Cambridge, St John's College, MS G.4
Antidotarium magnum
Contents
Language(s): Latin
M.R. James identifies this text as the Antidotarium nicholai not the Antidotarium magnum. The two texts have frequently been confused in studies of medieval receptaria as both begin with 'aurea alexandrina' as the subject of their first medical preparation, but the recipe texts diverge into distinct and identifiable works after their opening words. In addition, the Antidotarium nicholai typically begins with a distinctive preface (not present in this manuscript) where a 'Nicholas' addresses his readers and sets out his reasons for assembling a collection of medical recipes.
Written by the same hand as the previous item. They address the following:
- f. 155r: a most proven electuary for stomach pain caused by wind (see below for full transcription and translation )]; an electuary called 'diaspermaton' for wind in the stomach arising from excess black bile or phlegm, for congestion of the liver, for opening the kidneys and inducing urination or menstruation; a powder for pain in the intestine caused by wind or the humours; a poultice for pain in the intestine and the stone; an antidote called 'antameron' for headache, 'optarmicus', lethargy, and problems of the stomach and liver, sciatica, gout, the kidneys, and various other ailments
- f. 155v: an antidote called 'filo antropos', for congestion of the liver and spleen, pain in the intestine, and problems of the kidney, strangury, and bladder stone; an antidote called 'diacastoreum', for severe and persistent headache, epilepsy, vertigo, migraine, headache in one place ('monopagicus'), paralysis in all members/limbs, congestion of the liver, spleen and kidneys
- f. 156r: an unguent called 'populeum', for all ailments caused by heat, as well as pain and swelling arising from heat; an electuary for phlegm in the stomach, chest or lungs and for wind persisting in the kidneys; a very strong antidote for pain in the intestine
- f. 156v: an antidote called 'dragmum' for inflammation in the liver, cotidian and quartan fevers, cough, for inducing menstruation, and for paralysis; a collyrium for all eye ailments, swollen eyelids and red eyes; a most proven collyrium for all eye ailments; for tightness in the forehead; an excellent electuary called 'diayris' for all ailments of the chest, lungs and liver, and all ailments in the intestine/interior ('et omni interaneorum uitia emendat')
Full transcription of electuary for stomach pain caused by wind: | Elactuarium probatissimum ad doloris stomachi ex uentositate factum . Recipe zacare - drachmae xx; mirobalani chebuli - drachmae viii; ?muoche, anisi, carui, fenuculi - omnium iiii . drachmae . vi; asaris id est ciperis, gariofili, ligni aloes, masticus, galie muscate - omnium . vi . drachmae . iii .; sciruppi quod sufficit. Dabis in modum auellane mane et sero cum calida uel cum uino. | Full translation: |A proven electuary made for stomach pain from windiness. Take sugar — twenty drachms; chebulic myrobalan — eight drachms; ?nuts/musk, anise, caraway, fennel — of all four, six drachms; with asarabacca, that is the plant hazelwort, cloves, the wood of aloes, mastic, French muscat — of all six, three drachms; [and] a sufficient quantity of syrup. You will give this in the form of a hazelnut [i.e. as a hazelnut-sized pill], at morning and night with warm water and wine or with wine alone.
Symbols and explanations for the dragma, scrupulus, libra, sextarium, vncia (uncia), semis, q.s. (quod sufficit), and 9.s. (confice sic)
In a slightly later hand than the texts from ff. 2-156, perhaps written in the early- or mid- 13th century. They address the following: for quickly and easily getting rid of excrement from the stomach and useful for excessive constipation (see below), for dysentery, and a powder for clearing blockages in the idneys and cleansing black bile or blood and for aiding digestion.
Full transcription of recipe for excrement in the stomach/constipation: | Ad deponenda facili citoque medicamine stercora uentris. Nimium constipati medicamen utile. Maluas integras cum furfuribus triticeis in aqua decoques ad usque medium. Cuius decoctionis colamentum cum pari mellis puri porcione tam diu decoques donec ad mellis fere mensuram deducatur. Deinde puluerati aloe partes . ii . grano mastice partem . i . cum ipso melle calido conficies . tepidumque per clisterium infundes in orificium. | Full translation: | A medicine for quickly and easily getting rid of excrement from the stomach. A useful medicine for excessive constipation. You will boil whole mallows with husks of wheat in water until halved. You will boil this strained decoction, with an equal amount of purified honey, for a long time, until the quantity of honey has been reduced. Then you will prepare ground aloes, two parts, and grains of mastic, one part, with that warmed honey, and you will pour the warm [mixture] through a clyster into the orifice.
Physical Description
20th-century foliation
[i]-[ii] + 1 + 2-156, [157a], 157-158 + [iii]-[iv]
Foliated in pencil in Hindu-Arabic numerals in the upper outer corner of the first recto of each quire. Two folio numbers are incorrect: '9' on f. 10r and '17' on f. 18r; both of these are written in a slightly different hand to the rest and were apparently added by someone who counted from the present f. 2r.
In order to produce a functional TEI/XML catalogue record, leaves without folio numbers in the manuscript have been assigned numbers, which are enclosed in [square brackets] throughout this record, as follows:
- A small a strip of parchment fixed to f. 157r with an adhesive has been assigned the virtual designation f. [157a]
- The paper endleaves at each end of the volume have been assigned the designations ff. [i]-[ii] and [iii]-[iv]
Collation
Quires of mostly 12 leaves, arranged as follows:
- One parchment endleaf (f. 1) +
- Quires 1-912 (ff. 2-108)
- Quire 1010 (ff. 109-118
- Quires 1112 (ff. 119-130)
- Quires 12-1310 (ff. 131-150)
- Quire 14?eight +1 (ff. 151-156, [157a], 157-158: eight leaves remain, stubs visible after the first and fourth leaf, a slip of parchment (f. [157a]) fixed to f. 157 with an adhesive)
1-912 1010 1112 12-1310 14?eight +1
Medieval alphabetical quire signatures in ink in the lower outer margin of the last recto of some quires; some signatures clearly lost to trimming. Medieval quire signatures present at the end of Quire 1 (a), Quire 5 (e) and Quire 6 (f).
