Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries

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

Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.1.65

Medical and alchemical recipes

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: A manuscript of four separate parts, each consisting of paper leaves.
Extent: Codex: ii + 59 | 76 | 127 | 28 + ii leaves. 95-170 × 105-130 mm.
Foliation:

This catalogue record contains several early modern and modern foliation and pagination sequences. These are each described in turn below as Foliation Sequences 1-3. In order to produce a useable sequence for the present digital catalogue record (for which unique folio numbers are required), some of these sequences are followed (wholly or in part), while others are ignored. The prefatory numbers (i.e. '1:', '2:', etc) refer not to the relevant Foliation Sequence, however, but to the Part of the manuscript in which they are found.

The resulting, amalgamated foliation sequence is as follows: [i]-[ii] + 1:1-1:57, [1:57a], 1:58-1:59 [cf. Foliation Sequence 2 below] | 2:i-2:iv, [2:v] [cf. Foliation Sequence 2 below], 2:1-2:32 [cf. Foliation Sequence 3 below], 2:33 [not written out in any sequence but implied], 2:34-2:68 [cf. Foliation Sequence 2 below], 2:69 [cf. Foliation Sequence 3 below], 2:70-2:71 [cf. Foliation Sequence 2 below] | 3:129, [3:129a], 3:130-3:135 [cf. Foliation Sequence 1 below], 3:i-3:viii [cf. Foliation Sequence 2 below], 3:136-3:187, 3:187a, 3:188-3:196, [3:196a], 3:197-3:207, [3:207a], 3:208-3:210, [3:210a], 3:211-3:215, 3:215a, 3:216-3:224, 3:224a, 3:225-3:226, 3:226a-3:226b, 3:227-3:242, 3:242a [cf. Foliation Sequence 1 below] | 4:243-3:266, 4:266a, 4:267-4:269 [cf. Foliation Sequence 1 below] + [iii]-[iv]

Folios [i]-[ii] and [iii]-[iv] are unfoliated early modern paper flyleaves at the beginning and end of the manuscript that have been allocated Roman numerals between square brackets for reference purposes in this electronic catalogue record.

Foliation:

Sequence 1: 17th- or 18th-century continous foliation throughout Parts 1, 2, 3, and 4:

'1'-'32', '32', '33'-'50' (for ff. 1:7-1:57) [=Part 1]; '51'-'109' (for ff. 2:1-2:59), and '120'-'128' (for ff. 2:60-2:68) [=Part 2]; '129', [129a], '130'-'196', [196a], '197'-'207', [207a], '208'-'210', [210a], '211'-'215', '215', '216'-'224', '224', '225'-'226', '226', '226', '227'-'242' (for ff. 3:129, [3:129a], 3:130, 3:131-3:187v and 3:188-3:196, [3:196a], 3:197-3:207, [3:207a], 3:208-3:210, [3:210a], 3:211-3:215, 3:215a, 3:216-3:224, 3:224a, 3:225-3:226, 3:226a-3:226b, 3:227-3:242) [=Part 3]; '243'-'266', '267' (for 4:243-4:266, and 4:267) [=Part 4].

Numbering in dark ink in the upper left-hand and right-hand corners or centre of the upper margins of the rectos. The numbers '51'-'82' have been largely crossed out, although some have been partly crossed so that remaining numbers could be reused for a new foliation sequence (see below)

Folio [129a] is an unfoliated stub with (some) writing and ff. [196a], [207a], and [210a] are unfoliated fragments of leaves with writing that have been allocated a number between square brackets for reference purposes in this electronic catalogue record.

This foliation is supplemented in pencil by a modern hand: letters ‘a’ and ‘b’ for duplicate numbers, and numbers and letters for unfoliated pages: ‘187a’, ‘242a’, ‘266a’, ‘268’, and ‘269’.

This foliation sequence is partially followed in this catalogue record, which ignores it for Parts 1 and 2, but follows it (with its modern supplements) for Parts 3 and 4.
Foliation:

Sequence 2: 20th-century foliation in sections of Parts 1, 2, and 3:

'1'-'57', [57a], '58'-'59' (for ff. 1:1-1:57, [1:57a], 1:58-1:59) [=Part 1]; '(i)'-'(iv)' (for 2:i-2:iv, [2:v], '34'-'68' (for ff. 2:34-2:68), '70'-'71' (for ff. 2:70-2:71 [=Part 2]; '(i)'-'(viii)' (for ff. 3:i-3:viii), '187a' (for f. 3:187a [=Part 3].

Numbering in pencil in the upper right-hand and left-hand corners of the rectos. Folio [57a] is an unfoliated paper stub with (some) writing on it and f. [1:v] is a blank unfoliated leaf that have been allocated numbers between square brackets for reference purposes in this electronic catalogue record.

This foliation sequence is entirely followed in this catalogued record.

Foliation:

Sequence 3: 17th- or 18th-century foliation for Part 2:

'1'-'32' (for ff. 2:1-2:32), '60'-'69' (for ff. 2:60-2:69 [=Part 2]

Numbering in dark ink in the upper left-hand corner of the rectos. The foliator has created the numbers '1'-'9' by crossing out part of the 17th-century foliation sequence that is continuous for Parts 1-4 (see above). The numbers '60'-'68' have been crossed out by the 17th-century continuous foliator (see above) and the modern foliator (see above), although the latter seem to have accepted and integrated its number '69' (f. 2:69) into their sequence. This foliation sequence is partially followed in this catalogue record: it follows the number sequence '1'-'32', and '69'.
Foliation:

Sequence 4: 17th- or 18th-century sequence seemingly alternating between pagination and foliation in Part 3:

Page numbers '6'-'10' (for ff. 3:130r-3:132v); Folio numbers '3'-'4' (for ff. 3:133-3:134); Folio number '11' (for f. 3:135r-3:135v) [but written on the verso side of the leaf]; Page numbers '12'-'31' (for ff. 3:136-3:145); Folio numbers '32'-'35' (for ff. 3:146-3:149; Page numbers '36'-'43' (for ff. 3:150r-3:153v); Folio number '44' (f. 154); Page numbers '44'-'69' (for ff. 3:154-3:167); Folio number '70' (for f. 3:168; Page numbers '71'-'118' (for 3:169v-3:191v; Folio number '119' (for 3:192; Page numbers '120'-'151' (for ff. 3:193r-3:208v); Folio numbers '152'-'153' (for f. 3:209-3:210); Page numbers '154'-'189' (for ff. 3:211-3:226, Folio number '190' (for f. 226a) [but written on the verso side of the leaf]; Page numbers '191'-'196' (for ff. 3:226b recto-3:228v; Folio number '197' (for ff. 3:229); Page numbers '198'-'213' (for ff. 3:230r-3:237v; Folio number '214' [not physically numbered but implied] (for f. 3:238; Page numbers '215'-'218' (for ff. 3:239-3:240.

Numbering in dark ink in the upper left-hand corners of the rectos and upper right-hand corners of the versos of leaves. This numbering sequence has been entirely ignored in this catalogue record.
Foliation:

Sequence 5: (?) 16th-century foliation:

'16'-'18', '31'-'34', '61'-'68', '130'-'132', '168'-'175' (for ff. 1:244-1:268

Numbering in light brown ink in the upper right-hand corners of the rectos of leaves. This numbering sequence has been entirely ignored in this catalogue record.

Collation

Due to the complexity of this manuscript and tightness of the current biding, it has not been possible to propose a plausible collation for Parts 1, 2, and 3. The collation summary below is for Part 4 only.

1?8-4: ?1-2, and ?7-8 missing; 2?8-5: 1 and 2 and three leaves missing in the quire's second half 38; three leaves; 48; three leaves

This catalogue record deviates from the collation provided by M.R. James (1902), which is followed by Mooney (1995) and Timmermann (2015), in that it does not divide the manuscript into three parts but identifies four separate parts. It also suggests that Part 3 may consist of further parts. However, due to the tightness of the current binding it has not been possible to securely identify their ranges.

Binding

(?)17th-century binding of brown leather; the spine re-backed with three paper labels containing the separate alpha-numerical elements of the manuscript's classmark: ‘O’, ‘1’, ‘65’.

Binding height: 185mm; width: 130mm; 45mm.

History

Provenance and Acquisition

One of the manuscripts of Thomas Gale (1635/6-1702) , dean of York, antiquary and fellow of Trinity College Cambridge.

