Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries: Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.2.16

Alchemical prose and verse

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support:

The manuscript consists of seven separate parts that, with one exception, contain paper leaves only. Part 3 has two parchment leaves (ff. 1:31 and 1:71).

Extent: Codex: vi + ii + 24 | 8 | 48 | 52 | 10 | 76 | 36 + ii + iv leaves. 200-220 × 115-150 mm.

Foliation:

17th- or 18th-century foliation for Parts 1-5 and the beginning of Part 6:

Numbering in brown ink in the upper right-hand corners of the rectos; occasionally supplemented or corrected with numbers in pencil by a modern foliator (supplied: ‘i’, ‘ii’, ‘33a’, ‘33b’, ‘126a’, ‘126b’; corrected: ‘130’ for erroneous ‘230’, and ‘133’ for erroneous ‘233’; striken through: ‘143’ and ‘144’).

Folios i-ii are early modern paper flyleaves; [a]-[f] are unfoliated modern paper flyleaves at the beginning of the manuscript that have been allocated letters between square brackets for reference purposes in this catalogue record.

Two stubs follow f. 1:33 and two follow f. 1:79: as per standard practice with blank stubs, these have been omitted from the display on the Cambridge Digital Library, but are shown on the Wren Digital Library. The two stubs following f. 1:126 are shown here, however, since the first contains fragmentary remains of a circular diagram.

The number '76' has been skipped (although a modern hand declares the verso of f. 1:75 to be ‘number 76’).

With the exception of the folio numbers in Part 6, this foliation sequence is followed in this catalogue record.

Foliation:

15th- or 16th-century foliation for Parts 6 and 7:

2:1-2:19, 2:21-2:76 [=Part 6] | 2:77-2:110 + 2:111-2:112 [= Part 7] + [g]-[j]

Numbering in dark ink in the upper right-hand corners of the rectos.

One stub follows f. 2:2, three stubs follow f. 2:100 and one follows f. 2:104: as per standard practice with blank stubs, these have been omitted from the display on the Cambridge Digital Library, but are shown on the Wren Digital Library (except for those following f. 2:104).

Folios 2:111-2:112 are are early modern paper flyleaves; [g]-[j] are unfoliated modern paper flyleaves at the end of the manuscript that have been allocated letters between square brackets for reference purposes in this catalogue record.

This foliation sequence is followed in this catalogue record.

Foliation:

19th- or 20th-century foliation for Parts 6 and 7:

‘(3)’-‘(99)’ (for ff. 2:4-2:102), ‘(100)’-‘(106)’ (for ff. 2:104-2:110)

Numbering in pencil and between parentheses in the upper right-hand corners of the rectos. This foliation sequence has subsequently been striken through with pencil. This foliation sequence is ignored in this catalogue record.

Collation

This collation deviates from that of M.R. James (1902) (who was followed by Mooney (1995)), who identifies three separate parts in the manuscript: namely ff. 1:1-1:80 [Part 1]; ff. 1:81-1:142 [Part 2]; and ff. 2:1-2:110 [Part 3]. It also deviates from Timmermann (2015), who divides the manuscript into two separate parts: namely ff. 1:1-1:142, 2:1 [Part 1]; and ff. 2:2-110 [Part 2]). Instead, this catalogue record divides the manuscript into seven separate codicological units, based on changes in watermarks, scripts, and decoration:

ff. 1:1-1:24 [Part 1]
ff. 1:25-1:32 [Part 2]
ff. 1:33, 1:33a-[1:33b], 1:34-1:75, 1:77-1:80 [Part 3]
ff. 1:81-1:126, 1:126a-1:126b, 1:127-1:132 [Part 4]
ff. 1:133-1:142 [Part 5]
2:1-2:2, [2:3], 2:4-2:19, 2:21-2:76 [Part 6]
2:77-2:100, [2:100a]-100b, 2:101-2:104, [2:104a], 2:105-2:110 + 2:111-2:112 [Part 7]

Although it does suggest that Parts 6 and 7 may have been produced together, changes in hands and decoration leave open the possibility that they of separate origin. Nevertheless, Parts 6 and 7 were certainly together shortly after their production as is indicated by the 16th-century table of contents for both parts on f. 2:2r and the fact that both have been continuously foliated by 15th- or 16th-century hand. Finally, this catalogue record occasionally also deviates from the quire numbers that a modern collator has supplied in the manuscript (see below). For these deviations, see the collations provided in the separate parts of this catalogue record.

(Two leaves)
Quire 1^12-1 (ff. 1:1-1:11: 12th leaf missing)
Quire 2⁴ (ff. 1:13-1:16)
Quire 3⁸ (ff. 1:17-1:24) |
Quire 4⁶ (ff. 1:25r-1:30v)
Quire 5² (ff. 1:31r-1:32v) |
Single leaf (f. 1:33
Quire 6^2-2 (ff. 1:33a-[1:33b]: both leaves missing, stubs remain)
Quire 7⁸ (ff. 1:34-1:41)
Quire 8⁶ (ff. 1:42-1:47)
Quire 9¹² (ff. 1:48-1:59)
Quire 10⁸ (ff. 1:60-1:67)
Quire 11^4-1 (ff. 1:68-1:70: 4th leaf missing)
Single leaf (f. 1:71)
Quire 12^10-2 (ff. 1:72-1:80: 8th and 9th leaves missing, but unfoliated stubs remain) |
Quires 13-23⁴ (ff. 1:81-1:124)
Quire 24^4-2 (ff. 1:125-1:126b: 3rd and 4th leaves missing, stubs (ff. 1:126a-1:126b) remain)
Quire 25² (ff. 1:127-1:128)
Quire 26⁴ (ff. 1:129-1:132) |
Quires 27-28⁴ (ff. 1:133-1:140)
Quire 29² (ff. 1:141-1:142) |
Quire 30^12-1 (ff. 2:1-2:12: 3rd leaf missing, but a stub (f. [2:3]) remains)
Quire 31^10-1 (ff. 2:13-2:19: 10th leaf missing)
Quire 32¹² (ff. 2:21-2:32)
Quire 33¹⁶ (ff. 2:33-2:48)
Quire 34¹² (ff. 2:49-2:60)
Quire 35¹⁶ (ff. 2:61-2:76) |
Quire 36¹⁶ (ff. 2:77-2:92)
Quire 37⁸ (ff. 2:93-2:100)
Quire 38^ten (ff. 2:101-2:110)
(Two leaves)

(Two leaves) 1^12-1 (12th missing) 2⁴ 3⁸ | 4⁶ 5² | (Single leaf) 6^2-2 (missing, but stubs (1:33a-[1:33b]) remain) 7⁸ 8⁶ 9¹² 10⁸ 11^4-1 (4th missing) (Single leaf) 12^10-2 (8th-9th missing) | 13-23⁴ 24^4-1 (3rd-4th missing, but stubs (ff. 1:126a-1:126b) remain) 25² 26⁴ | 27-28⁴ 29² | 30^21-1 (3rd missing, but a stub (f. [2:3]) remains) 31^10-1 (10th missing) 32¹² 33¹⁶ 34¹² 35¹⁶ | 36¹⁶ 37⁸ 38^ten (Two leaves)

Additions

A table of contents for the manuscript as a whole, perhaps in the hand of Thomas Gale (1635/6-1702) , has been added to f. ii recto.

Quire signatures ('1-38') in the bottom right-hand corner of the recto side of the first leaf of each quire, and '+' in the same position on the first leaf after the centre of the quire, written in pencil by a hand of the 19th/20th century (no longer indicative: see Collation).

Binding

A 20th-century binding of half brown leather with marbled paper sides over wooden boards and vellum-tipped corners; four raised bands on the spine and three paper labels with the separate alpha-numerical elemnts of the manuscript's classmark printed on them: ‘O’, ‘2’, ‘16’.

Binding height: 230mm; width: 155mm; depth: 60mm.

Three paper labels with the alpha-numerical elements of the mansucript's classmark printed on them (‘O’, ‘2’, ‘16’) have been pasted on the inside of the front cover. The were probably taken from the manuscript's previous binding.

History

Provenance and Acquisition

Thomas Charnock (1524x6-1581) , alchemist, resident of Stockland and Combwich, Somerset: his ownerhip inscription on f. 1:1r: ‘Thomas Charnocke his book .1562.’. Added alchemical notes and poems to Parts 1, 2, and 3 of this manuscript, the lastest one dating to 1577 [see the Provenance in the individual parts for further details]. There is no evidence that he owned or accessed Parts 4-7.

William Dun (fl. c. 1550-1650) , physician: possibly owned the manuscript but previously not associated with this manuscirpt. His name and initials occur in notes on added early modern flyleaves at the beginning and end of the manuscript: ‘Annotationes G. Dun . Londin[ien]sis in lib. 1^m Aphorismos Hippocratis’ (f. i recto); and ‘G. D.’ (f. 2:112v).

There can be no doubt that the initial ‘G’ stands for ‘Guilielmus’: the same hand that has inscribed ff. i recto and 2:112v has also inscribed an unfoliated flyleaf (f. [a]) at the beginning of medical manuscript Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.2.23 with the title: ‘Authore G D medico Londinensi’. In fact, this manuscript is largely copied by Dun and includes a number of his own works, including a work entitled: ‘In Vrinae Speculatores Tractatus authore G. Dun Londinensi medico’ (f. 2:66r) and another one entitled: ‘Annotationes Gulielmi Dun Londinensis in 2^m. Librum aph. Hippo.’ (f. 1:104r). The latter undoubtedly is the work to which the inscription on f. i recto refers. Trinity College, MS O.2.23 also contains sections with headings such as ‘venenum quid se’ (f.1: 19r) and ‘De Vrinis’ (f. 1:41v), which seem to correspond with the medical subjects inscribed on ff. 2:111r and 2:112v. All of this indicates that ff. i-ii and 2:111-2:112 originally belonged to Trinity College MS O.2.23 and were repurposed as flyleaves for Trinity College MS O.2.16 (this theory is further supported by the fact that ff. i-ii and 2:111-2:112 are significantly smaller than the leaves in the seven parts of Trinity College MS O.2.16 but that their dimensions do match with the leaves of Trinity College MS O.2.23). The flyleaves may have been inserted by Thomas Gale, who probably is the 17th-century indexing hand that can be found both on Trinity College MS O.2.16, f. ii recto and Trinity College MS O.2.23, f. [a] recto. However, it is possible that Dun's hand features in the manuscript: he may have been responsible for adding the text on f. 1:81v and titles for works to upper margins throughout the manuscript. If so, then he probably owned the manuscript.

M.R. James (1902) has identified three medical manuscripts that were owned (and partly written) by ‘one William Dun’:

Additionally, James has also suggested that Dun owned alchemical manuscript Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.8.1 as part of his collection, and he almost certainly owned more manuscripts besides these. He probably is the same (unknown) physician William Dun who donated various medical and alchemical manuscripst to the Bodleian library in 1605. This included an illustrated alchemical scroll with verses attributed to George Ripley , and three manuscripts on philosophy, medicine, and science:

Elias Ashmole (1617–1692) , astrologer and antiquary: accessed the manuscript and perhaps owned it as well. Ashmole removed leaves with Charnock's alchemical notes and inserted these into his own manuscript, now Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Ashmole 1441 (pp. 85-88, 98); and added his transcriptions of other poems and notes by Charnock in Trinity College MS O.2.16 after these leaves (pp. 99-104). This includes a reproduction of the illustration of the Phoenix in flames on f. 1:27v that is not by Charnock. For further details, see Taylor (1946), pp. 161-162 [transcription of MS Ashmole 1441, pp. 85-88; p. 99 is omitted], 162-163 [transcription of MS Ashmole 1441, pp. 100-104] and Rampling (2020), pp. 324-325. Since Taylor was unaware of Trinity College MS O.2.16 and Rampling only discusses its missing leaves in a footnote, it remains unclear where the five removed leaves were originally located. Rampling does not note that Ashmole also transcribed many of Charnock's poems and notes in Trinity College MS O.2.16 in another of his manuscripts, now Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Ashmole 1445, including his copy of Charnock's alchemical alchemical drawings of f. 1:65r. For a reproduction and transcriptions of these notes, see Taylor (1946), pp. 158, 169-171. Interestingly, MS Ashmole 1445 contains a full transcription of Charnock's alchemical poem on f. 1:80v which is now largely obscured by ink. Ashmole used some of his transcriptions of Trinity College MS O.2.16 for the publication of his Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum (1652), pp. 424-426.

Possibly one of the manuscripts of Thomas Gale (1635/6-1702) , dean of York, antiquary and fellow of Trinity College Cambridge: perhaps part of his vast collection of manuscripts that he passed down to his son Roger Gale (see below).

One of the manuscripts of Roger Gale (1672-1744) , antiquary and scholar, son of Thomas Gale. Perhaps 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 current classmark are printed on three labels pasted onto the spine: ‘O’, ‘2’, ‘16’. The current classmark is also inscribed in brown ink on f. ii recto together with the old classmark references: ‘B.7’ [crossed out], ‘O.15.7’ [crossed out], and ‘No. 73.’. The college's armorial bookplate, featuring its coat of arms and name (‘Collegium S.S. et Individuae Trinitatis in Academiâ Cantabrigensis’) has been pasted onto the inside of the front cover. The College's bookstamp is found on ff. 1:1r, 1:1r and 1:110v.

Part 1 [Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.2.16, ff. 1:1-1:24]

Language(s): Middle English, Latin, English

1. 1:1r

Alchemical saying

Language(s): Latin and English

Incipit: 1:1r Que in suo vase est simile carbunculus - I cannot remember where I have redd it

Added in the 16th century.

