Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries: Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R.14.32

Medical treatises and recipes

Introduction: Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R.14.32 is a medical compendium, made partly of parchment (ff. 1-66) and partly of paper (ff. 67-173), and was produced in England in the second half of the 15th century. The paper comes from the same stock, except for the last two quires (ff. 151-173; see Part 2), which are of a visibly different consistency. A single scribe copied the larger part of the texts in a mixed hand with elements of Anglicana and Secretary scripts (see Part 1), however other hands' interventions can be observed in this section of the manuscript (notably, a change of hand occurs at f. 76r in the middle of the 'Tractatus de urinis'). Part 2 contains a witness of the Latin herbal known as Circa instans, copied by a scribe not involved in the compilation of the previous texts. It is thus likely that originally these two quires had been a separate booklet and were added to the rest of the book at a later date. MS R.14.32 contains exclusively medical texts of different genres, from theoretical treatises to herbals and recipes, which are for the most part Middle English translations of Latin originals. Along with the vernacular writings, the manuscript includes a collection of thirteen medical recipes in Latin (ff. 140r-144r) and the aforementioned Circa instans (ff. 151r-168r). Many of the texts in MS R.14.32 were largely widespread in the late Middle Ages, however the forms in which they occur in this manuscript sometimes deviate from the textual tradition. For example, the herbal on ff. 1v-65r, which has been traditionally identified with a witness of the Middle English Agnus Castus is in fact an original compilation derived from the Agnus Castus, the Circa instans, and other sources still to be identified. Among the entries of the herbal some spaces have been left blank, probably to add other plants' descriptions or botanical drawings. Under the rubric 'Tractatus de urinis' (ff. 67r-80v), various texts on urines have been joined together to form a cohesive unity, very similar to the texts found in London, British Library, Sloane MS 121 and London, British Library, Sloane MS 706 . The 'Tractatus de urinis' is followed by a small compendium made of nine texts, recorded in Sloane MS 706 and Cambridge, Jesus College, MS Q.D.1 as well. The compendium begins with an abridged Middle English translation of the Letter of Ipocras merged with a dietary regimen (ff. 81r-82r), and continues with treatises on the body parts where ailments arise (ff. 82v-83r), the heartbeat (ff. 83r-85v), the leaves of sage (f. 85v), bloodletting (ff. 86r-88r), the influence of planets on men's complexions (ff. 88r-88v), the four humours (ff. 88v-89r), and on the number of bones, veins and teeth in human body (f. 89v), and finally the four-chapters version of the Middle English translation of John of Burgundy's treatise on the plague (ff. 90r-92r). Other texts include a treatise on the medical properties of distilled waters (ff. 93r-93v) and a fragmentary Middle English translation of the Circa instans (ff. 128r-129v). There are also excerpts from the Middle English version of Geoffrey of Vinsauf's commentary on Palladius, known as the Book of Trees and Wine (ff. 130r-130v), and relatedly from the Craft of Grafting by Nicolas Bollard (f. 131r), a herbal in verse (ff. 134v-139v and 144v-146v), and a verse treatise on rosemary (ff. 147r-148r). The corpus of medieval medical recipes displayed in MS R.14.32 is substantial: there are 288 such texts in total, all but a few of which are gathered in thematically organized collections (for example, the receptarium known as The Alchemical Waters of Saint Giles on ff. 96r-99r) or arranged according to the traditional head-to-foot order. The others were included as standalone items, such as the recipe for a well-known oral anaesthetic known as 'dwale' on f. 92v, or added to blank spaces within or at the end of these by 15th- and 16th-century hands (see, for example, ff. 94r-95r, 103v, 117r, 119v, 124v, 148v, 168v-169r). Two charms are also included: one to staunch blood (f. 132r), crossed out by a later hand (probably of an early modern owner of the manuscript), and one 'Pro Spasmo' (f. 134r), written in a pale, faded shade of ink. Little is known about the history of this compendium. The addition of recipes just mentioned, or supplementary entries to the Agnus Castus-derived herbal (e.g. on f. 36r), and other occasional miscellaneous annotations (ff. 92r, 169r-173v) are the only evidence of medieval use, and the manuscript contains no information as to the identity of its owners at that time. Further additions by sixteenth-century hands testify to its continued use in the early modern period and more specifically - given that most of these were remedies - a prolonged interest in medical practice. One of these, 'For the yellow jaundice', concludes with the inscription 'M[agister] R Arche a[nno] d[omi]ni 1548', which might be the name of the author of this addition (and others preceding it, which were written in a closely similar script) or the person from whom this particular recipe was obtained. The lack of evidence of medieval ownership notwithstanding, MS R.14.32 is a fascinating example of what is often described as a 'leechbook', a compendium of both theoretical medical texts as well as recipes, which practitioners of the healing arts might have used as a reference and commonplace book during their practice. The use of a single paper stock (aside from the later addition), the adoption of consistent layouts in the presentation of the texts, and their apparently purposeful arrangement in a sequence starting with general topics and concluding with specific remedies, suggests that the book was conceived as a whole from the outset by its owner-compiler, with empty spaces left deliberately in order to accommodate further additions as new medical remedies became known. Dr Laura Poggesi|Post-Doctoral Research Fellow|University of Florence

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: Folios 1-66b are parchment. Folios 67-173 are paper.