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 Roger Gale (1672-1744) , son of Thomas Gale (1635/6-1702), in 1738. The alpha-numerical elements of its classmark are printed on three paper tabs on the damaged spine: ‘O’, ‘1’, ‘65’. The classmark ‘O.1.65’ inscribed in red ink on the inside of the front cover and in brown ink on f. 1:1r. The College's ex libris, featuring its armorial coat of arms, motto (‘Virtus Vera Nobilitas’), name (‘Coll: Trin: Cantab:’), and portrait of King Henry VIII, engraved by William Stephens, fl. c. 1740-c. 1760 (‘W. Stephens sculp.’) is pasted on the inside of the front cover; another simpler ex libris, also engraved by William Stephens, is pasted on f. 1:1v. The College's bookstamp occurs on f. 1:1r and f. 1:269v

Part 1 [Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.1.65, ff. 1:1-1:57, [1:57a], 1:58-1:59]

Contents

Language(s): English

1. 1:1r, 1:2r-1:2v
Instructions for making a windmill
Language(s): English
Incipit: 1:1r On [...]ayer standing on the other
Explicit: 1:2v and the vper end of the rey thus

The instructions are accompanied by detailed mechanical drawings of components of the mill, including the brake wheel, windshaft, and fantail, in brown ink.

eVK2 3685.00
2.1. 1:3r-1:4r
Alphabetical index

Relates to recipes in this part of the manuscript. Added by a 17th-century hand, the same responsible for adding an index to Part 2 (see ff. 2:i recto-2:iv verso).

2.2. 1:7r-1:24v
Collection of medical and alchemical recipes
Language(s): French and Italian

The recipes refer to various medical practitioners:

  • ‘M[onsieur]r de la Pierre’ (ff. 1:3r[2x], 1:8r [2x], 1:9r, 1:9v, 1:11v)
  • ‘Mr Cast:’ (f. 1:8r [2x]
  • ‘JB’ (f. 1:8v [2x], 1:9v
  • ‘Mr Burry d'Angier’ (f. 1:10v
  • ‘counte de ?Trevue’ (f. 1:13v)
Many of these practitioners also occur in Part 2 of Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.1.13 , which was copied by the same hand.

3. 1:25r-1:25v
Instructions for making a (?)windmill
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 1:25r othe [...] castind water [...]
Explicit: 1:25v [...]

The instructions are accompanied by detailed mechanical drawings, including wheels and pulleys, drawn in brown ink.

4. 1:27r
Medical recipes
Language(s): French
5. 1:27r-1:28r
(?) Lute music
Language(s): French
Explicit: 1:27r P[er] ?Sillis

Music notation on bars of six staves; written upside down.

6. 1:31v-1:49r
Collection of medical and alchemical recipes
Language(s): French with some English

The manuscript contains various references to practitioners:

  • ‘Mons[ieu]r de Castelmont’ (f. 1:33r)
  • ‘De la Chaffe’ (f. 1:33r)
  • ‘Jb’ (f. 1:33v)
  • ‘Monsieur Malkean:’ (f. 1:37r)
  • ‘Aqua domini Malkan’ (f. 1:38r)
  • ‘Monsieur Augustin’ (f. 1:41r, 1:44r [2x])
  • ‘Ds Bernard.’ (f. 1:49r)
Many of these practitioners also occur in the collection of recipes in Part 2 of this manuscript, and in Part 2 of Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.1.13 .

On f. 1:38v occurs the following (?) reference: ‘Xenophon ed[iti]on’.

On f. 1:41r are two drawings of a chalice in brown ink which contains labels in English added by a 17th-century hand: ‘gould enamiled’, ‘concave’, and ‘Emerauld’.

Small alchemical drawings in brown ink feature on ff. 1:43v (lower margin), and f. 1:45r (upper left-hand corner).

7. 1:50r-1:50v
Alchemical notes
Language(s): English
Incipit: 1:50r Not that in 1.1.i. is a box to open: as in A/A
Explicit: 1:50v The appoticari of Montpellieur sayed þat the gentlewoman þat vseth this kind of distil[a]tion did first light on math, and then the other and last of al the .3. giuing each o[ne] lower . so þat the mad degrees of fier but the apoticary of [blank], did light al togeathere, and prsently in the space [of] two howers did draw water and oyle.

The pages feature drawings of three alchemical vessels in dark ink.

eVK2 3687.00
8. 1:50v-1:51v
La Boree [Bouree de Ballard or Bourée D’Avignons] Robert Ballard II (c.1572–c.1650)
Language(s): French
Final rubric: 1:51v Bouree de Ballar[d]

Music notation for a lute consisting of notation on bars of six staves.

Burgers (2020), p. xix (no. 39)
9. 1:52v-1:55r
Alchemical recipes
Language(s): French

The recipe collection refers to two practitioner: ‘Dom: Bernard.’ and ‘Mr Bernard:’ (f. 1:53r, 1:55r). These pratitioners also occur in Part 2 of this manuscript and Part 2 of Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.1.13 .

A drawing of an alchemical (?) vessel in brown ink in the upper half of f. 1:53r.

10. 1:55v-1:56r
Accounts about miraculous creatures seen in Southern France
Language(s): English
Incipit: 1:55v-1:56r [...]ost at midnight about .1[?1]. years since a fiery dragon flying close by him as he stood on a monteyne, which had two piked eares the mouth open flaming with fier the eyes al fiery, and great winges making with his wing[es] a great brut before he came at them . it had two leggs which it claped close to the belly It came from the mountayne of Baux with many dead lakes and inhabitable plenes and rocky caves [...] and it flewe over the place Pugeol and descended into a forest caled mou[...] it had the tayle al in a knot. At Bederide herd by a vegneor [? vigneron] he was at the killing of a huge adder as big as my thye about .8. speces long, which killed the doges and resisted the strookes of the ?heraguet[...] but at last he was killed and it raging at the point of death pust forth such venoumes vapours that .3. or .4 died incontinent after. By Bayon a cruell serpent was killed that was engendred in an old ruinous castell . it had 3 heades and euery head cast forth such abondance of fier that it burne al that cam[e] agaynst it to combat it : at last it was kil[led] In Bayon in the chef church it is yet to [be] seen. In Pugeol lack a great eele taken and sould in Auignion, the serpent [...] and coniunction dayly with this eel was enraged to mis hir comagnion, swom vp and downe the pond in a rage for .3. days space hissing and raginge . The eele was sould to cardinal armoniac and if the fisherman had not come to aduertise the master of the castel, that he feared that it was the compagnion of the serpent, the cardinal had ben possoned, for it being ready betwen two dishes to be served in, by the cardina[ls] commandment it was cast to a dog which eatinge it swelled incontinent and died. The serpent was as great as the eel, whom the fishermen took raging in the lake in a net and kiled it.

Full transcription. Four accounts about monstrous creatures as told by eye-witnesses to the author (who is probably also the scribe). According to Timmermann (2015), these accounts are alchemical allegories. The first account tells about a winged dragon from the mountain of ‘Baux’, perhaps Les-Baux-de-Provence, that was seen flying over ‘Pugeol’, perhaps Pujols, Southwestern France. The second account is about a huge adder at ‘Bederide’, probably Bedarrides near Avignon in Southeastern France. The third account is about a three-headed serpent that was killed at a castle at ‘Bayon’, perhaps Bayonne in Southwestern France. The fourth and final account tells about a great eel and his serpent compagnon and is partly set in Avignon, Southeastern France, referring to a cardinal ‘Armoniac’, perhaps Georges d'Armagnac (b. c. 1501, d. 1585), who was appointed cardinal in 1544.

eVK2 0281.00
11. 1:56v
Medical recipe
Language(s): French
12. 1:58r
Medical recipe
Language(s): French
13. 1:58r
(?)Note on crystals
Language(s): French
Rubric: 1:58r Past pro[...]
Incipit: 1:58r On il puis acc[en]ter de cristal / Ou il travailler le cristal pour [morter] / Le moyen pour faire past pour les perles
14. 1:59r
Memorandum about persons and locations in France
Language(s): French
Incipit: 1:59r Memorandum de la Roussi[s] [...] dans le rue du f[...] a l'ostilerie o[n] pe[u]d [...] la beaume - a rue de la harpe [...]
15. 1:59r
List of names of rulers of France
Language(s): French
Incipit: 1:59r Charles : Ducle / Claude : Prince de Genvil / Lewes archevecq de duc de reins p[crossed out: ‘rior’] \abbe/ de et premieur [crossed out: ‘prieur de’] pere de france / François : chevalier

The list may refer to: Louis III (1575-1621), Archbishop of Reims (1605), and Abbot of Cluny (1612-1621).

16. 1:59r
Memorandum about a Mayaud of Poitiers
Language(s): French
Incipit: 1:59r Mr Mayaud [...] de poigters - de [?] maitant a la ruse du plastre pres les blancs Manteaux au [...]Seual blanc

‘Les Blancs-Manteaux’ refers to the white cloaks of the Augustinian Order of the Servites.

