Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.1.57
Haldenby scientific and medical commonplace book
Physical Description
Part 1: 20th-century foliation:
[i]-[iii] + 1:1-1:4
Numbering in pencil in the upper right-hand corner of the rectos.Part 2: 16th- or 17th-century foliation:
2:1-2:32 | 2:69-2:131, [iv]
Numbering in ink in the upper right-hand corner of the rectos.Collation
NB: The collation in this record deviates from the collation of M.R. James and the quire signatures written in the manuscript (see Additions). While this record considers ff. 1:1r-1:4v Quire 1, these leaves were referred to as 'a' in previous collations. It also does not consider ff. 2:1r-2:32v to be an independent codicological unit.
- Quire 14 (ff. 1-4) |
- Quires 2-310 (ff. 2:1-2:20)
- Quires 4-512 (ff. 2:21-2:32, 2:69-2:80)
- Quire 68 (ff. 2:81-2:88)
- Quires 7-912 (ff. 2:89-2:124)
- Quire 108-1 (ff. 2:125-2:131: 2nd leaf cancelled)
14 | 210 310 412 512 68 7-912 108-1 (2nd cancelled)
Additions
A table of contents entitled ‘Memoracio de contentis in isto libro’ copied in the 15th-century hand on f. 4v, followed by 5 additional entries in a later (? 16th-century) hand (the latter hand has also added folio references to the original table of contents). The original table of contents was produced when the manuscript still had 12 quires, revealing that the manuscript has since lost mathematical treatises entitled ‘Tractatus algorismi’ and ‘Tractatus de cautelis algorismi’ and a so-called Sphere of Life and Death called ‘Spera pictagore’.
An unfinished table of contents in a (?) 17th-century script on f. 2:1r: ‘De flebotomia’ and ‘De Coloribus’.
Printed copy of 'Miscellanae Genealogica et Heraldica: Notes from the Fly-Leaves and Calendar of a MS. in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge (O.1.57)' on the inside of the inner cover and f. [i] recto.
Quire signatures ('1-9') 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 (no longer indicative: see Collation).
Binding
19th-century paper binding.
Binding height: 185mm; width: 115mm; depth: 25mm.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
The Haldenby family of Isham, Northamptonshire: compiled and owned the manuscript:
- Ownership inscription on f. 2:118v: ‘Iste liber constat Haldynby’.
- References to Haldenby in colophons on f. 2:16v: ‘Wodeman ad Haldenby’; f. 2:95r: ‘quod Haldenby’; and f. 2:101r: ‘Explicit tractatus quod Haldenby’ [erased].
- The Calendar contains the obits of John Haldenby and William Haldenby (brothers) (f. 2:2r), Robert Haldenby and ‘Domina Matild'’ (f. 2:3v), probably Maud de la Carville of Isham. The Calendar also records the births of William Haldenby in 1420 (f. 2:1v) and Robert Haldenby in 1433 (f. 2:4r).
- Obits for members of the Mortemer family are found on f. 1:4r and genealogical notes on f. 2:129r. William Haldenby, son of Robert Haldenby and Maud de la Carville of Isham, and John, his nephew, married, respectively, Eleanor and Joan Mortemer, daughters of John Mortermer of Grendon.
One of the manuscripts of George Carew (1555-1629) , Baron Carew of Clopton and Earl of Totnes: his signature (‘G: Carew’) inscribed in dark ink at the top of f. 1:3v. Carew is principally known for the collection of books on Irish history that he amassed as an administrator in Ireland between 1574 and 1592. He bequeathed this collection to Sir Thomas Stafford (d. 1655), from whom they passed to William Laud (1573–1645), Archbishop of Canterbury. The latter placed forty-two volumes at Lambeth Library while four reached the Bodleian Library as part of the Laudian collection (see M.R. James, 'The Carew Manuscripts', The English Historical Review, 42 (1927), 261-267; James H. Todd, 'Account of an Ancient Irish Manuscript, in the Bodleian Library, Oxford', Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, 2 (1936-1869), 336-346; and Ute Lotz-Heumann, 'Carew, George, earl of Totnes (1555–1629)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004) [accessed 23 February 2024]). About Carew's possession of medieval manuscripts from England much less is known, but these appear to have travelled different routes after they left his collection. His signature (‘G: Carew’) can be found in at least six such medieval manuscripts (besides the present volume):
- Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.2.21 (f. 1v) (James, III, p. 115)
- Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.7.23 (f. 1:1r) (James, III, pp. 361-62)
- Edinburgh, University Library, MS 107 (f. 1r) [identified in the online record: 'MS 107: Composite manuscript including twenty-four texts, 13th-14th century']
- London, British Library, Harley MS 204 (f. 1r)
- London, British library, Harley MS 223 (f. 7r)
- London, British Library, Harley MS 234 (f. 1r) (see Andrew G. Watson, The Library of Sir Simonds D'Ewes (London: British Museum, 1966), pp. 210-211 (no. 926); Cyril Ernest Wright, Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts Preserved in the Department of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1972), p. 96)
One of the manuscripts of Thomas Gale (1635/6-1702) , dean of York, antiquary and fellow of Trinity College Cambridge. The manuscript is listed in the list of Gale's manuscripts in Bernard, Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliæ et Hiberniæ (1697).
