Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries

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

Cambridge, University Library, MS Add. 6865

Medical and theological texts

Contents

Introduction: This composite manuscript, written for the most part in the first half of the 13th century, has passed through several centuries and several owners, but has spent the majority of its life in East Anglia in the East of England where it remains today. The first quire was most likely a personal notebook or vade mecum: it contains a poem, notes for sermons, and various encyclopedic and theological trivia, as well as a copy of a 1381 letter of introduction from the Prioress and Sisters of Hinchingbrooke Priory (Cambridgeshire) asking the then Bishop of Lincoln John Bokyngham to admit the bearer of the letter, a Walter Sayer of Hook Norton (Oxfordshire) to the title of their house. The rest of the manuscript (Quires 2-17) contains popular medical treatises including the Breviarium of Johannes de Sancto Paulo and the Antidotarium Nicholai, copied by four scribes all working together to produce a useful reference book. The manuscript is one of several of similar date that once belonged to the Augustinian Priory in Barnwell on the outskirts of Cambridge. A brief ownership inscription - 'Bernewell' - by a fifteenth-century hand may still be seen on f. i verso (a further inscription, now erased but legible under UV light, is on f. 13r). MS Add. 6865 was likely copied at Barnwell Priory. The hands that copied Part 2 are typical of 12th- to 13th-century English bookhands, and the manuscript thus contains an early copy of a work that emanated from Salerno, the Breviarium of Iohannes de Sancto Paulo (d. 1214/15). In contrast to Benedictine monks, whose Rule emphasised withdrawal from the world, the Augustinian canons were permitted greater latitude and were often involved in the running of hospitals: for example, St Bartholomew's in Smithfield, London, or St John the Evangelist's in Cambridge. This compilation of practical medical texts suggests that the canons of Barnwell may have treated passing travellers or Cambridge's townsfolk. The Breviarium provides a guide to the signs, causes and cures of disease, while the Antidotarium Nicholai (another Salernitan text) was one of the most widely circulated compilations of medical remedies. There are further shorter, anonymous texts on sciatica, stomach pain, fevers and, notably, obstetrics (which fellow canons cannot have needed). Blank leaves also contain a variety of simple recipes for pills, powders and electuaries. One of these - the 'Salt of St Luke' - suggests contact between the Augustinian canons and inhabitants of the university. It comprises hyssop, pennyroyal, camomile, ammi, epithyme, ginger, sal ammoniac and common salt, all ground together, which 'scholars use to preserve their health' (f. 13v). The book probably remained with at Barnwell until 1538, when the priory was dissolved during the Reformation. The owners of Add. MS 6865 in the first century following the dissolution of Barnwell Priory are unknown, but the book came into contact with a 16th-century reader, Anthony Shupton, who added his name to the manuscript in several places and who may be the same Anthony Shupton found in London, British Library, Sloane MS 4 . By the middle of the 17th century, the book belonged to James Cobbes of Bury St Edmunds, who amassed a collection of manuscripts mostly deriving from East Anglian religious houses. Cobbes passed the book to his grandson, James Harvey, and from there the book passed into the hands of the well-known 18th-century collector Rev. Dr Cox Macro. Macro's collection passed to his daughter, Mary Macro and then through her husband William Stainforth's line to his niece Elizabeth Stainforth and her husband the politician John Patteson. Patteson experienced a period of financial difficulty in the second decade of the 19th century, and sold many family assets, including the Macro manuscripts. They were sold in 1820 by the London book-dealer James Christie the Younger to Dawson Turner, who split his purchase with fellow Norfolk collector Hudson Gurney. This manuscript was one of those that was part of Gurney's portion of purchase, remaining with the Gurney family for a little over a century, until it was sold through Sotheby's by Quintin Edward Gurney in 1936 and purchased by the University Library. Dr Sarah Gilbert| Project Cataloguer, Curious Cures Project| Cambridge University Library

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: (2r) Sunt enim sacre scripturae sensus duo
Form: codex
Support: Parchment
Extent: Codex: i + 12 | 123 + 1 leaves.
Foliation:

17th- and 20th-/21st-century foliation:

ff. i (left pastedown)-ii + 1-12 | 13-42, 42a-134 + iii.

