Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries

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

Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.7.37

Compilation of medical texts

Contents

Introduction: By the end of the twelfth century, medical education in Europe came to be defined almost entirely by books and ideas produced in one city: the port of Salerno in Italy. Physicians and natural philosophers in Salerno, and at the monastery of Monte Cassino, produced hundreds of medical treatises in the High Middle Ages, which were eagerly copied around Europe into 'Salernitan' medical collections. Trinity College, MS O.7.37 is one such collection, containing multiple practical and theoretical texts associated with medical authorities from Salerno. The volume provides detailed instructions on medical care through dietetics, herbal therapies, and surgery, all unified by the Galenic humoural theory which anchored the learned medicine of Salerno. The codex is composed of three originally separate volumes (of 114, 32, and 16 folios, respectively), written in England or France in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Parts 2 and 3 (ff. 115-146 and ff. 147-162) are older, written in the middle to late twelfth century, and were bound together relatively early, perhaps in the thirteenth century. Part 1 (ff. 1-114) was copied later in the thirteenth century. The whole collection, in the single codex we see today, was owned by Westminster Abbey in the later Middle Ages. The first page is inscribed 'Ecclesie Petri Westm[onasterii] / R. Tedyngton monachus': that is, Richard Tedyngton, who was a monk of the Church of St. Peter's in Westminster c. 1431-1487. The oldest part of the collection is a practica (Part 2, ff. 115-127), or a collection of recipes organized by human body parts from head to foot. They range from treatments for migraine and hair loss on the head to gout in the foot, followed by conditions of the whole body like fever and epilepsy. This practica was used extensively and the margins are filled with additional recipes and comments in other hands from the twelfth through fourteenth centuries, in both Latin and French. Other twelfth-century scribes added more remedies, less clearly organized, on ff. 128-138, and ff. 139-146 were left blank. Various later medieval hands added other medical recipes and notes on these blank pages, including a lengthy charm in French on f. 145v. Part 3 (ff. 147-162) is also from the twelfth century and is the most explicitly Salernitan section of the volume. It includes a short book of antidotes with an introduction to humoral theory on ff. 147r-155r. The explicit of the work (f. 155r) calls it the Liber Melancolie, but it is usually known as the Flores Dietarum and attributed to Johannes de Sancto Paulo, a twelfth-century master of medicine in Salerno. This work is followed by the Experiments (ff. 155-162): that is, proven remedies attributed to Alfanus, Archbishop of Salerno (d. 1085). Alfanus was credited with initiating the medical renaissance in Salerno, through his patronage of the monk-translator Constantinus Africanus at Montecassino, whose works came to form the core of Salernitan medicine. Part 1 is the longest and most recent section of the volume, featuring the Chirurgia, or surgical textbook, written by Master Roger Frugardi of Salerno c. 1180 (ff. 74-114), preceded by a detailed commentary on the Chirurgia (ff. 1-74) by Roger's student Roland of Parma (written ca. 1250). The commentary places the surgical work firmly in the Salernitan tradition by invoking the authority of Constantine the African and explaining surgery in terms of humoural theory. Dr Winston Black| Gatto Chair in Christian Studies| St. Francis Xavier University, Canada

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 2r: latum
Form: codex
Support: All medieval leaves parchment (HFFH).
Extent: Codex: iii + 1 + 114 | 32 | 16 + i leaves. 155 × 110 mm.
Foliation:

Current foliation - medieval and early-modern foliation sequences with later additions and corrections:

Folios [a]-[c] + i + 1-114 | 115-146 | 147-162 + [d]

Current foliation for the entire volume incorporating medieval and early-modern foliation sequences and designations for the paper endleaves [a]-[c] and [d].
Foliation:

17th-century foliation:

Folios 115-146 | 147-162

Foliated in the upper outer corner of each recto in ink in Hindu-Arabic numerals. This foliation sequence continues on directly from the medieval foliation present in Part 1 of this volume, and continues uninterrupted between the end of Part 2 (f. 146v) and the beginning of Part 3 (f. 147r).
Foliation:

13th-century foliation:

Folios 1-114

Foliated in the upper outer corner of each recto in ink in Hindu-Arabic numerals in the typical medieval western Europen forms.

