to rubbing and staining. Folio [ia] recto was a pastedown until conservation and repair work was undertaken on the volume in 2023, and is coated in an adhesive residue.

Layout

200 × 140 mm. The format varies, but all leaves in this Part are ruled for full-page tables in leadpoint. The tables typically have at least 30 rows and 25 columns; further calendrical and specific numerical information is recorded in the margins above and below most of the tables.

Hand(s)

Written in a gothic rotunda by an English scribe.

Additions

Brief list of some of the contents of the volume on f. i recto in ink in an English hand of perhaps the 17th century.

History

Origin: 14th century. ; England.

Part 2: Hippocrates, Theophilus, Philaretus, and Galen (Thomson Part I) [Cambridge, Peterhouse, MS 247, ff. 1r-41, 41A recto - 44v]

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1. 1r-5r
Aphorismata (tr. Constantinus Africanus) Hippocrates
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: || 1r in natus malum . si inebriatus aliquis repente sine uoce fiat spasmo innato moritur
Explicit: 5r Corporibus habentibus humidas carnes fames adhibere conuenit . fames enim siccat corpora
Final rubric: 5r Explicit liber aphorismorum

Begins imperfectly in Book IV.

eTK 1704F-K
eTK 0828F
HL 43
2. 5r-11r
Prognostica (tr. Constantinus Africanus or Gerard of Cremona) Hippocrates
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 5r Incipit liber pronosticorum ypocratis
Incipit: 5r Omnis qui medicine artis studio seu gloriam . seu delectabilem amicorum consequi desiderat
Explicit: 11r Quia determinantur quecumque nostro numero dierum morborum(?) quoque sunt exposite ordine preceptorum
Final rubric: 11r Explicit liber pronosticorum ypocratis
eTK 1011B (t0194350000)
eTK 1002B
HL 203
3. 11r-20r
Liber urinarum Theophilus
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 11r Incipit liber a uoce Theophili
Incipit: 11r De urinarum differentia negocium[sic] multi ueterum medicorum agressi sunt
Explicit: 19v conuenienter exposuimus
Final rubric: 20r Explicit liber urinarum
eTK 0393L
4. 20r-22r
Liber pulsuum Philaretus
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 20r Incipit liber philareti de negocio pulsuum
Incipit: 20r Intencionem habemus in presenti conscripcione de pulsuum negocio
Explicit: 22r et delecta et mortem signum et hec nobis sufficiant ad presencia
Final rubric: 22r explicit liber pulsuum
eTK 0764G
5. 22v
Dieta Hippocratis per singulos menses anni obseruanda
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 22v Mense ianuarii zinziber et reuponticum bibe sanguinem non minue calidem usita
Explicit: 22v quia tunc omnes esce confecte sunt
Final rubric: 22v Explicit dieta tocius anni

Attributed to Hippocrates.

Printed in Experimentarius medicinae (1545) II.247
eTK 0868G (t0167720000)
6. 22v
Two medical recipes
Language(s): Latin
7. 23r-41v, 41A recto-44r
Tegni (tr. Constantinus Africanus) Galen
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 23r Incipit liber tegni galieni
Incipit: 23r Tres sunt omnes doctrine que ordine habentur
Explicit: 44v et qualia determinabo orationem in eis
Final rubric: 44r Explicit

With prologue. Main text begins on f. 23r ‘Medicina est scientia sanorum ...’.

eTK 1585J (t0302700000)
eTK 1585J (t0302710000)
eTK 0858A/B
7.1. 43v-44r
Medical recipes
Language(s): Latin

Written in the bottom margin, with part of the text lost due to damage on both leaves. Those written on f. 43v for an unspecified purpose. On f. 44r, a reference to stopping nosebleeds ('Contra fluxum sanguinis a naribus').

8. 44r
Elegiae Maximianus
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 44r Emula quid cessas
Explicit: 44r nam mea mens(?) ||

Fragmentary text, perhaps a pen trial.

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 2r: fluere lonum[sic] est
Form: codex
Support: Parchment (HFFH).
Extent: Codex: 45 leaves. 220 × 160 mm.

Collation

  • Quires 1-310 (ff. 1-30)
  • Quire 48 (ff. 31-38)
  • Quire 58-1 (ff. 39-41 41A-44: 4th leaf cancelled)

Condition

Leaves trimmed with losses to marginal annotations. Margins of some leaves torn with losses to some marginal annotations and main text. Lower 40mm of f. 44 cut away entirely with loss of marginal annotations.