17. 1:59r
Memorandum about an address in France
Language(s): French
Incipit: 1:59r J[...] deueux maintenant a la rue dauphine pres le peut neuf du cesti des Augustins chez vng [?] espissutt

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 1:8r: Pour la Collique
Form: codex
Support: Paper, folded in quarto. Folio 1:6: Jug.
Extent: Codex: 59 leaves. 170 × 115 mm.

Collation

The collation for this part of the manuscript has not been established.

Layout

145-170 × 90-115 mm. No ruling. Single columns (except for ff. 1:3r-1:6v which have two columns). 20-34 lines to the page.

Hand(s)

Copied by several humanistic cursive hands, but one that has copied most of the French recipes has also copied the larger part of Part 2 of this manuscript; and Part 2 of Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.1.13 .

Decoration

Mechanical drawings in brown ink on ff. 1:1r, 1:2r-1:2v and 1:25r-1:25v.

Drawings of alchemical vessels in brown and dark ink on ff. 1:50r and 1:53r.

History

Origin: Late 16th or early 17th century. ; ?France.

Part 2 [Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.1.65, ff. 2:i-2:iv, [2:v], 2:1-2:71]

Contents

Language(s): French, Italian, Latin, and English

1.1. 2:i recto-2:iv verso
Alphabetical index

Relates to recipes in this part of the manuscript. Added by a 17th-century hand, the same hand responsible for adding an index to Part 1 (see ff. 1:3r-1:4r).

1.2. 2:1r-2:65r
Collection of alchemical-medical recipes
Language(s): French, Italian, Latin, and English

This collection of medical recipes is largely written in French but also features recipes in Italian, Latin, and English. It contains various references to locations and alchemical and medical practitioners:

  • ‘Nymes’ [Nîmes, Southeastern France] (f. 2:1r)
  • ‘Puluis domini d'Ampvilij (iam grand canestable de France)’ [probably referring to Henri de Montmorency (1534-1614)), 3rd Duke of Montmorency, Seigneur of Damville, Governer of Languedoc, who was Constable of France between 1593 and 1614] (f. 2:1v)
  • ‘Verole - Mal de Naples’ (f. 2:2v)
  • ‘morbum Neapolitanum’ (ff. 2:5r)
  • ‘Dus Castel.’ [also abbreviated as ‘Castell.’] (ff. 2:18r, 2:18v, 2:19r, 2:21r, 2:22r, 2:22v [2x], 2:24r, 2:24v, 2:26r, 2:27r, 2:27v [crossed out], 2:33r, 2:37v, 2:42r)
  • ‘le cheveux ou Barb. [...] est venu de Aleppo du Levant’ (f. 2:18r)
  • ‘Mr de la Pierre’ or ‘Dominus de la Pierre’ (ff. 2:18r, 2:27v, 2:37r, 2:43v, 2:44r, 2:44v, 2:45r, 2:46r, 2:46v [2x], 2:47r [2x], 2:48v, 2:49v, 2:50r, 2:50v [2x], 2:51r, 2:52r)
  • ‘Mr de Castlemount’ or ‘Dominus de Castelmont’, often abbreviated to ‘Ds Castel.’ (ff. 2:21r, 2:22r, 2:37r, 2:37v, 2:42r, 2:44r, 2:44v, 2:45r, 2:46r, 2:46v [2x], 2:47r [2x], 2:48v, 2:49v, 2:50r, 2:50v [2x], 2:51r)
  • ‘Mr Renauld’ (f. 2:21r)
  • ‘Hb’ (f. 2:25r)
  • ‘Ds Chamb:’ (f. 2:27r, 2:27v, 2:34r [2x], 2:34v, 2:35r, 2:45r)
  • ‘Pomatum domini Petri’ (f. 2:36v); ‘Mr Lunelli’ (f. 2:43r)
  • ‘Mr Sceic’ (f. 2:43v)
  • ‘Mr Danuge [Daunge]’ (f. 2:43r)
  • ‘Augustin Maulnoyr [or ‘Mauluoyr’ de Romorantin de Sologne’ (f. 2:52r) [the name ‘Maulnoyr’ or ‘Mauluoyr’ also occurs on f. 2:58v]
  • ‘Hollerius’ [most likely referring to Jacques Houllier (b. ?1504, d. 1562), known as Jacobus Hollerius Stampani, Professor of Medicine at the University of Paris] (f. 2:63v)

On f. 2:4r is an account about a medicine used at an unidentified monastery: ‘Hoc expe[ri]mento monachus nutriuit totum conventum in [crossed out: ‘Al’] A[...] cum quo mirabilia fecit, et quando nimia confectus [...]it aetate vendidit tribus sacerdotibus de suo convent[o] pro decem aureis’.

Some of the recipes feature titles and words that are written in a cypher. In the usual encryption method, vowels have been replaced for their preceding or successive letters in the alphabet (e.g. ‘opxr ifs fscrpfs - jf xngxfnt’ [=pour les escroet - le unguent] on f. 2:7r); and ‘Dfs fscrpfis encancarides’ [=Des escrofit encancarides] on f. 2:8v). In another encryption method, vowels have been replaced with the letter ‘q’ where the number of horizontal strokes through its descender represents the numerical value of a vowel (e.g. ‘[q2]mpl[q1]str[q2] p[q4][q5]r t[q4][q5]t[q4]s [q5][q4][q2]g[...] vlceros’ [=emplastre pour toutos voeg[...] ulceros] on f. 2:14r). In a third and more unusual encryption method, both consonants and vowels appear to have been scrambled with their preceding and/or successive letters in the alphabet, and a selection of letters has been replaced with symbols. This cypher, which can be found on f. 2:12r of this manuscript but also occurs in Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.1.13 (see ff. 84r, 120v, 121r).

The recipes are accompanied by a drawing of a flask in brown ink on f. 2:33r; and several alchemical vessels in brown ink on ff. 2:64r-2:64v.

2. 2:15r-2:15v
Recipe for making (medicinal) wine
Language(s): Italian
Rubric: 2:15rRicepta del vino
Incipit: 2:15r si pilglia ℥4 demi [alchemical symbol for antimony] crudo
Explicit: 2:15v poi se pot audare a le sue faciende
Final rubric: 2:15v Du seigneur Emanuel de Marin greco fauconier du Roy 1602

Dated to 1602.

3. 2:68r-2:69r
List of recipes
Language(s): Latin and French
Incipit: 2:68r Aqua [...] ad hydropisem
Explicit: 2:69r Oleum ad surdi[...]tem

The text has been written sideways on these pages.

4. 2:69v
List of recipes (unfinished)
Language(s): English
Incipit: 2:69v To procure appetit / To provock vrin

Full transcription.

5. 2:70r
'Si c'est pour mon pucellage' (from the song-cycle Airs de cour et chansons au Luth) Jean-Baptiste Besard (c. 1567-c. 1617)
Language(s): French
Rubric: 2:70r Si c'est pour mon pucellage
Incipit: 2:70r Que vous me faicez l'amour
Explicit: 2:70r Et mon pouvre pucellage .Vous.
6. 2:70v-2:71v
Explanation of encryption method with MERCURY as cypher key
Language(s): English
Incipit: 2:70v Tak any wach word and as MERCVRY. - great letters .SVLPHVR. vpon that wach word wrighten the begining of the letter al the caracters are by taking the opposit decyphred. As the word Mercury: I wright gould thus . thlsz . decipher thus . look in great M .t. sit opposit it : g : look in great E .h. his opposit it o etcaetera

The instructions are accompanied by an encryption table on f. 2:70v.

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 2:2r: In Nephritico
Form: codex
Support: Paper, folded in ? quarto. Folios 2:2r: No watermarks observed but the horizontal chainlines suggest a quarto format.
Extent: Codex: 76 leaves. 95 × 130 mm.

Collation

The collation for this part of the manuscript has not been established.

Layout

75-85 × 115-125 mm. No ruling. Single columns. c. 14-18 lines to the page.

Hand(s)

Copied by several humanistic cursive hands, but one that has copied most of the French recipes has also copied the larger part of Part 1 of this manuscript; and Part 2 of Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.1.13, Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.1.13.

Decoration

Drawings of vessels in brown ink on ff. 2:33r, and 2:64r-2:64v.

History

Origin: Late 16th or early 17th century. ; ?France.

Part 3 [Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.1.65, ff. 3:i-3:viii, 3:129, [3:129a], 3:130, 3:131-3:196, [3:196a], 3:197-3:207, [3:207a], 3:208-3:210, [3:210a], 3:211-3:215, 3:215a, 3:216-3:224, 3:224a, 3:225-3:226, 3:226a-3:226b, 3:227-3:242, 3:242a]

Contents

Language(s): Latin, Middle English, Middle French

1. 3:129r
Verse recipe for making ink
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 3:129r Pro incausto versus
Incipit: 3:129r Vncia gallarum media sit vncia gummi / Tercia vitriolli super addas octo valerni

Full transcription. The letter ‘.G.’ has been written in the upper margin of the page in dark ink.