The earlier sequence, written in ink, has been supplemented by later hands, writing in pencil. See below for further details.

Foliation:

17th-century foliation.

2-12 | 13-134

Foliated in the upper outer corner of each recto in ink in Hindu-Arabic numerals. Foliated ff. 2-134 by James Cobbes (d. June 1685), a former owner of the manuscript who also added running headings to the upper margins, and a list of the contents on a pasted in piece of paper (f. ii recto at the beginning of the volume. The foliation sequence added by Cobbes is not disrupted by leaves lost at the boundary of Quires 5 and 6, which indicates that those leaves were lost before Cobbes added his foliation sequence.

Foliation:

20th- and 21st-century foliation.

i, ii, 1 ... | ... 42a ... iii

Additional foliation supplied in several phases by Cambridge University Library staff after the purchase of the volume in March 1936, discussed in the order in which they appear in the manuscript:

  • The left pastedown foliated as f. i in pencil in the upper left corner of the leaf
  • The pasted-in paper leaf with Cobbes' list of the contents of the volume foliated as f. ii by Dr James Freeman, Medieval Manuscripts Specialist, Cambridge University Library in 2022.
  • The first leaf, which lacked an explicit designation by Cobbes, foliated as f. 1 in pencil.
  • The second of the two leaves designated f. 42 by Cobbes has been refoliated as f. 42a by Dr James Freeman, Medieval Manuscripts Specialist, Cambridge University Library in 2022.
  • The final leaf, the former right pastedown, has been designated f. iii by Dr James Freeman, Medieval Manuscripts Specialist, Cambridge University Library in 2022.

Collation

The manuscript is composite and comprises two parts: the first part is a single-quire unit; the second part contains 16 quires, mostly of 8 leaves.

  • Quire 114-1 (ff. 1-12; the first leaf a pastedown (f. i verso), the 14th leaf excised) |
  • Quire 28+1 (ff. 13-21; 1st leaf inserted)
  • Quires 3-48 (ff. 22-37)
  • Quire 58-1 (ff. 38-43; 8th leaf missing) (includes duplicated f. 42)
  • Quire 68-1 (ff. 44-50; 1st leaf missing)
  • Quires 7-128 (ff. 51-98)
  • Quire 138 (ff. 99-106; 3rd and 6th leaf are both singletons)
  • Quires 14-168 (ff. 107-130)
  • Quire 174 (ff. 131-134)

114-1 (14th excised) | 210-1 (10th canc.) 3-48 58-1 (8th missing) 68-1 (1st missing) 7-128 138(3rd and 6th singletons) 14-168 174

Additions

Table of contents (f. ii recto) and running titles (upper margin of each leaf, recto and verso), in a light brown ink, by the hand of James Cobbes (b. ?1602, d. 1685) . Cobbes also wrongly attributed several texts (including the Antidotarium Nicholai) to Nicholas of Hostresham (see ff. 60v and later).

Quire signatures ('a-r') in the bottom right-hand corner of the recto side of the first leaf of each quire, and '+' in the same position on the first leaf after the centre of the quire, written in pencil by H.L. Pink .

Binding

Medieval (14th-century) binding. Full bound in tawed skin over bevelled-edge wood boards cut flush with the book-block. Five sewing supports of split tawed skin laced into the boards horizontally and secured in place with wood pegs. Covers have an impressed repeating pattern as if wrapped by a thin cord for a significant period of time. Head and tail bands sewn in a neutral cream yarn and anchored through the tawed skin cover at the spine openings. Hook-and-bar fastening in the centre of the fore edge: tawed skin strap embedded in the fore edge of the left board, the free end terminating in a decorative metal hook; metal bar fastening embedded in the fore edge of the right board. Faint traces of spotted design painted onto head, fore, and tail edges of the bookblock.