One of the manuscripts of Roger Gale (1672-1744) , antiquary and scholar, son of Thomas Gale. Inherited from his father.
Donated to Trinity College by Thomas Gale , son of Roger Gale (1672-1744), in 1738. The alpha-numerical elements of its current classmark ‘O.1.57’ are printed separately on three labels pasted on the spine; its previous and current classmarks written on f. 2:1r: ‘C.1.’ [crossed out], ‘No 132’, and ‘O.1.57’; its printed ex libris featuring its armorial coat of arms and name (‘Collegium SS. et Individuae Trinitatis in Academica Cantabrigiensi’) pasted on f. 1:3v; its book stamp on ff. 1:2r, 2:1r, 2:31v, 2:69r, 2:129r, and 2:130r.
Part 1 [Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.1.57, ff. 1:1-1:4]
Contents
Language(s): Latin and Middle English
Added in a 16th-century hand.
Full transcription.
Full transcription.
Physical Description
Collation
- Quire 14 (ff. 1-4)
Layout
110-135 × 80-105 mm. No ruling. Single columns. 16-23 lines to the page.
Hand(s)
Folio 1:4r was copied in a cursive script with anglicana features.
Folio 1:4v was copied in a cursive script with secretary and anglicanafeatures.
Two 16th-century cursive hands have added an Easter table to f. 1:3v and entries to the table of contents on f. 4v in scripts with humanistic features.
Decoration
Folios 1:2v-1:3r have full-page drawings in dark ink, featuring (from left to right) a deer lying on a forest floor, an unidentified creature (? ape) in a tree, a bird of prey (? eagle) holding an empty banderole in their beak, an owl, a hare, a standing deer, a rabbit emerging from their hole, a dog biting the deer's front leg, a squirrel in a tree, and a second bird of prey (hawk) holding a lure in its claws. The two deer may be references to the White Hart-emblem used by King Richard II. This is suggested by the fact that the standing deer is displayed with heraldic imagery: it wears a royal crown with a chain around its neck (gorged and chained).
History
Part 2 [Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.1.57, ff. 2:1-2:32, 2:69-2:131]
Contents
Language(s): Latin and Middle English
Notes regarding the Haldenby family entered into and below the Calendar: obits of John Haldenby (March 15th), Robert Haldenby (June 4th), and Matilda (June 10th); and births of William Haldenby (March 30th, 1420), and Robert Haldenby (July 15th, 1433), sons of William Haldenby of Isham.
Full transcription; epitaph as foud in Jacobus de Voragine's Legenda Aurea.
Accompanied by 27 circular drawings of the eclipses of the sun in blue and gold.
Full transcription of an added instruction; accompanied by a drawing of a circle with six horizontal lines through its upper half and with the inscription ‘sex’ in its lower half in dark ink.
Accompanied by 22 circular drawings of the eclpises of the moon in pink and gold.
The year 1446 is highlighted in the left margin by a different hand: ‘Anno domini Millesimo CCCCmo .lvj.’.
The text has been written around a miniature showing a naked (bearded) man with the Signs of the Zodiac at those body parts that are believed to be governed by them.
The text has been written around a miniature showing a naked man with red lines connecting parts of his body to the surrounding text.
Full transcription.