Extent: Codex: i + 67 | 107 + i leaves. 180-185 × 130-135 mm.

Foliation:

15th- or 16th-century plus 19th- or 20th-century foliation:

[i] + 1-46, 48-65, 66a, 66b, 67-150 | 151-172, [172a], 173 + [ii]

Numbering in brown ink or pencil in the upper right-hand corner of the rectos. The 15th- or 16th-century foliation sequence in the manuscript's first part was continued for the rest of the manuscript by a 19th- or 20th-century modern library hand. In this catalogue record, this foliation sequence is followed. [172a] is an unfoliated stub bearing text, which has been assigned a number for the puposes of this electronic record.

Foliation:

15th- or 16th-century foliation:

1-46 for ff. 104-151

Numbering in brown ink in the upper right-hand corner of the rectos.

Collation

Quires 1-4¹² (ff. 1-48)
Quire 5^14-1 (ff. 49-61: 8th leaf missing)
Quire 6^six (ff. 62-66b)
Quire 7^16-2 (ff. 67-80: 1st-2nd leaves cancelled)
Quire 8¹² (ff. 81-92)
Quire 9^12-1 (ff. 93-103: 4th leaf cancelled)
Quire 10-12¹² (ff. 104-139)
Quire 13^12-1 (ff. 140-150: 12th leaf cancelled) |
Quire 14¹² (ff. 151-162)
Quire 15^12-1 (ff. 163-173: 12th leaf cancelled)

1-4¹² 5^14-1 (8th missing) 6^six 7^16-2 (1st-2nd cancelled) 8¹² 9^12-1 10-12¹² 13^12-1 | 14¹² 15^12-1

Additions

A 17th-century hand has added the following description of the manuscript in brown ink to the lower half of f. 1r: ‘In this Volume are contained 1. An Herbal in an Alphabetical order .2. a Treatise of Urine .3. Receipts for Oyntments etcaetera’.

Quire signatures ('1-15') 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

(?)17th-century brown leather; the spine re-backed but featuring its original spine label of read leather with the gold-stamped inscription: ‘An Herbal etc. MSS’.

Binding height: 195 mm; width: 140 mm; depth: 40 mm.

History

Provenance and Acquisition

Perhaps bequeathed to Cambridge, Trinity College, by John Wilson (d. 1754) , Fellow of Trinity College, tutor, senior bursar, vicar of Over and Chesterton (see: James (1902), pp. 317-319). The College's current classmark (‘R.14.32’) is inscribed in red pencil on the inside of the upper cover, in brown ink on f. 1r [2x]. The alpha-numerical elements are printed separately onto three paper labels pasted onto the spine. Its old classmark ‘R.8.32’ inscribed in brown ink on f. 1r (crossed out). Its ex libris, featuring an engraving of its heraldic arms, motto (‘Virtus Vera Nobilitas’), and name ‘Coll: Trin: Cantab:’) by William Stephens, fl. c. 1740-c. 1760 (‘Stephens sculp.’) pasted onto the inside of the upper cover. Smaller versions of the ex libris have been pasted in the lower margin of f. 5v and on f. 11v. Its library stamps on ff. 1r, 2r, 11v, 12r, 13r, 65r, 67r, 103v, 104r, 140r, 150v, 173r.

Part 1 [Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R.14.32, ff. 1-150]

Language(s): Middle English (Essex dialectical features: see LALME LP 6300) and Latin

1. 1r

Three medical recipes

Language(s): Middle English

Partially legible due to water damage or wear.

eVK 0932.00

2. 1v

Two entries on the herbs apium and anetum

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

Rubric: domesticum siue ortolanum ouus semen selinum spernia dicitur [added by a different hand]

Incipit: 1v [A]pium anyce merche or smallage the seed therof is of grettyst vertewe and than the rote and than the herbe and thu fynde apium be himself in medycines

Explicit: 1v ley .iiij. or .v. drye fyges all nyght in the juse of anete and amorow put therto a lytyll wyn and seeth all this . clense it . and whan is colde yeue him therof to drynke

These entries apparently belong to the next item (Agnus Castus), which features further entries by on blank spaces.

3. 2r-65r

Agnus Castus [Middle English translation]

Language(s): Middle English with Latin additions

Rubric: 2r [H]ere begynnythe an herbale of namys and uertues of diuerse herbys aftyr letterys of the .a.b..c etcaetera

Incipit: 65r [A]pium risus or herba scelerata or botranon is an herbe that men clepe cerfoyle or cheuerele this herbe hath smale leuys lyche to the lefe of homloke but this herbe is gode yn sauour and he hath a whyte flour and longe sede lych to an ote the uertw of this herbe is yf he be dronke with wyne he wyll make a man to make water

Explicit: 65r with colde thinges to a kele in suryppys to ij pouds of sugrer ther schal be put j pound of water and though ther be more it is non harm but for the enduryng

The text begins with ‘Apiium Risus’ and ends with ‘Zucarium’. Blank pages were left throughout, to which both the main scribe and later scribes have added entries for herbs at their respective alphabetical locations. Many of the added entries are in Latin.

