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 R.14.51

Medical treatises and recipes

Contents

Introduction: Cambridge, Trinity College MS R.14.51 is a miscellany of practical and instructive works of the kind typically found in circulation in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. It comprises two codicological units, similar in decoration and style of handwriting, that have been bound together. Such compilations may have been used by healers, leech doctors or, sometimes, by individuals or families in domestic contexts. Though this manuscript shows signs of having been professionally produced, the combination of treatises and the organisational principles, as well as the overwhelming preference for English over Latin (though we find a few lines of French at f. 25v) suggests that it was used perhaps by a community leech doctor and not a barber-surgeon. As Elaine Miller ((1978), p. xxxiii) has argued, the fifteenth-century practitioner who owned and used the book was 'extremely pragmatic, possibly eclectic, and most probably fairly unsophisticated'. The presence of some ballads (e.g. f. 95r, copied by a later hand) and texts like The Boke of Marchalsi, a prose work on equine medicine, might indicate a wider context for the volume, one that extends the remit beyond the realm of health and healing. Health and healing, however, are common preoccupations in manuscripts of this kind. Just like today, people struggled with all sorts of ailments and healthcare issues. In Trinity MS R.14.51, we witness a clear interest in the preservation and clear presentation of charms and cures for a range of ailments, among them toothache, the 'falling evil' (what we might call epilepsy today), to help women in childbirth, eye complaints, and to staunch the flow of blood. Many of the cures are short and not too complex, suggesting that the leech doctor may have not been overly-proficient. At f. 28r, for example, we find an economical instruction to mend 'broken bones in mannys heede' that advises the reader to treat it topically with ground agrimony, or else to drink an infusion of betony to help set the bones and heal the wound. Agrimony as an ingredient in a cure for the same complaint recurs at f. 32v, where it is mixed with honey and used to bathe the wound. The instructions at f. 28r are immediately followed by a charm to catch a thief, discussed below. Based on the context and accessibility of the cures, it is likely that these would have been used by self-taught medical man. These receipts are neatly – probably professionally – copied, making good use of visual strategies to break up the text, enabling easier consultation. Throughout there are of decorative initials, blue and red paraphs marking breaks in the text or indicating another version of a charms or recipe, and headings in rubric, features that taken together render the manuscript easily consultable. Additionally, some of the remedies, particularly those found at the beginning of the manuscript (from ff. 1r–5r) are in verse, arguably in order to help readers or users commit some of them to memory. Many of the medical receipts are generically close to charms and prayers, again a typical situation in the later medieval period. For instance, the instructions in this manuscript to help a woman through a difficult childbirth, known as the Maria peperit Christum charm, are based on a Latin prose prayer about the Blessed Virgin Mary's delivery of Jesus. The charm is to be written on parchment and bound about the stomach of the labouring woman. It is found here at f. 16r. Yet other charms in the volume involve writing out certain words or formulae and having a patient - or, in this case, a suspect - ingest the ground up parchment. Here, at f. 28r, we find a charm to catch a thief that asks the reader to '[T]ake and write þese lettres folowynge and ʒeve hit to eete to þo þat þou haste suspicion to and ʒif he be culpable hit schall not passe hys throte.' The required letters are copied out in red to distinguish them from the other instructions. Interestingly, in this manuscript the instructions to write out remedies or methods to discover something are grouped together, suggesting a high level of organisation across the second part of the volume. Alongside the charm to catch a thief we also find written charm, here called a 'fayre medecyne' for 'the foule evil' that asks the reader to write a series of names, including those of the three wise men, on parchment, and to hang it around the neck of the afflicted person. The manuscript also contains two short tracts on medical diagnosis by urine colour (ff. 18r-18v and 32r-32v). Many of the cures in the manuscript rely on the use of herbs, and therefore it is not surprising to discover, beginning at f. 34v, a lengthy verse herbal, the Tretys of Diverse Herbis. Written in rhyming couplets, the text is based on the Latin Macer Floridius, and is extant in some sixteen other manuscripts. It opens with an explication of the properties and uses of betony, the very herb that is called for the medicine to heal head wounds, mentioned above: 'To telle of betoygne I haue gret mynde / And of other erbes as I fynde.' The herbal is the central treatise in the manuscript, offering cures using not just betony but herbs such as motherwort, celandine and burnet, as well as commonly grown garden flowers like roses and lilies. Here again we find a firm association between cures and charms, as well as an interest not just in cures but wellbeing more generally and other life matters. One of the instructions for celandine requires the reader to gather the herb early on Lammas day (August 1st), to hold it high and to say 'pater noster and Auees þree'. For this person, '[N]o prison schall hym holde no dore. / He schall ouercome all hys enemys.' Relatedly, there is a strong interest in prognostication and astronomy in the volume, and these aspects may have been useful for our leech doctor as he worked out the optimal times for medical treatment, the reign of the planets, and the phases of the moon, and also (un)lucky days and those best for favourable outcomes. Among these tracts is an abridged version of the well-known and widely-coped Wise Book of Philosophy and Astronomy (ff. 77v-86r), an accessible guide to the planets and their influence and reign, as well as the signs of the zodiac. There is a cluster of similar texts at the beginning of the volume. At f. 16r is a tract on favourable times of the month in which to administer medicines based on astronomical conditions, a text known as 'A general teachynge to ʒeue medecyns'. And grouped together at ff. 18v–22r are two treatises on the moon, one concerned with bloodletting and the other with destiny, demonstrating further the complementary nature of the material in this volume. The presence of ownership inscriptions (including the names John Fertho, Jacob Hawkins of Worcester, and George Atkinson) as well as the drawing of a horse-mill with the inscription 'Bussell' at the opening of the manuscript (potentially referring to a family of that name near Chester (see Mooney (1995)), indicates that the volume maybe have held value in the context of the gentry or landed family as well as for healers and leech doctors. Dr Carrie Griffin| Ollamh Comhlach, Béarla / Associate Professor, English| Scoil an Bhéarla, na Gaeilge agus na Cumarsáide / School of English, Irish and Communication, Ollscoil Luimnigh / University of Limerick References
The Middle English 'Wise Book of Philosophy and Astronomy': A Parallel-Text Edition, ed. by Carrie Griffin, Middle English Texts, 47 (Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter, 2013)
Carrie Griffin, 'A Previously Unrecorded Copy of a Middle English Medical Text in Wellcome MS 408', Notes and Queries, 71 (2023), 24–25
Elaine M. Miller, 'In Hoote Somere': A Fifteenth-Century Medical Manuscript (unpublished PhD dissertation, Princeton University, 1978)
Linne R. Mooney, The Index of Middle English Prose, Handlist 11: Manuscripts in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge (Oxford: D.S. Brewer, 1995), pp. 49–53