Two paper labels fixed to the spine with text handwritten in ink: upper label almost entirely gone; lower label '29'. Spine labels added while the manuscript was in the possession of Dr Cox Macro and reflect his library designations.

Front pastedown f. i is parchment and conjoint with the last leaf of the first quire (now cancelled). Left pastedown contains:

  • Current shelfmark in ink 'Add. 6865'
  • The letter 'E' - a size classification used by Cambridge University Library
  • Medieval ownership inscription: 'Bernewell'
  • A note in ink recording the purchase of the manuscript by Cambridge University Library by the hand of Alwyn Faber Scholfield (1884-1969) , University Librarian 1923-1949
  • A paper leaf pasted onto the pastedown along the paper leaf's left edge containing a list of the contents of the volume by James Cobbes. The paper leaf has the separate designation ii.

Former rear pastedown is parchment and has been lifted and is now foliated as f. iii. What is now the recto, f. iii recto, contains the name 'Anthony Shupton' twice in ink, and some pen trials, also in ink.

Medieval sewn repairs to the turn ins on the right board.

Head and fore edge of book-block decorated with red (and blue?) dot pattern.

History

Provenance and Acquisition

Owned by the Augustinian Priory of St Giles and St Andrew in Barnwell, Cambridge. The name 'Bernewell' is written in ink on f. i verso in a medieval hand. The book seems to have been in the possession of a member of the Barnwell community in 1451: on f. 13r, there is an erased inscription printed by J.S. Ringrose in her Summary Catalogue of the Additional Manuscripts: ‘Hic liber pertinet domui canonicorum de Bernwell [...] domino Willelmo Teb[...] canonico eiusdem domus [...] die Octobris Anno Domini 1451.’ As Ringrose points out, this is probably William Tebbald , who was Prior of Barnwell from 26 Nov 1474 until his death on 6 August 1489.

The name Anthony Shupton appears on ff. 14r, 134v, and iii recto. This appears to be the same Anthony Shupton who added his name in several places to London, British Library, Sloane MS 4 . Evidence in the Sloane manuscript suggests that Shupton was alive in 1510, but the dates of his birth and death are unknown.

Owned by James Cobbes (?1602-1685) of Bury St Edmunds, who owned several manuscripts that had once belonged to the Abbey in Bury St Edmunds. Cobbes foliated the manuscript and added running titles to the centre of the upper margin of each leaf, as well as a table of contents on f. ii recto.

For further information about Cobbes as a collector see Beadle (2004).

R. Beadle, 'The manuscripts of James Cobbes of Bury St Edmunds (c. 1602-1685)', in T. Matsuda, R.A. Linethal, J. Scahill (eds.), The medieval book and a modern collector: essays in honour of Toshiyuki Takamiya (Cambridge, 2004), pp. 427-442

In his will, James Cobbes (?1602-1685) left his ‘Bookes and papers concerning Literature’ to his grandson, James Harvy .

Owned by Rev. Dr Cox Macro (1683-1767) of Bury St Edmunds. Macro probably purchased the volume from James Harvy, as several Cobbes manuscripts became part of Macro's collection.

Cambridge, University Library, Add. MS 6865 was manuscript was no. 29 in Cox Macro's library and a label with that designation is still present on the spine, as is his former title label, now mostly torn away. The manuscript was seen among the items in Macro's library by Thomas Tanner (1674-1735) and appears among Macro's possessions in Tanner's Bibliotheca Britannico-Hibernica published in 1748.

For further information about Macro's collection and its later fate, see Beadle (2016).

R. Beadle, 'The manuscripts of James Cobbes of Bury St Edmunds (c. 1602-1685)', in T. Matsuda, R.A. Linethal, J. Scahill (eds.), The medieval book and a modern collector: essays in honour of Toshiyuki Takamiya (Cambridge, 2004), pp. 427-442
R. Beadle, 'Macro MS 5: A Historical Reconstruction', Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society 16.1 (2016), pp. 35-77

After Dr Cox Macro's death, his library passed to his daughter, Mary Macro . Mary Macro married William Stainforth in 1767. After their deaths, the manuscripts passed to William Stainforth's niece Elizabeth Stainforth (b. 1760) . She married John Patteson (1755-1833) who owned the manuscripts until 1820.