2. 1:1r

Agreement for delivery of goods and payments in pounds for occupancy of a house

Language(s): Middle English

Incipit: ||1:1r palme sondaye [...] to dayes norden [...] apryll beung palme sondaye at vij off þe klocke in þe morening for xv. li and ij busshes off malt aganst wyttsondaye on off barely and other off otes v li. to be payd at chrysmas eve and x li. one your ladye daye \in lent/ next for followeinge j to occvpye þe howse to my vse tyll xiiij days after wyttsondaye followinge

Full transcription. Copied by a late 15th- or early 16th-century hand; written upside down on the page; some loss of text due to damage to the lower outer corner of the manuscript.

3. 1:1v

Instruction on how to make an indestructable glass vessel

Language(s): Latin

Rubric: 1:1v vt vas vitrium non fringatur

Incipit: 1:1v per coquatur vas vitrium in oleo oliue quam diu capo decoqintur et si postea ponatur in igne non frangetur et post decoccionem quilibet liquor in eo [crossed out: post] potest calfieri

The title has been repeated in the upper margin by a 16th-century hand: ‘vt vat vitreum non frangatur’.

4. 1:1v

Charm for catching rabbits

Language(s): Middle English and Latin

Rubric: 1:1v Here byginnyth þe craft how a man shuld take Conynys

Incipit: 1:1v ferst he schal lokye abowte þe iiij quarterys þat is to seynge in to þe Est . and West. Noryth. and Sowyth. and in to euery quarter he schal seye 5. pater noster. and 5. Aue maria. in þe worschup of owre lord. and of Synt Antonij. and he moyst haue a ȝerd of an hasel of o ȝerys growynge . And he moyst makye 4 croyssys þer of . And þenne þey most be y set by sydys þe dowerys of ham . pottynge o cros apoun o dowere and so to euerych in euery quarter . And þenne sey þys. I Coniure ȝow Conynges in what parte þat ȝe be . þat ȝe come to ȝowre place whare þe crossis boyth y set . In þe name of owre lord ihesu cryst . and by hys holy passioun . and by hys deyth . and by hys vp rysynge . and [crossed out: ‘h’] by hys ascencyoun and by þe vertu of þe holy goostes comynge adowne amange hy apostolys . and by hys baptysynge and by hys Cyrcumsycioun . and by al hys holy namys y nemnyd and vnnemnyd . and in þe name of owre lady Synt marie þe holy virgyn . and by al here worschup ful namys . And in þe name of alle holy seyntes Angelis . archangelis. patriarkis . propheteis . apostolis . euaungelis . Innocentis . Marteris . Confessoris and virginis . þat ȝe tary noȝt bout a non ryȝt comyth . in þe name of synt Antonij . and synt Julian . þat hyt be so Amen . And come ȝe in to þe place in þe whych y haue y synnyd . and þere ryȝtes stond ȝe stylle pesseabellych in to ȝat tyme ȝat y come to ȝow. And so y coniure ȝow by heuyn and by erþe . þat ȝe and alle þat ys wyth inne [crossed out: ‘ heuyn’] anonder heuyn and in erþe . and by al þe vertuys of god and of owre blessyd [...] and alle holy sayntis þat ȝe mene noȝt And take 4 sto[nes] [...] in ham + Marcus + Matheus + Lucas [...] + L + A + in þe 4 partyys of [...] with inne

Full transcription; the final few lines are partly legible to do damage to the lower outer corner of the leaf.

A 16th-century hand has added a title to the outer margin: ‘Cuniculos capere’.

Another version of this charm, involving the same ritual and conjuration but aimed at catching moles, occurs in San Marino, Huntington Library, HM 64, f. 81r.

eVK21640.00

Mooney (1995), p. 91 [other copies]

5. 1:2r

Prayer on the Seven Heavenly Joys of the Virgin Mary

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 1:2r Gaude flore virginali honoreque speciali transcendens splendiferum angelorum principatum et sanctorum decoratum dignitate numerum

Explicit: 1:2r O sponsa domini electa mater dei nostri ihesu Christi benedicta esto nobis uia recta ad eterna gaudia ubi pax est et gloria et nos semper aure pia dulcissima atque piissima exaudi virgo maria Amen.

6. 1:2r

Suffrage for Virgin Mary's intercession

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 1:2r [D]omine ihesu Christe fili dei uiui qui beatissimam uirginem mariam matrem tuam perpetuis et felicibus gaudijs in celo letificasti concede propicius ut eius meritis et precibus continuis salutem et prosperitatem mentis et corporis felicibus gaudijs in celo letificasti concede propicius ut eius meritis et precibus continuis salutem et prosperitatem mentis et corporis consequamur et gaudia tua et eius feliciter perueniamus qui uiuis et regnas de [sic: ‘e’] in vnitate spiritus sancti deus per emnia [sic: ‘omnia’] secula [seculorum] Amen

Full transcription.

7. 1:2r

Instructions for the order of precedence (perhaps for a funeral)

Language(s): Middle English

Incipit: 1:2r all thing [...] þe kynges [...] þe quenes [...] þe ladies [...] come dukes and lordes [...] and sythen all d[...] now lament and [...] for the days off thacord [...] it at hond

Added by a late 15th- or early 16th-century hand and written sideways onto the page. Now partly legibile because of damage to the lower outer corner of the page.

8. 1:2v

Alchemical poem

Language(s): English

Rubric: 1:2v Ænigma de alchimie

Incipit: 1:2v When vij tymes xxvj. had runne their case / then nature discoveryd his black face / But \white with/ and C. and L. came in with greate bloste / and made blacke nye to flye the coste

Explicit: 1:2v I could fynd neuer man but one / [tha]t cowld teache \me/ the secretes off our stone / [t]hat was a pryst in ye close off Salesburie / [...] his soll in heven full myrie

Final rubric: 1:2v 1572

Added by Thomas Charnock. Partly illegible due to damage to lower outer corner.

9. 1:3r-1:11r

Collection of alchemical recipes

Language(s): Middle English

Rubric: 1:3r Asset in principio sancta maria in eo

Incipit: 1:3r Take 5 partys of flos eris and j parte of sulphur vyf and grynd ham wel togederys wyth stronge vyneger iij tymys and drye hym bytwyne eche tyme and þenne do hym bytwyne ij brodysschys of erþe wel yglasyd

Explicit: 1:11r and þenne wasche hym wyth þe water of sal alkely and mult hyt as y sayd byfore and þow schalt have a red metell þe wheche ys abell to receve þe red medycyne etcaetera

Collection of 24 alchemical recipes.

eVK25363.00

Singer, Anderson, and Addis (1928-1931), p. 490 (no. 745 A ii)

10. 1:11r-1:11v

Definitions of alchemical terms

Language(s): Middle English text with a Latin title

Rubric: 1:11r Noticia diuersarum rerum

Incipit: 1:11r Sublymyd ys þat þat ys yturnyd out of hys kynd and out of o colowre into anoþer

Explicit: 1:11v Take tarter and calcene hym tyl he be whyte and þenne resolve hym in water and þenne seyth awey þat water tyl hyt come to salt and let hyt stond in a vescel of bras tyl hyt turne into an oyle and so hyt wol forsoþe etcaetera

eVK24627.00

11. 1:12r-1:12v

Collection of alchemical recipes

Language(s): Latin

Rubric: 1:12r Ad faciendum colorem Aureum

Incipit: 1:12r De quo possunt sueri littere et picture auree quod opus debet fieri dum sol est in signo arietis

Explicit: 1:12v et pone super illum paruam tabulam in superficie madefactam et illam dimitte in rore per noctem vnam vel duas quousque habeat bonum colorem etcaetera

12. 1:12v

Alchemical poem

Language(s): English

Rubric: 1:12v Philosophie

Incipit: 1:12v When an hu[n]deryth and iiij schore had rune their race / then sone after in shorte tyme and space / blackenes begane to shewe his face / But when an C and L. had over cumd hym in fyght / he mad him washe his face white and bright / which vnto me was a ioyfull sythe / yet xxx. at last came in with great bost / and mad both blacke and white to flye the coste

Full transcription. Added by Thomas Charnock.

13. 1:13r-1:16r

Collection of metallurgical and chemical recipes

Language(s): Middle English and Latin

Incipit: 1:13r Vnum blanchere take an uncce of sal pater j vncce of sal tarter dimidium vncce of arsnacke and grynd ham in a mollynge stone and take ij vncces of hony and melle ham wel togederes and put ham in an erþyne pot

Explicit: 1:16r and þenne take bene flowre and tempere hym vp and braye hym sore into þat tyme þat he be smeþe and leye hym on a bord as þu wolt haue hym and let hym drye

The collection includes recipes for soldering blades, making water with which one can write on metal, gilding, making treacle and making soap.

eVK24981.00

14. 1:1:16v

Instructions for treating a glove for attracting rabbits

Language(s): Middle English

Rubric: 1:16v ffor to take conyngys by craft

Incipit: 1:16v take a gloue ymad of lynyne cloyth þat ys ymete for þy hand þenne take ij vnce of asafetyda j quart of oyle of olyue ij conyns þe maule and þe femaule and hacke ham smal wyth al þe guttes as þey went quycke and þenne put al þese þinges togedere ynto an erþyn pot and boyle ham wel togedere and þe gloue therynne tyl þey be sode and al þe lycowre in to þe gloue and þenne go into þe erþe þere þe conynys beyth and þey wol come to þy hand et probatum est

Full transcription.

eVK24688.00

Mooney (1995), p. 91 [other copies]

15. 1:16v

Instruction for catching rabbits

Language(s): Latin

Rubric: 1:16v Ad uicendum omnes lepores qui sunt infra tria milliaria in vnum gardunum vel in vnum campum continentur tria stadia

Incipit: 1:16v Accipe jus qinamum et hermodact[i] qui assimulantur a Glou cum sanguine et corde illius vnius lepusculi et permitte iacere in vno gardino vt predictum est et per odorem de predictis exeuntem omnes lepores vt predictum illic venturi finit et non possunt exire donec illa medicina que supra scribitur remouetur Et ita potest de cunniculis etcaetera

Full transcription.

A 16th-century hand has added a title to the outer margin: ‘Lepores capere’.

16. 1:16v

Recipe for making burnt lead

Language(s): Latin

Rubric: 1:16v Plumbum vstum sic fac

Incipit: 1:16v Liquefacias plumbum et tunc perite super istum puluerem auripigmenti et sulfuri et sit plumbum vstum

Full transcription.

17. 1:16v

Instruction for gilding

Language(s): Middle English

Incipit: 1:16v Take vij peny wy[g]t of verdegres iij vnces alum glas ij vnces of grene coperose j vnce of sal geme half j vnces of argule id est wynlyys iij quart of fayre rennynge water and seth ham in an erþyne pot tyl hyt come to j quart

Explicit: 1:16v oþer metel hold hyt and loke þu grynde þy coperose with þy oþer saltes ynto smal powder or þu do ham into þy pot etcaetera

Another hand has added a title (‘ffor too kyllte’) to the upper margin of the page.

18. 1:17r-1:18v

Tract on making a medicinal water

Language(s): Middle English and Latin

Rubric: 1:17r A water made off celydonia much profytable for many desseys with rede and ye shall see [added title]

Incipit: 1:17r Now hyre ye þe preuy þynges þat y schal speke þerof spiritus vbi wlt spirat vnde in puteum detrudatur qui fatuo reulabit these secrete þynges þat olde men hauyth ysoght and hauyth nou[g]t yfowynd fforsoþe a heuynly þynge ys a ful secrete þynge and þerfore take ye þys yest in þe name of god and draw out þe 4 elementes and þenne kepe þu to euery element j part of þat water þe whyche prevaylyth to alle manere of sekenysse as wel to hote as to cold

Explicit: 1:18v Et recordati sunt hec sufficere ad omnes egritudines euitandas deo adiuuante

Another hand has added a title in the outer margin on f. 1:17r: ‘Celydonia’.

eVK23726.00

19. 1:17v (outer margin)

Note by Thomas Charnock

Language(s): English

Incipit: 1:17v (outer margin) T.C. remember my rvppture +

Full transcription. Added by Thomas Charnock.

20. 1:18v

Alchemical note

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 1:18v Nota quod cuiuslibet sal et attramentorum resolucio absque labore et decotione et sublimacione sed pocius in momento et inter 2^as manus vt in aquam decurrentem transeat efficiatur

Explicit: 1:18v Deinde super auricalcum vel es vel stangnum liquefactum mitte de pulue [crossed out: ‘ista’] isto et fiet luna cum auxilio dei

A later hand has added a title in the outer margin: ‘A pro presett too make luna’.

21. 1:19r-1:20r

Alchemical recipes

Language(s): Latin

Rubric: 1:19r Opus verissimum ad probatum cum stanguo

Incipit: 1:19r Recipe .3^u li .j. vitrioli 3 q.

Explicit: 1:20r et dissolutur . and congelatur . Et in ea pone puluere Et||

The text ends abruptly in a recipe entitled: ‘Composicio Elixeris’.

22. 1:20r

Alchemical poem

Language(s): English

Rubric: 1:20r charnock

Incipit: 1:20r Fro the time that he be black and dedd / washe him .7. times or he be perfet redd / When he is full black, then take some payns / to washe him .7. times in the water of iourdayns / And when you sse him perfect and redd / then tak a stone and knocke him on the hedd . id est . And when this woman is brought abedd / take the childe and knock him on the hedd

Final rubric: 1:20r Charnock 1573

Full transcription. Added by Thomas Charnock.