Contains extracts from the Circa instans and features a text on the virtues of rosemary.

eTK 0114A

eVK 0273.00

Brodin (1950)

Mooney (1995), p. 32 [other copies]

Garrido Anes (2004), p. 78, 79, 112, 133, 153, 583

4. 22r

Verses from the Disticha Catonis (Book IV), preceded by a line from the Athanasian Creed

Language(s): Latin

Rubric: 22r Dicta familiaria sapientium iurorum

Incipit: 22r quicumque vulte salvus esse necesse est in ut teneat fidem catholicam / Quum coniunx tibi sit nec, res, et fama laborat

Explicit: 22r despice diuitias, si uis animo esse beatus / quas qui suspiciunt, mendicant semper auar

Added in a neat Italic script by a (?) 16th-century hand.

5. 41v

Saying

Language(s): English

Incipit: 41v Off wordly goods be ne [...] grede he that nothinge kepethe

Full transcription. Added on an empty space between the original text by a 16th-century hand.

6. 52r

Draft line (possibly from Job 9:29)

Language(s): English

Incipit: 52r that I am wickede

Full transcription. Added to the upper margin by the same 16th-century hand that copied the draft sentence on f. 43v and a shorter version of the poem from which this line originates (written underneath by a different 16th-century hand) on f. 140r.

7. 54v

Draft line

Language(s): English

Incipit: 54v ffeare gode and the kinge be lathe

Full transcription. Added to the upper margin by the same 16th-century hand that copied the draft sentence on f. 42r and a shorter version of the poem from which this line originates (written underneath by a different 16th-century hand) on f. 140r.

8. 54v

Moral poem

Language(s): English

Incipit: 54v Kinge ffeare gode and the belothe for to offend / take nothinge in hand but thinke one the end / desiare not to hau no more than thyn owne / fore thorne is not hadd but wheare sead is sowne

Full transcription. Added on an empty page by a 16th-century hand by the same hand that copied a shorter version of this poem on f. 140r..

A very similar poem is to be found in St Botolph's Church, Barford, Norfolk, where it has been painted on the medieval rood screen in Elizabethan times: ‘Serve God in this Place / Be loth to offend / Take nothing in hand / But think on the end’.

9. 60v

Charm for retrieving stolen goods via a dream-vision

Language(s): Middle English

Incipit: 60v Nota: [Take] valerian and gadyr him on oure lady day the ASsumcyon erly in the mornyng and late him ley it vnder his hede whan he goth to bedd and sey v. pater noster .v. aues . and j crede and than require the same erbe to schew the wher thi gode is be cum . And thu schalt haue very knowlyche in this slepe with inn .iij nyghtes wher thi gode is. And if thu wylt gadyr him a nothir tyme of the yere thu must sey ouer him .ix gospelles of seynt John. etcaetera

Full transcription. Added by a 15th-century hand to a blank page.

10. 64r

Tract on harnassing the magical and medicinal properties of vervain

Language(s): Latin

Rubric: 64r Virtutes veruene

Incipit: 64r Si ponatur in aqua omnes pisses ibi congregabuntur. Item si ponatur sub feminam non habebit potestatem sedendi sit virgo. Item si quis biberit succum eius erit inuisibilis donec biberit aquam benedictam

Explicit: 64r Item collige vervenam quando habet flores et non plena luna et dic pater noster .v. colligendo sic - Coniuro te vervenam per uirtutem domini nostri Jhesu Christi . et per ista nomina + elyon + heloy + adonay + et per anima nomina dei ut si te in ore meo habuero dum aliquem vel aliquam osculatus fuero vel eos tetigero facias obdire michi et quod fuit in potestate mea et omnes inimici mei . In nomie patris quesiui te In nomine filij inuenio te In nomine spiritus sancti colligo te . Amen

Added on an empty page by a 15th-century hand. The tract ends with an instruction for a charm to make someone obey you by keeping vervain in the mouth while kissing or touching them.

11. 67r-80v

Treatise on uroscopy

Language(s): Middle English

Rubric: 67r Tractatus de vrinis

Incipit: 67r Eche vryne is clensinge of blode as it is properly schewyd of thinges singnyfycatyfe so that it be of the lyuer of the veynes of the reynes and of the bladder of other thinges

Explicit: 80v And yf it be not so but scatered abowte þan yt toekeneþ grete wynde in þe woombe and in þe sydes

This is a compilation of uroscoping tracts, including:

Cleansing of Blood on ff. 67r-67v [see Tavormina (2016), p. 33 (no. 3.3.1a)]
Twenty Colours by Digestion Groups on ff. 67v-68r [see Tavormina (2016), p. 30 (no. 3.1.1b)]
Urina Rufa on ff. 68r-69r [see Tavormina (2016), p. 32 (no. 3.2)]
The Twenty-Jordan Series with the so-called ‘Karapos incipit’ on ff. 69r-70r [see Tavormina (2016), p. 17 (no. 1.1.2a)]
A version of Walter Agilon's The Craft of Urines that Tavormina (2016) categorizes as the Tractatus Magistri Bartholomei on ff. 70r-80v [see Tavormina (2016), p. 95 (no. 16.1)]