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

1. i verso
Gentilesse Geoffrey Chaucer
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: i verso Balade
Incipit: i verso [T]he first for the fadre of gentylnes / W\h/o[...]lk kleymyht gentyl for to be
Explicit: i verso And [...] to R[evei]se savely dar y deme / A[...] were he myhter croune or deyodeme
IMEV 3348
NIMEV 3348
DIMEV 5277-4
Pace and David (1982), pp. 67-76
Furnivall (1880), p. 162
2. ii recto
Lak of Stedfastnesse Geoffrey Chaucer
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: ii recto Balad[e]
Incipit: ii recto Wylum the wordule was stedefaste and stable That mannys word was oblygacyun
Explicit: ii recto Drede god do law loue trouþe and Ryhtwysnis / And wedde ayeyn thy folke to stedefastnes
IMEV 3190
NIMEV 3190
DIMEV 4990-5
Pace and David (1982), pp. 77-89
Furnivall (1880), pp. 164-165
3. ii verso-iii recto
Collection of medical recipes
Language(s): Middle English

Six medical recipes, including a list of ingredients for making a ‘dry stew’ for treating sciatica.

eVK2 v0070930000
4. iv recto-v recto
Table of contents to the medical recipes

Written in English by a late 16th- or early-17th-century hand onto two inserted paper leaves.