Singer, Anderson, and Addis, II (1930), p. 743 (no. 1111.xxxiv)
2. 3:129r
Charm for protecting a house against rats invoking St Gertrude of Nivelles
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 3:129r Girissibus qdis fugam Sancta geretrudis / Hijs domibus dones nullus nocere Ratones
Final rubric: 3:129r Pro Ratonibus

Full transcription.

3. 3:129r-3:129r-3:129v
Extract from the (?) Glosulae super Viaticum Constantini Gerardus Bituricensis
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 3:129r Secundum Gerardum super viaticum
Incipit: 3:129r ffrumentum id est masticatum ab homine
Explicit: 3:129v scilicet illo qui mordet
4. 3:129v
Medical recipe John of Milan (here attributed)
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 3:129v Pulius ducis secundum Magistrum Johennis [sic] de Melano
5. 3:129v
Proverb
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 3:129v Vir videas quid tu jubeas dum magnus haberis / Et caueas ne forte ruas dum stare vid[e]ris
6. 3:129v
Alchemical recipe
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 3:129v Calcus [...] [sic: ‘Calcanthum’] id est es vstum Pro rector de honilane

The title may refer to All Hallows, Honey Lane, in the City of London.

7. 3:130r-3:130v
Four medical recipes
Language(s): Middle English recipes, one with a title in French

One recipe has a title in French: ‘[crossed out: ‘ffo’ Pour le piere’].

eVK2 6499.00
8. 3:131r-3:131v
Glossary for names of herbs (Latin, French, English)
Language(s): Latin, Middle French, Middle English
Incipit: 3:131r Gravium solis id est milium solis idem idem [sic] gallice Gromyl
Explicit: 3:131v Citimallus diagridium anglica s[por]ge or laureol or faytouresherbe
9. 3:132r-3:135v
Collection of medical recipes
Language(s): Middle English and Latin

The collection contains one charm on f. 3:135v (see below).

eVK2 5805.00
10. 3:135v
Charm against poison
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 3:135v Contra toxicaciones
Incipit: 3:135v ista verba super panem vel aute prandium + aigyos + otheos + yskiros / Et probatur fuit multociens
10.1. 3:i recto-3:viii verso
Alphabetical index

Relates to recipes in this part of the manuscript. Added by a 17th-century hand, but apparently not the same as that responsible for adding an index to Parts 1 and 2.

11. 3:136r
Recipes for making ink from the Secretum philosophorum
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 3:136r Cum volueris facere incaustum lumbarde est incaustum optimum et leue
Incipit: 3:136r Recipe [crossed out: ‘M’] Gallarum ll. J. et tere in subtilem puluerem
Explicit: 3:136r Item alio modo Recipe nigrum factum de carbone vitis siue de fumo candele et distempera cum albumine ovi rarificato [sic: ‘clarificato’] et scribe cum eo etcaetera

The recipes are part of the same collection as those in the next items (recipes for making pigments and glue). A previously unidentified copy of a collection of recipes from the Secretum philosophorum, a treatise on the seven liberal arts that was most likely compiled in England in the first half of the 14th century. For the treatise's manuscript tradition, see Mark Clark, 'Writing recipes for non-specialists c.1300: the Anglo-Latin Secretum philosophorum, Glasgow MS Hunterian 110', in Sources and Serendipity: Testimonies of Artists' Practice, ed. by Emma Hermens and Joyce H. Townsend (London: Archetype Publications, 2009), pp. 50-65) (p. 51) [without this manuscript].

12. 3:136v-3:140r
Recipes for making pigments and glue for illuminating and repairing parchment from the Secretum philosophorum
Language(s): Latin with ingredients in Middle English

The recipes are part of the same collection as those in the previous item (recipes for making ink). A previously unidentified copy of a collection of recipes from the Secretum philosophorum, a treatise on the seven liberal arts that was most likely compiled in England in the first half of the 14th century. For the treatise's manuscript tradition, see Mark Clark, 'Writing Recipes for Non-Specialists c.1300: The Anglo-Latin Secretum philosophorum, Glasgow MS Hunterian 110', in Sources and Serendipity: Testimonies of Artists' Practice, ed. Emma Hermens and Joyce H. Townsend (London: Archetype Publications, 2009), pp. 50-65) (p. 51) [without this manuscript]. The recipes have the following titles:

  • ‘Cum fade volueris optimum nigrum’
  • ‘Ad faciendum viscum ad consolidandum folia pergamini [sic: ‘pergameni’]’ (requiring the ingredient: ‘Sounde de Stokfisshe’
  • ‘Cum rubium colorem volueris facere’
  • ‘Cum facere volueris album de plumbo’
  • ‘ffit autam alius color que vocatur carminium et obscurus aliquantulum quam minium et sis fit’
  • ‘Ad faciendum vermeleum’ [sic: ‘vermiculum’]
  • ‘Cum viride grecum facere volueris’
  • ‘Rubius color Sarasenorum sic fit’
  • ‘Roseus color sic fit’
  • ‘Ad faciendum rosuum [sic: ‘roseum’] colorem’
  • ‘Vernisa fit mediante oleo lune et mediante gumma formius qui romano eloquio dicitur clistera hic sic fit’
  • ‘Dicto de invencione colorum. Et modo dicamus de distemperacionem colorum secundum ordinem’
The treatise ends: ‘Explicit de coloribus’.

13. 3:140r-3:143v
Collection of medical and chemical recipes (with notes on medicinal properties of herbs)
Language(s): Latin

The recipes feature various encrypted words in their titles and lists of ingredients, e.g. ‘Mpdxs cpnfkckfdk zxcbrxm cbndk. R. zxto rxm blbkssksskmx et dxrxm et clbrkfkcb [etc.]’ [=Modus conficiendi zucarum candidissimum Recipe zucarum albassissimum et durum et clorifica] (f. 3:141v). Further encrypted recipes follow for making ‘zucarum album’ (‘zxcbrxm blbxm’), ‘amarum’ (‘bmbrbm’), ‘opium tebaicum’ (‘ppkum tfbbicum’), ‘Campira sic fit alio modo’ (‘Cbmphrb skc fkt blkp mp ’), and ‘amaru sic fit alio modo’ (‘bmbrb skc fkt blkp mp ’).

One recipe on f. 3:141r is accompanied by the drawing of a vessel in brown ink in the inner margin of the page.

14. 3:143v
Saying
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 3:143v Si michi seruieris promittas quatuor / ista quod non sis logicus \verbosus/ medicus propheta sacerdos

Full transcription.

15. 3:143v-3:145v
Collection of medical recipes
Language(s): Latin and Middle English

The collection includes two recipes in Latin and nine in Middle English.

eVK2 5262.00
20. 3:145r
Charm against the Falling Evil (epilepsy)
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 3:145r ffor the ffallyng euell
Incipit: 3:145r Take a lytill puerse of lethre and mak a nothir purse sumwhat lasse o\f/ lynon clooth and take a quentite of smerwort and vj braunchis of violettes vj vnces of mastik vj vnces myrre iij stonys of olibanum all this most be brayd to gidyr in a mortyr And þan put it in to \t/he poirse of lynon and put ther to gold as mych weys a ferdyng of Cyluer and than ȝe moust begge of ix dyuers men of eche an halpennyng and of do most be mad an h[...]t with a tong and ther apon wroton the iij kyngis namys of kolayn Jaspar baltasar melchesar and hange all this abute his nek in the sayde purse

Full transcription.

21. 3:146r
Regimen of diet for the months of the year (last section of the Dieta Galeni)
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: || 3:146r In december vse hot mete blode letyng is gode msyrable kepe the warm from the norden wynt and est wynt thorwe all the ȝere fore lyke as \a/ tre or fryces ben coroupt so ben men coroupt in seknesse ther ben iij days of perle the xv the xvj and xvij

The text is incomplete due to the loss of a preceding folio or folios.

eVK2 0351.00
Mooney (1995), p. 77 (other copies)
22. 3:146r-3:147v
Collection of seven recipes for making soap
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 3:146r Here is the makynge of sope whyte and blake
Incipit: 3:146r In the begynnynge make a gode stronge lye and when the lye is ronne hete þat lye agayne and let it renne þorow mo asschen
Explicit: 3:147v in a lytyl molton talow wenne the lye is cold and ȝif it waste therin þanne is the lye good and ȝif it melte noght than make þi lye stronger
eVK2 2864.00
23. 3:148r
Medical recipe for treating stone
Language(s): Middle English and Middle French
24. 3:148v
Alchemical recipe
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 3:148v Take comun salte vnsletted lyme ana calcene hem in a lytill potte of erthe well luted then dissolue that mater in vynegre and filter it and in that vyneger so filtred quenche thy vynegre mercure or as moche as þou wolte

Full transcription, as in Mooney (1995), p. 77. The recipe has been crossed out but is still legible.