John Patteson encountered financial difficulties in the second decade of the 19th century, and in 1820 he sold the Macro manuscripts to London bookseller James Christie (1773-1831) .

The Macro manuscripts were purchased as a group from James Christie the Younger (1773-1831) by Dawson Turner (1775-1858) on the understanding that fellow collector Hudson Gurney would later purchase a portion of the collection.

Purchased from Dawson Turner by Hudson Gurney (1775-1864) of Bawdeswell Hall, Bawdeswell, Norfolk. The manuscript remained with the Gurney family until it was sold by Major Quintin Edward Gurney (1883-1968) in a sale of the Gurney family manuscripts at Sotheby's in 1936.

For further information about Macro's collection see Beadle (2016).

Purchased in the Gurney sale (Sotheby's) on 30 March 1936, lot 153, with funds from the Wilson-Barkworth benefaction.

Part 1 [Cambridge, University Library, MS Add. 6865, ff. 1-12]

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1. 1r-1v
Stans puer ad mensam Robert Grosseteste
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 1r Versus Sancti Roberti Grosseted Lincolniensis
Incipit: 1r Stans puer ad mensam domini bona dogmata discat
Explicit: 1v Hoc penitus caveas ne sociis noceas

Written as prose.

Printed (pp. 61-62) and given the designation 'C' in Gieben, 'Robert Grosseteste and Medieval Courtesy-Books'. This recension stands slightly apart from the other known versions of the poem, but contains the lines of the 'short version' of the poem and includes the line 'Hec qui me docuit grossum caput est sibi nomen' (ln 27 in this manuscript according to Gieben's arrangement of the text).

S. Harrison Thomson, The Writings of Robert Grosseteste Bishop of Lincoln 1235-53 (Cambridge, 1940), pp. 149-150
S. Gieben, 'Robert Grosseteste and Medieval Courtesy Books', Vivarium, 5.1, pp. 47-74
2. 1r-2r
Grammatical mnemonics and notes in verse and prose on theological matters
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 1r Est uenio
Explicit: 2r Sapientia dicitur quasi sapida scientia . et est de diuinis . Prudencia non de humanis . Animaduertite .i. ad animad(?)

Text is copied in the margins and blank spaces of f. 1r, including a portion of text copied upside down. Text continues onto f. 1v and into the upper and lower margins of f. 2r.

3. 2r-2v
De varietate sensuum sacrae scripturae
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 2r Sunt enim sacre scripture sensus duo
Explicit: 2v Sed beda super tabernaculum aliter distinguit
4. 2v
On Simony (De simonia)
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 2v Simoniaci uero domum dei destruunt
Explicit: 2v in inferno crudelius cruciabuntur
5. 2v
Copy of a letter from the Prioress and Sisters of St James without Huntingdon (Hinchningbrooke Priory), to John Bokyngham, Bishop of Lincoln Prioress and Sisters of St James without Huntingdon
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 2v Reuerendo in Christo
Explicit: 2v anno domini millesimo trecentesimo octagesimo

Copy of a letter from the Prioress (?Joan Tichmersh) and Sisters of St James without Huntingdon (Hinchingbrooke Priory), Huntingdon to John Bokyngham (d. ?1399) , bishop of Lincoln, presenting the bearer, Walter Sayer of Hook Norton (Oxfordshire), for admission by ordination to the title of their house. The letter is dated 4 kal. March, 1380, (perhaps 27 Feb 1381), which is a terminus post quem for this copy of the letter.

6. 3r-11v
Notes for 14 sermons
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 3r Dic ut lapides isti panes fiant
Explicit: 11v euangelium legem et econtrario
7. 11v-12v
Miscellaneous notes metaphysics, natural philosophy and other subjects
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 11v Nota quod diabolus
Explicit: 12v liberati sunt

Contains five lines from the Sentences of the Four Philosophers on the degeneracy of the times.

eTK 0941J (t0181490000)

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 2r Sunt enim sacre scripturae sensus duo
Form: codex
Support: Parchment (HFFH)
Extent: Codex: 12 leaves. 245 × 160 mm.