Layout

145 × 80 mm. Ruled in leadpoint in single-column format, frame and lines. Written below top line, typically 31 lines to the page. Most leaves have glosses and marginalia in the upper, lower and outer margins.

Hand(s)

Written in a gothic rotunda by a ?French scribe.

Decoration

Puzzle initials (red and blue) at the beginning of each new text. Flourished initials with alternately red and blue grounds at major textual divisions flourished in the other colour.

Incipits and explicits in red. Paraph marks in red or blue.

Maniculae throughout, but particularly ff. 1r-4r.

Additions

Interlinear and marginal annotations in dark ink throughout. Marginal annotations in faint red-brown crayon throughout.

In the margin of f. 34v, written in a tiny script, 'xma pecia debet incipi hac in linea'.

History

Origin: Probably 13th century. ; Probably France, perhaps in Paris.

Date of production based on palaeographical features. Pam Robinson draws attention to a note on f. 34v which refers to pecia production: 'xma pecia debet incipi hac in linea’, and points out that the pecia system appears not to have been adopted in England.

Provenance

Thomson notes in his Catalogue entry for the volume that a strip of parchment has been removed from the lower portion of f. 44, and speculates that the removed strip may once have contained information about a former owner.

Part 3: Medical recipe collections (Thomson Part II) [Cambridge, Peterhouse, MS 247, ff. 45r-78v]

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1. 45r-47r
Flores antidotarii
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 45r Electuarium a calefaciencia
Incipit: 45r Dyamargariton . pliris . zinziber . conditum
Explicit: 47r Et est generale quod quidquid conpecit opilationi renum et uesice conpetit retentioni menstruorum
Final rubric: 47r Expliciunt flores antidotarii

This text also appears in Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS Lat. 16193 , ff. 113r-116r.

eTK 0412C
eTK 0495D
2. 47r-74v
Glosule antidotarii
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 47r Incipiunt glosule antidotarii
Incipit: 47r Secundum quod uult auicenna practica diuiditur
Explicit: 74v in membris pectoralibus inuiscati
Final rubric: 74v Expliciunt glosule supra antidotarium

There is a faded note in ink in a medieval hand following the explicit: ‘ correcte a somerset(?) ’.

eTK 01423B (t0272480000)
3. 74v
Medical recipes
Language(s): Latin

Written by the main text scribe. Thompson has the first item as 'Nota quod petrosilium', but 'prassium' (horehound) is the correct reading.

The recipes address the following: for drawing phlegm from the head and throat, for scabies, for lientery (a form of diarrhoea), for inducing menstruation, and for phthisis or hecticus or consumption.

4. 74v
Medical recipes using roses
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 74v Rosa frigida in primo gradu et sicca in secundo
Explicit: 74v in aqua cocte

Written in the inner, outer, and lower margins by a single hand, in anglicana script.

Column 1 (left-hand and bottom margins): for heating of the liver, for headache, diaphoresis (sweating), for heating of the liver, for flux of the stomach and vomiting, for ?canker ('contra corrosionem'), for fainting, for strengthening breathing, for flux of the stomach, for vomiting, for haemorrhoids ('ragadias'), for bleeding after the removal of teeth, for red eyes.

Column 2 (right-hand margin): purposes less clear, but apparently including dysentery and fainting. At the end, the name 'swonyng'.

eTK 1366C
5. 75r-78v
De conferentibus et nocentibus ?Arnaldus de Villanova (attrib.)
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 75r Incipit liber de conferentibus et nocentibus
Incipit: 75r Conferunt cerebro fetida ut in graui oppillatione cerebri
Explicit: 78v omne nimis uentosum
Final rubric: 78v Explicit liber de nocentibus et conferentibus

Also attributed to Johannes Platearius (eTK).

eTK 0246H (t0047470000)
5.1. 75r
Medical and cosmetic recipes
Language(s): Latin

Written in the right-hand margin. For scabies, for eyesight and the head and the stomach, and three for whitening the face.

6. 78v
Medical recipes
Language(s): Latin

Written by several hands. Below second column: two remedies for epilepsy ('Pro morbo caduco'). Third column: uses of fennel seed, including removing evil spirits, clearing the eyesight, strengthening the brain, ?improving memory ('confert memor[...]'), cleansing the blood, warming the nerves, purging gout, healing paralysis, relieving wind. Also procedures for healing a choleric man. Beneath that, for canker in the mouth. Another written in the top margin has been partially cropped; for strengthening the stomach and restoring eyesight.