Collation

A composite manuscript comprised of three unequal medieval Parts, arranged as follows:

  • One parchment endleaf (f. i) +
  • Quire 16 (ff. 1-6)
  • Quires 2-98 (ff. 7r-70v)
  • Quire 106 (ff. 71-76)
  • Quires 11-148 (ff. 77-108)
  • Quire 156 (ff. 109-114) |
  • Quires 16-198 (ff. 115-146) |
  • Quires 20-218 (ff. 147-162)

One parchment endleaf + 16 2-98 106 11-148 156 | 16-198 | 20-218

No leaf signatures common to the entire volume.

No quire signatures common to the entire volume.

 No catchwords common to the entire volume.

Additions

Quire signatures ('1-15 | 1-4 | 1-2') in the bottom right-hand corner of the recto side of the first leaf of each quire, written in pencil by a hand of the 19th/20th century.

Binding

Quarter-bound in ?tawed skin with paper sides over paste- or mill-boards. No raised bands on spine. Spine capped at head and tail by back-material, no headbands visible.

Paper pastedowns at each end of the volume. The front pastedown contains the present shelfmark 'O.7.37' written in ink and a Trinity College armorial bookplate.

Three paper endleaves, ff. [a]-[c] at the front of the volume and one paper endleaf, f. [d] at the rear of the volume; all paper endleaves probably contemporary with the binding and all blank.

Dimensions (L x W x H): 160 x 110 x 55 mm

History

Provenance and Acquisition

Owned by Richard Tedyngton, fl. 1431-1487 a monk of Westminster Abbey in the 15th century. Ownership inscription in ink in the lower margin of f. 1r, 'Ecclesie petri Westm⟨monasterii⟩ / R. Tedyngton monachus'.

E.H. Pearce lists one 'Tedyngton' at Westminster Abbey, a Richard Tedyngton who was active c. 1431-1487, and who served as infirmarer 1479-1480 (see Pearce, pp. 143-144). According to MLGB3, Tedyngton also seems to have owned Oxford, Balliol College, MS 142, a copy of Ovid's Metamorphoses, and Manchester, Chetham's Library, MS A.6.89 (6712), a copy of Matthew Paris' Flores historiarum, partly in Paris' hand.

E.H. Pearce, The Monks of Westminster: being a register of the brethren of the convent from the time of the Confessor to the dissolution: with lists of the obedientiaries and an introduction , Notes and Documents Relating to Westminster Abbey, 5 (Cambridge: University Press, 1916), esp. pp. 143-144
MLGB3
CBMLC 4, p. 609

Owned by Roger Gale (1672-1744) , who acquired the volume from an unknown source.

Presented to Trinity College Cambridge in 1738 by Roger Gale (1672-1744) .

Part 1: Commentary on Roger Frugardi of Salerno's Chirurgia, and the text of the Chirurgia [Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.7.37, ff. i + 1-114]

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1. 1r-74r
Commentary on Roger Frugardi of Salerno's Chirurgia
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 1r Incipit commentum
Incipit: 1r Deus super idem utinam nouerim te . nouerim me . nouerim tua et placeam tibi inperpetuum . per omnes cogitationes locutiones et operationes meas(?) in chirurgia .R. et in glosulis ipsius .R. supra chirurgiam ipsius .R. que uocatur a suo principio . Post mundi fabricam . Constantinus humores exeuntes temperamentum
Explicit: 74r Omnis superfluitas et potus interdicatur comedant bis in die quoniam comedere semel in die nocet eis sicut dicit auicenna
Final rubric: 74r Et hec de chirurgia ad presens sufficiant
Renzi (ed.), Storia documentata della Scuola medica di Salerno II, pp. 502-724
eTK 0411C (t0081260000)
2. 74v-114r
Chirurgia Ruggero Frugardo (Roger Frugardi of Salerno)
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 74v Incipit chirurgia magistri rogeri salerni
Incipit: 74v Post mundi fabricam eiusque decorem de terrestri substantia deus hominem formare
Explicit: 114r generis doloris sit dolor presens . Et nota quod istud opus in lucem et ordinem redactum fuit ab arietino Guidone logice professoris ministerio rogatu et petitione et desiderio clarissimorum et noblissimorum sotiorum eius et egregii doctoris sui concessu ac desiderio . anno ab incarnatione domini .mo.co. regnante gloriosissimo rege Willelmo
Final rubric: 114r Explicit chirurgia magistri guidonis arietini . deo gratias
Renzi (ed.), Storia documentata della Scuola medica di Salerno II, pp. 426-496
eTK 1064J (t0204870000)
3. 114r
Medical recipes
Language(s): Latin