Copied by two hands: Hand A, the main hand of the manuscript who copied most of the Middle English translation of the ‘Agnus Castus’, was responsible for ff. 67r-75v; Hand B copied ff. 76r-80v.

eVK 1520.00

Tavormina (2005), no. 22

Tavormina (2016), p. 17 (no. 1.1.2a); p. 30 (no. 3.1.1b); p. 32 (no. 3.2); p. 33 (no. 3.3.1a); p. 95 (no. 16.1)

12. 81r-82r

Letter of Ipocras

Language(s): Middle English

Rubric: 81r [T]his book ypocras sente vnto kynge cesar that he desired of him and nowe I haue it made and I sende it vn to yowe and wete wele it is gode tresure kepe it wele as your lyfe ffor I haue made it for helpe and helthe of your body

Incipit: 81r Euery man beste and foule hath .iiij. humours which ben humours of mannys body . that is to seye . oon is hote . Another is colde . the thrid moyste . the .iiij. dry.

Explicit: 81r And vse hem be the morun and at even and thes thinges schull put awey the superfluyte of flewme and kepe the body in gode temper and in helthe

Final rubric: 82r Explicit dieta ypocras

The Letter of Ipocras with the so-called ‘Treasure prologue’ on f. 81r [see Tavormina (2016), p. 37 (no. 4.1.2b)].

eVK 7353.00

eVK 1558.00

Tavormina (2007), pp. 634, 635, 636, 639

Tavormina (2016), pp. 37 (no. 4.1.2b); 108 (no. A.2)

13. 82v-83r

Four Parts Where the Sicknesses of the Body Begin

Language(s): Middle English

Rubric: 82v De .iiij^or corporum vbi insurgunt

Incipit: 82v These ben the .iiij. partys in which the sekenys of body begynnyth . that is to seye . in the hede . in the breste . in the wombe . and in the bledder

Explicit: 83r And but he vse this medycen he schall the dropsye or the leuer chafed . or the intrales stoppid or elles the stone

eVK 7272.00

Tavormina (2016), p. 108 (no. A.3)

14. 83r-85v

Treatise on nine pulses

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

Rubric: 83r Antra tauri Pulsus primus Spira primus compleccionis Colericus significat Taurus

Incipit: 83r-83v [F]or to knowe the desese of a coleryk man that is to seye a broune man that take the pulse in thin hande and if it meve fast aboue betwex the fell and flesche that is suall be the space of iij vnches to the pamewarde than leythe the malady aboue the mederefe and stoppeth the stomake

Explicit: 85v so that the kynde suell that is to saye the hote agwe smyte not into the hede he is curable inowe and agayne the hote sekenes he most colde medycynes

eVK 6208.00

Mooney (1995), p. 32 [other copies]

15. 85v

Tract on nine sage leaves

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

Rubric: 85v De nouem folijs salgie

Incipit: 85v [F]or to knowe the ix sauge leuys be the ix spires aforsayde whan the leuys be leyed in the myddes of the hand and hald therinne ij ourys or iij tyll they take odour of the pame of the hand and kyndely swete than it is token of lyfe and if the swetynge ouercome the odour of the sauge than the stomake and the hert stoppyd full of glete and engleymyd and that it a token of dethe etcaetera

Full transcription as in Mooney (1995), pp. 32-33.

eVK 8010.00

16. 86r-88r

Treatise on bloodletting

Language(s): Middle English

Rubric: 86r To knowe the veynys of blodeletynge

Incipit: 86r [T]he veyne in the myddes of the forhede is gode to blede on for the hede ache and mygryne that euyll taketh halfe the hede and maketh the hede to ake and also for the literge that maketh a man to foyette all that he heyreth

Explicit: 88r for the bledder and for the genderynge membres for the palsye and for the euyll goute to lete blode on veynes of the feete lete hem be sette in water

Final rubric: 88r Explicit minucio sanguinis

eVK 7069.00

Mooney (1995), p. 33 [other copies]

17. 88r-88v

Treatise on the influence of the planets on the human body

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

Rubric: 88r De iiii^or qualitatibus quomodo diuidentur per influenciam planetarum

Incipit: 88r Saturnus - [S]aturnus is colde and drye and whoso be born vnder this planete he schall be half folysche slowe and schrewednesse doynge malencolious in hert and euyll willynge hauynge scharp eres and thynne berde stynkyng clothes and vnclene and mowthe blake and he is of highe desire and his colour is blake

Explicit: 88v luna is colde and moyste hoso is born vnder him . they be somwhate medelid with the other . and they be vnstable massangers and they be comyngly rennyng aboute he is rounde of euen stature and the oon eye is more than the other and selde it is seen \that/ oon of hem is withoute a wemme

Final rubric: 88v Explicit

eVK 4471.00

18. 88v-89r

Tract on the four complexions in the human body

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

Rubric: 88v De iiij^or compleccionibus qui apparent in corporibus humanis

Incipit: 88v-89r [T]he coleryke man hathe a broune face and somdele blake and broune or blake here and browne eyen a colerik man medelid with sangweyn hathe a browne face with rody chekes ffull of blode a colerik man medlid with malencolye hath a browne face and glessenynge pae and blake here comonly on his hede