25. 3:149r
Unidentified (? legal) text
Language(s): Latin

Not enough of the text has been transcribed for interpretation, but it seems to concern a legal document referring to parcels of land.

26. 3:149v-3:152v
Collection of medical recipes
Language(s): Middle English and Latin

The fourth recipe, beginning: ‘Tormentilla herbe valet contra dese[...]em visa’, and the final recipe, beginning ‘Take commone salte and lym and late ham boille togider thenn putte yn vynagir after ar[...] [...]’, are (?) incomplete.

eVK2 5948.00
27. 3:149v-3:150r
Medical recipes
Language(s): English

Two medical recipes added by a 16th-century hand.

eVK2 5948.00
28. 3:150v
Calculation of the number of hours passed since the birth of Christ in the year 1440 or 1449
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 3:150v After þe noumbre of oure lord god ml CCCC lx ix here beþe þe nombre of þe oures xij melions viij C ml . lx ml et viij | CCCC . xl

Full transcription.

29. 3:151r
Two medical recipe
Language(s): Middle English
eVK2 5948.00
30. 3:151r
Memorandum about the bailiff of 'Shepiswold' (modern-day Shepherdswell, Kent)
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 3:151r Remembr[e] Shepiswolde .v.mile of þe side of dover . þe godeman is þe Bailluy of þat hundred

Full transcription. Probably added by a la 15th- or early 16th-century hand. According to J.W. Horsley, Place Names in Kent (Maidstone: 'South Eastern Gazette' Newspaper, 1921), the placename ‘Shepherdswell’ is a corruption of ‘Sibertswalt’, first recorded in the Domesday Book. Still referred to as ‘Sybersysweld’ and ‘Sybberdiswold’ in legal documents from the 1480s, it is called ‘Shipriswold’ in 1501, ‘Shepswold’ in 1506, and ‘Sheperterwold’ in 1522. Another hand has repeated the word ‘Remembr[e]’ [sic] various times in darker ink.

31. 3:152v
Medical recipe to treat chest ailments and stone
Language(s): Middle English

Perhaps missing the beginning, as no title is present and the recipe's opening (‘Also’) suggests that preceding material for the same ailments has been omitted.

eVK2 5948.00
Mooney (1995), p. 78 [full transcription]
32. 3:153r
Recipe for an unspecified purpose
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 3:153r veniet fructus et his flores suis longi admodum digiti. Hos flores collige et desicca ad ignem
Explicit: 3:153r et permitte desiccare et habebis propositum
eVK2 5948.00
33. 3:153r-3:153v
[?] Alchemical recipes attributed to a prior of [?] Rochester
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 3:153v Item Prior quidam Refensis dixit se probasse quod [?] suauis panis [...] congelabit
Explicit: 3:153v Item idem Prior dixit quod saporem [...] omnes medicinas fac[...] profundar
eVK2 5948.00
34. 3:154r-3:154v
Collection of medical recipes
Language(s): Middle English

The first recipe, entitled: ‘ffor to make A B’, has been crossed out. The second one ‘for þe raynes’ is attributed to Aristotle (‘Arristotil’).

eVK2 5948.00
35. 3:154r
Note on Sal Armoniak
Language(s): Middle French

Added by a 15th-century hand that is different from the medical recipes on this page.

36. 3:154v-3:155v
On the medicinal properties of herbs
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 3:154v Scabious ys colde and moiste in þe ijde degre and erbe of good vertue stampe it and setthe it in wyn þat drinke ys good for þe liuere and to distroie wykked humours in þe stomake
Explicit: 3:155v Also stampe garlyk and butter to gider and tempere hym with wyne and boille hem in a panne and gif hem to drinke that ys narrowe brested welle warme and it schal make hym solible and deliuere the breste of glette and of filthe
eVK2 5948.00
37. 3:156r-3:156v
Medical recipe for treating headaches
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 3:156r Migrem [added title]
Incipit: 3:156r ffor the mygrayn in the hede a medesyne proved and for enpostum in þe hede and for þe hedache and many oþer eveles in þe hede
Explicit: 3:156r and lyfte hit hi and it wol rope as it were bredlyme
eVK2 5948.00
38. 3:156v
Address to a woman (?)
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 3:156v O sapient woman and and prud[...] creature exilent and not exilyng bet with godly gouernan[s] a meke kydyng a cosdiyng to youre humylyte

Full transcription. Added by a later 15th-century hand.

39. 3:157r-3:157v
Collection of medical notes and recipes
Language(s): Middle English
eVK2 5948.00
40. 3:158r-3:159r
Copy of a legal document addressed to George Norwich, archdeacon of Westminster
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 3:158r Venerabili viro Magistro Johanni D vtriusque uiris doctori Offic. Contestor Episcopalis london Georgius Norwich Arch[edecan]us Mon. Westmonasterij sedi apostolice
Explicit: 3:158r Dat. apud West. [...] sigillato [...] M CCCC [...]

The addressee may be George Norwich, abbot of Westminster from 1463 until 1469. He is not known to have been Archdeacon of Westminster and it is unclear from the document when he held this office.

41. 3:159v
Medical recipe (incomplete)
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 3:159v for the stone
Incipit: || 3:159v Take lekesed and mustrad and the Juise of

Added in the 16th century. The last line of the recipe is largely rubbed out and seems to end incomplete as well.

eVK2 5948.00
42. 3:160r-3:167v
Collection of twenty medical recipes
Language(s): Middle English
eVK2 5948.00
43. 3:168r-3:170r
A long recipe called Confectio pulueris siue pare
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 3:168r Confectio pulueris siue pare [added title]
Incipit: 3:168r Confectio pulueris siue pare. Recipe orpyment partem vnam verdegres tantum vitriole combuste . id est coprose albe vnc. ijas
Explicit: 3:170r expedit propter multas causas racionabiles
44. 3:170r
Notes on canon law
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 3:170r Nota quod appellacio ad sedem apostolicam est ab omnibus deferendum
Explicit: 3:170r Si mechatus fuerit quis cum uxore alterius et adulterium perpetrauerit morte morietur mechatus et adulterium

Copied by a single 15th-century hand in light brown ink.

45. 3:170v
Legal note
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 3:170v [...] pro [...] ad opt[...]endum pro de [...] litleram Constabularij Turris London [...] indebitatus

Full transcription attempted. Added by a (?) 15th-century hand but now poorly legible due to fading and smudging.

46. 3:170v
Stipulation about annual distribution of payments during Christmas
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 3:170v Et sis de anno in annum ad predicta quatuor festa natal[is] domini xxj solid. hijs testibus tribus personis

Full transcription. Added by a 15th-century hand.

47. 3:170v
Religious expression
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 3:170v Trustyng in god

Full transcription. Added by a late 15th- or early 16th-century hand (on a page with various scribbles).

48. 3:171r-3:185r
Collection of medical and alchemical recipes
Language(s): Latin with some Middle English

The collection includes instrucions for treating corrupted wine on f. 3:176r, and a recipe entitled ‘confeccio sanguinis veneris’, requiring the blood of a young woman who is a virgin, on f. 3:179r-3:179v. This recipe, as well as the ‘Emplastrum quod vocatur Neyrbon sic fiet’ on ff. 3:180r-3:180v may have been extracted from John Arderne's Practica of fistula in ano [see his ‘Pulvis sanguis veneris’].

Some of the recipes have encrypted titles, e.g. ‘Bprbczs pulcrvm’ (f. 3:174r).

Several of the recipes in this collection are associated with medical practitioners:

  • ‘Pro Gomorria secundum M W. Castelle’ (f. 3:172v)
  • ‘Pro Vlceracione Reins faict per Apultrewyk per M. W. Castell’ (f. 3:173r)
  • ‘Vnguentum Terbentius secundum ffratrem W. Holm’ (f. 3:177v)
  • ‘Contra [...] Pro Thoma lopham’ (f. 3:177v)
  • ‘Emplastrum pro Lumbis rembz per R. K.’ (f. 3:183r)
  • ‘Emplastrum pro Epate secundum W. Holm’ (f. 3:183v)
  • ‘Pro calculo et pro stranguria per S. Robert ffille Capell secundum M.’ (f. 3:184v)

None of the aforementioned practitioners have been identified, except for ‘frater W. Holm’ who must be the Franciscan friar William Holme (fl. c. 1380-1415) whose recipes are frequently cited in the Tabula medicine and who compiled two medical works (see Peter Murray Jones The Medicine of the Friars in Medieval England, Health and Healing in the Middle Ages, 5 (Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer, 2024), pp. 74-96).