5. 1r-18v
A book of medical recipes in English verse and prose
Language(s): Middle English with some Middle French
Incipit: || 1r In hoote somere þese erbes þou take / And styllyd watere of hem þou make
Explicit: 18r þerof make plastres gode and fyne / And warme lay it to pyntel thyne
eVK2 v0070940000
eVK2 v0070950000
eVK2 v0070950000
IMEV 1496.3
NIMEV 1496.3
DIMEV 2519
Miller (1978), pp. 1-41 [edition]
Mooney (1995), p. 50 [other copies]
Tavormina (2010), p. 593
6.1. 3v
Charm for ‘fallynge goute’
Language(s): Middle English and Latin
Miller (1978) [editions of the charms on ff. 1r-45r]
6.2. 9v
Method to drive flies out of a house with vervain and holy water
Language(s): Middle English
Miller (1978) [editions of the charms on ff. 1r-45r]
6.4. 10r-10v
Charm for toothache
Language(s): Middle English and Latin
Miller (1978) [editions of the charms on ff. 1r-45r]
6.3. 10v
Charm for the falling evil
Language(s): Middle English and Latin
Miller (1978) [editions of the charms on ff. 1r-45r]
7. 10v-11v
On the gathering, storing, and preparation of herbs for salves
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 10v Erbes names for salues
Incipit: 10v Burnet wodebynde weybrede rybeworte mouser and puliset ys but oon erbe
Explicit: 11v but ȝif he were hurte in a gut or in hert or in brawne þis drynke wolle saue hys lyf and þis ys thynge þat ys prouede
Miller (1978), pp. 24-25 [edition]
Mooney (1995), p. 50 [other copies]
8. 11v-12r
Fortunate Days for Bloodletting
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 11v fforto knowe þe days of blode lattynge
Incipit: 11v Who so wole late hym blode þe secunde day of Mache he schalle haue no tesyk þat yere
Explicit: 12r Who so lettith hym blode þe first monday of Juyll he ys in perell of deth
eVK2 v0070970000
Miller (1978), pp. 25-26 [edition]
9. 13r
On the Perilous Days
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 13r The maister hathe nombre xxxij perelous days in þe yere Who so falle in sykeness þo days he schall not couere . Who so ys þan borne schall not long lyue Who so bygynnys ony grete jorney to make schall neuere come a[g]ene . Who so weddith any wyf they schall hastely be departede ore elles leue euere in angere and in tene . thus telles the doctoure and þese are þe days
Incipit: 13r In Januere are vij days þe first þe ijde þe iijde þe vte þe xte þe xvth and þe xvijth
Explicit: 13r In Decemb[e]r are iij days þe vjth þe viijth þe viijth thise bene þe perelous days
eVK2 v0070980000
Miller (1978), pp. 28-29 [edition]
Mooney (1995), p. 50 [other copies]
6.5. 16r
Charm for inducing a safe childbirth
Language(s): Middle English and Latin
Miller (1978) [editions of the charms on ff. 1r-45r]
10. 16r-16v
Astrological instructions for using medicines ('A general rewle for to geue medycyne')
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 16r A general techynge to [g]eue medecyns
Incipit: 16r Who so takith medecyns laxatyfs whan þe mone ys in þe planete of Jubiter hys werke schall enfeble . ffor þe wyse man seith who so ys a leche and knoweth nouȝte of Astronomye he ys like a blynde man þat goth with a staf and sekith þe wey.
Explicit: 16v ffor Jubiter conforteth þe nature and encreceth þe force and þe strenght and þe strenght offendeth þe effecte of þe medecyne