Explicit: 89r [T]he malencolye man is of ledy colour a malencolyk man medelid with white colour is a lede colouryd man . save he is somdele brown ther with . A malencolye man medled with flewme is a pale man and he is but schort of lyfe

Final rubric: 89r Explicit

eVK 6644.00

19. 89v

Tract on the number of bones and teeth in the human body

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

Rubric: 89v De numero ossium et venarum ac dencium in humanis corporibus

Incipit: 89v [T]her ben in a mannys body .ij. C. bones and xvij. And also ther ben in a mannes body iij. C. veynes and lxv . Also ther ben in a mannes hede that hathe perfyte ache xxxij tethe

Explicit: 89v Vnderstandynge is yn the forhede / Mynde in the brayne / Wreth in the galle . / Auaryce in the stomake . loue in the herte . / Brethe and blode trust and feyte in the lunges . / Joye in the splene / thought in the body ./ hope in the soule ./ mynde in the spryte and feythe . /

Full transcription.

eVK 7137.00

20. 89v

Note on ulcers

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

Rubric: 89v Nota de Cancro

Incipit: 89v If it come oute of the flesche it cometh oute as thikke wose and if it come oute of the senowes it comythe out \as/ lye and if it be in the bone than it cometh oute as blode and vnderstand that the wolffe \comethe/ comonlye in the theyes or in the feete but that that is curable schewith .iij. thinges . grete stenche . grete fretynge . and the wounde waxeth blake.

Full transcription.

eVK 2602.00

21. 90r-92r

A Noble tretis for Medicina Agenst the Pestilence [from the shorter version of De Pestilencia] John of Burgundy

Language(s): Middle English

Incipit: 90r [H]ere begynnyth a nobylle tretyse made of a phesicyan John of Burdewes . ffor medycynes ayeyne pestelense euylles and it is departid in .iiij partys

Explicit: 92r Whoso is ther inne . blede betyme as the other capitle tellyth and rewle him after the .iij. and throwe the grace of god he schall scape this sekenesse and be dylyueryd ther fro

eVK 2182.00

eVK 7382.00

Mooney (1995), p. 33 [other copies]

22. 92r

Treatment for the plague

Language(s): Latin text with Middle English plant names

Incipit: 92r Vnum remedium reseruatiuum inter alia inserere . videlicet quod fugiiendum esset a loco ubi regna mortalitas ad alium locum in quo non habet sedem

Explicit: 92r Aque solsequij . solatry . pympernoll . ffumiterre . scabiose . rose . herbe johannis . Amarusse an^ce Maythe . ed [sic] endiue agrestes an^ce sowthistill . acedule . an^ce sorell

Final rubric: 92r Explicit

23. 92r

Biblical verses on the Trinity

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 92r + Pater est Alpha et oo + ^ihesus Christus passus est pro nobis. / + ffilius est vita + ^ou pro nobis obediens . / + Spiritus sanctus est remedium + ^ihesus vsque ad mortem.

Full transcription; added by a different 15th-century hand.

24. 92v

Recipe for an oral anaesthetic

Language(s): Middle English

Rubric: 92v To make a drynke that men clepe dwale to make a man to slepe whil he is coruen

eVK 6360.00

Voights and Hudson (1992), pp. 34-56

Mooney (1995), p. 34 [other copies]

25. 92v

Three medical recipes for treating eye ailments

Language(s): Middle English

eVK 5581.00

Mooney (1995), p. 34 [other copies]

26. 93r-93v

Tract on ten medicinal waters

Language(s): Middle English

Rubric: 93r [H]ere begynnyth distillynge of waterys and her uertues for certayne sekenys . Water of Rosis . Water of beteyn . Water of borage . Water of fenell . Water of euf\r/ase . Water of floures of elder . Water of mugwede . Water of sawge . Water of ysope . Water of fumytere . Water of scabyous . Water of wortes.

Incipit: 93r Watter of rosis - Is gode for all scharpe feueres dronkyn with wyne or ale and it bryngeth a man in gode temper if he a noynte him selfe with oute at the templis and in other dyuerse places.

Explicit: 93v Water of cowles - drinken with wyne or ale .vj. sponfull as thus .iiij. sponfull of wyne or ale . and ij. sponfull of the forsayde water with a noyntyng with out aboute the face and the temples and take of all these forsayd wateres and medle hem to geder and it is best water in the werdle to wasche stynkyng woundes

eVK 7893.00

Mooney (1995), p. 34 [other copies]

27. 93v-94r

Recipe for a medicinal water to treat blindness

Language(s): Middle English

Rubric: 93v A precyous water for eyn that loke fayre and clere and be blynde

Incipit: 93v Take smallache . rede fenell . rewe . verueyn . egrimoyn . quinfoyle . pympernoll . eufrase . sauge . celydoyn of eche a quartorn . wassche hem clene and stampe hem and do hem in a fayre brasse panne and take the pouder of .xv. peper cornes fayre sarced . and a pynte of gode white wyne do to the herbes . and iij. sponfull of hony and .v. sponfull of a knave childes vryne that is an innocente and medle hem wele to geder and than lete boyle hem a lytyll ouer the fyer and streyne hem throwe a clene clothe and do it in to a vessell of glasse and stopp it till thu wilte ocupye it . and with a feder put it in to the sore eyen . and if it drye temper it with white wyne . this water is gode for all maner vyces of the eyn and it will make a man to se ryght wele with inne .ix. dayes probatum est.

