Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.8.36
Alchemical treatises
Contents
Language(s): Latin and Middle English
Added by a later 15th-century hand, followed by pen-trials.
Full transcription; part of the page with the remainder of the text has been torn off.
Full transcription.
Full transcription.
The text is accompanied by a circular astrological diagram on f. 19v.
The first recipe is entitled: ‘Copia cuiusdam experimenti sicut patet in libro Magistri Willelmi altoftes de atherston’. Because M.R. James did not highlight this recipe and Anke Timmermann transcribed the author's name as ‘Altastes’, it has previously gone unnoticed that this recipe is attributed to William Altoftes [Altofte] (c.1487-1521) of Atherstone, Warwickshire, who was the principal surgeon to King Henry VII in 1487 [see Talbot and Hammond (1965), pp. 380-381]. His medical recipes can also be found in Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Ashmole 1389 . Other recipes that are attributed to him feature on ff. 92r and 95v of this manuscript.
Full transcription; added by a later 15th- or early 16th-century hand, left unfinished.
Full transcription.
The recipes are accompanied by drawings of two alchemical vessels, one of which contains writing in Latin and English: ‘God sawe the kyng Amen’.
Written in the upper margin.
Full transcription.
Full transcription.
The collection includes two recipes associated with named medical practitioners: ‘Anno gracie Mo ccccco xiiijo Thys is the Makyng off B[crossed out: l]alme artifical aftyr they weay of John Osburne - direcata composicio Thome maiot. A Magistro W. Altoft’ (f. 92r); ‘Balme artificiall aftyr Magister Jacobe - John de la Towris and Magister Thomas Ive’ (f. 92v).
‘W. Altoft’ must be William Altoftes [Altofte] (c.1487-1521) of Atherstone, Warwickshire, who was the principal surgeon to King Henry VII in 1487 [see Talbot and Hammond (1965), pp. 380-381]. Other recipes that are attributed to him feature on ff. 21v and 95v. ‘John de Towris’ may be John of Villula (d. 1122) , sometimes known as John of Tours, Bishop of Bath and physician [see Talbot and Hammond (1965), pp. 192-193]. There are no suggested identifications for the other named medical practitioners.
The collection includes two recipes with attributions: ‘Emplastrum ypericon secundum Johannem hart’ and a balsam ‘secundum Magistrum Willelmum Altoft.’(f. 95v).
‘John Hart’ may be John Hart (fl. c. 1517) , surgeon of London, who was a warden of the craft of surgery in the City of London in 1517 [see Talbot and Hammond (1965), p. 155]; or John Hert (c. 1488-1590) , surgeon of London, who was sworn as a warden of the Surgeons' Company of the City on 2 October 1488 [see Talbot and Hammond (1965), p. 156]; or John Hertte (c. 1475-1485) , physician of London, who may be one and the same person as the aforementioned John Hert [see Talbot and Hammond (1965), p. 156]. ‘William Altoft’ must be William Altoftes [Altofte] (c.1487-1521) of Atherstone, Warwickshire, who was the principal surgeon to King Henry VII in 1487 [see Talbot and Hammond (1965), pp. 380-381]. Other recipes that are attributed to him feature on ff. 21v and 92r of this manuscript.
The recipes are entitled: ‘De Marubio’ ‘Ad Mollificandum v[...]’, and ‘Aqua mirabilis petri hispani ad visum consziandum et clarificandum’.
Physical Description
(?) 17th- or 18th-century foliation:
[a]-[b] + i-vii, 1-41, 41a, 42-131 + [c]-[d]
Numbering in brown ink in the upper right-hand corner of the rectos; except for folios i-vii and 41a whih were foliated in pencil by a modern hand.Collation
Due to the irregularity of the quires and the absence of quire and leaf signatures, this first collation of the manuscript (previously not collated by M.R. James) is hypothetical and should be treated with caution.
- Quire 18-1 (ff. i-vii: 4th leaf excised)
- Quire 28 (ff. 1-8)
- Quire 312 (ff. 9-20)
- Quire 44 (ff. 21-24)
- Quire 512 (ff. 25-36)
- Quire 62 (ff. 37-38)
- Quire 712 (ff. 39-49)
- Quire 84 (ff. 50r-53v)
- Quire 912-1+2 (ff. 54-66: 12th leaf excised and 2 leaves added after the 11th leaf)
- Quire 102 (ff. 67-58)
- Quire 112 (ff. 69-70)
- Quire 1214 (ff. 71-84)
- Quire 1310 (ff. 85-94)
- Quire 148 (ff. 95-102)
- Quire 158 (ff. 103-110)
- Quire 168+1 (ff. 111-119: one leaf added to the second half of the quire)
- Quire 176-1 (ff. 120-124: one leaf missing in the second half of the quire)
- Quire 182 (ff. 125-126)
- Quire 196-1 (ff. 127-131: 1st leaf missing)
18-1 (4th excised) 28 312 44 512 62 712 84 912-1+2 (12th excised, 2 added after 11th) 102 112 1214 1310 148 158 168+1 (one added to second half) 176-1 (one missing from second half) 182 196-1 (1st missing)
Catchwords written in brown ink in the right lower corners of versos do not always coincide with the start of new quires.Condition
Layout
160-180 × 110-120 mm. Ruled in hardpoint, frame only. Mainly single columns (except ff. 128r-129r which have two columns) 28-50 lines to the page, written below top line.