23. 1:20v-1:22r

Collection of alchemical recipes

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 1:20v Aqua que albescit venerem id est Cuprum vt Argentum optimum

Explicit: 1:22r Nota tamen quod clariora erunt corpora subtilia . quam spissa

24. 1:21r (upper and outer margins)

Alchemical note

Language(s): English

Incipit: 1:21r Perfet white wyll not be accomplysshed vntyll it hathe ben xij tymes circulated id est vj times black and vj times white

Full transcription. Added by Thomas Charnock.

25. 1:22r-1:24v

Instructions for making an elixir

Language(s): Middle English

Incipit: 1:22r Take .3. li of þe 3. þynges id est de stangno de mercurio crudo et de mercurio sublimato . as ye well knowyth . And putrefyyth ham apoun a stone as ye knowyth hyt wol be ydo wythinne a xiiij. nyght

Explicit: 1:24v And þenne is hys vertu .x. fold more þen hyt was byfore And þus do as ofte as þou luste Et sic explicit opus etcaetera

eVK26352.00

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 1:3r: Asset in principio

Secundo Folio: 1:4r: þe fyre

Form: codex

Support: Paper, folded in quarto. Folios 1:1r-1:24v: hand and bull's head with a six-pointed star.

Extent: Codex: 24 leaves. 220 × 115 mm.

Collation

Quire 1^12-1 (ff. 1:1-1:11: 12th leaf missing)
Quire 2⁴ (ff. 1:13-1:16)
Quire 3⁸ (ff. 1:17-1:24)

Layout

165 × 110 mm. Ruled in ink, frame only. Single columns. 29-30 lines to the page, written below top line.

Hand(s)

Copied largely by a single hand in a cursive script with both anglicana and secretary features.

Decoration

Line-fillers in red ink.

Regular initials in dark ink higlighted with red ink.

Paraphs in red ink.

Manicules in dark and red ink.

For further details, see Nichols and James-Maddocks (2021), pp. 150-151.

History

Origin: 15th century. ; England.

Provenance

Thomas Charnock (1524x6-1581) , alchemist, resident of Stockland and Combwich, Somerset: his ownership scription on f. 1:1r: ‘Thomas Charnocke his book .1562.’; added alchemical poems and notes, dated 1572 and 1573, to this part of the manuscript. Charnock also owned Parts 2 and 3 of this manuscript, which indicates that these three parts had been joined together by this date.

Part 2 [Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.2.16, ff. 1:25-1:32]

Language(s): Latin and English

1. 1:25r-1:26r

Documentum cuiusdam spiritus Michael Scot

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 1:25r Bufo gradiens per terram et aquila volans per aeram est magisterium

Explicit: 1:26r Dissipat vtrumque morbum callidum gelidumque / Arceat atque domet metrice canet ore suo met

Final rubric: 1:26r [Greek: ‘telos’]

2. 1:26r

Alchemical poem

Language(s): English

Incipit: 1:26r Here in godes name, take thy rest / Quietly in thy warme nest / for sso charnocke . thinkes it best / tyll the sonne hathe rovne west / 7. tymes 600. and 16. ivste / then this chylde, awak thow mvste

Full transcription. Added by Thomas Charnock.

3. 1:26v-1:27r

Poem to the reader

Language(s): Latin

Rubric: 1:26v Ad lectorem

Incipit: 1:26v Si rerum secreta petis hunc lege lector / Librum et si in [crossed out: ‘ceptum’] compotum pectone conde tamen

Explicit: 1:27r vale precor feras obscura carmina quamquam / Atque tenebrosum lux tenebrosa benedicta fugat

Final rubric: 1:27r [Greek: ‘telos’]

4. 1:27v

Tract on Mercury

Language(s): English

Incipit: 1:27v There is in ☿ what sso euer the wysse man dothe seke what sso euer the ryche man dothe seke, what sso euere the poore man dothe seke, what sso euer the sycke man dothe seke . ffor I know the wysse man seketh for more wysedome, the ryche man for more ryches, þe poore man siketh to amende his estate and lyve better, and the sycke and dyseased man seketh for his health, and all this is in our mercuri: but not in the commen crude mercuri which is digged owt off the mynes, and is to be bowgth in the pottigar his shoppe, for he is contrarie to this nature, for off a wysse he may beth vnwysse, off a ryche man a poore man off a poore man a begger, and to a sycke man he is present death yff he take yn inwardely for medicen

Explicit: 1:27v quoth Thomas charnocke .1577.

Full transcription. Added by Thomas Charnock.

5. 1:28r

Verses accompanyning an alchemical coat of arms

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 1:28r (above coat of arms) Ille sophos esto qui Naturae causas - iste hec insignia pandit nam reserare potest

Explicit: 1:28r (below coat of arms) Arma hec qui novit naturam nouit et ille / Quod certe pars est suma philosophiae.

Full transcription. An unusual example of alchemical heraldry. The coat of arms can be blazoned as Or a fess [?] purpure, a Lion rampant gules, argent, sable, and vert. Above the heraldic shield (escutcheon) are a helmet, mantling, and a crest consisting of a Phoenix in flames.

6. 1:28r (outer margin)

Alchemical verse couplet

Language(s): English

Incipit: 1:28r (outer margin) We worke this worke off wonder / by wayghte, measvre, and novmber - quod Thomas Charnock

Full transcriptioned. Added by Thomas Charnock.

7. 1:28v-1:31r

Cantilena George Ripley

Language(s): Latin

Rubric: 1:28v De lapide philosophico ceu de phenice

Incipit: 1:28v En philosophacium hac in cantilena / Dans archana concino voce cum amena

Explicit: 1:31r vt gustenus practice per regeneramen / Eius fructus vberes et predulcis amen

Final rubric: 1:31r [telos]

Rampling (2010), p. 146 (no. 6.1)

8. 1:29r (inner margin)

Alchemical notes

Language(s): English

Incipit: 1:29r (inner margin) .v^th. Blacke .461.

Full transcription. Added by Thomas Charnock.

9. 1:29v (outer margin)

Alchemical notes

Language(s): English and Latin

Incipit: 1:29v Cenum octaoginta [...] .180. In putrifaction

Full transcription attempted. Added by Thomas Charnock.

10. 1:29v (outer margin)

Alchemical notes

Language(s): English and Latin

Incipit: 1:29v (outer margin) Tempus perfectionis secundum istum / 460. / 180. / 40 / .13. / .641. / bi the v^h black [e]t .156. floragitur [e]t .36 peragitur

Full transcription attempted. Added by Thomas Charnock.

11. 1:31r

Alchemical poem

Language(s): English

Incipit: 1:31r Abowte .653. I dare be bolde / this childe shall put oune / a crowne of golde . / or at 656. at the most / this chylde shall rule þe roste

Full transcription. Added by Thomas Charnock.

12. 1:31v

Alchemical calculation

Language(s): English

Rubric: 1:31v Tempus secundum

Incipit: 1:31v 408 / 40 / 150 / 30 : 528

Full transcription. Added by Thomas Charnock.

13. 1:31v

Verse on multiplication Thomas Charnock

Language(s): English

Rubric: 1:31v mvltiplication

Incipit: 1:31v too men to one ow man - 400 to one / one man to one owman - one to one : ye maye pr[...] bothe

Full transcription. Added by Thomas Charnock.

14. 1:31v

Sibylline number poem Gerolamo Cardano

Language(s): English

Rubric: 1:31v Sibylles novmber

Incipit: 1:31v bis centum et octies et ter tribus decadibus atque novies et octies decem .476.

Full transcription. Added by Thomas Charnock. This enigma also occurs in Gerolamo Cardano's De Rerum varietate libri XVII (Basil: Henricus Petri, 1557), which may have been Charnock's source. For this poem in Cardano's work, see Marco Bracali, 'Arsenico e vecchie Sibille. Cardano Jacques Gohory e un aspetto alchemico della tradizione dei Sibillyna Oracula', Accademia Revue de la Société Marsile Ficin, 20 (2018), 61-82 (p. 67).

15. 1:32r

Alchemical verses Pseudo-Roger Bacon

Language(s): Latin

Rubric: 1:32r Roger Bachon

Incipit: 1:32r In prima lapidis nostri operatione est putrifactio appellata, et fit lapis noster niger

Explicit: 1:32r Primum opus est dissolue lapidem in suum mercurium, vt in primam materiam redigatur

Full transcription. Added by Thomas Charnock.

16. 1:32r

Alchemical note

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 1:32r Oportet primo quod convertas ea in similem duorum corporum, quod nunquam fiet donec sol et luna in vno corpore iuncta proiciantur super ipsam

Full transcription. Added by Thomas Charnock. Immediately below, Charnock has written: ‘the sayinge of frier Bacon de lapide philosophorum’.

17. 1:32r

Note on the (?) birth of John St John

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 1:32r John say[n]t John nat. 4^o [mar]cij Anno 1530 [? 1536] l[itte]ra d[...]cas - [?] JSJ

Full transcription attempted. Copied by [?] ‘JSJ’ and written upside down on the page otherwise filled with alchemical verses and notes by Thomas Charnock. The note perhaps refers to the birth of John St John of Bletsoe, Bedfordshire, son of John St John (1498-1558) and Margaret Waldegrave (1485-1564).

18. 1:32r

Alchemical verse John Dastin (attributed)

Language(s): English

Incipit: 1:32r When he is full black then take some payne / to washe him .7. times in the water off jourdayne / 7. times assendinge vpp and downe within a fovnt now darke now clere of lyght. Davsten

Full transcription. Added by Thomas Charnock.

19. 1:32v

Alchemical note

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 1:32v Principium nostri operis est dissolucio lapidis nigredo

Full transcription. Added by Thomas Charnock.

20. 1:32v

Tract on alchemical colours as described by George Ripley

Language(s): English

Rubric: 1:32v Rippley mayket a fayre showe how covlers wyll ryse a reowe

Incipit: 1:32v Pale, blacke, with false citrine, imperset white and red

Explicit: 1:32v then shall appere þe bodie red vnvariat[...] then rippley meneth he is mvltiplicable

Added by Thomas Charnock.

21. 1:32v

Alchemical verse couplet

Language(s): English

Incipit: 1:32v Bewixte trwe blacke, and trwe white / wyll appere maynie covlers to syght - T.C.

Full transcription. Added by Thomas Charnock.

22. 1:32v

Alchemical verse couplet

Language(s): English

Incipit: 1:32v Betwixte pvrgatorie and paradyse / the raigne bows covlers wyll aryse - T.C.

Full transcription. Added by Thomas Charnock.

23. 1:32v

Alchemical verse couplet

Language(s): English

Incipit: 1:32v Betwixte blacke and white sartayne / the pelokes fethers wyll appere playne - T.C.

Full transcription. Added by Thomas Charnock.

24. 1:32v

Alchemical verse couplet Pseudo-Pliny

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 1:32v quia per modicum tempus ante albedinem / color pavonis mirabiliter apparebit - Plinij

Full transcription. Added by Thomas Charnock. Perhaps an extract from the Secretum secretorum et aromatum that is spuriously attributed to Pliny the Elder in Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodl. 484.

25. 1:32v

Alchemical verse from the Speculum secretorum Pseudo-Roger Bacon

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 1:32v Apparet etiam ante albedinem color pavonis que Roger Bachon

Full transcription. Added by Thomas Charnock.

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 1:26r: Name velut athleca

Form: codex

Support: Paper, folded in quarto. Folios 1:25-1:32: owl and hand with five-pointed star.

Extent: Codex: 8 leaves. 200-210 × 145-150 mm.

Collation

Quire 4⁶ (ff. 1:25r-1:30v)
Quire 5² (ff. 1:31r-1:32v)

Layout

170 × 100 mm. No ruling. Single columns. 29-32 lines to the page.

Hand(s)

Copied by a single hand in a humanistic cursive script.

Decoration

Half-page drawing of an (?) alchemical wedding in colours on f. 1:27r.

Half-page drawing of a phoenix in flames illuminated by a ray of the sun, in colours, on f. 1:27v.

Full-page drawing of an alchemical coat of arms in colours on f. 1:28r.

Eleven drawings in colours representing emblems of alchemical processes in the outer margins of the alchemical poem on ff. 1:28v-1:31r.

Drawings or sketches of alchemical vessels and installations in dark ink on ff. 1:31v-1:32v.

History

Origin: 16th century. ; England.

Provenance

John Mayre : perhaps his signature (‘M^e [? J]’) twice inscribed, once with the date ‘1560’, at the top of f. 1:32r. Identified by Rampling (2020), who argues that he probably was the priest John Mayre [Maire] (fl. 1548-1561), an assay master at the ecclesiastical mint at Durham House, London, who was accused of using magic to locate buried treasure (see Rampling (2020), pp. 218, 237 [incorrectly locates Mayre's signature to f. 1:82r]).

Thomas Charnock (1524x6-1581) , alchemist, resident of Stockland and Combwich, Somerset: his alchemical poems and notes, dated 1577, to this part of the manuscript. Charnock also owned Parts 1 and 3 of this manuscript, which indicates that these three parts had been joined together together at this point.

Part 3 [Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.2.16, ff. 1:33-1:75, 1:77-1:80]

Language(s): Middle English, Latin, English

1. 1:33r

List of ingredients for an alchemical recipe

Language(s): Latin

Rubric: 1:33r Proporciones ad album

Incipit: 1:33r De fermente ℥ j. cum duplo mercurij

Explicit: 31:3r De Aiere ℥ j. et demi.

2. 1:33r

List of ingredients for an alchemical recipe

Language(s): Latin

Rubric: 1:33r Proporciones ad rubeum Elixeris

Incipit: 1:33r De terra ℥ ij.

Explicit: 1:33r De Igne ℥ j. et demi.