Added by the same 15th-century hand that copied the next recipe.
Added by the same 15th-century hand that copied the previous recipe.
Full transcription.
Added by the same 16th-century hand that added medical recipes to f. 2:20v; a tract on the signs of pregnancy in a woman on f. 2:125r; medical recipes to the upper and lower margins of ff. 2:76v-2:80v; and all additions to f. 2:125v.
Added by the same 16th-century hand that added an instruction for hempseed divination to f. 2:20r; medical recipes to the upper and lower margins of ff. 2:76v-2:80v; a tract on the signs of pregnancy in a woman on f. 2:125r; and all additions to f. 2:125v.
A charm for curing fever (invoking the name names of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit); The Three Good Brothers (Tres Boni Fratres) charm for bloodstaunching; and a charm for sleep (invoking the Seven Sleepers).
Recipes added to the empty upper and lower margins by the same 16th-century hand that added an instruction for hempseed divination and medical recipes to ff. 2:20r-2:20v; a tract on the signs of pregnancy in a woman on f. 2:125r; and all the additions to f. 2:125v.
The text is accompanied by 13 diagrams. Folios 82r-84v roughly correspond with the edition by Valentin Rose, Anecdota Graeca et Graeco-Latina 2 (1870) 307-313; however, this copy's opening is different and can be compared to London, British Library, Egerton MS 2662. The text is continuous with the following item.
The tract is accompanied by 1 diagram. The text is continuous with the preceding and following item; unlike the preceding and following item, this tract is not present in London, British Library, Egerton MS 2662.
The text is accompanied by 22 diagrams. The text is continuous with the previous item. This text also occurs in London, British Library, Egerton MS 2662 , where it immediately follows De ingeniis spiritualibus.
This text also occurs in Edinburgh, University Library, MS 132 , f. 47v.
The text is followed by a chiromantic drawing, showing a hand to which have been added the words ‘Radix mons’ followed by various astrological symbols.
Added by the same 16th-century hand that added an instruction for hempseed divination and medical recipes to ff. 2:20r-2:20v; medical recipes to the upper and lower margins of ff. 2:76v-2:80v; and all the additions to f. 2:125v.
Added by the same 16th-century hand that added an instruction for hempseed divination and medical recipes to ff. 2:20r-2:20v; medical recipes to the upper and lower margins of ff. 2:76v-2:80v; a tract on the signs of pregnancy in a woman on f. 2:125r; and other additions to f. 2:125v.
Full transcription.
Added by the same 16th-century hand that added an instruction for hempseed divination and medical recipes to ff. 2:20r-2:20v; medical recipes to the upper and lower margins of ff. 2:76v-2:80v; a tract on the signs of pregnancy in a woman on f. 2:125r; and other additions to f. 2:125v.
Full transcription.
Added by the same 16th-century hand that added an instruction for hempseed divination and medical recipes to ff. 2:20r-2:20v; medical recipes to the upper and lower margins of ff. 2:76v-2:80v; a tract on the signs of pregnancy in a woman on f. 2:125r; and other additions to f. 2:125v.
Added by the same 16th-century hand that added an instruction for hempseed divination and medical recipes to ff. 2:20r-2:20v; medical recipes to the upper and lower margins of ff. 2:76v-2:80v; a tract on the signs of pregnancy in a woman on f. 2:125r; and other additions to f. 1:125v.
The capital letters IHS outlies in red ink and partially filled in with dark ink.
Full transcription.
Full transcription.
Full transcription; a hand has added English translations for the verbs in glosses above the words: ‘to moke’ for ‘stercorare’; ‘to ere’ for ‘arare’; ‘to sowe’ for ‘seminare’; ‘to harow’ for ‘erpicare’; ‘to wede’ for ‘runcare’; ‘to schere’ for ‘metere’; ‘to schocke’ for ‘congelimare’; ‘to carry’ for ‘vectimare’; ‘to mowe’ for ‘artonisare’; ‘to þresche’ for ‘flagellare’; ‘to wyndow’ for ‘venticare’; ‘to grynde’ for ‘molere’; ‘to syfte’ for ‘cribrare’; ‘to bulte’ for ‘pollentrudiare’; ‘to knede’ for ‘malaxare’; ‘to sowre’ for ‘fermentare’; ‘to shap’ for ‘costare’; ‘þo howe’ for ‘almun’; ‘to molde’ for ‘formare’; ‘þo bred’ for ‘panem’; ‘to sethin’ for ‘infurnare’; ‘to paycke’ for ‘pinsere’; ‘to drawe owte’ for ‘effuruare’.