Collation

One quire, originally of 14 leaves, now 12. The first leaf is now the left pastedown and has the foliation f. i. The original 14th leaf has been cut away and only a stub remains.

Condition

Leaves are stained. Some text lost to rubbing. The first leaf (f. 1) torn in half vertically and repaired with a running stitch in a neutral-cream yarn; repair is probably medieval.

Layout

180 × 115 mm. Ruled predominantly in two-column format frame and lines; 40 lines to the column, vertical lines ruled in ink, horizontal lines ruled in leadpoint. Written above top line. Written in unruled single-column format ff. 1rv, 12v, and the lower portions of 11v-12r.

Hand(s)

Written in northern textualis libraria with anglicana features.

History

Origin: 14th century. ; England, probably the Augustinian Priory in Barnwell, Cambridgeshire.

Part 2 [Cambridge University Library, MS Add. 6865, ff. 13-134]

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1. 13r-13v
Medical recipes
Language(s): Latin

Copied by several hands of the 13th and possibly early 14th centuries. The recipes on f. 13r are as follows:

  • for wounds and fistula ('Ad uulneratos et ad fistulam')
  • for swelling of the spleen ('Ad Tumorem splenis')
  • for swelling where there is no wound ('Ad tumorem ubi non est uulnus')
The recipes on f. 13v are as follows:
  • a glorious electuary ('Electuarium gloriosum')
  • a poor man's electuary ('Electuarium pauperum')
  • a pill against quartan fever
  • an Arabic pill against head pain and many other illnesses. | Full transcription: Pillule arabice ad dolorem capitis et alias multas egritudines . que . R[ecipe] aloe epaticum [scrupulus] iiii brionie mastici . bacare . scamonee ana [drachma] . i . confice cum succo cauli vel feniculi et fac pillulas in modis fabe et da ante cibum vel post. |Full translation: An Arabic pill for head-pain and many other illnesses. Take aloe resin, four scruples; bryony, mastic, hazelwort, scammony, of each one drachm; mix with the juice of caul or fennel and make pills in the manner of beans and give before food or after.
  • ?St Luke's Salt (?'Sal sancti luce' - a powder 'utuntur scolares ad salutis custodia', i.e. which scholars use to preserve their health)
  • recipe for an unstated purpose (beginning 'Cuminata...')
  • a marvellous electuary to comfort/strengthen the stomach ('Electuarium mirabile ad confortandum stomachum')
  • a powder for thinning ('Puluis Extenuatium')
  • a pleasant and gentle powder for purging ('Puluis suauiter pugans et modeste')
  • a bitter powder ('Puluis amaris')

2. 14r-60r
Breviarium Johannes de Sancto Paulo
Language(s): Latin
2.1. 14r
Preface to the Breviarium Johannes de Sancto Paulo
Rubric: 14r Incipit breuiarius a magistro iohanne de sancto paulo editus
Incipit: 14r Assiduis peticionibus me karissimi compendiose morborum signum
Explicit: 14r et scie manuum . et pedum uinta uero de febribus
2.2. 14r-60r
Breviarium Johannes de Sancto Paulo
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 14r Incipit liber de generalibus signis et causis egri
Incipit: 14r Quoniam longitudini in hoc opere
Explicit: 60r Uos secundum scripta ista operamini . urina opera dirigente deo omnipotente
Final rubric: 60r Explicit . liber . 4us . feliciter

Gap in text between Book 2, 'De lapide' (ends imperfectly, 'oleo laurino pulegio', on f. 43v) and Book 3, 'De gonorea' (begins imperfectly, 'et litargiro lamina', on f. 44r).

eTK 0153F (t0029510000)
eTK 0153F (t0029520000)
eTK 1284F (t0246600000)
eTK 1284F (t0246610000)
3. 60v-79v
Antidotarium Nicholai Nicholas
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 61r Ego Nicolaus rogatus a quibusdam in practica medicine
Explicit: 79v amicorum plenitudine glorientur

Preceded on ff. 60v-61r by a list of antidotes.

