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 Dd.12.51

Scientific and medical texts

Contents

Introduction: This manuscript comprises three parts of different dates and places of origin. The first, made in the later 15th century, is a copy of the Middle English Treatise on the Astrolabe. Written by Geoffrey Chaucer (d. 1400), and ostensibly addressing his son Lewis, this text explains the various functions and uses of this widespread astronomic instrument. The second text is a copy of the lapidary treatise of Marbod of Rennes (1035-1123), the Liber lapidum. Written in Latin verse, it sets out the various properties - in particular the magical and medicinal virtues - of gemstones such as adamantis, agate, alectoria and sapphire. The third text is a compilation of medical recipes, also in Latin. The earliest definitive evidence of these texts being bound together dates from the later 16th or 17th century, the approximate date of the hand that added a table of contents that mentions all three to f. v recto. The presence there also of an ownership inscription of the 16th century, of a '?Jhon Hanleys', raises the possibility that they were bound together from a still earlier date. Closely similar though the dimensions of these three parts are, it is possible that it was more than mere codicological convenience that brought them together. Each has a bearing on medical practice of the later medieval period. First, astrological observations played a role in determining auspicious or perilous times to conduct medical and especially surgical interventions such as blood-letting (see the introduction to Cambridge, University Library, MS Add. 3303(3) for further discussion of astrological medicine). Astrolabes were a useful instrument in this process, allowing their user - among other things - to identify specific stars and planets. Second, medieval people lived in a world that was divinely created and organised for the inhabitation and benefit of mankind. It was thus entirely logical that plants, animals and even stones and minerals might possess curative potential - and the more rare and more precious these were, it was thought, the greater their healing powers might be. Third, by the late medieval period, there had developed a large and highly varied body of empirical medical knowledge: that is, remedies that drew on these aforementioned resources, and which people knew (or thought they knew) to be effective, even if they did not necessarily understand why that was: which was the active ingredient, for instance, or what was the particular mechanism at work. It is possible, therefore, that one or more late medieval readers gathered these texts together, and/or made or commissioned copies of additional texts that would fit within the same binding as others already in their possession, in order to assemble a single volume that addressed some of these key medical topics. It is unfortunate that damage to the manuscript - in particular damp - has made passages in the first and third parts difficult to read. Dr James Freeman| Medieval Manuscripts Specialist| Cambridge University Library

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Parchment
Extent: Codex: iii + v + 66 | 14 | 6 + iv + iii leaves. 135-155 × 95-105 mm.
Foliation:

19th- and 20th-century foliation

[a-c] + i-v + 1-66 | 1-14 | 1-6 + vi-ix + [d-f]

Written in pencil in the upper right-hand corner of the recto side of each leaf, the first part by Henry Bradshaw (1831-1886) , University Librarian 1867-1886, the rest by one or more unidentified hands of the 20th century. For the purposes of this digital record, these three foliation sequences are differentiated by numbers that relate to each Part of the manuscript, thus: 1:1-1:66 | 2:1-2:14 | 3:1-3:6.

Collation

  • Quires 1-512 (ff. 1:1-1:60)
  • Quire 66 (ff. 1:61-1:66) |
  • Quire 78 (ff. 2:1-2:8)
  • Quire 82 (ff. 2:9-2:10)
  • Quire 94 (ff. 2:11-2:14) |
  • Quire 106 (ff. 3:1-3:6)

1-512 66 | 78 82 94 | 106

Additions

Table of contents written in ink by a later 16th or 17th-century hand on f. v recto.

Note by Henry Bradshaw (1831-1886) on f. i verso - '1) Chaucer, Tractatus Astrolabii' - and another note by an unidentified hand - 'Damaged by damp - leaves stuck together. [Report by M.R. James in 1925.]'

Quire signatures ('a-f' for Part 1, '1-2' for Part 2, 'A' for Part 3), 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 one or more hands of the 19th/20th century.

A collation formula written in pencil by H.L. Pink (rear pastedown).

Binding

Rebound by W.H. Smith and Son , London, July 1960. Red-brown leather over boards, sewn on five bands. Title and classmark tooled in gold on the spine. See note by H.L. Pink (front pastedown).

Portion of spine label retained from 18th-century binding and adhered to front pastedown. Title tooled in gold: '[T]racts M.S.'.

History

Provenance and Acquisition

Inscription by a 16th-century hand: ' Jhon Hanleys '

A certain date of accession is not known, however the manuscript is first recorded among the collections of Cambridge University Library in a catalogue compiled in 1754-56 by Thomas Goodall (now Cambridge, University Library, MS Oo.7.53-55). The manuscript may have belonged to John Moore (1646-1714) , bishop of Ely, and it contains the donation bookplate engraved by John Pine (1690-1756) in 1736, in commemoration of the purchase and donation of Moore's library by George I (1660-1727) (front pastedown). However, it has not been possible to identify this manuscript among Moore's collections as recorded in Bernard, Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliæ et Hiberniæ (c. 1697) or in the handwritten supplementary list of Moore's manuscripts (now MS Oo.7.50(2)) compiled by Thomas Tanner (1674-1735) after its publication, and these bookplates are not wholly reliable guides to a manuscript's provenance and acquisition.