3. 1:33r

Alchemical recipe for making gold

Language(s): Middle English

Rubric: 1:33r ffor too make fyne soll [added title]

Incipit: 1:33r Take Cletys id est platis of style . y bornyschid clene and whyt and put ham in stronger veneger in an orpyn panne wel y tylyd ouer þe fyre and let hyt boyle

Explicit: 1:33r for þou schalt fynd hyt as good gold \as/ any . to alle manere a say etcaetera

Another hand has added a title (‘ffor too make fyne soll’) above the recipe.

eVK2 5239.00

4. 1:33v

Recipe for making ‘Sal ammoniac’

Language(s): Middle English with some Latin

Incipit: 1:33v To makye sal Armonyacke . In primis . Make a stronge dobylforsyd lye and wol bere a ney . and þenne take lyme stonys wel y brend and yf þou hast iij galownys of lye take halfe j pecke of þat stonys and quynche ham in þat lye and yf þou seme þou hast to lytel lycur take more of þat lye and stere wel þat mater togedere

Explicit: 1:33v And þenne put þat lycour in to a panne of bras and make a nesy fyre þer vnder and euer stere hyt wel wyth a sclyse of tre . and whenne hyt bygynnyth to congele þen stere fast in to þat tyme þat hyt be y congeled and þycke as whyte salt and very drye . And þenne take a bladder \and/ put hym þerinne and serua etcaetera

Another hand has added a title (‘too make sall Armonyacke’) to the upper margin of the page.

5. 1:33v (lower margin)

Notes on Thomas Charnock's alchemical 'circulations'

Language(s): English

Incipit: 1:33v (lower margin) xij. ciculations 400

Explicit: 1:33v (lower margin) ix yers xxij wekes

Added by Thomas Charnock. Written sideways into the lower margin of the page. For Charnock's 'circulations', see Robert M. Schuler, 'Charnock, Thomas (1524x6–1581)', Oxford Dictionary of National Bibliography (2004).

6. 1:34r-1:37v

Alchemical treatise

Language(s): Middle English

Rubric: 1:34r A very good mater off lune and sol [added]

Incipit: 1:34r Yf þou wolt ryȝt wel for to spede vse wel þy pater noster þy aue maria and crede now worþy ffader herkene now to me y wol þat þu wete wel þe ferst tyme þat þe mater and þe sperme of all metell ys mercury sodyn and ymad þykke and þe wombe of þe erþe wyth þe hete of sulfur and multeplyinge of hyt beyth dyuerse metell

Explicit: 1:37v and þenne folwyth norschynce tylle þe he be y woxe wonder moche ffor þou schalt norsynge hym wyth hys owne mylke þat ys to say mercurij ofte and ofte tyl he have ydronke ynowe etcaetera

eVK2 2746.00

eVK2 3815.00

DIMEV 2417-1

7. 1:37v-1:38r

Astrological tract comparing human reproduction and alchemical processes

Language(s): Latin

Rubric: 1:37v Nota

Incipit: 1:37v Sperma id est mercurius . Terra est mater et generans . proficiatur in matrice mulieris

Explicit: 1:38r Et postea in proiectione aque corporis in Aquam ffermenti demonstrent plures colores quam tu potes cogitare

8. 1:37v (lower margin)

Alchemical note

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 1:37v (lower margin) confer this worde viuificatio with tese wordes, silicet quatuor vite viuificatio

Full transcription. Added by Thomas Charnock.

9. 1:38v

Tract on the Philosophers' Oil

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 1:38v Oleum philosophorum

Explicit: 1:38v Et consolidans . labora itaque de eo in arte et gaude et lauda deum super omnia opera eius

10. 1:38v-1:40v

Recipe for making ‘crocum ferri’

Language(s): Middle English with some Latin

Incipit: 1:38v Crocum ferri sic fit take thynne platys of yre or lymal of yre or ellys of olde cardys teyth as moche as þou wolt ocupye and þenne have comyn salt ypreparat on þys wyse

Explicit: 1:40v In þys conclusyoun trewly ys nouȝt yhyd Werchyth þus trewly after þys scripture and hit schal prevayle afectually Sed primum querite regnum dei et Justiciam eius etcaetera

eVK2 4313.00

11. 1:40v-1:43r

Treatise showing the veracity of alchemy

Language(s): Middle English

Incipit: 1:40v Now sone y wol schewe to þe . þe dowtes of þe elixer etcaetera worschup ful sone . y say to þe for soyth . as philosopheres hauyth lefte in here bokys . Too manere of werchynge . þat oo manere ys soyth . þat oþere manere ys false.

Explicit: 1:43r And anoþer þat schold turne þat þynge þat ys dysseueryd to hys kynd . þese vertuys may nou[g]t a body have in hys bosytysnysse . All þese þynges have y asayyd . And also y and þey were y put in dyspayre and so left þys sciens etcaetera

Final rubric: 1:43r Bona Erudicio

A later hand has added the title ‘A very profetable consell’ to the upper margin of f. 1:40v.

eVK2 8214.00

12. 1:43v

Recipe for multiplying wax

Language(s): Middle English

Rubric: 1:43v To multeplie wex etcaetera

Incipit: 1:43v take clene talow as moche as þou wolt and boyle hyt wel and scheme hyt clene and þenne take þe boddes of pepelere put ham into þat boylynge talow and let ham boyle a good whyle togedere and þenne strayne ham þorowe a lynnen cloyth and þenne let hyt kele. and hyt schal haue a fayre wex colour . And þenne take rosyn as moche as þou wolt . and þenne take vryne and boyle hyt and scheme hyt clene . And þenne boyle þat rosyn in þat vryne a good whyle . and þenne let hyt kele . And þenne boyle þat rosyn in vynegre a good whyle and þenne let hy kyle . And þenne Take iij. li. of wex . and j li. of þat talowe . And ij li. of þat rosyn . and put ham iij. to gedere and mult ham esely . and þenne lette ham kele and þou schalt have vj li. of fayre wex and good . probatum est verum etcaetera

Full transcription.

eVK2 5234.00

13. 1:43v

Recipe for renewing old wax

Language(s): Middle English

Rubric: 1:43v To renewy old wex etcaetera

Incipit: 1:43v Take Old wex as moche as þou wolt and boyle hyt wyth hony and stale ale a good whyle and hyt schall reseuye hys knd a yen and his colour

Full transcription.

14. 1:43v

Memorandum

Language(s): English

Incipit: 1:43v Memor[andum] that syr robart which dyd confer with my tuter syr James in kynge Edardes daye dwelleth non at the savoye in london and hathe it a workinge there as harrye hamond tolde me at sancte James fayer .Anno dom[in]i. 1566.

Full transcription. Added by Thomas Charnock.

15. 1:44r-1:45v

Fixatio elexieris Pseudo-Arnaldus de Villanova

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 1:44r Illumina corpus tuum antequam inponas ei animam

Explicit: 1:45v Componimus Putrefacimus Diuidimus Mundamus Vnimus et Figimus

Final rubric: 1:45v Sic explicit dict[um] et sufficit intelligenti hec illorum etcaetera

eTK 0660G

16. 1:46r-1:47r

Secretum secretorum Pseudo-Pliny

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 1:46r Hic incipit tractatus optimus in quo exponit et aperte declarat Plerus philosophus que sit lapis philosophicus et ex qua materia debet fieri et quomodo . qui quidem lapis cum fuerit totaliter preparatus \est/ medicina perfecta que dicitur Elixer

Explicit: 1:47r Postea auge ignem modicum cum vrina calida quousque predicti cineres intenciores fuerint albedinis

The text has been annotated by Thomas Charnock in the lower margin of f. 1:46r: ‘note off ye iiij. ellamentes’.

eTK 0620F

17. 1:47r

Alchemical poem

Language(s): English

Incipit: 1:47r Looke yow conceve my wordes a right, / and marke well this which I have sedd. / ffor blacke is ferment vnto ye white, / and white shalbe ferment vnto ye redd. - which I neuer saw, till I had white heres vppon my hedd - T.C: 1573. the .50. yere off my age

Full transcription. Added by Thomas Charnock.

18. 1:47v

Alchemical poem

Language(s): English

Rubric: 1:47v Enigma ad alchimiae

Incipit: 1:47v when vij tymes xxvj. had runne their rase / then nature discoveryd his blacke face

Explicit: 1:47v then harttelly to god dyd I praye / that euer I saw that ioyefull daye

Final rubric: 1:47v .1572. T. Charnocke.

Added by Thomas Charnock.

19. 47v

Note to poem (preceding item)

Language(s): English

Incipit: 1:47v At the length and last of all we shall finde the bodie blacke and dark in the bottom off the glas / which is called a dedd bodie ferment, the shadow off the sonne, dark clowdes, the tayle of the dragon which off the dragone is now eaten.

Full transcription. Added by Thomas Charnock.

20. 1:48r-1:49r

Alchemical tract on putrefaction

Language(s): Latin

Rubric: 1:48r Nota putrificacione

Incipit: 1:48r Nam putrefacio non est nisi mortificacio humidi cum sicco humidum

Explicit: 1:49r sed sid tardius in operacione

21. 1:49r-1:49v

Alchemical tract on the Elixir

Language(s): Latin

Rubric: 1:49r Conclusiones philosophorum de Elixer

Incipit: 1:49r Hermes pater philosophorum dixit in primis corpus solutum et aqua perhennis congelat Mercurium . perpetua congelacione

Explicit: 1:50r Nota tantum valet aqua Mercurij sicut aqua lapidis id est humidum lapidis philosophorum

22. 1:49v-1:50r

Short alchemical notes

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 1:49v Vis sulphuris est humiditas radicalis - Nota . Galidum id est rubium ffrigidium id est luna id est album sol et luna

Explicit: 1:50r et vltimo reduci cum humido restauratiuo id est humido fixo id est coppore cerato - kepry

The last note is entitled: ‘Nota secreta secundum Gebar’.

23. 1:50v-1:52r

Libellus aureus sive compendium alchimiae brevissimum John Dastin

Language(s): Latin

Rubric: 1:50v Nota principaliter super omnia

Incipit: 1:50v Testificatur ad credendum meditacionum experimentum quoniam spiritus corporibus magis assimilantur per hoc quod corporibus magis vniuntur

Explicit: 1:52r Et in hoc completur Archanum preciosissimum quod est super omne mundi thesaurum

Final rubric: 1:52r Explicit compendium breuissimum et vtile valde . Deo altissimo laudes et gracias persoluamus Amen

This is a previously unidentified copy of John Dastin's Libellus aureus of which only seven copies were known to date (see 'Iohannes Dastin fl. saec. XIV ante med. Libellus aureus', on MIRABILE: Archivio digitale della cultura medievale / Digital Archives for Medieval Culture).

24. 1:52v-1:64r

Alchemical notes and definitions

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 1:52v Tradidit aueroys. Est enim humiditas facta propria

Explicit: 1:64r corpus: eius est terra eius qui a figit

Hermes and Geber are cited as authorities. For further details about the contents of these notes, see Timmermmann (2016), pp. 376-377.

eTK 1582G

25. 1:56v

Alchemical poem

Language(s): Latin

Rubric: 1:56v versus

Incipit: 1:56v Sic luna fugarum per fixam lunificatur / Si sol addatur rubeum opus efficietur

Explicit: 1:56v Hoc fac infiniens quociens vis multiplicando / Tunc bene corasti si fluat vt cera mollis

26. 1:64r (outer margin)

Saying or motto

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 1:64r (outer margin) Lege et intellige

Full transcription. Added by Thomas Charnock.

27. 1:64v (upper margin)

Alchemical verse couplet

Language(s): English

Incipit: 1:64v (upper margin) A proper mater good for a pewter platter - quod T.C.

Full transcription. Added by Thomas Charnock. Mooney (1995) reads the first line as ‘A proper water’ and suggests that it serves as a title to the alchemical recipe for making dye on this page.

28. 1:64v-1:65r

Alchemical recipe for making dye

Language(s): Middle English and Latin

Incipit: 1:64v In nomine sancte trinitatis accipe vnam herbam vocatam heniȝuȝs cipȝlles potynge þys herba into a body of glas

Explicit: 1:65r þenne he ys suffyciant ad .s. The proieccioun .C. decies .S. sencies .Se. [crossed out: ‘milesies’] .Se. milleies .Se. millesies .Se. decies Millesies Se. Cencies Millesies Se etcaetera

Thomas Charnock has added a marginal note to the recipe on f. 1:64v.

eVK2 4046.00

29. 1:64v (outer margin)

Alchemical note

Language(s): English

Incipit: 1:64v (outer margin) this b[...]d et cy did appere at bothe ends . off my w4r at .600.

Full transcription attempted. Added by Thomas Charnock.

30. 1:65r

Alchemical note

Language(s): English

Incipit: 1:65r Charnocke defieth Charecole.

Full transcription attempted. Added by Thomas Charnock.

31. 1:65r (upper half)

Illustration of an alchemical vessel above a fire

Language(s): Latin

An illustration of an alchemical vessel on a furnace in dark and red ink. The illustration features three written labels, indicating the location of ‘lutum’, ‘cineres’, and ‘locus ignis’.

32. 1:65r (lower half)

Illustration of an alchemical vessel above a fire

Language(s): English and Latin

Rubric: 1:65r .for svblimation.

Full transcription. An illustration of an alchemical vessel above a fire in dark and red ink inside two rectangular frames of dark ink. The illustration features two written labels, indicating the presence of ‘lapi[s]’ and ‘asshes’ inside two compartments within the vessel. Drawn by Thomas Charnock whose initials (‘TC’) feature as a monogram in red ink next to the drawing inside the inner frame.

33. 1:65r

Alchemical note

Language(s): English

Incipit: 1:65r be ware off decete . for by this sublimation I was decevyd iij. yeres to gither quod .T. Charnocke by practis but vij. yeres by studie.