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 46r Dyatrion pipereon
Form: codex
Support: Parchment (HFFH).
Extent: Codex: 34 leaves. 215 × 165 mm.

Collation

  • Quires 6-78 (ff. 45-60)
  • Quire 810 (ff. 61-70)
  • Quire 98 (ff. 71-78)

Condition

Folios 45-50 have sustained damage and are all missing irregular diagonal portions of their leaves extending from the middle of their head edges to the middle of their fore edges; some text has been lost due to this damage. Minor staining and rubbing on most leaves in this Part, some text partly illegible.

Layout

170 × 110 mm. Folios 45r-46v are ruled in four-column format, frame and lines for the capitula to the main text. Ruled in leadpoint, 45 lines to the column, written below top line.

170 × 110 mm. Folios 47r-74v are ruled in two-column format, frame and lines. Ruled in leadpoint 40-45 lines to the column, written below top line.

170 × 115 mm. Folios 75r-78v are ruled in three-column format, frame and lines. Ruled in leadpoint 40-45 lines to the column, written below top line.

Hand(s)

The main text in this Part is written in the Gothic Rotunda form of northern European textualis.

There are marginal annotations in this Part in at least two Anglicana hands of the 15th century.

Decoration

Larger pen-flourished initials in red and blue at the opening of each text in this Part, e.g., f. 47r. Smaller pen-flourished initials in red and blue at the opening of major sections of each text in this Part.

Rubricated (red only) section heaings. Red frame outlines around section headings in brown ink in the margins.

Paraph marks in red and blue.

History

Origin: Probably last quarter of the 13th century or the first quarter of the 14th century. ; England.

Part 4: Isagoge of Iohannitus, Aphorisms of Hippocrates, Prognostics of Hippocrates, Tegni of Galen (Thomson Part III) [Cambridge, Peterhouse, MS 247, ff. 79r-155v]

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1. 79r-94r
Isagoge ad Artem paruam Galeni (tr. Constantinus Africanus) Johannitius (b. 809, d. 873)
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 79r Medicina diuiditur in duas partes
Explicit: 94r boni maliue discretione
Final rubric: 94r Explicit liber Iohanicii

Folio 94v blank.

eTK 0856F*
eTK 1352I
2. 80v
Verse on hours and humours
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 80v A nona noctis donec sit tertia lucis
Explicit: 80v Posthaec phlegma venit donec sit nona quietis

Also in Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Codex Latinus Monacensis 13066 , f. 82r.

eTK 0003E
3. 81r
Note on medical degrees
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 81r Primus dicatur in quo sensus dominator
Explicit: 81r Destractos sensus nescit precedere quartus
eTK 1122J
4. 95r-111v
Aphorismata (tr. Constantinus Africanus) Hippocrates
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 95r Incipit liber afforismorum ypocratis
Incipit: 95r Uita breuis ars uero longa
Explicit: 111v ut deglutire non possit mortale
eTK 1704F-K
eTK 0828F
HL 43
5. 112r
Medical note
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 112r Sanguinis incensi colere medicina peruste
Explicit: 112r Archice paralis uomitus tremor atque diapnes

Folio 112v blank.

6. 120v
Prognostica (tr. Constantinus Africanus or Gerard of Cremona) Hippocrates
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 113r Incipit liber pronosticorum Ypocratis
Incipit: 113r Omnis qui de medicine artis studio seu gloriam seu delectabilem amicorum copiam consequi desiderat
Explicit: 120v exposite sunt ordine preceptorum

Pam Robinson has noted that an annotation in the lower margin of f. 115v, 'contra H de Burgo', probably refers to Prior Henry of Lanercost who died in 1315.

eTK 0348L
HL 203
7. 120v-121v
Medical verse
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 120v Cum transiret Caesar per viam vidit monumentum ubi Ypocrates erat positus
Explicit: 121v si super ceruicem uel umbilicum ||

Ends imperfectly.

eTK 0348L (t0068590000)
8. 122r-155v
Tegni Galen
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 122r Incipit liber Galieni
Incipit: 122r Tres sunt omnes doctrine
Explicit: 155v in digestione egra nec digestionem nota ||

Ends imperfectly.

eTK 1585I-J

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 80r Membrorum
Form: codex
Support: Parchment (HFFH).
Extent: Codex: 77 leaves. 215 × 165 mm.

