Cambridge, St John's College, MS D.3
Medical treatises
Contents
- Rasis in Almasorio
- Diuisiones Rasis
- Tractatus de flebotomia
- Megategni Galieni
- De regimine acutorum
- Diagnosticon Galieni
- Liber epidamarum[sic]
- Lucidarius Bertrandi
- Liber pronosticorum
- Liber de signis complexionis
- Regule ad sciendum cuius complexionis sit medicamen
Physical Description
20th-century foliation
[i] | [ii] + 1-31, 32-69, 70-134 + 135 | [iii]
Partial foliation in pencil in the upper outer corner of the first recto of each quire from Quire 2 onward. Folio numbers [i], [ii], and [iii] were assigned to unfoliated leaves for the purposes of this electronic record when the manuscript was examined in 2023 for the Curious Cures in Cambridge Libraries project.
The partial foliation of the manuscript has led to errors in the foliation sequence. The errors are located in the leaves between the designations ff. 18-32 and are resolved by f. 32. For the purposes of this electronic record, the leaves between f. 18 and 32 are counted sequentially and any folio designations in pencil on those leaves have been disregarded. Folios 1-18 and 32-135 follow the foliation sequence as written in the manuscript.
Collation
This manuscript consists of three contemporary codicological units which share layouts and some scribes and artists, but can clearly be seen to be distinct and self-contained codicological productions; these three units are each separated by a semi-colon in the following statement.
- Fragment (former pastedown; f. [i]) |
- Parchment endleaf (f. [ii]) +
- Quire 18-1 (ff. 1-7: 1st leaf missing)
- Quire 26 (ff. 8-13)
- Quire 38 (ff. 14-21)
- Quire 410 (ff. 22-31) ;
- Quires 5-88 (ff. 32-63)
- Quire 96 (ff. 64-69) ;
- Quires 10-168 (ff. 70-125)
- Quire 1710 (ff. 126-135) |
- Fragment (former pastedown liner); f. [iii])
18-1 (1st leaf missing) 26 38 410 ; 5-88 96 ; 10-168 1710
Catchwords present in the centre of the lower margin of the last leaf of Quires 5-17, some lost to trimming: catchwords in Quires 5-9 are enclosed in a 'zigzag' frame; catchwords in Quires 10-17 are enclosed in a rectangular frame.Additions
Quire signatures ('1-17') in the bottom right-hand corner of the recto side of the first leaf of each quire, written in pencil by a hand of the 19th/20th century.
Binding
Late 13th- or early 14th-century binding, repaired in 1971. Fully bound in an underlayer of tawed skin and then an outer layer of ?parchment over wood boards. Three sewing stations, and three narrow slightly raised bands on spine. No head or tail tabs or bands visible. Two small printed paper labels affixed to spine, 'D' and '3' for the current shelfmark, and stuck over 'D' and '3' written in ink in an early modern hand. Traces of a former title in brown ink on the spine now almost entirely illegible. The binding may once have been fitted with two strap and pin fastenings: there are two raised 'bumps' in the fore edge of the front cover, probably where the strap ends were mounted, and there are two small puncture marks along the centre-vertical of the rear cover, which were probably caused by the pin plate fittings. Both the parchment cover and the tawed-skin underlayer sit over the remains of the fastenings, in some cases without holes or damage in the cover-surfaces, so the covers may have been repaired or repositioned after the fastenings were lost or removed.
Paper pastedowns added in 1971 at the beginning and end of the volume. The front pastedown contains a St John's College bookplate, and William Crashaw's donation bookplate. The rear pastedown contains a note in pencil recording the repair of the volume: 'Repaired, endpapers lifted, by J.P. Gray and Son Ltd December 1971 for £5'.
The former pastedowns are ff. [i] and 135. Folio [iii] appears to have been used to line the binding underneath the rear pastedown. All of the medieval pastedowns and liners have been lifted and are now free and both sides of the leaves are visible.
Dimensions (L x W x D): 260 x 180 x 40 mm
Housed in a black archival box with custom-fitted padded inserts to stabilise the volume.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Owned by
St. Augustine's
Abbey
in Canterbury, England. On
f. [ii] recto there is a title and shelfmark for the volume:
‘Medicina translata. Di: XIIII, Gra. II. Liber S. Aug. Cant.’ (Translations of medical
[texts]. Case 14,
Shelf 2. Book [belonging to] St Augustine's Canterbury) followed by a list of the
contents of the volume. On f. [ii] verso there is a note: ‘Contenta huius libri. Rasis in Almasorio.
Item liber diuisionum Rasis cum aliis de libraria S. Aug. Cant. D. XIIII, Gra. I.’
(Contents of this book:
Rasis in Almasorio . [The] same [author] Divisions of Rasis with other works from the library
of St Augustine's Canterbury . Case 14, Shelf 1).