For another copy, see Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 417/447 (Nicholas Orme, 'An English Grammar SChool ca. 1450: Latin Exercises from Exeter (Caius College MS 417/447, Folios 16v-24v)', Traditio, 50 (1995), 261-294 (p. 286)).
The tract only lists the purposes of certain tricks, e.g. making fire fly through the air like a dragon, making clothing burn without damaging it, making robbers appear to be hanged in a house, learning a woman's secrets and whether she is a virgin or not. Embedded in this list are also three recipes for making gunpowder, alcohol, and a burning mirror (f. 2:128v) that relate to the listed tricks.
See Joseph Howard, Miscellanea Genealogica Et Heraldica: Vol. I (1874), pp. 246-247.
The drawing of the right hand is accompanied by a legend that connnects initials drawn on the hand to planets and other astronomical phenomena, including the Milky Way ("via lactea") and the Belt of Venus ("Cingulum veneris"), as described in the works of Robert Fludd (1574-1647). This astrological list is followed by a second list that gives the Latin names of bones and muscles in the hand.
Full transcription.
Added in the 15th or 16th century.
The first list contains colours, the second one emotions.
Added in the 16th century.
Added in the 16th century.
Full transcription.
Physical Description
Collation
- Quires 2-310 (ff. 2:1-2:20)
- Quires 4-512 (ff. 2:21-2:32, 2:69-2:80)
- Quire 68 (ff. 2:81-2:88)
- Quires 7-912 (ff. 2:89-2:124)
- Quire 108-1 (ff. 2:125-2:131: 2nd leaf cancelled)
Layout
105 × 75 mm. Ruled in leadpoint, frame only. Single columns. 22-30 lines to the page, written below top line.
Hand(s)
The description of the hands is based on Mitchell (2011) [see pp. 257-260 where further details about the hands are provided].
Hand A has copied the genealogical entries on ff. 1:4r and 2:129r, and the medical recipes on f. 2:20r in an anglicana script with some secretary influences.
Hand B has copied ff. 2:1r-2:16v in in an anglicana script with some secretary influences.
Hand C has copied ff. 2:17r-2:19r in a cursive script with both anglicana and secretary features.
Hand D has copied ff. 2:19v and 2:20r in a cursive script with both anglicana and secretary features.
Hand E has copied ff. 2:21r in a cursive script with both anglicana and secretary features.
Hand F has copied ff. 2:69r-2:80v in a cursive script with both anglicana and secretary features.
Hand G has copied ff. 2:81r-2:95r in a cursive script with both anglicana and secretary features.
Hand H has copied ff. 2:95v-2:124r in a cursive script with both anglicana and secretary features.
Hand I has copied ff. 2:124r-2:125r and 2:127r-2:128v in a cursive script with both anglicana and secretary features.
Hand J has copied f. 2:126v in a cursive script with both anglicana and secretary features.
Hand K has made later marginal additions throughout the manuscrip in a secretary script with anglicana features.
Decoration
Vein Man: a miniature showing a naked man in colours with red lines connecting parts of his body to the surrounding text on f. 2:16v.
Zodiac Man: a miniature showing a naked bearded man with the Signs of the Zodiac in colours and gold on f. 2:10v.
49 circular drawings of solar and lunar eclipses in blue and gold or pink and gold on ff. 2:7r-2:7v.
A diagrammatic astronomical drawing in brown ink, consisting of a circle (the moon) with six horizontal lines through its upper half and with the inscription ‘sex’ in its lower half in dark ink on 2:7r.
26 diagrams in brown ink drawn inside spaces that have been left open for them by the scribe on ff. 2:81r-2:90v, featuring geometric figures, vessels, and architectural structures (e.g. towers and a castle gate) in brown ink.
Chiromantic diagrams of hands in brown ink on ff. 2:118v, 2:129v, 2:130.