49. 3:177r
Motto of the Order of the Garter
Language(s): Middle French
Incipit: 3:177r Hony soit quy mall y pense - Je mercy deu de [ce]

Full transcription. Added by a 15th century hand. The motto of the Order of the Garter (Honi soit qui mal y pense), followed by an incomplete line in Frehcn.

50. 3:181r
Childbirth charm or prayer
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 3:181r Ad pariendum
Incipit: 3:181r Sancta maria peperit matrix eius non doluit Christum Regem genuit quo suo sanguinem nos redemit

Full transcription.

51. 3:183r-3:183v
Charm for protection against fire, invoking the epitaph of St Agatha, and St Columcille (Columba and Columkill)
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 3:183r Pro Incendia domus scribe sequens et iacta in ignem
Incipit: 3:183v Mentem stans spontaneam honorem deo et patrie liberacionem / Sancte columquille remoue mala dampna fam\i/lle atque columquillus salues ab igne domus Christi vincit + Christus regnat Christu imperat Christus nos ab incendio ignis defendat Amen

Full transcription. For another charm for protection against fire that invokes both St Agatha and St Columcille, see London, British Library, Royal MS 12 B.xxv , f. 283v.

52. 3:185v
On the influence of the planets on metals
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 3:185v Saturnus gaudet ferrum
Explicit: 3:185v Luna gaudet Argentum secundum Sarazenis
53. 3:185v
Recipe to harden steel
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 3:185v Aqua
Incipit: 3:185v Aqua indurans ferrum quod potest aliud ferrum cum eo incidere
Explicit: 3:185v et ex radicibus porrorum fac Aquam similiter et in istis aquis equis porcionibus [crossed out: ‘sib’] mixtis
54. 3:186r-3:187r
On the virtues of Rosemary
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 3:186r Hee sunt virtutes Roris Marini
Incipit: 3:186r liga ipsum in panno et fac decoquere in aqua ad medium et valet ad omnes egritudines nitra corpus
Explicit: 3:187r et viueres dencium interficiunt et ab omni infirmitate custodit
55. 3:187r-3:187v
Collection of medical recipes
Language(s): Latin

The last recipe is attributed to a certain Robert Benham: ‘Per Magistrum Robertum Benham ord.’

56. 3:187a recto-3:187a verso
Two alchemical recipes
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 3:187a recto ffor to morter - Tak 15 marter crewe and j ounce of fyne sylver
Explicit: 3:187a verso melte it with thy malgam it shall be fyne lune at alle assayes deo gracias quod W Cet [Mooney: ‘quod iak Tet ’]
eVK2 5747.00
57. 3:188r
Charm to be welcomed by all
Language(s): Middle English and Latin
Incipit: 3:188r Yf þou wilte be wellecome to alle men / write this psalme in parchemyn / Domine ne virtute tua letabitur

Full transcription.

eVK2 5747.00
58. 3:188r-3:192r
Collection of twelve medical recipes
Language(s): Middle English

The fifth recipes describes the medicinal virtues of the ‘Mangnes’, which is described as ‘a schipmanstone’ that comes from ‘Jude’.

eVK2 5747.00
59. 3:192r
Charm to staunch blood
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 3:192r Ad stringendum sanguinem
Incipit: 3:192r Si carecteres sequentes scribantur et suspendantur ad collum vel brachium sanguinentis de naso vel plaga cito restringetur sanguis pro certo p.r.v.c.p.o.q.x.a.b.q.a. et si non crederis esse veris scribe hoc predicta in manubrio cultelli et interfice cum illo porcum vel porcellum et non exibit sanguis / Item ad idem scribe in fronte pas hes verba sequiter + buro + berto + berneta + consumatis est + gria de de cessa sanguis

Full transcription.

60. 3:193r-3:194r
Health regimen
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 3:193r Regimen tuo peticioni condescendens scribo tibi qualiter regere te debeat vt sanitat
Explicit: 3:194r et fuge ab eo velud ab inimico
61. 3:194v
On gathering hyssop
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 3:!94v Sinde Isopum inmediate post festum Natalis dum recte per terram et asperge terram desuper et tu habebis satis de Isopo per iij vel quatuor annos sis ad tempus antedictis sinditis quolibet anno et sis non indiges seminare ysopum omni anno

Full transcription.

62. 3:194v
Note on times to sow seeds and plant Mildred ?Miter (attributed)
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 3:194v Item sowe sede of caboches þe first friday of marche and set þy plantes in forewys þe nexte friday after John de Baptist per milrede miter

Full transcription.

63. 3:194v-3:202v
Collection of medical and alchemical recipes
Language(s): Latin and Middle English

The collection includes one recipe that is attributed to ‘maister Thomas ffres’ (f. 3:194v); one recipe that is attributed to Mesue: ‘Electuarium de gemmys secundum Mesue’ (f. 3:196r); and an recipe that is attributed to ‘maystere Reber[t]’ (f. 3:202v).

eVK2 7856.00
64. 3:203r-3:204r
Tract on the different times of the year that are suitable for phlebotomy (bloodletting)
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 3:203r Estas
Incipit: 3:203r Notandum quod in medio ffebruarij incipit veer. Et dicitur ver a vireo et est calidum et humidum
Explicit: 3:204r Et que velit flebotomar[e] xvjo die mensi Marcij de brachie dextro non erit vexatus illo mense infirmitate
65. 3:204v
On the virtues of bloodletting
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 3:204v Notandum quod fflebotoma mentem sincerat memoriam probet vesicam purgat cerebrum temperat
Explicit: 3:204v largioris vite sanitatem ministrat vt galienus dicit in libro suo
66. 3:204v-3:205r
Tract on phlebotomy (ending with a verse)
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 3:204v Ista prosunt fflebotomatis. Dent[?es] [?]usdem oua sorbilis caro porcina pullina
Explicit: 3:205r Quintum detur [sic: ‘datur’] nem[ori] si tu vis sanus haberi
67. 3:205r
Glossary of meteorological and astronomical terms (Latin-English)
Language(s): Latin and Middle English
Incipit: 3:205r Crepusculus Anglice dawonynge / Gallicant[u] Anglice cokorowynge / Aurora Anglice / Mars Anglice

Full transcription. English names are only provided for the first two entries. Not recorded in the Index of Middle English Prose .

68. 3:205v
Note on bloodletting on three feastdays
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 3:205v Minue - die sancti Lambert[i] / die sancti Stephani / die sancti Valentini

Full transcription.

69. 3:205v
Notes on three evil days for bloodletting
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 3:205v Nota - viij kal. Aprilis / J kal. Augusti / kal. decembri - quicumque minuerit aliquo istarum dierum ipsa die morietur vel cito post

Full transcription.

70. 3:205v
Notes on good days for curing diseases through bloodletting
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 3:205v Nota die sancti lamberti pro morbo caduco xjo die aprilis de sinistro
Explicit: 3:205v iiijto vel vto die in exitu May pro febre et pro visu

Full transcription.

71. 3:205v
Mnemonic verse for bloodletting
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 3:205v Estas ver dextras autumpnus yems que sinistras

Full transcription.

72. 3:206r
Recipe for removing spots from cloth of gold
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 3:206r Yf þow [sic] a cloth of golde and it be defouled take þe cromes of an hote lof frete þe fowle spottys þerwith and it shall be as bright as euere it was
73. 3:206r
On thirty-two evil days in the year
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 3:206r Sciendum quod in anno fuit xxxij dies mali et periculosi
Explicit: 3:206r Et ab hijs xxxij diebus vnusquis[que] discretus sit p[?renuntius]
74. 3:207r-3:207v
Tract on the virtues of betony
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 3:207r Beteyne soden with hony is good for the dropesye a plaster of Beteyne ys good for the smyte in a mannys / The Juys of Beteyn putte in a mannes ere / it comfortes his herynge
Explicit: 3:207r whoso berys beteyne on hym the palasie schal not come to hym yf y ete beteyne fastynge þou schalt doute no venim nor palasie

The tract may begin incomplete (the first line is partly cropped off at the top of the page).

eVK2 1282.00
Mooney (1995), pp. 79-80 [other copies]
75. 3:207v
Doodles or draft text
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 3:207v he that wyll nott when he may when he wolde he shall not hym then h h abram - Q d S [? ‘Quod S’]

Full transcription. Added by a late 15th- or early 16th-century hand (perhaps the same hand that copied the next item). The inscription ‘Q[uo]d S’ seems to relate to the ‘S.R.’ initials that are written next to it in the form of a merchant's mark.