Purchased at an unknown time before 1624 by William Crashaw (1572-1626) , a lawyer, book collector, and former Johnian. Crashaw's collection numbered around 200 manuscripts and 1000 printed books.
The manuscripts and printed books owned by William Crashaw were purchased by Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton (1573-1624) , at an unknown time before Wriothesley's death in 1624. Wriothesley had been a student-contemporary of Crashaw at St John's College and he purchased Crashaw's collection with the intention to present the volumes as a gift to the library. The library was still partly under construction at the time of the purchase resulting in the Wriothesley family storing Crashaw's collection and delivering it piecemeal to the College over a number of years.
After Henry Wriothesley's death in 1624 and William Crashaw's death in 1626, care of Crashaw's books and manuscripts passed to Wriothesley's son, Thomas Wriothesley, 4th Earl of Southampton (1607-1667) . Although Crashaw's printed books seem to have been passed to the College without incident, Thomas Wriothesley seems to have taken a particular interest in the manuscripts, adding his name typically in the form 'Tho: C. S.' for ‘Thomas comes southamptoniensis’ ('Thomas, Earl of Southampton') to most of them, and apparently exhibiting such reluctance to deliver the manuscripts that the College wrote to his mother, Elizabeth Vernon to ask her to encourage her son to hand over the volumes.
Given to St John’s College in 1635 by Thomas Wriothesley, 4th Earl of Southampton on behalf of William Crashaw and Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton . The initials ‘Tho. C. S.’ in ink (for Thomas Comes Southamptoniensis) are present on f. [i] verso. William Crashaw's bookplate recording the donation is present on the front pastedown.
Part 1: Fragments: The Liber Pauperum of Vacarius [Cambridge, St John's College, MS D.3, ff. [i] and [iii]]
Contents
Language(s): Latin
Fragmentary leaves used as the front pastedown [i] and as a binding liner under the rear pastedown [iii].
The Liber Pauperum was edited for the Selden Society.
Physical Description
Condition
Layout
85 × 110 mm. Ruled in leadpoint, frame and lines. Ruled in two-column format with wide margins for a parallel gloss-text.
Hand(s)
Written in a neat northern textualis libraria with some late protogothic features.
Decoration
No significant decoration in this Part.
Additions
A brief inscription 'Jo Lond' in ink on f. [i] verso, perhaps the name of a former owner, but see CBMLC 13.III, pp. 1841-44 for a discussion of the number of people known by this name and associated with St Augustine's Abbey.
The shelfmark 'D3' is present in faint ink on f. [i] verso.
A possible former shelfmark 'A44', now struck out, in ink on f. [i] verso.
History
Part 2: Medical Treatises [Cambridge, St John's College, MS D.3, pp. [ii] + 1-31, 32-69, 70-135 ]
Contents
Language(s): Latin, with a note in Hebrew
Full transcription:| Medicina translata : Di : XIIII : Gra II : liber sancti augustini cant
The 'D number' has been altered so that it now reads 'XIIII', the original designation is unclear, but included the 'X'.
Written in a late 13th century hand with later alterations.
Full transcription:|
- Rasis in Almasorio
- Diuisiones Rasis
- Tractatus de flebotomia
- Megategni Galieni
- De regimine acutorum
- Diagnosticon Galieni
- Liber epidamarum[sic]
- Lucidarius Bertrandi
- Liber pronosticorum
- Liber de signis complexionis
- Regule ad sciendum cuius complexionis sit medicamen
Written in an ?early 15th-century hand, by the same scribe who added a similar contents list to Cambridge, St John's College, MS D.24, f. [i] recto .
This contents list indicates that the volume was mutilated or damaged after the list was added in the early 15th century. The 'Rasis in Almasorio' (Rāzī, Liber almansoris) is no longer present in the volume, and the 'Diuisiones Rasis' (Rāzī, Liber diuisionum) lack their opening leaves, indicating the loss of probably two or more quires.
Full transcription:| Contentur huius libri | Rasis in almasori | Item libri diusionum rasis | Cum alijs de libraria sancti Augustini Cant | D Xiiij Ga I
Written in a ?late 14th century hand
The text begins abruptly, the first few leaves having been lost.
Although this manuscript is not mentioned directly, see L. Thorndike, 'Latin Manuscripts of Works by Rasis', Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 32.1 (1958), pp. 54-67 for a discussion of the circulation of groups of texts by Rasis in western Europe in the middle ages.
This items begins with a list of 61 capitulae on f. 18r, and then the main text begins on f. 18v
Although Cambridge, St John's College MS D.3 is not mentioned directly in the article, see L. Thorndike, 'Latin Manuscripts of Works by Rasis', Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 32.1 (1958), pp. 54-67 for a discussion of the circulation of groups of texts by Rasis in western Europe in the middle ages.
Recipes for 'Unguentum egyptiacum' and 'Syrupus almurafa'.
The first recipe is in the hand of the main scribe, the second is in the hand of the scribe who added annotations throughout the first few extant quires.