Two diagrammatic drawings in dark and red ink within a text that describes a magic ritual for retrieving stolen goods on on f. 2:126v: 1. A pentangle with a cross drawn inside it and the letters "a" to "e" written on the outside between successive points in dark ink illustrating a figure that needs to be drawn on bread 2. A diagram showing the bread after it has been pierced by three knives.
Large blue initials (2- or 3-line, and one 4-line on f. 2:21r) with penwork decoration in red ink inside the letters (foliate motifs), in frames of red penwork, and with pen-flourishing in red ink extending into the margins throughout.
A IHS monogram in large letters (Gothic Textualis) outlined in dark and red ink on f. 2:126v.
Large 'KL' plain capitals in blue ink written above the Calendar tables on ff. 2:1r-2:6v.
Small (1-line) plain initials in blue or red in the Calendar tables on ff. 2:1r-2:6v, and the astrological texts on ff. 2:10v and 2:16v.
Line-fillers consisting of rows of red 'tildes' throughout.
Occasional cadels highlighted in red ink on extenders of letters on the first lines of pages (e.g. see ff. 2:72r-2:77r).
Rubricated numbers in tables, sub-headers in texts, and explicits.
Regular initials higlighted with red ink throughout.
Paraphs in blue or red ink throughout.
Sub-headers in texts occasionally written in frames of red ink.
History
Additional Information
Record Sources
Availability
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Custodial History
Bibliography
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Miscellanea Genealogica Et Heraldica, New Series, Volume 1, Howard, Joseph Jackson (London, 1, Hamilton, Adams, 1874)
The western manuscripts in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge: a descriptive
catalogue, James, M.R. (Cambridge, 3, Cambridge University Press, 1902)
Ein Aderlasstraktat angeblich des Roger von Salerno samt einem lateinischen und einem
griechischen Texte zur 'Phlebotomia Hippocratis', Czarnecki, Romuald (Leipzig, 1919)
Somniale Danielis: an edition of a medieval Latin dream interpretation handbook Lateinische
Sprache und Literatur des Mittelalters, Martin, Lawrence T. (Frankfurt am Main, Lang, 1981)
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before
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1985)
Wissensliteratur im angelsächsischen England: Das Fachschrifttum der vergessenen artes
mechanicae
und artes magicae. Mit besonderer Berücksichtigung des "Somniale Danielis": Edition
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(lateinisch-)altenglischen Fassungen, Epe, Andreas (Münster, Verlag Tebbert, 1995)
Northern English Books, Owners and Makers in the Late Middle Ages, Friedman, John B. (Syracuse, NY, Syracuse University Press, 1995)
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Anglo-Saxon prognostics in context: a survey and handlist of manuscripts Anglo-Saxon
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Book of Daniel and the Apocryphal Daniel Literature Studia in Veteris Testamenti Pseudepigrapha, DiTommaso, Lorenzo (Leiden, Brill, 2005)
The Cultural Uses of Magic in Fifteenth-century England, Mitchell, Laura (Toronto, 2011)
Picturing the Book of Nature: Image, Text, and Argument in Sixteenth-Century Human
Anatomy and
Medical Botany, Kusukawa, Sachiko (Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 2012)
The Disappearance of Charms from a Fifteenth-century Notebook, Mitchell, Laura (2013, https://recipes.hypotheses.org/2619)
Performative Rituals for Conception and Childbirth in England, 900–1500 Bulletin of
the History of Medicine, Jones, Peter MurrayOlsan, Lea T. (89, 3, 406-433, 2015, https://muse.jhu.edu/article/596616)
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)
<hi rend="italics">The crafte of lymmyng</hi> and <hi rend="italics">The maner
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The tradition of Greek and Latin incantations and related ritual texts from antiquity
through the
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Guerra nas Estrelas A metáfora artística da sociedade medieval no macrocosmo astrológico
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representações e
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The problem with practicality: rethinking late medieval English medical recipes,
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Chiromancy
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An Inventory of Anonymous Medieval Physiognomic Treatises Revue d'histoire des texts
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Later
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Love and the Longevity of Charms, Mitchell, Laura (2019, https://recipes.hypotheses.org/2619)
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in late
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Early Printed
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Cambridge, Trinity College Library MS O.1.57 (1081) Late Medieval English Magic: English
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Funding of Cataloguing
Wellcome (cataloguing). All images provided by Trinity College, Cambridge.
Digital Images
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
