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 Ee.1.13

Medical manuscript

Contents

Introduction: This composite manuscript predominantly contains a Middle English translation of the Circa Instans, a Latin work on the medicinal properties of plants, animals, and minerals, which was attributed to the Salernitan physician Matthaeus Platearius. The manuscript also contains a Middle English translation by Nicholas Bollard of Godfridus super Palladium de agricultura, a manual that instructs readers how to graft and cultivate trees, and the translator's own Book of Grafting and Planting. It also features various medical and alchemical recipes and tracts. While the manuscript's first part (ff. 1r-96v) [identified as Part 2 in this catalogue record because it is preceded by a single leaf from an older medieval manuscript that has been reused as an endleaf for this manuscript] may have been written slightly earlier than its second part (ff. 97r-151v) [Part 3 in this catalogue record], the 16th-century ownership inscriptions that occur in both parts indicate that they have been joined together from an early stage. The cataloguing of this manuscripts has made visible the extensive ownership notes and legal texts that were added by one of its earliest owners: Henry Hancoke (fl. c. 1573) of Stubley in the parish of Dronfield, Derbyshire. Dr Clarck Drieshen| Project Cataloguer in Curious Cures in Cambridge Libraries| Cambridge University Library

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: The manuscript opens with two parchment leaves (ff. i-ii) taken from another manuscript [Part 1]; the remainder of the manuscript consists of two separate parts [Parts 2 and 3] consisting of paper leaves (ff. 1-151).
Extent: Codex: iv + 2 | 96 | + 54 + iv leaves.
Foliation:

Mid-20th-century foliation:

[a]-[d] + i-ii, 1-96 | 97-139, 141-151 + [e]-[h]

Numbering in pencil in the upper right-hand corner of the rectos. Folio numbers 140 and 152 assigned to leaves no longer present in the volume (as per historic foliation practice at Cambridge University Library).

Collation

  • One bifolium |
  • Quires 1-128 (ff. 1-96) |
  • Quires 13-1412 (ff. 97-120
  • Quire 1510 (ff. 121-130
  • Quire 1610-1 (ff. 131-139: 10th leaf missing)
  • Quire 1712-1 (ff. 141-151: 12th leaf missing)

1-128 13-1412 1510 1610-1 (10th missing) 1712-1 (12th missing).

Additions

Marginal additions by Henry Hancoke, fl. c. 1573 of Stubley in the parish of Dronfield, Derbyshire concerning drafts of letters and indentures:

  • f. ii verso: two untranscribed marginal words that may be in Hancoke's hand.
  • f. 20r: ‘After my most harty commend[ations] vnto yow stryfeng to god that yow by in good helt as I wasse at the makying herof peressed by all mygth god’.
  • f. 40v: ‘Robart hepenstow of’.
  • f. 43v: ‘thes is to let yow have vnderstand [...]’.
  • f. 49v: ‘In the nam of god Amen In the xv day of Augest in the yeare of owr loord 1573 I thomas Cotlaws of Nort’.
  • f. 50r: ‘Wylliam stenrood of dronffeld in the name of god Amen I have my most harti commendations vnto yow mathay massone of london / in the name of god amen I have my most harti commendasion vnto yow my son Wylliam more of Bradwey’.
  • f. 67v: ‘Rememberans mak thys my lat wyll and testament exsep I tak any other mean[es] ffor’.
  • f. 74v: ‘In the name of god amen in the x day of Januari in the year of owr Lord 1572 I Robart Barkar of brampton in the conty of’.
  • f. 75r: ‘This indayntur mad the first day of ffebruary in the xv yeare of the regne of owr soverant Lady quene Elyzabeth by the’, and ‘Rychard sheather of sheffeld is my name / And with my hand I wrot the same - In the name of god Amen I Robart Woodus of tootle in the parishe of dronfeld in the conty of darby yoman’.
  • f. 80r: ‘wyt dyssar lendes to the som belongin heiris to be moted that I Robart Woodos of Totle in the par[i]she of drouffeld in the conty of Darby yomon of the town parte Wyliam mason of stobbe in the sam paryshe of the other party wher’.
  • f. 82r: ‘Thys indentur mad the ix day of march in the first yere of the rean', and 'To my derly beloved father and mother in Low wyll haslam of Dronffeld in the conty of Darby yomon of the tone party and Elisabethe oxser cooffte of the othar party [...]’.
  • f. 96v: ‘To my loveyeng forynd Thomas hancok of stuble in the Conty of Darby yoman of the the one party and Robart Hepanstow of Draufeld’ and ‘Thes indenture made the xxv day of may in the xiiij yera of the Ren of owre soverant Lady [quene] Elizabethe by the grasse of god quen of England bytwen Robart hancok of stuble in the paryshe of drofeld in [the] conty of Darby and Thomas Coutlaf of the same tow[n] and conty of the other party wytness that the aforsed Robart hancok [...]’.
  • f. 97r: ‘This to let yow vnderstand that [...]’.
  • f. 104r: ‘Henry Arthar the casse of my wrayteng vnto yow at thes [...] is to let you vnderstand of ane’.
  • f. 121r: ‘Darfilde’.