Full transcription attempted. Added by Thomas Charnock.

34. 1:65r (outer margin)

Alchemical verse couplet

Language(s): English

Incipit: 1:65r (outer margin) Ascendere et discendere till he will assende no more / then wyll he stande black blacker then euer before.

Full transcription. Added by Thomas Charnock. Written sideways in the outer margin of the page.

35. 1:65v

Alchemical notes and recipes

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 1:65v Nota quod venus habet 2^o. infirmitates primam occultam 2^dem. manifestam.

Explicit: 1:65v Et tunc fac metallum tam strangibile . ET iacta paruum de dicto puluere desuper . Et erit ductule etcaetera

eTK 0942G

36. 1:65v

Alchemical note on metals

Language(s): English

Incipit: 1:65v [nota] All metalls be they neuer sso small I fyled [y]it the least parte contayneth the hole within him sellffe off his harde compacte bodie and they shall neuer increase nor mvltiplye tyll they be reduced into mercurie etcaetera // as in my other bookes I have made dyscription and this is perfet philosophie: // Thomas Charnocke

Full transcription. Added by Thomas Charnock.

37. 1:66r

Alchemical recipe for making lune (silve)

Language(s): Middle English

Incipit: 1:66r Take sal armoniac 1 or 2 or 3 ʒ y sublimyd salt y prepare[i]t an^a

Explicit: 1:66r and hy schal be fyne lune at al asayys wyth owt dowt þe woche hathe be prouyd etcaetera

Another hand has added a title (‘A thyng proued too make fyne lune att all asayes’) to the upper margin of the page.

38. 1:66r

Alchemical note

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 1:66r Constat mercurius

Explicit: 1:66r antedictus

39. 1:66v-1:67v

Poem on preparing the Philosopher’s Stone Richard Carpenter (attributed)

Language(s): Middle English

Rubric: 1:66v Notabili versus quod Ricardus Carpenter

Incipit: 1:66v Of spayne take þe clere lyȝt / The rede gomme þat ys so bryȝt

Explicit: 1:67v A vyse þe wel or þe by gynne / Or lytyl wol be yowre wynne

Rubric: 1:67v Explicit

eVK2 3891.00

IMEV 2656

NIMEV 2656

DIMEV 4210-21

Singer, Anderson, and Addis (1928-1931), p. 559 (no. 817 iii)

40. 1:68r-1:69r

Collection of seven alchemical recipes

Language(s): Middle English

Incipit: 1:68r To make sel preperat / Take bayȝe salt what quantyte þat þou wolt put hit into a pot of erethe and set hit into the ffeyre the spas of xij owrus and þat hit beȝe wel ybrand than take hyt owte and let hit kele

Explicit: 1:69r on peny weyth of þat medycyn apon x peny weyth of venus yspergyt and hit schal beyn good at all maner prewys sae at the [crossed out: ‘test’] teyste etcaetera

eVK2 5102.00

Singer, Anderson, and Addis (1928-1931), p. 490 (no. 746)

41. 1:68v (lower margin)

Note on the Devil's power over the world

Language(s): English

Incipit: 1:68v (lower margin) The devell hathe no power to hovrte the earthe: or to tempte or hovrte man, but by the permyssion and sufferance off god: // your father thomas Charnocke.

Full transcription. Added by Thomas Charnock.

42. 1:69v-1:71v

Instructions for making alchemical elixers

Language(s): Middle English

Incipit: 1:69v Tak j pound of vitriol and half j pound of sal peter and grynd eueryche of ham by hymsylf and after melle ham wel apon a marbyl stone and þenne put alle þat mater into a glas and sette þe hed þerto and lute ham wel

Explicit: 1:71v And þenne take j peny wyghte of þat medycyn and cast apoun .j.1000. peny wyghte of mercurij. or of what metel þou wolt and all schal turne yn to fyn gold

Final rubric: 1:71v probatum est etcaetera - finis

A later hand has added the title: ‘Alyclotte orke too be profytable’ to the upper margins of ff. 1:69v-1:71v. Thomas Charnock has added marginal annotations (e.g. see f. 1:70r (outer margin): ‘. one . Elixer.’).

eVK2 5767.00

43. 1:72r

Alchemical verses George Ripley (elsewhere attributed)

Language(s): Middle English

Incipit: 1:72r yf ye wolle to þys medycyn aplye / make furst hery hard hotte and drye / nessche lyght cold and wete / put ham to geder and make hem mete / þus may ye spend more þanne þe kynge / yf ye have connynge of suche a þynge

Final rubric: 1:72r Explicit prologus

This version printed by Ashmole (1652).

eVK2 2757.00

IMEV 3721

NIMEV 3721

DIMEV 5920-6

44. 1:72r-1:73r

Alchemical recipes for making ‘sal armonyack’, ‘sal alkaly’, and ‘fflowr of allym’ from the third part of the Mirror of Lights

Language(s): Middle English

Incipit: 1:72r Sal armoniack ys þus y mayd / Take þe vryne of old childryn and boyle hyt and scheme hyt wel tyll hyt be clene and after þat let hyt stond in a vescel .i. nyȝt . and þe morow departe þe clere fro þe fecys . and cayst a wey þe feces

Explicit: 1:73r and let hyt stond ala day in soche a fyre and þenne ye schul fynd a whyte flowr . of þe whech ys y mayd a water to euery whyte alixer etcaetera

eVK2 6300.00

eVK2 5195.00

Mooney (1995), p. 93 [other copies]

Grund (2006), p. 33

45. 1:73r

On alchemical science

Language(s): English

Incipit: 1:73r ffor yff yow dyd know what tyme and space the worke wolde axe before be accomplysshed and you cleaneth perfetly shett vpp and rectyffyed yow wolde not marvell whye sso manye vnwyse [rubbed out: ‘men’] and vnstable witted men do fynde by their shorte conclution this science vnsartayne. / .Charnock. 1572.

Full transcription. Added by Thomas Charnock.

46. 1:73v

Alchemical notes

Language(s): Latin

Rubric: 1:73v Note the sayinges of T. Charnocke - Nota bene quod .T. Charnocke.

Incipit: 1:73v Lapis a me descriptus vobsicum, est permanens terraque maris quod nvllo modo separatur: // factum ferrum est avrum nostrum: // es, tinctura nostra est, et unum ornamenta natura. // stagnum est argentum nostrum: // nigredo est dealbatio nostra: // et albedo est rubor noster: //

Explicit: 1:73v Cum avtem terra comissetur cum aqua: // terra obsorbet aquam suam ex sua siccitate et inspissat eam et facit eam sibi simile suo grossitate. - et nota bene

Added by Thomas Charnock.

47. 1:73v

Virtues of an alchemical ‘Stone’ in the possession of Thomas Charnock

Language(s): Middle English

Rubric: 1:73v Sarten vertues off our stone

Incipit: 1:73v firste he wyll not consvme in the fire

Explicit: 1:73v 4. forthe our parte wyll converte x. partes off mercu crude into puer sylver within an hower

Full transcription. Added by Thomas Charnock.

48. 1:74r-1:77r

Collection of alchemical recipes

Language(s): Middle English

Incipit: 1:74r Recipe a pownd of sulphur . grynde hyt or bete hyt in to smale pouder . Than take . clene water þe quantyte of a quarte . And there in dyssolue þe j lj of comyn salte ouer þe fyre . þan lat hyt stonde tylle hyt be clere

Explicit: 1:77r and pot ham in a crucybyl to gederys and þenne put in to þat metel þe wyȝght of a groce of þat powder and þenne mult ham and stere ham wel to gederys and þenne quynch hyt in stale vryne and after þat mult hym [crossed out: ‘to’] vppe to þyn lust.

A (?) 16th-century hand has added titles to the upper margins of ff. 1:74r-1:77r: ‘Too calcyenat sulpfur’, ‘ffor to fyxe mercury arsenycke and all other spirtes’, ‘too make fyne lune’, and ‘A proper thyng’.

eVK2 4113.00

eVK2 5358.00

49. 1:77r

Alchemical note

Language(s): English

Incipit: 1:77r off .7. circulation

Full transcription (perhaps belonging to the next item). Added by Thomas Charnock.

50. 1:77r

Poems on the durations of alchemical processes

Language(s): Latin

Rubric: 1:77r .De temporibus.

Incipit: 1:77r Quod quinque in 7tem : // quinque in 9vem : // quinque in deodecem completur vicibus - Aliter. - By this I gather xij sublimations in þe subtill W4 or euer he be perfettly accomplysshed: Quod quinque in 4tuor . quinque in 7tem / Quod est vltimum completum vicibus / thys I vnderstonde from putrifaction vnto his perfection . / And 40. wekes to come : // And 36. wekes to come: //

Full transcription. Added by Thomas Charnock.

51. 1:77v

Alchemical recipe

Language(s): Latin

Rubric: 1:77v Ad descended

Incipit: 1:77v Take arsinacke pure . What quantite þat þou wolt and grynd hyt smal apoun a ston . and take iij dobel þe wyȝt of tarter y calsenyd . and þe same wyȝt of comyn salt

Explicit: 1:77v and þenne let kele tyl hyt be ryȝt cold and þenne tak vp þat pot and opene hym and tak þat þat sit in þe necke of þe glas an by sydes yleke a marke se et serua

A later hand has added the title: ‘A dvrke mater nott opened what the thyng is’ to the upper margin of f. 1:77v.

eVK2 5072.00

52. 1:78r

Method for finding the luminescent herb lunary (also known as astertoum) by night and by day

Language(s): Middle English

Rubric: 1:78r To fend lunary þe herbe

Incipit: 1:78r Recipe a glasse and loke yn the glasse by nyght where as ye suppose he dothe grow and the lyght of hym wyll appere yn the glasse then ye must go bacward alwayes kepyng the lyȝt in the glasse then knele downe and by þe lyȝt ye schall know how nye ye be to hym

Explicit: 1:78r when ye haue fownd hem ons yn that place set a [crossed out: ‘p[...]’] plante of box and then ye schall fond hem by day it is his property that ye schall haue knowlych of hem by daye with ovt any glasse the place where he schuld be may be knowen whereas a horse can not kepe his lok on his fote

Full transcription.

eVK2 4104.00

53. 1:78r

Accounts

Language(s): Middle English

Incipit: 1:78r I take Richarde Deane for helenge off his legg v. marke. xxs in hande a marke agaynste Christmas and the .v. nobles at easter / John beden suertie. and wylliam louely surtie

Full transcription. Added by Thomas Charnock.

54. 1:78v

Alchemical recipe for extracting silver from lead

Language(s): Middle English

Rubric: 1:78v to draw sylver owt of led

Incipit: 1:78v Take capons henys cokes or chekyns bon[e]s and borne them and after they be burnt take a pownd the bonys very smal yn a morter

Explicit: 1:78v for when the lune ys congelyd yn the cake then the lede wyll voyde into the test of aschys made yn the basyn probatur

eVK2 5208.00

55. 1:78v

Alchemical recipe for making white lead

Language(s): Middle English

Rubric: 1:78v To make seruce

Incipit: 1:78v Take plates of lead as much as ye wyll and put them into a newe earthen pott glased within and put to it strong viniger and stop it close and set it in a hott place the space of a monthe

Explicit: 1:78v and then take it from the fier and it is made / but stur it well as is affor sayd / least it turne to lead as it was before

Added by a (?) 16th-century hand.

56. 1:79r

Alchemical recipe for making white lead

Language(s): Latin with an added Middle English heading

Rubric: 1:79r de modo faciendi cerusam

Incipit: 1:79r Cerusa siue plumbum ho modo fiat Recipe laminas plumbeas quo volueris et mitte in olla rudem

Explicit: 1:79r et permitte refrigerari et continue moueatur in iterum in plumbum reuertatur

Another hand has added the title: ‘Nota for makyng of cerys pro M. Cocke’ above the original Latin title.

57. 1:79r

Alchemical note

Language(s): English

Incipit: 1:79r Beware off this decepte quod Thomas Charnocke

Added by Thomas Charnock. Mooney (1995) transcribes ‘decepte’ as ‘recept’ and considers it a comment on the next item.

58. 1:79r-1:80v

Alchemical recipe for separating four pure elements

Language(s): Middle English with Latin quotations and subheadings

Incipit: 1:79r Take a box of iron in the lengthe of a fote and in the wydnes of ij ynches and a halfe or þer abowte with a iuste and a close coueryng of iryn and put in this box iij li. of mercurij crude þat is to say pure and clene as þe gold smythys haue straynyd thorow lether which glovers hath to make glovys of into a clene basyn

Explicit: 1:80v all this is on the wurkyg [sic] of lune and of sol safe in lune the erthe schal be calcynyd but white in consciens and betwyxt me and god I haue wretyn . the receyte and þe ryghtyst way playnly and no thyng hed / valeatis in domino.

59. 1:80v

Memorandum by Thomas Charnock

Language(s): English

Incipit: 1:80v William mor[e]s maryed with James Harberts wydow

Full transcription. Added by Thomas Charnock.

60. 1:80v

Memorandum by Thomas Charnock

Language(s): English

Incipit: 1:80v Remember your wydow [?] goueinghams / lynes [...] off your variens / betwix iames stevens and hir

Full transcription attempted. Added by Thomas Charnock. The text is partially faded and obscured by other scribbles. Below this memorandum, Charnock has written the date ‘1557’ but it is unclear whether it relates to this item or the next item.

61. 1:80v

Alchemical poem

Language(s): English

Incipit: 1:80v Black white and redd / Be coulleryd all three / which it last [...] appere / in shorte space vnto me / for black dyd first rule the rost / tyll [...] the cost / But [...] came [...] / [...] / me thowght [...] off [...] / for he was all [...] / and on his hedd [...] golde / ffor no [...] solde [...]