Collation

In Part 4, each of the main texts was copied on a physically distinct booklet or group of booklets, as follows: ff. 79-94 (Quires 10-11), 95-112 (Quires 12-13), 113-121 (Quire 14) and 122-155 (Quires 15-17). The text on Quires 15-17 ends imperfectly, indicating the loss of one or more quires after Quire 17.

  • Quire 1012 (ff. 79-90)
  • Quire 114 (ff. 91-94)
  • Quire 1212 (ff. 95-106)
  • Quire 136 (ff. 107-112)
  • Quire 1412-3 (ff. 113-121: 10th, 11th and 12th leaves missing)
  • Quire 1512-2 (ff. 122-131: 1st and 2nd leaves cancelled)
  • Quire 1614 (ff. 132-145)
  • Quire 1710 (ff. 146-155)

Medieval quire signature 'IIus' (secundus - the 2nd) in the lower margin of f. 94v, which is the last verso of Quire 11, the second quire in this Part of the manuscript.

Condition

Minor stains and tears on several leaves in this Part.

Layout

105 × 70 mm. Single-column format, no ruling media visible except for ff. 75r-94r where faint ruling in leadpoint is occasionally visible. Typically 22 lines to the page, written below top line, frequent interlinear annotations and annotations in the generous marginal space.

Hand(s)

The main text in this Part is written in the gothic rotunda form of northern European textualis.

The annotations in this Part are written in a very small libraria form of northern European textualis by at least two scribes.

Ownership inscription added to f. 115v in a northern textualis of 14th century appearance.

Decoration

Puzzle initial in red and blue with pen-flourishing at the opening of each text in this Part, e.g., f. 79r.

Plain red and blue initials at minor divisions of the text in this Part.

Rubricated headings (red only) at minor divisions of the texts in this Part.

Paraph marks in red and blue throughout this Part.

History

Origin: 13th century, probably first quarter. ; England, perhaps in Lanercost Priory in Cumbria.

Date and place of production based on palaeographical features. A Lanercost origin for this Part is plausible based on references to the community of Lanercost within the volume, although these may have been added later.

Provenance

Ownership inscription in the lower margin of f. 79r: ‘Liber Sancte Marie magdalene de Lanrecost | Si quis inde eum asportauerit anathema sit’. | (Book of Saint Mary Magdalene of Lanrecost | If anyone carries it away from there let him be anathema). The inscription refers to Lanercost Priory in Cumbria, England. Another note on f. 115v, 'contra H de Burgo', probably refers to Prior Henry of Lanercost who died in 1315. See Pam Robinson's introduction to this record for further information.

Part 5: Hippocrates, Philaretus, medical recipes and guidelines for bloodletting (Thomson Part IV) [Cambridge, Peterhouse, MS 247, ff. 156r-161v]

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1. 156r-160r
Prognostica (tr. Constantinus Africanus or Gerard of Cremona) Hippocrates
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 156r Incipit liber pronosticorum ypocratis
Incipit: 156r Omnis qui artis medicine studio seu gloriam
Explicit: 160r sunt exposite ordine preceptorum
Final rubric: 160r Explicit.

Additional texts added to a blank space on f. 157r (see below); the 'main text' of the Prognostica continues correctly on f. 157v.

eTK 1002B
2. 157r
Medical recipes
Language(s): Latin

Written below the main text, probably by the same hand responsible for those on f. 161v. For reducing rheum, for canker in a boy's mouth, for blockage of the spleen, for gout and rosacea in the face, for quinsy, for swelling of the ?stomach ('Ad inflacionem [?]ventre'), for bad breath, for gout, for a laxative for the stomach.

3. 157r
Note on inauspicious days for bloodletting
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 157r Beda dicit de ultima die luna decembris
Explicit: 157r nuncquam febricitabit . et est ||
4. 160r-161v
Liber pulsuum Philaretus
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 160r Intencionem habemus in presenti
Explicit: 161v et hoc nobis sufficiant ad presencia
eTK 0764G
5. 161v
Medical and cosmetic recipes
Language(s): Latin

Written below the main text, probably by the same hand responsible for those on f. 157r. For inducing menstruation, for a plaster (for unstated purpose), for dyeing white or even red hair black, for an uncertain purpose ('prohibet canisiem'), for dropsy, for inducing menstruation, for aiding a woman to conceive, for purging the head, for a maturative for an aposteme and alleviating pain, for pustules on the face, and for heat in the liver.