A plaster for all wounds, a green salve for wounds, a black salve, a salve for strained muscles, and a fifth for an unstated purpose.

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 2r: latum
Form: codex
Support: Parchment (HFFH)
Extent: Codex: 1 + 114 leaves.

Collation

Leaves in Part 1 arranged as follows:

  • One parchment endleaf (f. i) +
  • Quire 16 (ff. 1-6)
  • Quires 2-98 (ff. 7r-70v)
  • Quire 106 (ff. 71-76)
  • Quires 11-148 (ff. 77-108)
  • Quire 156 (ff. 109-114)

No leaf signatures.

Quires numbered in pencil in Hindu-Arabic numerals in the lower outer corner of the first recto of each quire.

Catchwords in the lower inner corner of the last verso of each quire.

Condition

In good condition. Some marginal annotations lost to trimming, e.g., f. 7r. Folio 85 has had a small piece of parchment cut away from the lower third of the outer margin. Bottom corner of f. 89 torn away, with no loss of text.

Layout

125 × 80 mm. Ruled in faint leadpoint, frame and lines, ruling only occasionally visible. Pricking occasionally visible in outer margins, see e.g., f. 12. Written in single-column format, typically 29 lines to the page and written above top line.

Hand(s)

Written in a heavy and somewhat irregular northern textualis libraria. Double-compartment a. Loopless ascenders. Minimal 'biting'.

Decoration

Plain initials in red, typically 2-4 lines high at the major divisions of the texts sometimes further decorated with a red outline, e.g., 'Constantinus' on f. 1r or 'huic' on f. 110v.

Rubrication and chapter numbers in red at the major and minor divisions of the texts from f. 11v seq.

Paraph marks in red throughout.

Additions

Two former classmarks in ink in different hands on f. i recto 'K.5' and '3.7.5'.

Binding

Traces of a former binding to Part 1 visible as rust damage on f. 114. Two puncture marks to f. 114 along the inner margin, their perimeters stained with rust, possibly indicative of metal bosses on a former binding. Two puncture marks along the centre-vertical of f. 114, one stained with rust, the other clean, possibly indicative of strap-and-pin fastenings (English orientation) on a former binding. These marks are not present on any leaves in Part 2 or Part 3, suggesting that Part 1 was bound as a separate volume before being joined to Parts 2 and 3 in the later medieval period.

History

Origin: Probably second half of the 13th century. ; Probably England.

Date and place of production based on palaeographical features.

Part 2: Medical recipes [Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.7.37, ff. 115-146]

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1. 115r-127v
Practica
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: (prologue) 115r Quod rogasti dulcissime per gratiam dei(?) breuiter exsecutus sum et singula(?) membra percurrendo a capite usque ad inferiora pedum ; in eis simplices medicinas paucas quid ???(?) utiliores et usu magna(?) efficaces ; summa diligencia comprehende curaui . Age igitur secure . et ea que scripsi eadem dilgencia qua scripta sunt ; attende . et agnosce missa essae[sic] esse tue et multorum salutis custodie
Incipit: (text) 115r Ad dolorem capitis qui non permittit hominem dormire
Explicit: 127v Longioris uite sanitatem ministrat
Final rubric: 127v Explicit

A large number of additional recipes added to margins of ff. 115r-127v in Latin and French.

eTK 1255F (t0240700000)
2. 127v-139v
Medical recipes
Language(s): Latin, with some medieval French

Recipes on ff. 139rv added by 13th and 14th century hands.