Miller (1978), pp. 35-36 [edition]
Griffin (2024), pp. 24-25
11. 16v
On the astrological signs of the Zodiac and parts of the human body
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 16v Tholomeus a general rewle to þe maister of Surgerie to knowe þe signes þat seruen to membres and thus are þe signes
Incipit: 16v Aires Taurus Gemina Cancer Leo Virgo Libra Scorpio Sagittarius Aquarius Pisces Capricornes Aries hathe of a man þe hede and the face
Explicit: 16v And þerfore moste a leche or a barboure knowe alle þe signes and alle þe membres And what tyme he schalle [g]eue hys medecyns or hys drynkes or hys oynementes or eny oþere þinge to doo to eny membre
eVK2 v0070990000
Miller (1978), pp. 36-37 [edition]
Mooney (1995), p. 51 [other copies]
12. 16v-18r
Collection of medical recipes
Language(s): Middle English with two Middle French recipes at the end
Miller (1978) [edition]
13. 18r-18v
Urine White and Brown with the Six-Token List from the Letter of Ipocras (Token 5 only)
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 18r Here folowe howe þe doctour techith þe howe þou schalte knowe vryne
Incipit: 18r-18v Vryne white at morne and Broune aftere mete that ys signe of good hele
Explicit: 18v Vryne of man or of woman þat hathe þe ffeuere and þat haue a blak gaderynge on þat on halfe of the vrenal þat ys signe of dethe thyse ben þe signes of vryne
eVK2 v0071000000
Miller (1978), p. 41 [edition]
Mooney (1995), p. 51 [other copies]
Tavormina (2014), pp. 38 (4.1.3c); 44 (no. 5.2.1)
Tavormina (2019), pp. xxi (as 'T4'), 16-17
14. 18v-20r
Lunary for bloodletting
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 19r Here begynnyth þe waxynge of þe mone and declareth dyuerse tymes to be laten blode whiche bene gode
Incipit: 19r In the firste begynnynge of þe mone hit ys profitable to eche a man to be laten blode in the splene
Explicit: 20r Also þe xxxti of þe mone in no tyme it yst not gode
eVK2 v0071010000
Miller (1978), pp. 42-44 [edition]
Taavitsainen (1987), p. 24
Mooney (1995), p. 51 [other copies]
15. 20r-22r
Days of the Moon (Collective lunary)
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 20r Here begynnyth also of þe mone and declareth what tyme a body ys bore what hy schall befall
Incipit: 20r In the firste begynnynge of þe mone all þinge ys profyteable to a man in þat tyme And ȝif a knaue Childe be þan borne sche schall be benygne Chast bothe faire and likynge to men
Explicit: 22r In the xxx of þe mone yf a knaue childe be borne he schall be blessyd trewe stronge anad benygne . And ȝif a maide childe be þan borne sche schalbe swete and y blessyd
eVK2 v0071020000
Miller (1978), pp. 44-48 [edition]
Taavitsainen (1987), p. 24
16. 22r-23r
On lucky and unlucky days for bloodletting
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 22r I rede euery wyse man take gode heede of þe lithere days in þe yere
Incipit: 22r And a man be laten blode those þre days schal dye within iiij days or vij days with oute doute
Explicit: 22v-23r Also who so bledeþ Non Junij schall suffre deþe or fallynge euell or elles a grete sorowe
eVK2 v0071030000
Miller (1978), pp. 49-50 [edition]
Mooney (1995), p. 51 [other copies]
17. 23r-26v
Collection of medical recipes and charms
Language(s): Middle English and Latin