Full transcription attempted. Add by Thomas Charnock but subsequently largely obscured with ink. Elias Ashmole copied the poem when it apparently was not yet obscured into one of his manuscripts (now Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Ashmole 1445). For a transcription of this copy, see Taylor (1946), pp. 170-171. The last four verse lines and the explicit transcribed there can be found on f. 1:68v (lower margin).

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 1:34r: Yf þou wolt

Form: codex

Support:

Paper quires with two parchment single leaves (ff. 1:31 and 1:71).

Paper, folded in quarto. Folios 1:33-1:75, 1:77-1:80: (?) rectangle.

Extent: Codex: 48 leaves. 220 × 145-150 mm.

Collation

This collation deviates from the collation provided in the manuscript. Whereas the modern collator seems to consider f. 1:33 a separate unit (their Quire 6), and places the start of Quire 7 at f. 1:33a (a stub), this catalogue record considers f. 1:33 a singleton and the two subsequent stubs (ff. 1:33a-[1:33b] the potential remains of a bifolium (the height of these two leaves does not match up with the the leaves that follow). Subsequently, this catalogue record's collation considers the remains of this aforementioned bifolium as Quire 6 and places the start of Quire 7 at f. 1:34. Moreover, while the modern collator places the end of Quire 7 at f. 1:43, this catalogue record has it end at f. 1:41, and considers it more likely (based on leaf sizes) that ff. 1:42 and 1:43 belong to Quire 8.

Single leaf (f. 1:33
Quire 6^2-2 (ff. 1:33a-[1:33b]: both leaves missing, stubs remain)
Quire 7⁸ (ff. 1:34-1:41)
Quire 8⁶ (ff. 1:42-1:47)
Quire 9¹² (ff. 1:48-1:59)
Quire 10⁸ (ff. 1:60-1:67)
Quire 11^4-1 (ff. 1:68-1:70: 4th leaf missing)
Single leaf (f. 1:71)
Quire 12^10-2 (ff. 1:72-1:80: 8th and 9th leaves missing, but unfoliated stubs remain)

Layout

185 × 125 mm. Ruled in ink and hardpoint, frame only. Single columns. 34-38 lines to the page, written below top line.

Hand(s)

Folios 1:33r-1:77v copied by a few scribes writing in cursive scripts with strong anglicana features.

Folios 1:78r-1:80v copied by a single scribe writing in a cursive script with both anglicana and secretary features.

Decoration

Two drawings of alchemical furnaces and vessels in dark and red ink added by Thomas Charnock to f. 1:65r (see his monogram ‘TC’ in red ink).

Three schematic drawings of alchemical vessels in dark and red ink inside the text on f. 1:53r.

One large initial with penwork decoration in dark and red ink on f. 1:38v.

Small plain initials in red ink on ff. 1:44v-1:45v.

Manicules in dark and red ink occasionally added to the margins. A gauntlet used as a manicule in the outer margin of f. 1:34r.

A title written in red ink in the upper margin of f. 1:50v.

Large and small initials in dark ink highlighted with red ink.

Paraphs in red ink.

Underlining in red ink.

For further details, see Nichols and James-Maddocks (2021), pp. 150-151.

History

Origin: 15th century. ; England.

Provenance

Thomas Charnock (1524x6-1581) , alchemist, resident of Stockland and Combwich, Somerset: his alchemical poems and notes added to empty spaces and margins, dated 1557, 1566, 1572, and 1574. His monogram (‘TC’) inscribed in the outer margin of f. 1:40v. Charnock also owned Parts 1 and 2 of this manuscript, which indicates that these three parts had been joined together at this point.

Part 4 [Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.2.16, ff. 1:81-1:126, 1:126a-1:126b, 1:127-1:132]

Language(s): Middle English and Latin

1. 1:81r

Proverb on res publica

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 1:81r Rei publice interitus pacis exilium

Full transcription.

2. 1:81r

Proverb on studying

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 1:81r Qui in legendis libris deses extiterit in preparandis rebus promptus esse non poterit

Full transcription.

3. 1:81r

Note on natural philosophy

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 1:81r Materia prima est ex qua aliquid generaliter primum et in que corrumpitur vltimum itaque nec ipsa generari potest nec corrumpi

Full transcription. Perhaps based on Thomas Aquinas's De principiis naturae.

4. 1:81r

Note on nature and art

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 1:81r natura incoat et ars perficit

Full transcription.

5. 1:81r

Note on nature and art Jābir ibn Hayyān [Geber] (here attributed)

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 1:81r Geberus qui principalia naturalia in seipso ignorauerit longe remotus ab arte quia non habet veram radicem super qam [sic] actionem suam infundat

Full transcription.

6. 1:81r

Note on natural philosophy Aristotle (here attributed)

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 1:81r Arist quecumque sunt ad invicem transmutabilia, ex vna constant materia

Full transcription.

7. 1:81r

Note on natural philosophy Aristotle (here attributed)

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 1:81r Arist fforme est agere, materie veri pati

Full transcription.

8. 1:81r

Proverb on studying

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 1:81r non potest de facili practice assuestere, cuius [crossed out: ‘ne’] mens studijs [crossed out: ‘theor[...]s’] theoricis renuit in sudare

Full transcription.

9. 1:81r

Reference to an English king

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 1:81r Rex Edwardus

Full transcription. Written sideways on the page in light brown ink.

10. 1:81v

(?) Poem

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 1:81v Soluite felices in aquas duo corpora primum qui solem et lunam queritus ista dabunt

Explicit: 1:81v Donec mixta fluant pace quoque mucta ferantur teque [?] simull tandem tempus in omne [?] bee[...]

11. 1:82r (upper margin)

Proverb on studying

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 1:82r (upper margin)

Full transcription.

12. 1:82r-1:126r, 1:129r-1:131v

Compound of Alchemy or The Twelve Gates, Part 1 George Ripley

Language(s): English

Rubric: 1:82r Here begynnyth the compend of Alkemy / made by a chanon of Brydlyngton / after hys lernynge in Italy at Ixnyng / for tyme he there dyd wonne / In a he declaryd openly / the secretes both of Mone and Sonne [...]

Incipit: 1:82r Chyld of thys dyssyplyne inclyne to me thyne ere / And harkyn my doctryne with also thy dylygence

Explicit: 1:131r preasynge withoute Ceasynge hys Gloriose Maiestye / Which he in hys kyngdom Graunte vs for to See. Amen

Final rubric: 1:131v Explicit Alkymyce tractatus philoȝophie [...] Memorandum Quod G [?R] 2^o die Augusti 1555

Copied by two scribes working at different times. In the upper margin of f. 1:82ris the word ‘Jhesus’ and a note by the second scribe that the part of the text until the circular diagram on f. 1:127v was copied in 1539: ‘Anno domono [sic] 1539 scriptus erat libellus iste vsque ad Spheram’. However, this date probably also applies to a fragment of a second copy of Ripley's poem in the hand of the first scribe (see below) on ff. 1:128r-1:128v). The part of the text that was copied by the second scribe can be found on ff. 1:129r-1:131v. As indicated by a colophon on f. 1:131v, this scribe was working in 1555: ‘Quod G.R. 2^o die Augusti 1555’.

In the outer margin of f. 1:82r, the second scribe has added a note (written sideways onto the page) about the numbering system used for stanzas in Ripley's poem: ‘Memorandum that euery vij lynes callyd a staff is notyd in the margent as a chapter callyd acapite vel capitulo’.

The text features various marginal annotations, including numbers provided for stanzas. A 17th-century hand has added a note about the poem's publication on f. 1:82r: ‘Georg. Riply. Chim. 2.18 printid’.

eVK2 2237.00

eVK2 1401.00

eVK2 3829.00

eVK2 2861.00

IMEV 595

NIMEV 595

DIMEV 975-13

Rampling (2010), p. 152 (no. 9.4)

13. 1:127v

The Wheel (accompanying poem) George Ripley

Language(s): English

Rubric: 1:127v Celum philosophorum

Incipit: 1:127v As holy script maketh mencion / In þe wombe of a virgin immacvlat

Explicit: 1:127v And to god both nyght and day / ffor grace and for thy auctor praye

This page features a large diagram with the title: ‘thys ffygure conteynyth all our secrettes both gret and small’. The diagram consists of a cross at the center of a series of concentric circles filled with text. In the four cardinal (inside the wheel) and ordinal (outside the wheel) directions are eight small circles with the names of the signs of the Zodiac written in them and their qualities. This is the 'sphere' to which the note in the upper margin of 1:82r refers. Folios 1:126v-1:127r are blank but both contain the following reference: ‘Sequitur Sphera’. The poem that accompanies the Wheel can be found below it.

DIMEV 590-2 [Ripley's Wheel]

14. 1:128r-1:128v

Compound of Alchemy or The Twelve Gates [fragment of a second copy] George Ripley

Language(s): English

Incipit: 1:128r After all thys I wyll ye vnderstonde / for thy sauegarde what I have don

Explicit: 1:128v þe soule of Saturne and also Marthafyce / of which gey tincture I mad to sheu

Copied by the first of two scribes who copied a complete version of Ripley's poem on ff. 1:82r-1:126r, 1:129r-1:131v.

IMEV 975

NIMEV 975

DIMEV 975-14

Rampling (2010), p. 152 (no. 9.4)

15. 1:131r

Alchemical recipe

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 1:131r Quando sublinasti [?] Mercurius quater, tere in tennem puluerem et postea recipe mercurius crudi lb j

Explicit: 1:131r et sic habebis lac virginis vt patet alibi

The text has been crossed out with dark ink. A later hand, using the same ink, has added the note: ‘Caveto ab istis sophisticationibus’

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 1:83r: for thes benefyttes

Form: codex

Support: Paper, folded in quarto. Folios 1:81-1:132: hand with five-pointed star and owl with crescent moon.

Extent: Codex: 52 leaves. 215 × 155 mm.

Collation

Quires 13-23⁴ (ff. 1:81-1:124)
Quire 24^4-2 (ff. 1:125-1:126b: 3rd and 4th leaves missing, stubs (ff. 1:126a-1:126b) remain)
Quire 25² (ff. 1:127-1:128)
Quire 26⁴ (ff. 1:129-1:132)

Catchwords in the lower inner corners of the last rectos of quires.

Layout

140-160 × 80-100 mm. Ruled in hardpoint, frame only (the inner, upper and lower margins are ruled, but not the outer margins). Single columns. 23 lines to the page, written above top line.

Hand(s)

Folios 1:82-1:128 were copied by a single scribe writing in a cursive script with both anglicana and secretary features.

Folios 1:129-1:131 were copied by a single scribe writing in a cursive script with both anglicana and secretary features. The scribe identifies themselves as ‘G’ in a colophon on f. 1:131v.

Decoration

Full-page alchemical diagram consisting of concentric circles with a cross in dark brown ink at its centre on f. 1:127v.

Added manicules in dark ink throughout.

History

Origin: 1539 and 1555. ; England.

ff. 1:82r-1:128v were copied in 1539 and ff. 1:129r-11:31v in 1555.

Provenance

George Bolde, (fl. 16th century) : his ownership inscription on f. 1:81r: ‘Liber Goergij Bolde’. Timmermann (2015), however, transcribes his surname as ‘Golde’ [but compare the first letter of his first name with the ‘B’ in ‘Brydlyngton’ on f. 1:82r].

Part 5 [Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.2.16, ff. 1:133-1:142]

Language(s): Middle English, Latin, English

1. 1:133v-1:140v

Speculum elementorum Johannes Viennensis

Language(s): Latin

Rubric: 1:133v Speculum Elementorum

Incipit: 1:133v Gloria laus et honor perhennis omnipotenti deo cuius gracia cooperante Speculum Elementorum desiderabile componitur sub hac forma

Explicit: 1:140v aqua per se et quod habetur terra [per se]||

The text is imperfect: it abruptly breaks off on f. 1:140v.

2. 1:142v

Tract on natural philosophy

Language(s): Latin

Rubric: 1:142v Creavit angelos suos spiritus

Incipit: 1:142v Quanto magis terrestres partes per sublunaciones subtiliint 3: tanto facilius putrescunt et solvunt 3 in suo proprio humido vnctuoso interno. Et enim inter subtiles partes, (vbi homogenite coniungunt 3 in subtili materie) fit actio et passio contrariorum elementorum: quae est causa corruptionis compositi; et putrefactionis et omnis alterationis medulla. - Vale

Full transcription. Added by a (?) 16th-century hand.

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 1:134: ovis

Secundo Folio: 1:135r: spiritus

Form: codex

Support: Paper, folded in quarto. Folios 133-142: ? Jar.

Extent: Codex: 10 leaves. 215 × 150 mm.

Collation

Quires 27-28⁴ (ff. 1:133-1:140)
Quire 29² (ff. 1:141-1:142)

Catchwords written in the lower inner corners of the last versos of quires.

Layout

155 × 110 mm. Ruled in leadpoint, frame and line ruling but only rarely visible. Single columns. 29 lines to the page, written below top line.

Hand(s)

Largely copied by a single 16th-century hand in a cursive script with both anglicana and secretary features.

Decoration

Large (3-4 lines) initials outelined in brown ink.

History

Origin: 16th century. ; England.