Other texts apparently in Hancoke's hand include:

  • Religious instructions on f. 40r: ‘forst of all aftor mette yow most thank god of heys geyftes gret and low and pres your hevenly kyng and pre hem of heys . dear blesseyng for ever and ever Amen’.
  • Sayings on f. 48r: ‘The father sed to the son hapy wasse hey [...]’ and f. 49r: ‘The father sed to the sone blesed by the son [...]’.
  • Motto on f. 136r: ‘This booke is littell worthe / so saithe Tome Trothe’.

Quire signatures ('1-17') 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 a hand of the 19th/20th century.

Collation formula by the hand of H.L. Pink (rear pastedown).

Binding

Binding by W. H. Smith and Son Ltd. in London, February 1963, according to a note on the inside cover: Quarter leather with marbled paper covering over millboards and plain pastedowns. The classmark and a title: 'Medica et Alchemica' are tooled in gold on the spine.

Binding height: 210 mm; width: 145 mm; depth: 40 mm.

History

Provenance and Acquisition

Richard Slacke (fl. 1572) : owned or accessed the manuscript in 1572: his initials inscribed on f. 139r (‘Per me R.S. 1572’) followed by a note: ‘I Rychard slacke beinge sike in bodye but whole’ and another note by him on f. 38r and f. 94v: ‘1572 Mi mestar is sicat heys hart wisen hey wyll amend I canot tell verely bat god amen hem sone if yow cold amen hem wyll geff yow xli of good and lastelle [...] this monet of Dugland at the fest of natyvety of John Baptes nex ensueng’; perhaps Richard Slacke (1555-1593) of Derbyshire, son of William Slacke and Alice Scholey.

Henry Hancoke (fl. c. 1573) of Stubley in the parish of Dronfield, Derbyshire:

his ownership inscriptions in the margins of:

  • f. 19r: ‘Henry hancoke off the conty of darby woeth theys bock god ssend hem wyelle ssped of [...] all’.
  • f. 61v: ‘Henry hancok of stuble in the Conty of Darby wohs thes bock’.
  • f. 65v: ‘Henry hancok of stuble in the xxvi day of August in the xv yere of the Ren of owre sover’.
  • f. 92r: ‘Henry hancok of stuble est p[?ossessor]’.
  • f. 103v: ‘Henry hancok of stuble woeth thys book’.

Hancoke's name is written in the margins of: ff. 16v, 39v, 66r, 92r (with the name ‘Arthor Barekar of totle’ in Hancoke's hand), 95v, 104v, 107r, 108v, 114v.

Hancoke's name also appears in an erased inscription in the margin of f. 73v, and in a memorandum in the margin of f. 81v: ‘In name of god amen the xv day of August in the year of owr lord M d lxxiij I henry hancok of stuble seyll in bad of good and per[...]’.

John Moore (1646-1714) , bishop of Ely: no. 196 (written on f. 1r) in Bernard, Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliæ et Hiberniæ (c. 1697).

Presented to the University Library in 1715 by George I : donation bookplate engraved by John Pine in 1736 on the front pastedown.