76. 3:207v
Doodles or draft text
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 3:207v And I weyre a mayd as many other be for all the gold

Full transcription. Added by a late 15th- or early 16th-century hand (perhaps the same hand that copied the previous item).

77. 3:208r-3:209v
Collection of medical recipes
Language(s): Latin

One of the recipes is attributed to Mesue: ‘[Un]guentum laxatiuum secundum Mesue’ (f. 3:208r).

One of the recipes is devised for the poor: ‘Potus contra ydropasm pro pauperibus’ (f. 3:209r.

78. 3:209v
Musical notation
Language(s): [none]

Staves with music notation added to the inner and lower margins of the page.

79. 3:209v
(?) Doodle
Language(s): Middle English

The word or name ‘Woodewyne’ twice repeated; added by a 15th-century hand.

80. 3:210r-3:210v
Alchemical recipe
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 3:210r Sal Alkali sic fit
81. 3:211r-3:212r
Collection of medical recipes
Language(s): Middle English
eVK2 6162.00
82. 212v
Recipe for making ink
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 3:212v Ad faciendi incaustum
Incipit: 3:212v Recipe J lb pomorum de gallis
Explicit: 3:212v et pone in eadem dimidiam libram vitriolli puluerizat et copore viride cum steterit per modicum tempus littere erit optimum incaustum
83. 3:212v (outer margin)
Draft of a letter
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 3:212v (outer margin) To his welbelouyd brothar thomas pekeryng this letter be delyueryd

Added by a late 15th- or early 16th-century hand.

84. 3:212r
Collection of medical recipes
Language(s): Middle English and Latin
85. 3:213v
Account of personal expenses in Westminster in 1466
Language(s): Middle English and Latin
Rubric: 3:213v Expences facta apud West. anno domini millesimo ccccmo lxvjto
Incipit: 3:213v ffirst - paied for a brousshe - iij d
Explicit: 3:213v Item for ij Chaynes pork - vijd ob.
86. 3:214r-3:223r
Treatise on herbs (Tabula herbarum)
Language(s): Latin, Middle English, Middle French
Rubric: 3:214r Hic Incipit tabula herbarum
Incipit: 3:214r Alleluia habet tria folia aliquantulum in superiori per divisam
Explicit: 3:223r pollipodion sed caret mascle galice cetwale ȝodoaria[?m] ?ffeu ?idem
Final rubric: 3:223r Explicit tabula herbarum

The treatise provides alternative names of herbs in French and English.

87. 3:223r-3:225r
Treatise on gathering and storing herbs for making medicines
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 3:223r Medicines been doon some be leves some by sedys some by rotes sum by yerdes some by floures and some by fruytes when leves goon to medicines þey schulle be gedered when þey been at her fulle wexinge or that her colour chaunge and or that they welowe or fade
Explicit: 3:225r and þan kepe it in þe shadowe ffloure delice schulde be gadered in þe ende of veer and ere it in þe sonne and it wol laste ij yere
eVK2 3569.00
Mooney (1995), p. 80
88. 3:224v (outer margin)
Reference to the Tomb of the Three Magi (unfinished)
Incipit: || 3:224v (outer margin) The Kynges of co

Added by 15th-century hand.

89. 3:232v
Collection of medical recipes
Language(s): Middle English and Latin

The collection includes instructions for repelling flies (‘Contra muscas’) on ff. 3:225v-3:226r, for capturing birds (‘Ad aves Capiendas’), and for killing mice and rats (‘Ad mures atque Ratones interficiendum’) on f. 3:226a recto.

One recipe is attributed to ‘Haly’, referring to Abū l-Ḥasan 'Alī ibn Abī l-Rijāl al-Shaybani (f. 3:232r).

eVK2 1513.00
90. 3:232v
Love poem
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 3:232v My harte ys yours to kepe yt fast withowte your gras my Joy ys past

The text has been written sideways, added by a later 15th- or early 16th-century hand.

91. 3:233r-3:241r
Collection of 33 medical recipes
Language(s): Middle English
eVK2 1513.00
92. 3:241v
Medical recipe
Language(s): Latin
93. 3:241v
Memorandum
Language(s): Middle English

A note on (?) the value of money, referring to ‘an Inglysh peny’.

94. 3:241v
Reference to a monk
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 3:241v Astoun Monachus
95. 3:241v
(?) Motto
Language(s): Middle French
Incipit: 3:241v Je mercy deu de ce
96. 3:242r
Conclusion of an unidentified work
Language(s): Middle English
Explicit: 3:242r þey schall haue ij dayes togedir or iij atte þe laste þat may be called miracle [Mooney: ‘miracte’]

The rest of this work is missing due to the loss of the preceding folio or folios.

97. 3:242r-3:242v
Treatise on virtues of and use of the herb Saturne for inspiring lechery or causing a woman to conceive a child
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 3:242r Saturne ys an erbe full welle knowen gadere of þe rotes þerof pounds x in the monthe of janyuer in the x houre of the day and stampe it smal and putte it in a potte of latoun with x holys in the couerynge as smalle as notes
Explicit: 3:242v it schal deliuere þe fro alle sorsere and alle enchantementz yef þou be wireyd þerwith Item yf þou yeue dragme j and half with||

According to Mooney (1995), the text is ‘apparently corrupt at the end, where it dissolves into scribbles and pentrials’.

eVK2 4465.00
Mooney (1995), p. 81 [other copies]
98. 3:242a verso
Recipe for making green ginger
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 3:242a verso To make gren gynger
Incipit: 3:242a verso Take gyngyr and make it clene and kast it in a pot and put clene water theron and kast opon an hont full of calc and let it stone x days or xij and eury therde day take nyewe water and pour away the olde water
Explicit: 3:242a verso and set it from the fere and let kele and put it in a cleen vessel or pot and put the sorop above vpon and stop fast the vessell
eVK2 5410.00

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 3:130r: ffor brosour
Form: codex
Support: Paper, folded in ? octavo. No watermark observed (it has not been possible to inspect all leaves completely due to the tight binding) but the vertical chainlines and small size of the leaves suggest an octavo format.
Extent: Codex: 127 leaves. 150 × 110 mm. ff. 3:i-3:viii is a set of small paper leaves (115 x 85mm).

Collation

  • Quire 110-3 (ff. 3:129-3:136: 2nd-4th leaves missing)
  • The collation for ff. 3:136-3:242a has not been established.

Layout

120-135 × 80-95 mm. No ruling visible (? blindpoint). Single columns. c. 20-c. 25 lines to the page.

Hand(s)

Copied by various hands, including ones that have produced cursive anglicana scripts.

Copied by various hands in cursive scripts, including ones that have mixed both anglicana and secretary features.

Decoration

A drawing of a vessel in brown ink in the inner margin of f. 3:141r.

History

Origin: Late 15th century. ; England.

Provenance

R.S.P. : owned or accessed the manuscript. Their initials ‘R.S.P.’ and ‘R.S.’ inscribed in different designs for merchant marks in brown ink on ff. 185v, 207v, 211v [4x], and 212r [3x], once inside an escutcheon.

Part 4 [Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.1.65, ff. 4:243-4:266, 4:266a, 4:267-4:269]

Contents

Language(s): Middle English

1. 4:243r-4:269v
Collection of medical recipes
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: || 4:243r and mak a plaister and ley yt to þine templu[...] and in þin nekke also tak a sponeful of þe ius of beteyne and anoþer of wyn and anoþer of hony and ix pepercornes and medele hem togedere and Xif þe syke to drynk iiij dayes and he schal be hool
Explicit: 4:269v þe meysyn þerfor lett hym bledyn vndire þe ancle wiþinne oþer in þe veyne in þe arm and mak þis drynk tak whit wyn and pynte and oyle||

Roughly organised in head to toe order, followed by a section on ‘fundement’ and uroscopy.

eVK2 0263.00
Mooney (1995)
2. 4:247v-4:248r
Charm to staunch blood invoking the healing blood from Christ's side
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 4:247v ffor þe same
Incipit: 4:247v-4:248r where euer a man be Xif þou haue his name / fferst axe þe mannes name and whan þou knowest hys name go to cherche and sey þere þe charm with þat here foloweþ and loke þat þou ne spare not beyt for man or for womman Sey on þus ferst . In nomine patris et . filii . et . spiritus . sancti. Amen . Whanne oure lord was doon on þe cros þanne cam longius þe knyth þidure and smot hym in þe syde wiþ his spere and blood and water acam owt of þat wounde to his ye and þerwiþ he wyped his eye and þorou þe holy vertu þat god schewed þere þorow þat blod . he saw a non . j. coniure þe blod þat þou no come not out of þis cristene man .N. In nomine patris et filii. et spiritus. sancti. Amen wiþ þis charm thries rehersyd ne þar þou neuere recche where þe man be so þou knowe his name

Full transcription.