The collection includes an instruction ‘for blode lattynge’ on f. 26r [see below].

eVK2 v0071040000
Miller (1978) [edition]
6.6. 25r
Charm to induce sleep
Language(s): Middle English and Latin
Miller (1978) [editions of the charms on ff. 1r-45r]
6.7. 25r
Charm for staunching blood
Language(s): Middle English
Miller (1978) [editions of the charms on ff. 1r-45r]
6.8. 25v
Charm for a pregnant woman for safe childbirth
Language(s): Middle English and Latin
Miller (1978) [editions of the charms on ff. 1r-45r]
18. 26r
On the virtues of bloodletting
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 26r Here ys for blode lattynge
Incipit: 26r In mesure clense þe bladder of a man or of a woman and tempreth þe brayne hit mendithe þe herynge and destroyeth þe teres hit clansethe þe mawe hit desyeth þe meete hit clereth þe voice hit gadreth sclepe hit dryueth away angwys and norysshith gode blode and destroyth wicked blode it lenghisth the lyf of man or of woman

Full transcription; as in Mooney (1995).

Miller (1978), p. 58 [edition]
Mooney (1995), p. 52 [other copies]
6.9. 26r-26v
Charm to deliver a pregnant woman of a dead child
Language(s): Middle English and Latin
Miller (1978) [editions of the charms on ff. 1r-45r]
19. 26v-28r
Dietary Galen
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 26v Now here techith Maister Galian leche of mete and drynke and also of tyme of blode letynge
Incipit: 26r In þe monethe of Jenuere white wyne ys gode to drynke fastynge And be not lat blode
Explicit: 28r And iij days þere are of parell þe xvth þe xvjth and þe xvijth who so vsith þis ilke lyf he schall dredeles haue gode hele
eVK2 v0071050000
Miller (1978), pp. 60-62 [edition]
Mooney (1995), p. 52 [other copies]
20. 28r-32r
Collection of medical recipes
Language(s): Middle English with Latin and Middle French used in charms
Miller (1978), [edition]
6.10. 28r
Charm to identify a thief with magical characters written on food
Language(s): Middle English
Miller (1978) [editions of the charms on ff. 1r-45r]
6.11. 28r-28v
Charm against 'þe foule euell'
Language(s): Middle English and Latin
Miller (1978) [editions of the charms on ff. 1r-45r]
6.12. 29r-29v
Charm to heal wounds with a lead plate (attributed to 'Ypocras')
Language(s): Middle English and Latin
Miller (1978) [editions of the charms on ff. 1r-45r]
6.13. 29v-30r
Charm to staunch blood
Language(s): Middle English and Latin
Miller (1978) [editions of the charms on ff. 1r-45r]
21. 32r-32v
Token list of Urines of Death ['Urine Troubly with Clouds']
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 32r To knowe þe euell in vren of man or of woman
Incipit: 32r Yf the vryne of a syke man be trouble And ȝif hit haue cloudes abouen fletande thhe deth of hym it betokeneth
Explicit: 32v vryne ȝelow ȝif it white drop it signifiethe tribulacion and angwyssh certeynly
eVK2 v0071060000
Miller (1978), pp. 72-73 [edition]
Mooney (1995), p. 52 [other copies]
Tavormina (2007), p. 643 fn. 24
Tavormina (2014), p. 51 (no. 7.1.2)
22. 32v
On a sign of death
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 32v The signe of rede thorne ventosynge and blode latyng of veyne
Incipit: 32v The blode þat ys alle reede and drye withoute watere and in the mydwarde hathe a white drope þat ys verrey signe of deþe withoute fayle

Full transcription; as in Mooney (1995).

Miller (1978), p. 73 [edition]
23. 33r
Collection of medical recipes
Language(s): Middle English
Miller (1978) [edition]
24. 33r-33v
Poem on bloodletting
Language(s): Middle English and Latin
Rubric: 33r Modus qui docet ad minuendum hominis sanguinem
Incipit: 33r For to kenne þe veynes to late blode / To þe þat lates many gode men blode
Explicit: 33v Whan þe heede hathe any nede / ffor all þe body in myddes þe arme||
eVK2 v0071070000
IMEV 4264.3
NIMEV see 3848/12
DIMEV 6847-1
Miller (1978) [edition]
Wragg (2021), pp. 274-275 [edition]
25. 34r-34v
Collection of medical recipes
Language(s): Middle English and some Latin

The first recipe is imperfect due to a missing leaf before f. 34.