Recipe in lower margin. For a 'pillule ante cibum' (i.e. a pill to be taken before food'), for an unstated purpose.
This text is sometimes ascribed to Ricardus Anglicus .
Folio 31v is blank.
This translation is variously attributed to Gerard of Cremona and Constantinus Africanus.
Text is unfinished and ends abruptly.
See discussion in CBMLC 13.II, BA1.1228, pp. 1249-1250 about the identification of this text, and its possible relationship with Celsus, De medicina.
Printed with the Articella (Venice, 1487)
See also Dublin, Trinity College MS 403, ff. 29r-37v.
List of capitula at the beginning of the text.
This text and the Liber pronosticorum appear together in reverse order in Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Cod. 2296, ff. 100r-115v. See CBMLC 13.II, BA1.1228, pp. 1249-1250.
List of capitula at the beginning of the text.
This text and the Incipit lucidarius bertrandi uel Almagest appear together in reverse order in Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Cod. 2296, ff. 100r-115v. See CBMLC 13.II, BA1.1228, pp. 1249-1250.
Purposes uncertain, but apparently including one or more for ailments of the womb or menstruation ('[...] in serico tenuissimo in uuluam posuis [sic] ; sine dubio menstrua [?]valet').
Medical recipes in several hands. They address the following:
- f. 132v: an electuary for overheating of the liver, for cleansing the face, for gout, an electuary for mollifying the spleen, for a marvellous powder for unstated purpose ('et de puluere mire'), for haemorrhoids, for constipation
- f. 133v: four for uncertain purposes (written by the same hand), for making hair grow ('ad generacionem pilorum'), a pill for restoring and preserving eyesight and for strengthening hearing and expelling superfluous humours, for hair loss/baldness/alopecia ('Ad allopecia fortior medicina'), an unguent for unspecified purpose, a black electuary for (?)black bile ('melancolicis'), leprosy, ulcers, canker and scabies, a pill for rheum, for insomnia, for fistula, for felon, for inflammation/swelling caused by a blow/wound ('contra inflammationem ex ictii'), for quinsy, for haemorrhoids
Folio 133r is blank
Physical Description
Collation
Three codicological units:
- Quire 18-1 (1st leaf missing; ff. 1-7)
- Quire 26 (ff. 8-13)
- Quire 38 (ff. 14-21)
- Quire 410 (ff. 22-31) ;
- Quires 5-88 (ff. 32-63)
- Quire 96 (ff. 64-69) ;
- Quires 10-168 (ff. 70-125)
- 1710 (ff. 126-135)
Condition
Layout
185 × 135 mm. Ruled in leadpoint, frame and lines. Written in two-column format, typically 47 lines to the column and typically, but not exclusively, above topline.
Hand(s)
This main text in this manuscript is written in 13th-century northern textualis libraria by several scribes, whose hands are of similar appearance and quality.
There are annotations throughout the manuscript by a scribe writing a slightly informal northern textualis libraria, who typically works in a lighter ink and sometimes supplies missing passages of text, marginal annotations, or short texts and medical recipes in the margins and in empty spaces in the volume. This scribe's hand can be identified in this volume by his (relatively) long ascenders and descenders, see e.g., his addition in the lower margin of f. 28v. This scribe also supplies the guide text for rubricated headings, e.g., f. 32r, upper margin, now partially trimmed away.
Decoration
Large flourished initials in red and blue at the opening of each codicological unit, i.e, f. 32r and f. 70r, the first one absent due to leaves lost from the volume. Smaller flourished initials at the beginning of most new texts and major sections of text.
Plain initials in red or blue at the beginning of minor divisions in the texts.
Rubricated titles to most texts and rubricated chapter and section headings within texts.
Paraph marks in red and blue to divide the minor sections of some texts in the volume.
Additions
Folio 135v: record of a transaction in Hebrew, now badly damaged due to abrasion.
History
Additional Information
Record Sources
Availability
Visitors to St John's College who wish to consult Special Collections material are required to apply to the Library in advance of their visit. For information on eligibility and admission procedures see: St John's College: Old Library and Special Collections.
Bibliography
-
The ancient libraries of Canterbury and Dover: the catalogues of the libraries of
Christ Church
Priory and St. Augustine's Abbey at Canterbury and of St. Martin's Priory at Dover, James, Montague Rhodes (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1903, https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511920097)
The Liber Pauperum of Vacarius Selden Society Publications, (1927)
A List of the Latin Manuscripts Containing Medieval Versions of the <hi
rend="italics">Methodus Medendi</hi> Galen's Method of Healing: proceedings of the
1982 Galen Symposium Studies in Ancient Medicine, Libre, Pearl (1, 115-122, 1991)
St Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury Corpus of British medieval library catalogues, Barker-Benfield, B.C. (London, British Library in association with the British Academy,
2008)
Funding of Cataloguing
Wellcome
Digital Images
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