Attributed (wrongly) to Nicholas of Hostresham by James Cobbes (see margins).

eTK 0165G (t0031900000)
eTK 0490B (t0095880000)
eTK 0490B (t0095890000)
4. 79v-81r
Synonima Antidotarii Nicolai
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 79v Artemisia id est matricaria
Explicit: 81r Zucozaria id est agnus castus uel salices

Attributed (wrongly) to Nicholas of Hostresham by James Cobbes (see margins).

eTK 0147E (t0028160000)
eTK 1058J (t0202510000)
5. 81v-116r
Treatise(s) on various ailments

Attributed (wrongly) to Nicholas of Hostresham by James Cobbes (see margins).

'Our MS resembles the text in the extracts printed from an Ambrosian MS by S. de Renzi, Collectio Salernitana, 5 vols (Naples, 1852-59), vol. 4, pp. 292-314, there described as "Cure Petroncelli": see George Sarton, Introduction to the History of Science (Baltimore, 1927-48), vol. 2, i, p. 438' (Ringrose).

Ringrose (2009), p. 282
5.1. 81v-103v
De passionibus
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 81v Incipit tractatus de passione capitis
Incipit: 81v Caput multis passionibus diuersisque humoribus uel in existentibus
Explicit: 103v et lapis intus imponatur

Title from eTK. The treatise begins with ailments of the head, moving downwards through the body, and ending with bladder complaints.

eTK 0191J (t0036600000)
5.2. 103v-106v
Treatise on obstetrics and gynaecology
Incipit: 103v Matrix ad humanam generationem membrum maxime multis subiacens passionibus
Explicit: 106v nisi facinus deletum fuerit concipere

Gaps have been left for rubrics.

eTK 0852F (t0164130000)
5.3. 106v-107v
Treatise on sciatic pain
Incipit: 106v Passio sciatica plurimum fit
Explicit: 107v uinum limphatum et subtile bibant et cetera

Gaps have been left for rubrics.

eTK 1028E (t0197550000)
5.4. 107v-108r
Treatise on stomach pain
Rubric: 107v De stomoaco
Incipit: 107v Cum sit stomachus pro nature necessitate
Explicit: 108r et sepius humanum corpus molestant insequimur
eTK 0343G (t0067550000)
5.5. 108r-116r
Treatise on fevers
Rubric: 108r Incipit de febribus
Incipit: 108r Febris autem diffinitionem breuitatis
Explicit: 116r uel succus riquilicie . sublingua ponatur
eTK 0550M (t0107120000)
eTK 1036C (t0199050000)
eTK 1053G (t0202510000)
6. 116r-133r
Treatise on the preparation of medicines
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 116r Incipit tractatus de aquis . sirupis . clisteribus et oleis suppo\sito/riis . pessariis s.m.p.\d./m. et de syringis
Incipit: 116r Cum multiphariam siroporum habeatur diuisio
Explicit: 133r et ista sufficiant de pessariis et finita sunt . amen

'The text resembles in places the treatise in the Salernitan MS (Wrocław, Public Library, MS 1302), summarised by S. de Renzi, Collectio Salernitana, 5 vols (Naples, 1852-59), vol. 2, pp. 31-34; cf. also the description of the same MS by K. Sudhoff, 'Die Salernitaner Handschrift in Breslau', Archiv für Geschichte der Medizin, 12 (1920), 101-148 (p. 115)' (Ringrose).