6. 161v
Medical notes
Language(s): Latin

Two notes on the nature of medicine, the second a quotation from Diascorides.

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 157r minus humoris colligit
Form: codex
Support: Parchment (HFFH).
Extent: Codex: 6 leaves. 215 × 150 mm.

Collation

One quire of 6 leaves:

  • Quire 186 (ff. 156-161)

Condition

The leaves in this Part are affected by minor staining and rubbing. Large hole in f. 158 is the result of the parchment preparation process rather than later damage as text on the leaf conforms to the shape of the hole.

Layout

140 × 85 mm. Ruled in single-column format, frame and lines. Ruled faintly in leadpoint, 46 lines to the page, written below top line. Substantial marginal annotations in the generous margins around the main text.

Hand(s)

Written in the gothic rotunda form of northern European textualis.

Marginal annotations in several anglicana hands contemporary with the main text.

Decoration

Plain initials in red at the major and minor divisions of the text in this Part. Some minor initials in dark ink and touched with red.

Paraph marks in red in this Part.

History

Origin: 13th century. ; England.

Part 6: Iohannitus and Hippocrates (Thomson Part V) [Cambridge, Peterhouse, MS 247, ff. 162r-169v]

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1. 162r-168v
Isagoge ad Artem paruam Galeni (tr. Constantinus Africanus) Johannitius
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 162r Medicina diuiditur in duas partes
Explicit: 168v Membrum uel os egreditur a propria inunctura ||

Ends imperfectly.

eTK 0856F*
eTK 1352I
2. 169r-169v
Aphorismata (tr. Constantinus Africanus) Hippocrates
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: || 169r et inanicio si quidem qualem oportet fieri fiat et confert et bene ferunt
Explicit: 169v non in multitudinem considerari sed quomodo ||

Begins and ends imperfectly.

eTK 1704F-K
eTK 0828F

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 163r uitus est
Form: codex
Support: Parchment (HFFH).
Extent: Codex: 8 leaves. 160 × 160 mm.

Collation

One quire of 8 leaves.

  • Quire 198 (ff. 162-169)

Condition

Leaves are lightly stained and have irregular edges. Some text lost to rubbing.

Layout

170 × 95 mm. Ruled in single-column format in hardpoint (some crayon ruling on f. 198). Ruling is not totally regular, typically 25-27 lines to the page, written below top line.

Hand(s)

The main text in this part is written in an informal northern textualis.

The marginal annotations and interlinear glosses in this part are written by at least two scribes both writing the English form of cursive script known as Anglicana.

Decoration

Outline illustration of a physician holding a (?urine) flask on f. 167r.

Flourished initial in red with "puzzle" construction and black acanthus-flourishing on f. 162r. Minor flourished initials in red or black in the "arabesque" style at the openings of some minor sections of the texts.

Plain initials in red or black at the openings of some minor sections of the texts.

Rubricated headings (red only) throughout this Part of the manuscript.

History

Origin: Late 12th century or first half of the 13th century. ; England, perhaps at Lanercost Priory in Cumbria.

Part 7: Medical recipes, thunder prognostic, charms (Thomson Part VI) [Cambridge, Peterhouse, MS 247, ff. 170r-173v]

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1. 170r
Medical recipes
Language(s): Latin

For tertian fever, for rheumatic cough, for rheum and flux, for constipation, for congestion, for quartan fever, for tightness in the chest, and for the head, heart, liver, stomach and womb. Beneath that, recipes for various clysters.

Folio 170v blank.

eTK 1509K (t0288880000)
2. 171r
Thunder prognostic Hermes Trismegistus (attrib.)
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 171r In quocunque signo tonitrum siue in die
Explicit: 171r mutationes quam maxime consideruntur

Also in Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Canon Misc. 517 , f. 20r.

Folio 171v blank.

eTK 0715J
3. 172r
Medical recipes and charms and practical magic
Language(s): Latin

Including to stop a dog from barking, for fever, for dispelling evil spirits, for toothache, for making any metal look like silver, and to make cloth immune to fire.

Folio 172v blank.

4. 173v
Medical recipes
Language(s): Latin

A consolidating pill for hernia/rupture, a consolidating plaster, a pill for hernia/rupture, a pill for consolidating all internal hernia/rupture, for purging the stomach, a powder for corroding dead flesh, for stopping watering eyes, for sore or red eyes.