Part 1:Former pastedown and endleaf [Cambridge, University Library, MS Ee.1.13, ff. i recto-ii verso]

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1. i recto-ii verso
Liturgical fragment from a funeral service
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: ||i verso domus mea est et in [tenebris straui lectulum meum] putredini dixi pater meus es mater mea et soror mea vermibus
Explicit: ii verso atque a contagiis mortalitatis exutam in aeternae saluationis partem restitue. per quem||

The text on f. i recto is heavily worn and mostly illegible.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Parchment (HFFH)
Extent: Fragment, comprising a bifolium from another manuscript, recycled for use as a pastedown (now lifted) and endleaf. 2 leaves. 200 × 130-135 mm.

Collation

This part of the manuscripts consists of a single bifolium.

Condition

The text on f. i recto has become illegible due to rubbing and glue stains, probably because the leaf was once a pastedown.

Layout

185 × 85 mm. Ruling in hardpoint, frame and lines. Single columns of about 40 lines. The upper lines are missing due to cropping of the leaves.

Hand(s)

Protogothic

Decoration

Two-line initials in red, some with minor forms of arabesque decoration.

Headers at the beginning of different sections and letters 'v' and 'r' at the beginning of versicles and responses rubricated in red.

Additions

History

Origin: First half of the 12th century. ; ?England.

Part 2 [Cambridge, University Library, MS Ee.1.13, ff. 1r-96v]

Contents

Language(s): Middle English with dialectal features locatable to Suffolk [see LALME, I: 66-67], and Latin

1. 1r-91v
Herbal (Circa instans) Matthaeus Plateaurius (attrib.)
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 1r Aloen hath vertu to purge flewme and colour and hit clensith malenkoly and hit comfortyth membres that bethe senewy
Explicit: 91v In suripes .ij. li. of sugur þer schal be .5. q. of watur and þowȝ þer be more watur þer is non harm but for þe enduryng amen quod Gerford

Descriptions for the medical purposes of more than 270 herbs, organised in alphabetical order.

eVK2 0859.00 (v0058810000)
For other copies, see Connolly (2009), p. 87
Garrido-Anes (2020)
2. 91v-93v
Collection of medical and veterinary recipes
Language(s): Latin and Middle English
Incipit: 91v Medicina optima pro scabie et prurito
Explicit: 93v contra malum mortuum

Mainly in Latin, but also including Middle English medical recipes to treat pain in a horse and to treat sciatica on f. 92r. Written in the same hand that copied the recipes on ff. 95r-96v. They address the following:

  • f. 91v: for scabies and itching
  • f. 92r: for pains in a horse, for cleansing leprosy, two for unstated purposes, for aching limbs and sciatica (copied by a different hand)
  • f. 92v: two for stopping menstruation, three for scabs on the head ('Ad sanandum tineam id est glabrum') (continuing on f. 93r)
  • ff. 93r-93v: for scabies in the extremities

eVK2 6425.00 (v0058820000)
For other copies, see Connolly (2009), p. 87
3. 94r
A verse
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 91v Interpone tuis interdum gaudia curis

Full transcription.

4. 95r-96r
Collection of medical recipes
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 95r Caveat pacius ab omni aqua fridiga
Explicit: 96r et reliquam pulveris in panno lineo sicto vulne imponatur etcaetera

Written by the same hand that copied the recipes on ff. 91v-93v. They address the following:

  • f. 95r: for ulcers, and two for infertility (continuing on f. 95v)
  • f. 95v: for scabies (continuing on f. 96r)
  • f. 96r: two for scabies and another if a virgin should appear to be infected/corrupted ('vt corupta virgo appareat')

An erased Middle English recipe on f. 96v.

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 2r and of powdur of Aloes
Form: codex
Support: Paper, folded in octavo. Licorne ( 75 × 40 mm. , on the upper edge of the folio, comparable to Briquet 9956. This example is dated to 1405-1417.
Extent: Codex: 96 leaves. 205 × 140 mm.

Collation

  • Quires 1-128 (ff. 1-96)

Leaf signatures ('a-m'), with Roman numerals, written in the lower right-hand corner of the recto side of leaves in the first half of each quire.