Part 6 [Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.2.16, ff. 2:1-2:2, 2:4-2:19, 2:21-2:76]

1. 2:1r

Alchemical recipe

Language(s): Middle English

Rubric: 2:1r ffor to make cals of golde

Incipit: 2:1r Take thynne plates of gold or lymayle off golde

Explicit: 2:1r And luke þou take of þe salt sufficiently and when þou sees þy water clere þan leefe werke and wasshe it with hote water vn to þe salt be oute of þat clene and so drye it with soft fire and kepe it clene for it is called cals of gold ffor to purge lune

In the upper margin of the page, a 17th-century hand has added the title: ‘Dissoluere lapidem Auri calcinandi modus’.

eVK2 6321.00

Singer, Anderson, and Addis (1928-1931), p. 743 (no. 1111 xxvi)

2. 2:4v-2:18v

Alchemical prose treatise

Language(s): Middle English

Incipit: 2:4v so þey bothe be of yonge peple / and many oþer names infinit and diuerse wyse thes ij waters be named of philosofers . this water hathe bothe corporal strength and spirituall . of eche of þe ij waters writeth ortolane in his boke . spekynge propyrly of oon water . and þat is þis . when these ij water s be conioned to gedere . þen þey be but oone water

Explicit: 2:18v And makynge glasse mallyable so þat it may be forged wythe an hammyr wythe owt brekynge . and also yt feyneth reede stones . and whyte . and so ys þis j made perfyte þis blessyd reede stone whyche [crossed out: ‘þe’] ys þe moste tresowre of þis worlde . whyche god yefeth to howm yt plesyth hym. cuius nomen sit benedictum in saecula [saeculorum] Amen.

eVK2 0429.00

Singer, Anderson, and Addis (1928-1931), pp. 490-491 (no. 747)

3. 2:19r-2:19v

De aqua penetriva que solvit omnia metalla [Secretum Gilberti Cardinalis] Gilbertus Cardinalis (attributed)

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 2:19r Ecce in effabile secretorum alkamie quod composiuit Gilbertvs Cardinalis .vj. in se continens in capitula quorum primum est ad faciendum aquam fortem dissoluentem et penitrantem omnia corpora

Explicit: 2:19v et pone super cineres calidos quousque simul incorporetur postea mitte in sole calido et congelabitur in lapidem durum

Final rubric: 2:19v Capitulum .5^m. [crossed out: ‘dissoluens’] dissoluere lapidem

The title for this item has been derived from the added table of contents on f. 2:2r. A later hand has added the title: ‘Secretum Gilberti Cardinalis Continet in se 6: capita’ to the upper margin of f. 2:19r. The identity of the (attributed) author is obscure but his name occurs in various other alchemical manuscripts (e.g. see a German version of this work, entitled Gilberti Cardinalis kunst alle Metall zu soluieren).

Singer, Anderson, and Addis (1928-1931), pp. 140-141 (no. 159 i)

4. 2:21r-2:22r

Alchemical recipe

Language(s): Latin

Rubric: 2:21r experimentum secundum quosdam profundissimum

Incipit: 2:21r Nouissime et profundissime dabo vobis experimentum verum ac verissimum Recipe ergo in nomine domini v. taken

Explicit: 2:22r et est lapis rebus quasi . bona res et est tamen vna sola res quam ego ipse ignoro et non nosco

Final rubric: 2:22r Explicit

eTK 0956A

Singer, Anderson, and Addis (1928-1931), p. 396 (no. 532 i)

5. 2:22r

Scribal colophon

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 2:22r Qui scripsit carmen sit ben[e]dicus Amen

Full transcription. Added by the same (?) 16th-century hand that has added the next item. The two items evidently belong together. For other examples of this line, see Lynn Thorndike, 'More Copyists' Final Jingles', Speculum, 31:2 (1956), 321-328 (p. 324).

6. 2:22r

Proverb

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 2:22r Si culpare velis culpabilis esse caeuebis

This proverb also occurs in William Langland's Vision of Piers Plowman.

Added by a different 16th-century hand to the one that has added the preceding item, but the two items evidently belong together.

Walter, Sprichwörter, no. 28372

7. 2:22v-2:23r

'Mercurius philosophorum'

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 2:22v-2:23r [P]vtrefactas mercurium in fimo equino calido et post putrefaccionem distilla et habebis animam et corpus que duo sunt vinus essencie et virtutis

Explicit: 2:22v-2:23r reducas in huiusmodum quam ad sublimandum opus solucionis est inuentum

Singer, Anderson, and Addis (1928-1931), p. 412 (no. 561)

8. 2:23r-2:25r

De origine lapis philosophorum Pseudo-Avicenna

Language(s): Latin

Rubric: 2:23r Auicenna de origine lapidis

Incipit: 2:23r [E]st enim aurum vivum lapis philosophorum qui nascitur subtus terram propter humiditatem magnam existentem in illo loco pro multo aere

Explicit: 2:25r Et spiritus gaudet corpore et anima et fiant perpetui sine separacione id est immortales et incorruptibiles in vna substancia et essencia ita vt in ictu oculi habeant potenciam supra .1000. gradus mercuriis seu jouis veneris et saturni

Final rubric: 2:25r Explicit archanum Avicenne

A later hand has added the titles ‘Auicenna de origine lapidis’ and ‘Arcanum de Lapide Philosophico componendo’ to the upper margins of f. 2:23-2:25r.

According to Singer, Anderson, and Addis (1928-1931), this text also incorporates a section of Mirer, Senior.

Singer, Anderson, and Addis (1928-1931), p. 118 (no. 128 iii), p. 121 (no. 134 iii)

9. 2:25v-2:28r

De lapide philosophico Pseudo-Bernard de Gordon

Language(s): Latin

Rubric: 2:25v Bernardus de Gordonia

Incipit: 2:28r [G]uydonis .12^o. omnis namque ordinata generacio est ex accione masculi et femine par conueniencia sibi et corrumpente

Explicit: 2:28r Qui habet ipsium habet thesaurum in dificientem et hoc habet fieri virtute ignis naturalis

Final rubric: 2:28r Explicit barnardus de gordonya

A later hand has added the title: ‘De lapide philosophorum’ to the upper margin of f. 2:26r.

Singer, Anderson, and Addis (1928-1931), p. 261 (no. 278)

10. 2:28v-2:32v

Speculum alkymie (extracts) Roger Bacon

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 2:28v Bacon in speculo alkymie Inter cetera que dixi cogitetis quid dicit sapiens in sale et vitro totum est secretum

Explicit: 2:32v Et dicit quod hec est eius multiplicacio cui contrariatur philosophi deo gracias

Final rubric: 2:32v Explicit liber Baconis

A later hand has added the title: ‘Bacon in speculo’ to the upper margin of f. 2:28v.

eTK 0252H

eTK 1405M

Singer, Anderson, and Addis (1928-1931), p. 175 (no. 194 iii)

11. 2:32v

Alchemical recipe on mercury

Language(s): Latin

Rubric: 2:32v Modus faciendi aquam mercurii Solucio mercurii bene siblimati per se

Incipit: 2:32v Recipe mercurius \al bene/ quinques sublimatum et pone ipsum bene tritum in ampulla vitrea factum ad modum ovi

Explicit: 2:32v Procede ergo cum eam sicut scis etcaetera

Final rubric: 2:32v Explicit

Singer, Anderson, and Addis (1928-1931), pp. 357-358 (no. 458)

12. 2:33r-2:34r

Alchemical tract

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 2:33r De lapide preciosum qui a mille philosophorum experimentate quedam nominant cum capillum

Explicit: 2:34r Nunc .ii. est manifestatum quod a sapientibus fuit annis pluribus occultatum laus deo et gentes nobis

A later hand has added the title: ‘Lapidis philosophi Componendi modus’ to the upper margins of ff. 2:33r-2:34r.

Singer, Anderson, and Addis (1928-1931), p. 404 (no. 549 ii)

13. 2:34r (lower margin)

Saying from De consolatione philosophiae Boethius

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 2:34r Foelix qui potuit boni fontem visere lucidum

Added by a (?) 17th-century hand.

14. 2:34v-2:35r

Alchemical recipes

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 2:35v Ad lunam / Recipe de arsenico sublimato partem j de argento puluerizato partem

Explicit: 2:36r vna pars illius tingit tres partes argenti et transmutabit ipsium in solem bonum

A later hand has added the title ‘Ad ☾’ to the upper margin of f. 2:34v.

Singer, Anderson, and Addis (1928-1931), pp. 426-427 (no. 597)

15. 2:35v-2:36r

Alchemical recipe

Language(s): Middle English

Incipit: 2:35v In þe name of god amen Take j lb of akybryth and ij lb of mercury and menge hem well to geder so þat þere apere no þyng of þe mercury and put all þat in an ampull and close it well with goode lute

Explicit: 2:36r and be þis same workynge þer be suported þe seynges of þe philosofers þerfore a wyse werkman schall in þis þynge werkynge be seker for yef he do it as it is j seyde he schall brynge þys werke to perfeccion in trewth and god sey amen

Singer, Anderson, and Addis (1928-1931), p. 484 (no. 731)

16. 2:36r

Alchemical recipe

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 2:36r Oleum tartarto sic fit Recipe pilas tartari et comburantur in igne mundo

Explicit: 2:36r uel pone iij sacculo in loco humido etcaetera

17. 2:38v-2:60v

Liber maiorum operum Magister Saphirus

Language(s): Latin

Rubric: 2:38v Incipit liber intitulatus liber maiorum operum editus a magistro saphiro de diueris modis oprandi in arte alkimia

Incipit: 2:38v In nomine domini hic incipit liber maiori operui qui vero precedencium librorum est compliatus [sic: ‘compilatus’] a magistro Saphiro secundum diueros modos operandi in arte alkimmica ad vtiliatem studencium in ista sciencia

Explicit: 2:60v et vtere sicut tu vis

A later hand has added the title: ‘Liber Maioris operum Saphiri’ to the upper margin of f. 2:38v.

Singer, Anderson, and Addis (1928-1931), pp. 131-131 (no. 149 ii).

18. 2:61r-2:62v

Alchemical recipe for making white and red elixer

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 2:61r Ressepe mercurius naturali et misse illum cum sale communis mundo in aliquo vaso

Explicit: 2:62v vt prius est e dicto tam de lapido albo quam de rubeo

Final rubric: 2:62v Explicit O Christi mihi parte Gradum mihi siste / Omne fluat triste Gradus assit deprecor iste

A later hand has added the title: ‘Modus perfectissimus conficiendi Elixer albi et rubrj ad ☾ et ☉. Lege et diligenter expende’ to the upper margin of f. 2:61r.

Singer, Anderson, and Addis (1928-1931), pp. 131-131 (no. 149 ii).

19. 2:63r-2:67r

Treatise on Greek and Arabic terms in alchemy [Vocabula et interpretationes nominum Grecorum et Arabicorum in arte alkimica]

Language(s): Latin, Greek, Arabic

Incipit: 2:63r Hic incipiunt vocabula et interpretaciones nominum grecorum et arabico in arte alkimica

Explicit: 2:67r contrita cum lacte caprino in uiscat interficit

Final rubric: 2:67r Explicit

A later hand has added the title ‘Interpretationes nominum graecorum et arabircorum in Alchymia’ to the upper margins of ff. 2:63r-2:67r.

eTK 1384G

Singer, Anderson, and Addis (1928-1931), p. 337 (no. 405)

20. 2:67r-2:69r

Liber trium verborum Pseudo-Hermes

Language(s): Latin

Rubric: 2:67r Hic incipit opus et practica bernardi [crossed out: ‘a’] magni alkimiste in album

Incipit: 2:67r [H]ic liber trium verborum hermetis lapis iste de quo sic opus philosophorum

Explicit: 2:69r Et hec est rectificacio m[etallorum] quod oleum fixum quod rectificat omnia metallla corrupta et perducat [crossed out: ‘est’] ea ad sanitatem et ad naturam meliorem laudetur ergo deus qui talia creauit

Final rubric: 2:69r Explicit bernardus

A later hand has added the title ‘Practica Barnardi in Album’ in the upper margins of f. 2:67v-2:68r.

Singer, Anderson, and Addis (1928-1931), pp. 47 (no. 43 ii), 1121 ('After 43 ii')

21. 2:71v

Alchemical recipes and notes

Language(s): Latin

Rubric: 2:69v Hic incipit veri et verissimi exposicio hac sub dei nomine benedictione etcaetara

Incipit: 2:69v [I]ncipit exposicio veriverissimum hac sub dei benediccione

Explicit: 2:71v et congelacionem sicut scis et tingit lunam in solem

A later hand has added the title ‘Veri verissimum’ to the upper margin of f. 2:69v.

22. 2:71v-2:72r

Alchemical recipes

Language(s): Latin and Middle English

Incipit: 2:71v To make neyssche metalle hard take white venegre and put þerto pouder of suplpuer and boyle it tylle þe stynke be awey and stepe it alle wey

Explicit: 2:72r et si predictum argentum decocquitur postea cum sale armoniaco funditur in aquam claram transparentem et in aere congelatur

Singer, Anderson, and Addis (1928-1931), p. 396 (no. 533 ii)

23. 2:72r

Glossary of alchemical terms (Latin-English)

Language(s): Latin and English

Incipit: 2:72r Smargamete id est sm[...] them / Dimargamete - mingell them / Eque[...] libano id est in balne a maria or in fimo equino or in a lowe sellor

Added by a (?) 16th-century hand.

24. 2:72v-2:74r

Alchemical tract

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 2:72v Principium est illud generalis primaria et mater materia omni corporum terrenorum

Explicit: 2:74r Et tunc extrahe et in venies materiam conversam in illud quod optasti etcaetera

Final rubric: 2:74r ffinito libro reddatur gracia christo

Two later hands have added tittles to the upper margin of f. 2:72v: ‘Lege et Expende’ and ‘Principium Rerum’.