Full transcription.

eVK 7893.00

Mooney (1995), p. 34 [other copies]

28. 94r-94v

Four medical recipes

Language(s): Middle English

Added by a later 15th- or 16th-century hand. The same hand has added further recipes to f. 103v.

29. 94v

Medical recipe for treating a kidney stone

Language(s): Middle English

Rubric: 94v ffor the Stone

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

30. 95r

Medical recipe for treating jaundice

Language(s): English

Rubric: 95r ffor the yelow chaundyse

Added by a 16th-century hand and attributed to or signed by ‘Magister R. Arche anno domini 1548’.

31. 95v

Saying (incomplete)

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 95v Dum sumus in mundo vyva - Dum sumus

Incomplete version of the saying: ‘Dum sumus in mundo, vivamus corde jocundo’. Added by a later 15th- or early 16th-century hand.

32. 96r-98v

The Alchemical Waters of St Giles

Language(s): Middle Egnlish

Rubric: 96r The ix wateres of seynte gyle

Incipit: 96r Here begynnyth the makynge of wateres of seynte gyle compyled be phelosiphers the waters of philysophres schall be made in this wyse

Explicit: 98v And vnderstand wele that alle these for sayde wateres after her furst distillacyon . excepte aqua dealbativa . in porcyon sode with castorye rubarbe and sugre onto the .iij. parte be consumyd werketh mervously in dyuerse infirmytees.

Final rubric: 98v Explicit the ix wateres of seynte Gyle

eVK 5548.00

Braekman (1986), pp. 7-41

33. 98v-99r

Medical treatment for curing St Eligius's evil

Language(s): Middle English

Rubric: 98v ffor toe cure the euylles of seynte loy

Incipit: 98v Take a quantyte of iche of the .ix. wateres a forsayde and of iche lyche moche and medle hem to geder all in a glasse and ij on the day wassche the sore therwith and take a tente or a lytyll lynett and wete it in this water and put it in the buttome of the sore

Explicit: 99r And who so euer maye not be cured with this water he schall neuer be cured for no medycine that ony man can make.

St Eligius's evil refers to an ulcer, wound or fistula that takes a long time to heal (see Mooney (1995), p. 35 for further references).

eVK 4835.00

34. 99r-100r

Collection of eight recipes for medicinal waters

Language(s): Middle English

eVK 4835.00

35. 100v-103r

Collection of sixteen recipes for making medicinal oils

Language(s): Middle English

Incipit: 100v [H]ere begynnythe the makynge of oyles of diuerse herbys for dyuerse infirmytees and furst we schall declare the makynge of oyle of laurus and procede

Explicit: 103r Oyle of almundes and of other kyrnellys - Take almundes and blaunche hem and put hem in a pott and sett it on an other sethyng potte and the breth of that sething potte schall ryse and enter into the kyrnelles and that is gode whan it is wrong throw a clothe

eVK 5579.00

36. 103v

Collection of four medical recipes

Language(s): Middle English

Added by a later 15th- or 16th-century hand. The same hand has added further recipes to ff. 93r-93v.

37. 104r-112v

Collection of recipes for making medicinal salves and ointments

Language(s): Middle English

Rubric: 104r [H]ere begynnyth the makynge of entretis and oynementes for all maner woundes and sores

Contains 46 medical recipes. The final recipe (‘ffor horssnesse’) may have been added later by the main hand or a different hand.

eVK 5190.00

38. 113r-114v

Treatise on gathering herbs for making medicines

Language(s): Middle English

Incipit: 113r [M]edycynes be doon som be leuys be ȝerdes \and sum be rootes/ sum be flowres sum be seedes/ and sum be frutes whan leues go to medycynes they schall be gadred whan they be at her waxyng or that her colour chaungyth and or that they yelow or fade ony thing

Explicit: 114v The seed of silermonteyn serueth for medycynes . The rote of saxifrage is vsid in medycynes . Scabyous while he is grene he is of uertu and elles not

eVK 3566.00

Mooney (1995), p. 36 [other copies]

39. 116r-127v

Collection of medical recipes

Rubric: 116r Here begynnythe gode medicines for diuerse infirmytees of mannes body / And furst we schalle begynne at the hede and after of other

Language(s): Middle English

Contains 124 medical recipes.

eVK 5811.00

Mooney (1995), p. 36 [other copies]

40. 128r-129v

Herbal (begininng)

Language(s): Middle English

Incipit: 128r Aloe is hote and drye in the .ij. degre and it is made of the iuse of an herbe that is callid aloe and that herbe is founde in ynde in perse in grece and in appuleye

Explicit: 129v And the help is thus lette him drynke grete quantyte of gotes mylk and lete him be mevyng and steryng or lete him drynke the wyne that ysope and wormod be soden inn

The herbal only contains entries for herbs starting with the letter ‘A’: aloe, aloes, azafetida, and argentum.