Miller (1978) [edition]
26. 34v-47r
A tretys of diverse herbis (especially Betony)
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 34v To telle of betoygne I haue gret mynde / And of other erbes as I fynde
Explicit: 47r He castith wele to þe eyne sight / Thys medecyne ys prouede I the plight

The text is imperfect due to the loss of a leaf between f. 33 and f. 34; and another leaf between f. 35 and f. 36.

eVK2 v0071080000
IMEV 2627
NIMEV 2627
DIMEV 4171-6
Miller (1978) [edition]
Soreau (2015), pp. 82-84
27. 47r-47v
Collection of medical recipes
Language(s): Middle English

Seven medical recipes added by three hands (the first one added a recipe to the lower margin of f. 47r; the second one six to the empty page of f. 47v; and the third a seventh recipe on f. 47v)), both dating from the late 15th or early 16th century.

eVK2 v0071090000
Mooney (1995), p. 52 [other copies]
6.14. 61v-62v
Magical rituals and charm to heal farcy in a horse
Language(s): Middle English and Latin

The same charm occurs in Cambridge, University Library, Dd.4.44 .

6.15. 77v
Charm to heal affected veins in a horse
Language(s): Middle English and Latin
28. 48r-77v
Book of Marshalcy [Marchalsi]
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 48r and the breste and after that lere hem to bere her haltres and make the reyne of þe haltres longe so þat þey may treden þeron
Explicit: 77v And the hors schall haue hele and amende of hys sikenes like as he seith þat hath proued the Charme

This treatise on veterinary medicine in the form of question and answer contains charms and instruction for how to make a bath for a horse (ff. 70r-70v).

eVK2 v0071100000
Mooney (1995), p. 52 [other copies]
Aitchison (2009), pp. iv (as 'BMT'), 24 fn. 152, 141
29. 56v (outer margin)
Draft indenture
Language(s): English
Incipit: 56v This indentur maide the eliven daye of ffebreuarie in the sex raine of the yere of Our Souering [sic] ladie quene Elizabeth by the grace of God

Full transcription; copied in or after 1563/4, perhaps also added lines from a draft indenture to the upper margin of f. 73r.

30. 73r (upper margin)
Draft indenture
Language(s): English
Incipit: 73rThis Indenture made the

Full transcription; perhaps added by the same 16th-century hand that added lines from a draft indenture to the outer margin of f. 56v.

31. 77v-94v
The Wise Book of Astronomy and Philosophy
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 77v Here bygynnyth the Wyse boke of Phylosophy and Astronomy contynued and made of þe wyseste Phylesophre and astronomyer þat euere was sith the worlde was begonne þat ys to sey of þe londe of Grece ffor yn that londe an ynglys man full wyse and wele vnderstondynge of Phylosophy and Astronomye stodyed and compyled thys boke oute of grewe into englysshe tongue graceously
Incipit: 77v ffirst þis boke tellith how many hevenes þer beth afterwarde he pronouncith and declarith of þe course and of þe gouernaille of þe planetes afterward of þe signes and of þe sterres of þe firmament
Explicit: 94v And after he schall wex wyche and gladliche schall forswere hym and yf he be take prisonere in bataylle||

Ends imperfectly due to a missing leave/leaves or a quire.

eVK2 v0071110000, eVK2 v0071120000, v0071130000, v0071140000
Means (1992), p. 620
Mooney (1995), p. 52 [other copies]
32. 95r
Balade fet de la Reygne Katerene Russell
Language(s): Middle English poem with a Middle French title
Rubric: 95r
Incipit: 95r Slombryng Ryhgt thoutefull ful of vnkyndenes / That now haþe Reyne and dominacyun
Explicit: 95r Whos hey nobeles in euery cuntrey / Adew the curt Right gentyl large and fre

Balade fet de la Reygne Katerene Russell

IMEV 3158
NIMEV 3158
DIMEV 4927-1
Cohen (1915), pp. 290-191

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: ii recto: Wylum
Secundo Folio: 2r: To stampe
Form: codex
Support: Parchment (ff. i-iii, 1-95); and Paper (ff. iv-v) folded in folio featuring the watermark of a Jug with a crown and the initials ‘PI’ at the centre of the page.
Extent: Codex: ii + 3 + 2 + 93 + 1 + ii leaves. 255 × 170 mm.
Foliation:

19th- or 20th-century foliation:

[a]-[b] + i-iii + iv-v + 1-44, 47-94 + 95 + [c]-[d]