D. McKitterick, Cambridge University Library: A History. The Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986), pp. 141, 215

Part 1: Chaucer, Treatise on the astrolabe [Cambridge, University Library, MS Dd.12.51, ff. 1:1-1:66]

Contents

Language(s): Middle English and Latin

1. 1:1r-1:63v
Treatise on the Astrolabe Geoffrey Chaucer
Language(s): Middle English and Latin
Rubric: 1:1r: astrolabia
Incipit: 1:1r: Lyte Lowys my sone
Explicit: 1:63v: and so of all oþer et cetera||
Final rubric: 1:63v: Explicit tractatus astrolabii

Opening rubric written by a later hand. Ends imperfectly at II.42. Part of Subgroup 1B and closely affiliated to New York, Columbia University, MS Plimpton 254 .

eVK2 3386.00 (v0058760000)
eVK2 7336.00 (v0058770000)
Seymour (1995), pp. 104, 113

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 1:2r: beeth
Form: codex
Support: Parchment (FHHF)
Extent: Codex: 66 leaves. 140-150 × 95-100 mm.

Collation

  • Quires 1-512 (ff. 1:1-1:60)
  • Quire 66 (ff. 1:61-1:66)

Late medieval alphanumeric leaf signatures ('a-f'), with Arabic numerals.

 Catchwords.

Layout

105-110 × 65-70 mm. Ruled in leadpoint, frame only. Single columns, 16-18 lines to the page, written below top line.

Hand(s)

Written by a single hand in a very cursive secretary. Some rubrics written in a display script.

Decoration

One- to three-line plain initials in at the beginning of textual sections.

Additions

'Sancta mater Anna': inscription by late 15th-century hand in the upper margin of f. 1:1r.

Chapter numbers written in the margins in pencil by Henry Bradshaw (1831-1886) , University Librarian 1867-1886.

History

Origin: Late 15th century. ; England.

Marbod of Rennes, Liber lapidum [Cambridge, University Library, MS Dd.12.51, ff. 2:1-2:14]

Contents

Language(s): Latin

2. 2:1r-2:14r
Liber lapidum Marbod of Rennes
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 2:1r: Incipit libellus Marbodi de lapidibus
Incipit: 2:1r: Evax rex arabumlegitur scripsisse neroni
Explicit: 2:14r: Propter quod lapidum titulo liber iste notatur
Final rubric: 2:14r: Explicit liber de lapidibus. Nomine sed lapidis species signantur utreque
PL 171: 1737-1770
WIC 5968
eTK 0530C

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 2:2r: nature non artis
Form: codex
Support: Parchment (HFFH)
Extent: Codex: 14 leaves. 145-155 × 85-90 mm.

Collation

  • Quire 78 (ff. 2:1-2:8)
  • Quire 82 (ff. 2:9-2:10)
  • Quire 94 (ff. 2:11-2:14)

Layout

110-120 × 60-70 mm. Pricking marks for lines, but no ruling visible. Single columns, 27-32 lines to the page.

Hand(s)

Written in a semi-gothic bookhand, by perhaps three hands of the second half of the 12th century or first half of the 13th century. Display script of capitals used for rubrics.

Decoration

Three- to four-line plain initials in red, at the beginning of each chapter.

History

Origin: Second half of the 12th century or first half of the 13th century. ; Perhaps ?England or ?France.

Part 3: Medical recipes [Cambridge, University Library, MS Dd.12.51, ff. 3:1-3:6]

Contents

Language(s): Latin

3. 3:1r-3:6v
Medical recipes
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 3:1r: Celidonia capus purgat dolorem

Text faded. Final section concerns wounds ('Uulna sit...'), but does not appear to end imperfectly.

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 3:2r: in suo
Form: codex
Support: Parchment (FHHF)
Extent: Codex: 6 leaves. 145-150 × 105 mm.

Collation

  • Quire 106 (ff. 3:1-3:6)

Layout

110-120 × 75-85 mm. Ruled in leadpoint, frame only. Single columns, 34-37 lines to the page (those on f. 3:4r written more irregularly), written below top line.

Hand(s)

Written in a small textualis bookhand, apparently by a single scribe (though see f. 3:4r).

History

Origin: 14th century. ; ?England.

Additional Information

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.

Bibliography

    A Catalogue of Chaucer Manuscripts, Seymour, M.C. (Aldershot, 1: Works before the Canterbury Tales, Scolar Press, 1995) Manuscripts in the University Library, Cambridge (Dd-Oo) Index of Middle English Prose, Connolly, Margaret (Woodbridge, D.S. Brewer, 2009, https://doi.org/10.1017/9781846157363) Late Medieval English Scribes: CUL MS Dd.12.51, part 1 Late Medieval English Scribes, Mooney, LinneStubbs, Estelle (2011, http://www.medievalscribes.com/index.php?navtype=manuscripts&navlocation=Cambridge&browse=manuscripts&navlibrary=Cambridge+University+Library&id=16&nav=off)

Funding of Cataloguing

Wellcome

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Cambridge Digital Library

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