No catchwords present in the volume.Condition
Rodent damage along the upper edge of the volume and extending down into the back of the volume; the damage is concentrated in the first quarter of the volume.
Layout
175 × 85 mm. Ruled in single columns, frame and lines. Ruled in leadpoint, typically 32 lines to the page, and written above top line. Pricking marks are often visible in the outer margins.
Hand(s)
The majority of the manuscript is written in a 12th century protogothic minuscule by one scribe.
Additional notes in an ?early- or mid-13th century protogothic minuscule to ff. 157r-157v by a scribe who may also be responsible for the note on the inserted slip of parchment f. [157a] recto.
Decoration
Plain initials in red at the major and minor divisions of the text; some initials are a little more decorative at the more significant textual divisions and have elements of 'arabesque' flourishing.
Unfilled space for an initial 'a' on f. 2r.
Additions
Numerous interlinear and marginal annotations by one or more hands of the 12th or 13th centuries, providing synonyms for words or phrases in the text (most beginning '. i .' - 'id est').
There is a small slip of parchment fixed to f. 157 with an adhesive. The recto of the slip of parchment (f. [157a] recto) contains a summary of weights and measures and their medieval sigla in a medieval hand similar in appearance to the hand that added several medical recipes to f. 157r-157v.
On f. 1r:
- a summary of the contents in ink in an early-modern hand: 'Anonymi liber cui titulus (ut uideatur) Antidotarium uetus'
- a former shelfmark 'A.77' in ink, struck out.
- the number '24' in ink
On f. 1v:
- the current shelfmark 'G4' in ink
- the former shelfmark 'A.77' in ink, struck out
- a St John's College bookplate
Quire signatures ('1-14') 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
19th-century binding. Fully bound in calf over paste- or mill- board with matching blind-impressed decoration to front and rear covers. The cover material is decorated with a feather-and-bead roll set at the perimeter of each board. The head, fore, and tail edges of the cover material, and also the turn ins are decorated with a hatched diagonal roll. Head and tail bands are visible and wrapped in alternating segments of pink and blue yarn. Four raised bands on the spine, each decorated with the hatched diagonal roll used elsewhere on the binding. Spine compartments not used for titles are decorated with a scale motif, some 'scales' enclosing a futher lobed or 'cloud' motif conforming to the shape of the scale. Title tooled in gold across two compartments: 'ANTIDOTARIUS VETUS | M.S.'.
Pastedowns of grey-brown paper at each end of the volume. The rear pastedown is blank. The front pastedown contains:
- The manuscript's shelfmark, 'G.4' in ink.
- A bookplate recording the donation of the volume by William Crashaw.
Folded bifolia of stiff grey-brown paper at each end of the volume for the endleaves (ff. [i]-[ii] and [iii]-[iv].
Accompanying Material
A small piece of paper c. 100 x 45 mm (L x W) between the front pastedown and [i] recto with text on one side written with a typewriter. The slip is probably an exhibition label and contains the following text: ‘ANTIDOTARIUM NICHOLAI. English. 12th century. The open page shows additions in later hands and a slip giving the names and symbols of apothacaries' measures. From Durham monastery. Given by the Earl of Southampton, 1635.’ (not photographed).
History
Date and location of production based on palaeographical features and early evidence of provenance.
Provenance and Acquisition
Owned by (and perhaps made at) Durham Cathedral Priory . Ownership inscription twice on f. 1r '⟨Liber⟩ S. Cuthberti de Dunelmo'. Durham pressmark on 2r: 'C. 2a 7i'. The volume is recorded in Durham's 'Spendiment' Catalogue of 1391, and may also be one of the 'duo paria antidotariorum' described in the mid-12th century inventory of the Cathedral's books now preserved in Durham, Cathedral Library, MS B.IV.24 ('The Durham Cantor's Book'), f. 1v . It is not known when the manuscript left the Durham collection.
Purchased at an unknown time from an unknown owner before 1624 by William Crashaw (1572-1626) , a lawyer, book collector, and former Johnian. In his lifetime 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 of St John's College. 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, 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 passed swiftly to the College, 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') to most of them, and apparently exhibiting such reluctance to deliver the manuscripts that the College wrote to his mother, Elizabeth Vernon (1573-?1655) to ask her to encourage her son to hand over the manuscript 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 . A bookplate recording the Crashaw-Wriothesley donation is present on the front pastedown.
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
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Antidotarium magnum contents list CSJ G.4, Walker-Meikle, Kathleen (2014, https://www.academia.edu/7639294/Antidotarium_magnum_contents_list_CSJ_G_4)
Antidotarium magnum sample recipe CSJ G.4 (Blanca maior), Walker-Meikle, Kathleen (2014, https://www.academia.edu/7639297/Antidotarium_magnum_sample_recipe_CSJ_G_4_Blanca_maior_)
The Antidotarium magnum: A Short Description, Green, Monica H. (2019, https://www.academia.edu/40255503/The_Antidotarium_magnum_A_Short_Description_2019_)
Funding of Cataloguing
Wellcome
Digital Images
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