Numbering in pencil in the upper right-hand corner of the rectos of all leaves; the numbers 45 and 46 are missing from the sequence but not representing missing leaves in the manuscript. Folios [a]-[b] and [c]-[d] are early modern paper flyleaves. Folios i-iii and 95 are original parchment flyleaves with 15th- and 16th-century additions. folios iv-v are inserted paper leaves with an index to the manuscript that was added in the late 16th or early 17th century.
Foliation:

17th-century foliation:

2-46 (for ff. 1-47), 48-94 (for ff. 44-94), 97 (for f. 95)

Written in brown ink on the upper left-hand corners of the rectos of all leaves; this sequence misses the numbers 47, 96, and 97. These missing numbers coincide with missing leaves in the collation and breaks in the text, suggesting that three leaves have gone missing in the early modern period.

Collation

This collation deviates from that by M.R. James (1901) in that it refers to ff. i-iii as Quire 1 instead of Quire ‘a’ (NB: as a result, all quire numbers in the collation are one ahead of the collation numbers used by James and noted in the manuscript). Based on missing sections from a treatise on herbs, it also identifies Quire 6 (James's Quire 5) as a quaternion that is missing two leaves rather than a sexternion.

  • Quire 14-1 (ff. i-iii: 3rd leaf missing)
  • Two inserted paper leaves (ff. iv-v)
  • Quire 28-1 (ff. 1-7: 1st leaf missing)
  • Quires 3-58 (ff. 8-31)
  • Quire 68-2 (ff. 32-37: 3rd and 6th leaves missing)
  • Quire 78 (ff. 38-47)
  • Quire 88-1 (ff. 46-54: 1st leaf missing)
  • Quires 9-138 (ff. 55-94)
  • A single leaf (f. 95)

14-1 (3rd missing) [Two inserted paper leaves] 28-1 (1st missing) 3-58 68-2 (3rd and 6th missing) 78 88-1 (1st missing) 9-138 [A single leaf]

Leaf signatures (Roman numerals) occasionally visible (e.g. Quire 8) on the lower right-hand corners of the rectos of the first halves of quires.

Catchwords written in brown ink in the lower right-hand corners of the last versos of quires

Condition

The manuscript's first three parchment leaves (ff. i-iii) are cockled and have creases in their lower right-hand corners. The recto of the first folio features dark (ink?) stains.

The offset of a round (? metal) object with concentric circles is visible on ff. 82v-83r.

Layout

i verso-ii recto 165 × 105 mm. Folios i verso and ii recto have been ruled in ink, frame only for a single column, possibly by the same hand that ruled ff. 1-194. 28 lines to the page, written below top line (the other folios do not feature ruling and their texts seem to have been added without layout plan).

1r-47r, 48r-94v 180 × 110 mm. Ruled in ink, frame only. Single columns. 28-30 lines to the page, written below top line.

Hand(s)

The texts on ff. i verso, ii recto, and 95r were added by a scribe who produced a 15th-century cursive script with both Anglicana and Secretary features.

The texts on ff. ii verso-iii recto were copied by a scribe who produced a 15th-century cursive script with both Anglicana and Secretary features.

A medical recipe added to the lower margin of f. 47r was added by a scribe who produced a late 15th- or early 16th-century cursive script with both Anglicana and Secretary features.

The first five medical recipes added to f. 47v was added by a scribe who produced a 15th-century cursive script with both Anglicana and Secretary features.

The final (sixth) medical recipe added to f. 47v was added by a scribe who produced a 15th-century cursive script with both Anglicana and Secretary features.

Folios 1r-47r, 48r-94v were copied by a scribe in a neat cursive script resembling Anglicana formata (but with Secretary features).

Decoration

A large (full-page) drawing in dark ink, featuring a circular horsemill inside a roundel, probably representing a rebus, with below the name ‘Bussell’ written in large decorated letters flanked by a standing human figure in prayer.

Large (2 lines) blue initials in frameworks of red penwork decoration with pen-flourishing in red ink extending into the outer margins

Titles rubricated in red ink.