Contains extracts from the Circa instans.

eVK 0870.00

Mooney (1995), p. 36 [other copies]

Garrido Anes (2004), p. 78, 79, 112, 133, 153, 583

41. 129v

Medical recipe

Language(s): Middle English

Rubric: 129v ffor the Scabbe

42. 130r-130v

Instructions for grafting fruit trees, nut trees, and roses [extracted from the Middle English version of the Book of Trees and Wine] Geoffrey of Vinsauf

Language(s): Middle English

Incipit: 130r If ye will graffe a tree qwich frute schall haue no corys. Take a graffe and bowe it yn both endes cranyng and both endes with a knyfe and fastyn so both endes in the stokke and yf it growe so with the tree kutt away the gretter and suffer the smaller ende growe still

Explicit: 130v Also take many rype wallnottes the which yf they be a while watered and put in a moyst pitt and helled with erth . ther schall growe therof a stoke ryght grete that we call maser in duchelond.

eVK 2753.00

Mooney (1995), p. 36 [other copies]

43. 131r

Craft of Grafting (extract) Nicholas Bollard

Language(s): Middle English

Incipit: 131r Nowe it is to witt that when the mone is in tauro it is gode tyme to plant trees of graynes and pepynes

Explicit: 131r Of disposicyoun of the place and of a rayng of erth . In euery plantyng it is to dispose so that the sunne bemys com to the rote or to the erth fro the terce hour till it be noon and thenn be they plantyd in the best maner etcaetera

Mooney (1995), p. 37 [other copies]

44. 132r

Charm to staunch blood

Language(s): Middle English

Rubric: 132r A charme to staunche blood

Incipit: 132r Longius miles latus saluatoris aparuit et continuo exiuit sanguis et aqua sanguis redempcionis et aqua baptismatus in nomine patris + cesset sanguis in nomine filii + restat sanguis in nomine spiritus sancti + non exeat sanguis amplius de ore vel de naso vel de vena and name this charm .iiij. tymes with iij. pater nosters and .iij Aues.

The charm has been crossed out.

eVK 3643.00

45. 132r-133r

Collection of medical recipes

Language(s): Middle English

Contains 18 medical recipes.

eVK 3643.00

Mooney (1995), p. 37 [other copies]

46. 133v

Collection of medical recipes for use on teeth

Language(s): Middle English

Contains nine recipes.

eVK 3643.00

Mooney (1995), p. 37 [other copies]

47. 134r

Collection of medical recipes

Language(s): Middle English

Contains seven medical recipes.

eVK 3643.00

Mooney (1995), p. 37 [other copies]

48. 134r

Charm ‘Pro spasmo’

Language(s): Middle English

Rubric: 134r Pro spasmo

Incipit: 134r Bake bake ybake girte gute hany ga gu greton grab et sibra vriel tobiel

Full transcription; added by a later 15th- or 16th-century hand.

eVK 3643.00

49. 134v-139v, 144v-146v

Of herbs twenty-three

Language(s): Middle English

Incipit: 134v [A]strologye ther been of hem too / the longe and the round also

Explicit: 146v Ne the deuyl schall him do slone / Nor tempest of weder schall him greve none

In the lower margin of f. 134v, a different 15th-century hand has added a reference to the continuation of the poem on f. 144v: ‘Quere plus ad tale signum :+:’.

IMEV 2627

NIMEV 2627

DIMEV 4171-5

50. 140r-144r

Collection of medical recipes and treatments for a variety of ailments and illnesses

Language(s): Latin

The recipes provide cures for a range of ailments but specifically focus on gynaecology. In order of appearance, they are entitled: ‘De sanguine restringendo’; ‘iuvamen conceptando et constringentibus uuluam’; ‘Impendimentum concepcionis’; ‘Nimius fluxus menstruorum’; ‘De duricia matricis et asperitate’; ‘De difficili partu’; ‘De ycterycia id est jawnys’; ‘Ad laxandum ventrem’; ‘De egritudine splenis’; ‘De colica passione’; ‘De strophulis’. The source(s) of these recipes has not been identified but some refer to a ‘Gilb[ertus]’.

One of female healthcare recipes (f. 141r) contains a word encoded in cypher: ‘Item si mulier pertet cor tbmbnboesf [decoded: ‘salamandre’] in curibus suis non concipiet aliquo modo’.

A later (?) 16th-century hand has added translations into English for all of the Latin titles for the recipes in this collection.

140r

Moral poem

Language(s): English

Incipit: 140r ffeare gode and the kinge / be lothe for to offend / take notinge in hand

Copied by the same 16th-century hand that added a draft line, possilby from Job 9:29, to f. 52r and the first line of the poem that has been abbreviated here and has been copied in full by a different 16th-century hand on f. 54v.

51. 144r

Medical recipe for St Anthony's Fire

Language(s): Latin

Added by a 15th-century hand. A 16th-century hand has translated the recipe's title into English: ‘ffor the fyre off seynte Antonye’.

52. 144r

Medical recipe for treating eachache

Language(s): English

Rubric: 144r ffor þe aking of þe Eere

Added by a 16th-century hand.

53. 144r

Medical recipe for treatment of earache

Language(s): Middle English

Added in the late 15th or 16th century.