Singer, Anderson, and Addis (1928-1931), p. 439 (no. 624)

25. 2:74r-2:74v

Alchemical recipe for making Alumen de hispania

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 2:74r Alumen de hispania. gummum album et gummum rubeum quod est kybryt philosophorum et eorum aurum

Explicit: 2:74v istud est secretum occultum versus

The recipe is immediately followed by an alchemical poem (see below).

eTK 0088J

Singer, Anderson, and Addis (1928-1931), p. 1114 (no. 9 i)

26. 2:74v

Alchemical poem

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 2:74v Mirria mira sonat qui talia pocula donat

Explicit: 2:74v Gaudet in assata . sata per 3^a socia rata

The alchemical poem belongs with the preceding and next item.

Singer, Anderson, and Addis (1928-1931), p. 1114 (no. 9 i)

27. 2:74v

Alchemical recipe for making Alumen de hispania

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 2:74v De lapide rubeo auripigmenti crocij

Explicit: 2:74v Istud est opus Magistri parisiensis

The recipe belongs to the preceding two items.

Singer, Anderson, and Addis (1928-1931), p. 1114 (no. 9 i)

28. 2:75r-2:75v

Alchemical text

Language(s): Latin

Rubric: 2:75r Nota hic [sic: ‘has’] causas diuersarum operacionum circa salem

Incipit: 2:75r Primo dissoluitur cum aqua pluuiali que aqua pluuialis habet in se quandem virtutem abstersivam accutalem sibi incorporatam per calorem solis ratione

Explicit: 2:75v Sed sal fixus non habet partes ethromogenas ergo non habet feces

Final rubric: 2:75v Explicit

The scribe who copied this text has written ‘Sal.’ and ‘theo^ca’ in the upper margin of f. 2:75r. Another hand has added ‘De Sale’ in the same upper margin.

eTK 1101P

Singer, Anderson, and Addis (1928-1931), p. 417 (no. 573)

29. 2:76r

Alchemical verse couplet

Language(s): English and Latin

Rubric: 2:76r De na^li oper^rie ☉ et ☾

Incipit: 2:76r A [...] seruant [?] whilom was, of color perfect red. The which a ladie white and fayre vnto his wife did wede

Full transcription. Added by a (?) 16th-century hand. The last five words of the second line have been supplied by a different hand in darker ink.

30. 2:76v

Prayer exhortation

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 2:76v Jhesus Christus nazarenus rex Judeorum fili [crossed out: ‘d’] david meserere [sic] mei amen

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

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 2:5r: not halfe

Secundo Folio: 2:6r: -bydyth fix

Form: codex

Support: Paper, folded in quarto. Folios 2:1-2:76: scissors and (?) oxen or unicorn.

Extent: Codex: 76 leaves. 220 × 150 mm.

Collation

Quire 30^12-1 (ff. 2:1-2:12: 3rd leaf missing, but a stub (f. [2:3]) remains)
Quire 31^10-1 (ff. 2:13-2:19: 10th leaf missing)
Quire 32¹² (ff. 2:21-2:32)
Quire 33¹⁶ (ff. 2:33-2:48)
Quire 34¹² (ff. 2:49-2:60)
Quire 35¹⁶ (ff. 2:61-2:76)

Roman numerals (‘i’-‘viij’) in the outer lower corners of the rectos of the first half of Quire 30.

Catchwords in the lower inner corners of the last rectos of quires.

Layout

155-160 × 100-105 mm. Ruled in hardpoint, frame only. Single columns. 28-36 lines to the page, written below top line.

Hand(s)

Folios 2:1r, 2:4v-2:34r, 2:35v-2:36r, 2:38v-2:53v, 2:54v-2:60v, 2:63r-2:74v have been largely copied by one or a few hands writing in a similar cursive script with both anglicana and secretary features.

Folios 2:34v-2:35r and 2:75r-2:75v have been copied by one hand writing in a cursive script with secretary features.

Folios 2:61r-2:62v have been copied by one hand writing in a cursive script with both anglicana and secretary features (perhaps some of these hands also occur in Part 7).

Decoration

Drawings of alchemical furnaces and instruments in brown ink in the outer margins ff. 2:45v, 2:46v, 2:47r, 2:49v, 2:50r, 2:50v, 2:51r, 2:52r.

Large initials in brown ink decorated with cadels.

Subheadings written in red ink on ff. 2:34v-2:35r and ff. 2:75r-2:75v only.

Manicules in brown ink added to margins, including an elaborate one with piece of clothing on f. 24v (outer margin).

Additions

A 16th-century hand has added a table of contents, entitled ‘in this volume as 2 contenid’ for both Parts 6 and 7 of this manuscript to f. 2:2r. This suggests that both parts were joined together soon afther their creation. Indeed, it is possible that both parts were created and always belonged together.

History

Origin: 15th century. ; England.

Part 7 [Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.2.16, ff. 2:77-2:110]

1. 2:77r-2:107v

Liber Secretorum [also Portae] Pseudo-Rasis

Language(s): Latin

Rubric: 2:77r Incipit liber secretorum de voce bubacari mahumetis filij ȝot[eri] arati

Incipit: 2:77r [L]iber iste diuiditur in 3 partes quarum prima manifestat species

Explicit: 2:107v nec eis ostendas quia quilibet potest ipsium intelligere dum modo ipsium uideat et legat quia planus est et versus

Final rubric: 2:107v Ex Suȝat

Another hand has added the title ‘Liber Secretorum’ in the upper margin of f. 2:77r.

Singer, Anderson, and Addis (1928-1931), p. 107 (no. 116 ii)

2. 2:107v

Glossary of terms in Pseudo-Rasis, Liber Secretorum

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 2:107v Sisrac id est Sal kaley

Explicit: 2:107v Alburacari

3. 2:107v

Table of contents for Pseudo-Rasis, Liber Secretorum

Language(s): Latin

Rubric: 2:107v Incipit liber secretorum de voce bubacari

Incipit: 2:107v 1 liber iste diuiditur in 3 partes

Explicit: 2:107v .12. porta nascentur fume de senene quantum volueris

4. 2:108r-2:108v

Two alchemical recipes for sal armoniac and making silver from vermillion

Language(s): Middle English

Incipit: 2:108r To make sal armoniac / Recipe strong vrine ij lb and .j. lb of soote and j lb of grete salt well brende and calcined

Explicit: 2:108v and þou schalt haue of .j li. of vermylion .viij.℥. and more of fyn syluer / Deo gracias

eVK2 4285.00

eVK2 5013.00

Singer, Anderson, and Addis (1928-1931), p. 749 (no. 1112 xviii)

5. 2:108v

Alchemical note

Language(s): Middle English

Incipit: 2:108v Arseny[k] is fixed in þre sublimacion þus jncorpore arseneke poudred on a marbul with þe ferthe part of lyme afterwarde tempre hem wit broken eyren cru and drye hym þan discende [crossed out: ‘and brye it þan discende’] hym and it wil be red and eft[er] descende hym with eyren and so þryes and it wil be white masse as tyn grynd hym þan and dissolue hym and distille hym be filter and congele hym j part vpon xxx of copour purged but bette[r] it were to medel þus with þe 3 part of fyne siluer calcined

Full transcription.

eVK2 1116.00

Singer, Anderson, and Addis (1928-1931), p. 749 (no. 1112 xviii)

6. 2:109r

Collection of six alchemical recipes

Language(s): Middle English

Incipit: 2:109r Take j li. of arsenyk and half a pond of sulphur in sotyl pouder and grynd hem wyth a good quantite of [crossed out: ‘w’] qwycke lyme

Explicit: 2:109r and put vndur lente fyre be thre dayes and nyghtis and þan suffla cum sollibus and þou schalt encrece ix d probatum est

Singer, Anderson, and Addis (1928-1931), p. 749 (no. 1112 xviii)

Mooney (1995), p. 95 [other copies]

7. 2:109v

Two recipes for alchemical waters

Language(s): Latin

The recipes are enttiled: ‘Aqua mirabilis que soluites omne corpus’ and ‘Aqua ingressiua’.

Singer, Anderson, and Addis (1928-1931), p. 743 (no. 1111 xxvi)

8. 2:110v

Glossary of Alchemical terms (Latin-Arabic)

Language(s): Latin and Arabic

Incipit: 2:110v Alaȝarab arabice / plumbum

Explicit: 2:110v Argentum ȝaybac

9. 2:110v

Alchemical recipe for making (?) silver

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 2:110v Recipe of plates of ♂ [Iron] ℥ vj

Explicit: 2:110v then increse the fire and it shalbe fusible as ☽ [Silver]

Added in the 16th century.

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 2:78r: Marmum aliud montanum

Form: codex

Support: Paper, folded in . Folios 2:77-2:112: including (but not limited to): scissors and [?] circle.

Extent: Codex: 36 leaves. 215-220 × 145-150 mm.

Collation

Quire 36¹⁶ (ff. 2:77-2:92)
Quire 37⁸ (ff. 2:93-2:100)
Quire 38^ten (ff. 2:101-2:110)

Catchwords in the lower inner corners of the last rectos of quires.

Layout

2:77r-2:82r, 2:90v-2:109v 160-165 × 100-110 mm. Ruled in hardpoint, frame only. Single columns. 30-35 lines to the page, written above top line.

2:82v-2:90v 155-160 × 95 mm. Ruled in ink, frame only. Single columns. 42-43 lines to the page, written above top line.

Hand(s)

Folios 2:77r-2:82r have been copied by a single hand writing in a cursive script with both anglicana and secretary features.

Folios 2:82v-2:90v have been copied by a single hand writing in a small cursive script with strong secretary.

Folios 2:90v-2:109v have been copied by a few hands writing in a similar cursive script with both anglicana and secretary features (perhaps some of these hands also occur in Part 6).

Decoration

Large (2 lines) plain initials in red ink.

Manicules in brown ink added to the margins, including a pointing hand accompanied by a bird (f. 2:83v), an arm emerging from an opening (f. 2:84r), and a hand pointing with two fingers (f. 2:105v).

Paraphs in brown ink (ff. 2:77r-2:82r) and red ink (ff. 2:82v-2:107v.

Additions

History

Origin: 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 (1901); 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: Journal of the Material and Visual History of Science, 30:2 (2015)..

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

Theatrum chemicum Britannicum: Containing severall poeticall pieces of our famous English philosophers, who have written the hermetique mysteries in their owne ancient language, Ashmole, Elias (London, J. Grismond, 1652)

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)

Thomas Charnock Ambix, Taylor, Frank Sherwood (2, 148-176, 1946)

Database of alchemical manuscripts - Cambridge Alchemy Web Site, McLean, Adam (1995)

Manuscripts in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge Index of Middle English prose, Mooney, Linne R. (Woodbridge, D.S. Brewer, 1995)

"ffor to make Azure as Albert biddes": Medieval English Alchemical Writings in the Pseudo-Albertan Tradition Ambix, Grund, Peter (53, 1, 21-42, 2006)

Establishing the Canon: George Ripley and His Alchemical Sources Ambix, Rampling, Jennifer Margaret (55, 3, 189-208, 2008)

The Catalogue of the Ripley Corpus: Alchemical Writings Attributed to George Ripley (d. ca. 1490) Ambix: the journal of the society for the study of alchemy and early Christianity, Rampling, Jennifer Margaret (57, 2, 125-201, 2010)

The Cultural Uses of Magic in Fifteenth-Century England, Mitchell, Laura (Toronto, 2011)

Verse and Transmutation: A Corpus of Middle English Alchemical Poetry (Critical Editions and Studies) Medieval and Early Modern Philosophy and Science Series, Timmermann, Anke (Leiden, Brill, 2013)

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)

The Experimental Fire: Inventing English Alchemy, 1300–1700, Rampling, Jennifer M. (Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 2020)

Cambridge II: Jesus College, King's College, Magdalene College, Old Library, Pepys LIbrary, Newnham College, Pembroke College, Peterhouse, Queens' College, Saint Catherine's College, Saint John's College, Selwyn College, Sidney Sussex College, Trinity Hall An Index of Images in English Manuscripts from the Time of Chaucer to Henry VIII c. 1380-c. 1509, Nichols, Ann EljenholmJames-Maddocks, Holly (London, Harvey Miller, 2021)

Funding of Cataloguing

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

Digital Images

Cambridge Digital Library

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries

Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.2.16

Physical Description

Collation

Additions

Binding

History

Provenance and Acquisition

Part 1 [Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.2.16, ff. 1:1-1:24]

Contents

Physical Description

Collation

Layout

Hand(s)

Decoration

History

Provenance

Part 2 [Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.2.16, ff. 1:25-1:32]

Contents

Physical Description

Collation

Layout

Hand(s)

Decoration

History

Provenance

Part 3 [Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.2.16, ff. 1:33-1:75, 1:77-1:80]

Contents

Physical Description

Collation

Layout

Hand(s)

Decoration

History

Provenance

Part 4 [Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.2.16, ff. 1:81-1:126, 1:126a-1:126b, 1:127-1:132]

Contents

Physical Description

Collation

Layout

Hand(s)

Decoration

History

Provenance

Part 5 [Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.2.16, ff. 1:133-1:142]

Contents

Physical Description

Collation

Layout

Hand(s)

Decoration

History

Part 6 [Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.2.16, ff. 2:1-2:2, 2:4-2:19, 2:21-2:76]

Contents

Physical Description

Collation

Layout

Hand(s)

Decoration

Additions

History

Part 7 [Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.2.16, ff. 2:77-2:110]

Contents

Physical Description

Collation

Layout

Hand(s)

Decoration

Additions

History

Additional Information

Record Sources

Availability

Bibliography

Funding of Cataloguing

Digital Images

Abbreviations

Study at Cambridge

About the University

Research at Cambridge