Hand(s)
Copied by one or two hands writing in a cursive script with both secretary and anglicana features.
Decoration
Drawings of two alchemical flasks in dark ink on f. 38r; and two more in the outer margin and within the text on f. 63v.
Drawings of the lower half of an alchemical furnace on f. 49r.
Circular diagram with names of the planets and Signs of the Zodiac and astrological symbols in brown ink on f. 19v.
Drawings of geometric shapes in brown ink, representing alchemical symbols, within the text on on ff. 37r-37v; and a cross in the text on f. 78r.
Large initials in brown ink occasionally decorated with cadels.
Run-over symbols occasionally decorated as scrolls in brown ink (e.g. ff. 8r, 11v, 36r).
Additions
Table of contents in a 17th-century hand.
on f. i recto.Binding
20th-century white half leather binding with blue paper sides and vellum-tipped corners over thin (?) wooden boards.
Binding height: 230mm; width: 160mm; depth: 35mm.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Benedictine abbey of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire : suggested by the prayer to St Modwenna on f. 46r, founder of Burton Abbey, and the letter to the abbot of Burton Abbey on f. 130v [see Ker (1941), p. 10; Ker (1964), p. 15; and 'Alchemica — Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire. Benedictine abbey of St Mary the Virgin and St Modwenna', in MLGB3 ].
William Symon [Symonds] (fl. 1540-1555) , Benedictine monk of Burton Abbey, Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire,: probably his name inscribed on f. vii verso: ‘Wylliam Symon’. Previously unidentified but almost certainly the Burton monk of that name who received a pension in 1540 and 1555 [see Francis Aidan Hibbert, The Dissolution of the Monasteries as Illustrated by the Suppression of the Religious Houses of Staffordshire (London: Pitman, 1910), p. 191].
?Recharda Bromley (fl. 1540-1555) , this female name may have been inscribed on f. ii recto: ‘[R]echarda bromley’. Due to damage to the page, the first name is now only partly legible.
One of the manuscripts of Thomas Gale (1635/6-1702) , dean of York, antiquary and fellow of Trinity College Cambridge.
One of the manuscripts of Roger Gale (1672-1744) , antiquary and scholar, and son of Thomas Gale (1635/6-1702). 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 the manuscript's current classmark (‘O’, ‘8’, ‘36’) are printed separately on three labels pasted on the spine; its current classmark is written on the inside of the front cover and f. i recto together with the number ‘153’ and old classmarks ‘C.22.’ and ‘O.1.4.22>’ [crossed out]; its printed ex libris featuring its armorial coat of arms and name (‘Collegium SS. et Individuae Trinitatis in Academica Cantabrigiensi’) pasted on f. ii recto.
Additional Information
Record Sources
Availability
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Bibliography
-
The Western Manuscripts in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge: A Descriptive
Catalogue, James, M.R. (Cambridge, 3, Cambridge University Press, 1902)
Medieval Libraries of Great Britain: A List of Surviving Books Royal Historical Society
Guides and Handbooks, Ker, N.R. (London, Offices of the Royal Historical Society, 1941)
Medieval Libraries of Great Britain: A List of Surviving Books Royal Historical Society
Guides and Handbooks, Ker, N.R. (London, Offices of the Royal Historical Society, 1964)
The Medical Practitioners in Medieval England: A Biographical Register, Talbot, C.H.Hammond, E.A. (London, Wellcome Historical Medical Library, 1965)
Manuscripts in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge Index of Middle English prose, Mooney, Linne R. (Woodbridge, D.S. Brewer, 1995)
Lilium martagon L.: Krolliljans introduktion och tidiga historia i Sverige intill
år 1795 - i en
europeisk liljekontex, Lundquist, Kjell (Alnarp, 2005)
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)
<hi rend="italics">The crafte of lymmyng</hi> and <hi rend="italics">The maner
of steynyng</hi>: Middle English Recipes for Painters, Stainers, Scribes and Illuminators
Early English Text Society (Series). Original series, (Oxford, Published for the Early English Text Society by the Oxford University
Press, 2016)
Re-using Manuscripts in Late Medieval England: Repairing, Recycling, Sharing York
Manuscript and Early Print Studies, Ryley, Hannah (Woodbridge, Boydell and Brewer, 2022)
1449. Cambridge, Trinity College MS. O.8.36. Database of alchemical manuscripts -
Cambridge, McLean, Adam (, https://www.alchemywebsite.com/almss10.html)
Funding of Cataloguing
Wellcome (cataloguing). All images provided by Trinity College, Cambridge.
Digital Images
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