Line-fillers in blue and red ink.

Crossed in red ink drawn in the texts of charms throughout the manuscript.

Paraphs alternating between blue and red ink.

Additions

Notes about missing lines and leaves have been added by pencil in the lower and upper margins of pages (see ff. 33v, 34v-35r).

Quire signatures ('1-12') 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 (no longer indicative: see Collation).

Binding

17th-/18th-century half leather binding over pasteboards; brown speckled leather on the sides; the spine with five raised bands and three paper labels with the printed shelfmark: ‘R’, ‘14’, ‘51’.

Binding height: 265mm; widt: 175mm; depth: 30mm.

History

Origin: Second half of the 15th century. ; England.

Provenance and Acquisition

John Clare : his 15th- or 16th-century signature inscribed in the left margin of f. i verso: ‘by me John Clare’.

Simon Hees : his name inscribed by a (?) late 15th or early 16th-century hand in the lower margin of f. ii recto: ‘Simoneum Hees is brickle [...]’.

J. [? John] Bussell [? Russell] : their surname ‘Bussell’ (? or ‘Russell’) written in large calligraphic script that is typical of the 15th century below a drawing of a horse-mill in a roundel on f. iv verso. The horse shaft resembles the letter ‘J’.

Hawkins, James, fl. 1679-1680 of Worcester: donated the manuscript to George Atkinson in 1679/80 according to an inscription in the upper margin of f. 1r: 'Sum e libris Geo : Atkinson ex dono Jacobi Hawkins Ciuitatis Wygorniensis dat. febru: 13o 1679/80'.

Atkinson, George : received the manuscript from James Hawkins in 1679/80 according to an inscription in the upper margin of f. 1r ‘Sum e libris Geo : Atkinson ex dono Jacobi Hawkins Ciuitatis Wygorniensis dat. febru: 13o 1679/80’.

Acquired by Trinity College Library at an unknown point in time between 1680 and 1900: the College's shelfmark ‘R.14.51’ is printed on paper labels pasted onto the spine; written in pencil on the inside of the front cover; and in ink in the upper right-hand corner of f. 1r (together with an old shelfmark that has been crossed out: ‘B.8[?].33’. The college's early modern armoarial bookstamp (‘Coll: Trin: Cant:’) printed on a paper pastedown on the lower half of f. iii recto; it's ownership stamp in dark ink on f. 94v.

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 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1901); and Linne R. Mooney, Manuscripts in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge, The Index of Middle English Prose, Handlist XI (Woodbridge: Brewer, 1995).

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

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Teresa ([Michigan?], 2014) Cambridge, Trinity College Library MS R.14.51 (921) Late Medieval English Magic: English Manuscripts Containing 15th-Century Magical Texts, Mitchell, Laura (2014, https://magicalmedieval.wordpress.com/2014/04/10/tcc921/) L'engagement dans l'art de guérir. Edition et étude d'extraits en moyen-anglais des recettes médicinales des manuscrits MSS O.1.13 et R.14.51, Trinity College Library, Cambridge Bulletin des Anglicistes médiévistes, Soreau, Véronique (87, 71-95, 2015) Dictionary of Medical Vocabulary in English, 1375–1550: Body Parts, Sicknesses, Instruments, and Medical Preparations, Norri, Juhani (Abingdon, Routledge, 2016) Similes We Cure By: The Poetics of Late Medieval Medical Texts New Medieval Literatures, Bower, Hannah (18, 183-210, 2018) La médecine par les plantes et les étoiles aux quinzième et seizième siècles: édition et analyse critique des manuscrits de Trinity College Library, Cambridge: O.1.13 et O.5.26, R.14.32 et R.14.51, et commentaires, Soreau, Véronique (Poitiers, 2018, http://www.theses.fr/2018POIT5023) Medieval Magical Figures: Between Image and Text The Routledge History of Medieval Magic, Page, Sophie (London, 432-457, Routledge, 2019) The Dome of Uryne: A Reading Edition of Nine Middle English Uroscopies Early English Text Society, Original Series, Tavormina, M. 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