3. 140r-141v
Treatise on genital and urinary disorders
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 140r Consideranda sunt tria deuersa[sic] in urina uidelicet color substantia et sedimen
Explicit: 141v nubecula insinuat epatis calefactionem

Followed by a brief list of six urine diagnostics in the same hand: 'Nebula nigra in febre acuta ... futuram demonstrat'.

Folios 142r-145r blank.

eTK 0252I (t0048700000)
4. 145v
Charm
Language(s): Medieval French
Incipit: 145v In dei nomine Amen . Oyez icy le charme Seynt William ke Seynt gabriel luy aporta per nostre segneur a ch...(?)rmer les cristiens de uerm de goute de cancre de goute tremble
5. 146r-146v
Medical recipes
Language(s): Latin

Written by several hands.

6. 146v
Medical recipe for colic in Middle English
Language(s): Middle English

Full transcription: | ffor þe colike medecina domini h de erkere Tak sowcherwede and tansy and shrede hem smale and bray hem yn amorter[sic] and temper hit with ale and vryne then chare hit altoþe(?) and drink hit with pose...(?) and drynge yt amorow and evelate

L. Mooney, who edited the recipe for IMEP 11, dates the recipe to 's. xv ex or xvi'.

Fully transcribed in IMEP 11, p. 129

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 116r: Ad capillos cadentes
Form: codex
Support: Parchment (HFFH).
Extent: Codex: 32 leaves.

Collation

  • Quires 16-198 (ff. 115-146)

No leaf signatures particular to this Part.

No quire signatures particular to this Part.

No catchwords in this Part.

Condition

In fair condition, although some text is damaged due to abrasion and liquid damage.

Layout

100-105 × 70-75 mm. Folios 115r-127v: ruled in leadpoint, very faintly, frame and lines - not all leaves in this folio range have visible ruling. Pricking occasionally visible in outer margins, see e.g., f. 122. Written in single-column format, 17-22 lines to the page and written above top line.

115 × 75 mm. Folios 128r-138v: ruled in leadpoint, very faintly, frame and lines; not all leaves in this folio range have visible ruling or strict mis-en-page. Pricking occasionally visible in outer margins, see e.g., f. 131. Written in single-column format, typically 23-24 lines to the page and written above top line.

125 × 85-90 mm. Folios 140r-142r: ruled in ink, frame only. Written in single-column format, typically 20-22 lines to the page and written below top line. Folio 142r is frame-ruled but does not contain text. Folio 139 is unruled.

Hand(s)

Main text on folios 115r-127v written in neat protogothic minuscule.

Folios 128r-138v written by several scribes writing bookhands of the 13th and 14th centuries.

Folios 139r-141v written by perhaps a single hand, writing in an Anglicana script influenced by Secretary, perhaps late 14th or early 15th century.

Decoration

'Arabesque' initials in red and green on f. 115r.

Rubrication in margins on ff. 115r-127v. Rubrication ff. 127v-130v uses touches of red on the opening words at each minor division of the texts.

Red line fillers on ff. 128r-130v.

Additions

Frequent additional medical recipes and charms added by a number of hands of the 13th-15th centuries, including charms and prayers in Anglo-Norman French in the margins of ff. 117r, 119v, 120r and 124v. See R.J. Dean and M.B.M. Boulton, Anglo-Norman Literature: A Guide To Texts and Manuscripts, Anglo-Norman Text Society Occasional Publications Series 3 (London, 1999), no. 440.

Quires numbered in pencil (1-4 for Quires 16-19) in Hindu-Arabic numerals in the lower outer corner of the first recto of each quire.

History

Origin: Probably second half of the 12th century. ; Probably England or France.

Date and place of production based on palaeographical features.