eVK2 0263.00
3. 4:248r
Charm to staunch blood invoking the River Jordan at Christ's baptism
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 4:248r ffor þe same [blood]
Incipit: 4:248r Sey þus so þou haue his name . Crist was born in bedleem and baptizud in flemiurdon also þe flom stood so stonde þi blood and neme þe name N. seyyng In nomine patris et caetera

Full transcription.

eVK2 0263.00
4. 4:248r-4:248v
Charm to staunch blood invoking Christ's birth and baptism
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 4:248r ffor þe same [blood]
Incipit: 4:248r-4:248v so þou haue his name sey þus . Ihesu crist þat was born in bedlem thries aftirward sey þus also thryes . Jhesu crist þat þe water of flomiurdon wiþstod . wiþstond þis blood name þe neme N. and whan þou hast seid þus .iij. tymes . Sey a pater noster and an Aue and .j. credo . and he stancheþ anoon

Full transcription.

eVK2 0263.00
5. 4:249v-4:250r
Charm to staunch blood invoking Longinus and St Damian
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 4:249v ffor þe same - A charm
Incipit: 4:249v-4:250r fferst knowe þe name of þe syke and sey ouer hym + In nomine patris et filij et spiritus sancti . Amen In þe name of þe holy trinite Alleluia longius et scholphaton slow oure lord and oure lord seide þese woundes noþer þese veynes ne aken nowt noþer festre not . derabyn . sesse dessuram . derabyn sesse dessuram . derabyn sesse dessuram . Seynt damyan staunche þis wounde or þese woundes þis veyne oþer þese veynes þis senewe or þese senewes where so þei bleden Xif þer be but on wounde on veyn oþer on senewe þou schalt seyn staunche þis wounde and so of þe veyne and so of þe senewe and Xif þere be mo woundes þan on þou schalt seyn staunche þese woundes þese veynes and þe senewes of þis man or of þis womman and sey .iij. pater noster wiþ þis charm . fest þe charm . aftirwared a pater noster

Full transcription.

eVK2 0263.00
6. 4:264v
Prognostic
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 4:264v ffor to wete Xif þe syke schal lyfe or deye

Full transcription.

eVK2 0263.00
7. 4:265v-4:266v
The Twenty-Jordan Series [I]
Language(s): Middle English with some Latin
Incipit: 4:265v iiij. colouris be in vryne to juggen cerclys
Explicit: 4:266v And scalys as arn onfyssches . betokeneþ of womain [? sic] stoppynges of here flowris Sabbe in þe moder
eVK2 3779.00
Tavormina (2005), no. 57
Tavormina (2014), p. 16 (no. 1.1.1)
8. 4:266v-4:266a recto
Cleansing of blood [unique variant]
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 4:266v Now knowe wel þat alle manere vrynys ben in to þingges . þat is to synyfye as in þe lyuere and in þe veynys or in þe bladdere and in þe reynes . ffor þes ben propyr and oþer ben in propre
Explicit: 4:266a recto And þe forthe partye is þe botme þe ground of þe vryne IN þat schewen þe grevance in þe bladdere and in þe mareys and in þe genitras and in alle þe membris wiþe jnne þe body
eVK2 3779.00
Tavormina (2014), p. 34 (no. 3.3.3)
9. 4:266a verso-4:269v
The Twenty-Jordan Series [II]
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 4:266a verso-4:267r Water as a clere horn betokenyth aposteme in þe ryXt syde afestre be tyme a tysyk a bladdere on þe longys
Explicit: 4:269v lett hym bledyn vndire þe ancle wiþ inne oþer in þe veyne in þe arm and mak þis drynk tak whit wyn a pynte and oyle||

The text ends abruptly due to the loss of the next folio.

eVK2 3779.00
Tavormina (2005), no. 57
Tavormina (2014), p. 16 (no. 1.1.1)

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 4:244r: Escamonie
Form: codex
Support: Paper, folded in ? octavo. Folios 4:243-4:266, 4:266a, 4:267-4:269: No watermark observed (it has not been possible to inspect all leaves completely due to the tight binding) but the vertical chainlines and small size of the leaves suggest an octavo format.
Extent: Codex: 28 leaves. 155 × 105 mm.

Collation

  • Quire 1?8-4 (ff. 4:243-4:246: ?1st-2nd, and ?7th-8th leaves missing)
  • Quire 2?8-5 (ff. 4:247-4:250: 1st and 2nd leaves, and three other leaves in the quire's second half, all missing)
  • Quire 38 (ff. 4:251-4:258)
  • Three leaves (ff. 4:259-4:261)
  • Quire 48 (ff. 4:262-4:268)
  • A single leaf (ff. 4:269)

Leaf signatures consisting of combinations of letters and Roman numerals in the lower outer corners of the first halves of quires (sometimes obscured due to folded corners). The following signatures have been observed: ‘biiij’ on f. 4:244r; ‘diij’-‘diiij’ on ff. 247-248; ‘hj’-‘hiiij’ on ff. 4:251-4:254; and ‘vj’-‘viiij’ on ff. 262-265.

 Catchwords between (?) three-petalled leaves in brown ink in the inner lower corners of the last versos of quires at ff. 258v, 268v

Layout

120-125 × 80-85 mm. No ruling visible. Single columns. 19-23 lines to the page.

Hand(s)

Copied by a single scribe in a cursive hand with anglicana features.

Decoration

Drawing of two eyes in brown ink in the outer margin of f. 4:247r, illustrating two recipes for eye ailments; a drawing of an eye in red ink in the outer margin of f. 4:262v, illustrating a recipe ‘ffor sore yen’.

Drawing of a cylindrical jordan in brown ink in the lower half of f. 4:265v with instructions on how to analyse colours in different parts.

Drawings of small (1-2 lines) initials in dark ink on ff. 4:247v, 4:253, and 4:254v.

Headings of recipes written in red ink.

Line-fillers in red and brown ink.

Regular initials highlighted with red ink.

Paraphs in red ink.

Virgula suspensiva in red ink.

History

Origin: Late 15th century. ; England.

Additional Information

Record Sources

This catalogue entry draws on M.R. James, The western manuscripts in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge: a descriptive catalogue, 2 (1902); Linne R. Mooney, Manuscripts in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge The Index of Middle English Prose, Handlist XI (Woodbridge: Brewer, 1995); and Anke Timmermann, 'Alchemy in Cambridge: An Annotated Catalogue of Alchemical Texts and Illustrations in Cambridge Repositories', Nuncius, 30 (2015), 345-511.

Availability

Visitors to Trinity 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: Trinity College: Information for Readers.

Bibliography

    The Western Manuscripts in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge: A Descriptive Catalogue, James, M.R. (Cambridge, 3, Cambridge University Press, 1902) Catalogue of Latin and Vernacular Alchemical Manuscripts in Great Britain and Ireland: Dating from before the XVI Century, Singer, Dorothea Waley (Brussels, Maurice Lamertin, 1928) Manuscripts in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge Index of Middle English prose, Mooney, Linne R. (Woodbridge, D.S. Brewer, 1995) Code-Switching in Medieval Medical Writing Medical and Scientific Writing in Late Medieval English, Pahta, Päivi (Cambridge, 73-99, Cambridge University Press, 2004) The Twenty-Jordan Series: An Illustrated Middle English Uroscopy Text ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes and Reviews, Tavormina, M. Teresa (18, 3, 43-67, 2005, https://doi.org/10.3200/ANQQ.18.3.43) The Cultural Uses of Magic in Fifteenth-Century England, Mitchell, Laura (Toronto, 2011) Uroscopy in Middle English: A Guide to the Texts and Manuscripts Studies in medieval and renaissance history, Tavormina, M. Teresa ([Michigan?], 2014) Cambridge, Trinity College Library MS O.1.65 (1089) Late Medieval English Magic: English Manuscripts Containing 15th-Century Magical Texts, Mitchell, Laura (2014, https://magicalmedieval.wordpress.com/2014/04/12/tcc1089/) Alchemy in Cambridge: An Annotated Catalogue of Alchemical Texts and Illustrations in Cambridge Repositories Nuncius: Journal of the Material and Visual History of Science, Timmermann, Anke (30, 2, 345-511, 2015) Three Lute Books from the Dutch Golden Age: Adriaen Valerius Nederlantsche Gedenck-clank (1626), Leiden BPL 2792 (c.1620), Enkhuizen 1667-1 (1659), Burgers, Jan W. J. (Lübeck, Tree Edition, 2020) Middle English Medical Recipes and Literary Play, 1375-1500, Bower, Hannah (Oxford University Press, 2022)

Funding of Cataloguing

Wellcome (cataloguing). All images provided by Trinity College, Cambridge.

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Cambridge Digital Library

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