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 171r In quocunque signo tonitrum siue in die
Form: codex
Support: Parchment (HFFH).
Extent: Codex: 4 leaves. 165-220 × 145 mm.

Collation

A bifolium with two inserted singletons after the first leaf.

  • Quire 202+1+1 (ff. 170-173: bifolium with two inserted singletons after the first leaf)

Condition

The leaves in this part are irregular: folios 171 and 172 are ~40 mm shorter than the majority of the leaves in the volume; f. 172 has a tear in the upper inner corner that occured after the text was written.

Layout

All of the leaves in this Part differ in their layout. Folios 171-173 are particularly informal in their layout.

Hand(s)

The main text on f. 170r is written in gothic rotunda.

Annotations on f. 170r by at least two scribes writing Anglicana hands. Text on ff. 171-173 also by scribes writing Anglicana hands.

Decoration

Plain initials in dark ink touched with red on f. 170r.

Paraph marks in red on f. 170r.

History

Origin: Second half of the 13th century or the first half of the 14th century. ; England.

Part 8: Ricardus Anglicus (Thomson Part VI continued) [Cambridge, Peterhouse, MS 247, f. 174]

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1. 174r-174v
Compendium de re medica Ricardus Anglicus
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: || 174r Cum nostra compilatio ex prolixitate pauperibus uideatur honerosa
Explicit: 174v et in arthritico de melancholia fit cura paralysis mortificacionis ||

This text also appears in London, British Library, Sloane MS 351, ff. 95r-156v .

Begins and ends imperfectly.

eTK 0322K (t0063150000)
eTK 1153D

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Parchment (HFFH).
Extent: Fragment: 1 leaf. 215 × 160 mm.

Collation

Fragment: 1 leaf.

Condition

Leaf is rubbed and stained in several places and some of the text is now illegible.

Layout

185 × 140 mm. Ruled in hardpoint and very faint crayon, in two-column format. Typically 49 lines to the column, written above top line.

Hand(s)

Written in an extremely small textualis libraria.

Decoration

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

History

Origin: Last quarter of the 12th century or the first quarter of the 13th century. ; England.

Part 9: Medical definitions and a diagram (Thomson Part VI continued) [Cambridge, Peterhouse, MS 247, f. 175]

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1. 175r
Definitiones physico-medicae
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 175r Theorica est scientia cognoscendi sanitatis egritudinis et neutralitatis
Explicit: 175r impedimentum fit illius operacionis quam perfatia a virtute . cuius i⟨nu⟩a⟨ni⟩ est a⟨b⟩ ii(?) humor
eTK 1571D
2. 175v
Circular diagram (unfinished)
Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Parchment.
Extent: Fragment: 1 leaf. 218 × 147 mm.

Collation

A fragment: 1 leaf.

Condition

The leaf is rubbed and stained and some text on f. 175r is difficult to read.

Layout

208 × 87 mm. Text is written in a single unruled column roughly half the width of the page. 35 lines of text.

Hand(s)

At least three scribes writing various 14th century English cursive scripts.

Decoration

Unfinished circular diagram in dark ink on f. 175v.

Binding

Rust stains on f. 175 (but not on ff. 176-178) suggest that before joining the rest of the material in Peterhouse MS 247, this leaf was a pastedown or an endleaf in a volume with a binding fitted with metal fastenings.

History

Origin: Probably 14th century. ; England, perhaps Lanercost Priory.

Date and place of production based on identification of persons named on the leaf.

Provenance

An inscription on f. 175r indicates that the leaf was part of a volume owned by Lanercost Priory in Cumbria, England, by 1354 at the latest: ‘Liber ffratris Nicholai de Morland ex dono Willelmi de Langedale cuius usum proprium idem Nicholaus concessit cessit[sic] Domino Iohanni de Buchaster’ (The book of Nicholas of Morland from the gift of William of Langdale, the use of which the same Nicholas had granted to master John of Bewcastle). The inscription names three men (Nicholas of Morland and John of Bewcastle who were granted the use of a book by William de Langdale), and of the three, only John of Bewcastle can be supplied with further biographic information as he was Prior of Lanercost (1338-1354). As Pam Robinson points out, Bewcastle, Morland and Langdale are all Cumbrian place names and so the three men mentioned in the inscription are probably all linked by geographic ties as well as social and religious connections.

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). This catalogue record also draws on 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.

Funding of Cataloguing

Wellcome

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Cambridge Digital Library

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