Recipe for aiding conception (f. 132v). |Full transcription: Vel combure uuluam leporis . et da puluerem cum uino in potum . et etiam subpone similiter cum uino . et cum bombace . vel spumam ouis quam facit dum ruminat . in tempore coitus . subpone cum bombace . |Full translation: Or, burn the womb of a hare and give the ashes with wine in a drink. And also place underneath [the woman] wine together with silk, or the saliva of a sheep that it makes while it chews with silk, at the time of sexual intercourse.

eTK 0320C (ff. 116r-130r) (t0062680000)
eTK 1070J (ff. 120r-123v) (t0206130000)
eTK 0426G (ff. 123v-130r) (t0084190000)
eTK 0123A (f. 126v) (t0023470000)
eTK 0228B (ff. 130r-133r) (t0043470000)
Ringrose (2009), p. 282
7. 133r-134v
Medical and veterinary recipes and charms

The recipes on ff. 133r-133v were written by a hand of the 13th century, similar to that of the preceding text. The recipes on f. 133r address the following issues:

  • to remove freckles ('Ad lentigines auferendas')
  • ?'Ad restringendum quod scio'
  • for a mark on the face ('Ad pannum faciei')
  • for lack of hair and to make it glossy ('Ad pollas capillorum et nitidos faciendos')
  • to get rid of pain and swelling of whatever ?kind ('Ad dolorem et tumorem cuiuslibet ?maneris remouendum')
The recipes on f. 133v address the following issues:
  • to reduce sciatica and arthritis/cramp ('Sciatici et artetici minuantur')
  • to whiten and bring colour to the face ('Ad faciem dealbandam et colorandam')
  • for freckles and blemishes which appear on the face ('Ad lentigines et sordidamina quae in facie apparent')
  • to bring colour to the face ('Medicamentum ad faciem colorandam')
  • a bath for quartan fever ('Balneum ad quartanam')
  • an emetic for quartan and cotidian fever ('Vomitus ad quartanas et cotidianas')
  • for warts ('Ad uerrucas')
  • charms if a horse has become lame ('Si equus infusus fuerit')

The recipes on ff. 134r-134v have been written on blank spaces by several hand of the 13th and 14th centuries. Those on f. 134r address the following issues:

  • a plaster against worms ('Emplastrum ad lumbricos')
  • a proven potion against paralysis (Potio probata ad paralisim')
  • a cloth (i.e. a salve placed upon a piece of textile) against worms ('Pannus ad lumbricos')
  • a suppository for those who cannot defecate ('Suppositorium ad eos qui non posset assellare')
  • a suppository for an unstated purpose
  • another recipe (beginning 'Oua formicarum...') for an unstated purpose
  • three recipes to dye one's hair black ('Ad denigrandos capillos')
  • a charm for ?pockmarks ('...Sanctus nicasius minutam habuit uariolam...)
  • a salve for saucefleme ('Vnguentum ad salsum fleuma')
The recipes on f. 134v address the following issues:
  • a charm for uncertain purpose ('Ad ?hugubrum breue')
  • a plaster for an unstated purpose
  • a long passage comprising two recipes, for uncertain purpose (text faded)
  • the best salve for pain in the stomach and side ('Vnguentum optimum contra dolorem stomachum et laterum')
  • a recipe for uncertain purpose (text faded).

8. 133v, 134v
Text on ?dosing
Incipit: 133v Si par est tunc per medium semel adde proprie
Explicit: 134v Si contra . tunc pars maior se colligat ipsam

Each line is written under a series of Roman numerals.

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 15r eadem . et decoctio seminum
Form: codex
Support: Parchment (HFFH)
Extent: Codex: 123 leaves. 240 × 165 mm.

Collation

  • Quire 28+1 (ff. 13-21; 1st leaf inserted)
  • Quires 3-48 (ff. 22-37)
  • Quire 58-1 (ff. 38-43; 8th leaf missing) (includes duplicated f. 42)
  • Quire 68-1 (ff. 44-50; 1st leaf missing)
  • Quires 7-128 (ff. 51-98)
  • Quire 138 (ff. 99-106; 3rd and 6th leaf are both singletons)
  • Quires 14-168 (ff. 107-130)
  • Quire 174 (ff. 131-134)

Catchwords present in the lower inner corner of the final versos of Quires 4, 7, 8, 9.