Part 3: Flores dietarum; Experimenta of Alfanus of Salerno [Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.7.37, ff. 147-162]

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1. 147r-155r
Flores dietarum Johannes de Sancto Paulo
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 147r [⟨Q⟩]via humanum corpus ex iiiior constat humoribus
Explicit: 155r Significacionibus condere nisi proprias(?) unde possit iudicare . satagatis ad iungere
Final rubric: 155r EXPLICIT LIBER MELANCOLIE

The text on ff. 147r-155r is called the Liber melancolie in the final rubric on f. 155r, but is now more usually known as the Flores dietarum and usually attributed to Johannes de Sancto Paulo, a twelfth-century master of medicine in Salerno; it is sometimes alternatively attributed to Alfanus of Salerno , see Glaze, esp. p. 213, fig. 7 for information.

eTK 1219J (t0233570000)
F.E. Glaze, 'Salerno's Lombard Prince: Johannes 'Abbas de Curte' as Medical Practitioner', Early Science and Medicine, 23.3 (2018), 177–216 [doi.org/10.1163/15733823-00233P01], esp. pp. 211-213
2. 155r-162v
Experimenta Alfanus of Salerno
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 155r Ad sanguinem stringendum . a qualibet parte corporis procedentem
Explicit: 162v succo uel da decoccionem reubarbare ingestis
Final rubric: 162v EXPLICIVNT EXPERIMENTA ARCHIEPISCOPI SALERNITANI
eTK 0060E (t0011550000)
F.E. Glaze, 'Salerno's Lombard Prince: Johannes 'Abbas de Curte' as Medical Practitioner', Early Science and Medicine, 23.3 (2018), 177–216 [doi.org/10.1163/15733823-00233P01], esp. pp. 211-213
3. 162v
Medical recipes
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 162v Ad componendi medicinam per oculis infirmis
Explicit: 162v Ad sanandum manus sume argentum minum et album gres et calcem et miceantur(?) et manus m in ungantur

Medical recipes added in a 14th century hand.

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 148r: et si uigilias paciuntur
Form: codex
Support: Parchment (HFFH)
Extent: Codex: 16 leaves.

Collation

Leaves in Part 3 arranged as follows:

  • Quires 20-218 (ff. 147-162)

No leaf signatures particular to Part 3.

No quire signatures particular to Part 3.

No catchwords in this Part.

Condition

In fair condition with some text damaged and partly illegible due to damage by abrasion and liquids.

Layout

110 × 85 mm. Ruled in light brown ink, frame and lines. Pricking visible in outer margins of some leaves, e.g. f. 148. Ruling not always visible, but see inner margin of ff. 157v-158r. Ruled in single-column format, typically 27 lines to the page and written above top line.

Hand(s)

Written in protogothic minuscule by at least two scribes.

Decoration

Unfilled spaces for initials on ff. 147r, 153v, 155r and 156r.

Additions

Quires numbered in pencil (1-2 for Quires 20-21) in Hindu-Arabic numerals in the lower outer corner of the first recto of each quire.

History

Origin: Probably second half of the 12th century. ; Probably England or France. Date and place of production based on palaeographical features.

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: Volume III: Containing An Account of the Manuscripts Standing in Class O (Cambridge, 1902), pp. 373-374, no. 1365

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

    Manuscripts in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge Index of Middle English prose, Mooney, Linne R. (Woodbridge, D.S. Brewer, 1995) English Benedictine libraries: the shorter catalogues Corpus of British medieval library catalogues, (London, The British Library in association with The British Academy, 1996) Anglo-Norman literature: a guide to texts and manuscripts Anglo-Norman Text Society occasional publications series, Dean, Ruth J.Boulton, Maureen Barry McCann (London, Anglo-Norman Text Society, 1999) Salerno’s Lombard Prince: Johannes ‘Abbas de Curte’ as Medical Practitioner Early Science and Medicine, Glaze, Florence Eliza (23, 3, 177-216, 2018, https://brill.com/view/journals/esm/23/3/article-p177_1.xml) Re-using Manuscripts in Late Medieval England: Repairing, Recycling, Sharing York Manuscript and Early Print Studies, Ryley, Hannah (Woodbridge, Boydell and Brewer, 2022)

Funding of Cataloguing

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

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Cambridge Digital Library

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