54. 147r-148r

Poem on the Virtues of Herbs, especially Rosemary

Language(s): Middle English verse

Incipit: 147r [T]ake the floures of Rosemary / And bynde hem in a lynnyne cloth clenly

Explicit: 148r Thes be the vertues of Rosmary / As we haue of olde techers and leches trewly / of Saryseynys of Iues of englysch bokes worthy / wele preuyd and Iugyd sothe and Iustly

Final rubric: 148r fflores eius manduca per iii dies et illo Anno noli me tangere / nec lepra nec alia Apostomata habebis . etcaetera

eVK 1103.00

IMEV 3754

NIMEV 3754

DIMEV 5977-5

55. 148v

Three medical recipes

Language(s): Middle English

Two of the recipes are ‘Pro Anelitu Fetido’.

eVK 5871.00

Mooney (1995), p. 37 [other copies]

56. 148v

Medical recipe for the ‘collicke and the stone’

Language(s): Middle English

Added by a 16th-century hand; another later (? 18th-century) hand copied this recipe on f. 149r.

57. 149r

Proverb on studying (incomplete) from Peter Idley's Instructions to His Son with reference to ‘John Cheak’ Peter Idley

Language(s): English

Incipit: 149r I haue harde saie in olde romanse he that in youthe will do his diligens to learne in age - ffor that John Cheak

Added by a 16th-century hand.

Incomplete version of the proverb: ‘I have heard said in old Romance / He that in youth will do his diligence / To learn, in age it will him advance / To keep him from all indigence’. (see Peter Idley's Instructions to His Son, ed. by C. D'Evelyn (Boston: Heath, 1935), p. 81) with reference to ‘John Cheak’, who may be Sir John Cheke (1514-1557), humanist, administrator, royal tutor, and regius professor at Cambridge.

58. 148v

Medical recipe for the ‘Clollicke [sic] and Stone’

Language(s): Middle English

An (?) 18th-century copy of the 16th-century recipe onto f. 148v.

59. 150r

List of medical recipes

Language(s): Middle English and Latin

Incipit: 150r playster of diaslesmas in pixide howelln fulin colores simile a postalicion quod est nigri colores / Item Emplastrum Jacob rubei coloris / Item vnguentum frigidum which lokyth whyt lyk mayes butter in pixide howell

Added to the base of a blank page by a 15th- or 16th-century hand.

60. 150v

Collection of five medical recipes

Language(s): Middle English

The recipes have been copied by two different 15th-century hands.

eVK 4960.00

Mooney (1995), p. 38 [other copies]

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 3r: for men stoppyd

Form: codex

Support: Parchment (ff. 1-66b) and Paper, folded in quarto. Folios 67r-150v: Bull's head with cross.

Extent: Codex: 151 leaves.

Collation

Quires 1-4¹² (ff. 1-48)
Quire 5^14-1 (ff. 49-61: 8th leaf missing)
Quire 6^six (ff. 62-66b)
Quire 7^16-2 (ff. 67-80: 1st-2nd leaves cancelled)
Quire 8¹² (ff. 81-92)
Quire 9^12-1 (ff. 93-103: 4th leaf cancelled)
Quire 10-12¹² (ff. 104-139)
Quire 13^12-1 (ff. 140-150: 12th leaf cancelled)

Condition

Layout

1-66b 130-135 × 100 mm. Ruled in leadpoint, frame and line ruling. Single columns. 26 lines to the page, written above top line.

67-150 140-145 × 90 mm. Ruled in hardpoint, frame and line ruling. Single columns. 27 lines to the page, written above top line.

Hand(s)

Folios 1r-148v were largely copied by one hand working in a cursive script with both anglicana and secretary features.

Folios 76r-80v were copied by a hand working in a cursive script with both anglicana and secretary features.

Various recipes added throughout by hands working in cursive scripts with anglicana or secretary features or combinations of both.

Decoration

A large (2 lines) plain red initial (‘C’) has been added to one of the many spaces that have been left blank for decorated initials on f. 70r.

Additions

History

Origin: 15th century. ; England.

With 16th-century additions.

Part 2 [Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R.14.32, ff. 151-173]

Language(s): Latin

1. 151r-168r

Tractatus de simplicibus medicinis [Circa instans[ Matthaeus Platearius

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 151r Circa instans negocium in medicinis simplicibus

Explicit: 168r puluere camphere

Ends abruptly in the section on ‘Cerusa’.

2. 168v

Pangram

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 168v Equore congelido zephyrus fert xennia kymbus

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

3. 168v

Medical recipe

Language(s): Latin

The recipe refers to ‘modum leche lumbardum’.

4. 168v

Unidentified theological extracts

Language(s): Latin

Added by a 15th-century hand. The text has become much faded and is poorly legible. It includes the following statements: ‘non est castitas’, ‘non est fides’, and ‘hic non est lex neque laus’. On f. 169r, a new extract begins with the heading: ‘Spes’.

5. 169r

(?) Saying

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 169r Notandum est quod sicut placuit dominus ita fiat

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

6. 169v

Verse saying about women

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 169v Est species morbi mulierem tangere noli / Si tangis tangit si tangit sedere nescit / Ergo fuge tactum ne res procedat in actum