Condition

Trimmed for binding with loss of some catchwords and all medieval quire and leaf signatures. Some leaves stained with marks from objects (e.g., the opening ff. 66v-67r) or splashes of various liquids.

Layout

190 × 115 mm. Ruled in light brown ink, frame and lines, typically 37 lines to the column. Written in two-column format above top line. The final leaf, f. 134rv is unruled and is written in single-column format.

Hand(s)

Written in late English protogothic by four scribes, in the following stints: ff. 14r-60r, 60v-61r, 61v-81r and 81v-133v.

Medical recipes added to ff. 13rv and 134rv in a northern textualis libraria characterised by long ascenders and descenders with a backward-leaning terminal flick.

Decoration

Flourished initials of the 'Arabesque' type, several lines high at the major divisions of the text; red initials with minor decorative elements sometimes added in yellow.

Plain red initials for lemma in glossaries and lists of contents and for some minor divisions of the texts.

Rubrication (red only) for titles of texts and headings to some major and minor divisions of the texts.

Additions

Oval Cambridge University Library stamp in red ink on ff. 14r and 134r.

History

Origin: First half of the 13th century (after 1215). ; England, probably the Augustinian Priory in Barnwell, Cambridgeshire.

As Jayne Ringrose notes, this part of the manuscript is 'written in clear xii/xiii cent. English bookhands...', however the copying can have taken place no earlier than 1215, the latest estimated date of death of Iohannes de Sancto Paulo, author of the text on ff. 14r-16r.

Additional Information

Record Sources

This catalogue entry draws on Jayne Ringrose, Summary Catalogue of the Additional Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge University Library acquired before 1940 (Woodbridge, 2009), by kind permission of the Boydell Press.

This catalogue entry also draws on an unpublished description of the manuscript composed between 1948 and 1970 by H.L. Pink , now held in the University Archives (UA ULIB 7/3/75) and also available as a (digitised scan).

Availability

Entry to read in the Library is permitted only on presentation of a valid reader's card. For information on eligibility and admissions procedures, see Joining the Library). For further enquiries, and to confirm the availability of the manuscript, please contact the Special Collections Reading Room.

Custodial History

The manuscript was displayed as part of the exhibition Curious Cures: Medicine in the Medieval World (Cambridge University Library, 29 March-6 December 2025) (ff. 132v-133r and 13v-14r).

Bibliography

    The writings of Robert Grosseteste, Bishop of Lincoln 1235-1253, Harrison Thomson, Samuel (London, Cambridge University Press, 1940) Robert Grosseteste and Medieval Courtesy-Books Vivarium, Gieben, Servus (5, 1, 47-74, 1967, https://www.jstor.org/stable/41963900) Some Lydgate Manuscripts: <hi rend="italics">The Siege of Thebes</hi> Edinburgh Bibliographical Society transactions, Seymour, M. C. (6, 149-177, 1995) Women's healthcare in the medieval West: texts and contexts Collected studies, Green, Monica H. (Aldershot, Ashgate, 2000) The manuscripts of James Cobbes of Bury St Edmunds (c. 1602-1685) The medieval book and a modern collector: essays in honour of Toshiyuki Takamiya, Beadle, Richard (Cambridge, 427-442, D.S. Brewer, 2004) Summary catalogue of the additional medieval manuscripts in Cambridge University Library acquired before 1940, Ringrose, Jayne (Woodbridge, Boydell Press, 2009) La tradición manuscrita del Breviarium de Johannes de Sancto Paulo Exemplaria Classica, Ferreira, Ana Isabel MartínGonzález, Alejandro García (14, 2010, https://www.uhu.es/publicaciones/ojs/index.php/exemplaria/article/view/722) Macro MS 5: A Historical Reconstruction Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, Beadle, Richard (16, 1, 35-77, 2016) La Practica de Plateario: edición crítica, traducción y estudio Edizione nazionale dei testi mediolatini d'Italia, (Firenze, SISMEL: edizioni del Galluzzo, 2016)

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Wellcome

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