Condition

Stains throughout but without loss of text. Damaged corners and margins at the beginning and end have been repaired with blank paper; water damage to the final folios has rendered text on the top line illegible on ff. 150v-151v. The text on f. 151v is heavily faded.

Layout

125 × 75-80 mm. Ruled in leadpoint, frame and lines. Single columns. 27 lines to the page, written below top line.

Hand(s)

This part of the manuscript features two different hands writing in Gothic cursive scripts with features of Anglicana and Secretary:

  • Hand 1: ff. 1r-91v
  • Hand 2: ff. 91v-96r

Various short recipes and other texts added by different cursive hands that are dateable to the second half of the 15th century or 16th century throughout.

Decoration

Large blue initials throughout ff. 1r-91v, usually two lines high, but the opening initial on f. 1r is three lines high.

Additions

Medical recipes in English added to the upper margins of 83v-84r in a 16th-century hand, perhaps that of Henry Hancoke (see the Provenance section for further details).

History

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

Provenance

Cristopher Selyoke (fl. 2nd half of the 16th century) : his ownership inscriptions on f. 1r: 'C.S. verus possesor huius'; and f. 17r: 'Crestofor Selyoke owth this boke god make hym a good man est Amen'. Perhaps the Christopher Selioke of Hazelborough who was granted land in Aston by Godfrey Foljambe of Westwell on 20 October 1572, and who was let a farm in Wadshelf by Oliver Creswell in 1589.

Rosemarie Locke, transcription of The Feudal History of the County of Derby Volume 5, Chapter 14 - Various Charters Relating To Tideswell by John Pym Yeatman, pp. 401-416 (2012) https://places.wishful-thinking.org.uk/DBY/Tideswell/Yeatman5Chapter14.html [accessed 25 August 2022])
Rosemary Milward, 'Arthur Mower of Barlow Woodseats, County Derby: A Sixteenth Century Yeoman', Derbyshire Miscellany: The Local History Bulletin of the Derbyshire Archaeological Society, 13:2 (1992), 27-51 (p. 34)

Richard ?Gapson (fl. 2nd half of the 16th century) : his name inscribed on f. 21r: ‘Rychard Gapson [? Gareson] is me name and wyth my hande I [wrote the same]’.

William Hasselam [Haselam] (fl. 2nd half of the 16th century) : owned or accessed the manuscript and inscribed his name on f. 39v: ‘Wylliam hasselam of honsfeld is my nam and wyth my hand I wrot the same’; and f. 62v: ‘[...] quod ego Willhelmas Hasslam de Hownsfeld in comitato darbe’, and f. 95r: ‘Wylliam Haselam est nomen meus’.

Part 3 [Cambridge, University Library, MS Ee.1.13, ff. 97-151]

Contents

Language(s): Middle English with dialectal features locatable to Norfolk [see LALME, I: 66-67], and Latin

1. 97r-100v
Treatise on urinoscopy [Ten Cold Ten Hot]
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 97r In urinye be xx colors
Incipit: 97r Of which þe first x be tokynys cold and þe othir x be tokynyth hete
Explicit: 100v also take hede to the tast whedur it be swet or not swete for swet tast betokynyt hele and oþer betokynyth siknes. Explicit

Written by a different hand, and the same hand that copied the next item.

eVK2 3088.00 (v0058830000)
eVK2 1566.00 (v0058840000)
Tavormina (2014), pp. 47-49
For other copies, see Connolly (2009), pp. 87-88
2. 101r-108r
Collection of medical recipes
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 101r A medicin for euil heringe: Take greas fanell uelle and jus and fenigreu of eþer ilych and medil hem togydyr and holle hem a litil and do it low in þe hol ere of þe sike
Explicit: 108r To take an erwyg owt of a manis ere: Take a hote rie lof and hold it to þyn ere and it xal distroy it in a schort time. Explicit

Collection of seventy-two medical recipes, written by the same hand that copied the preceding item.

eVK2 5439.00 (v0058850000)
For other copies, see Connolly (2009), p. 88
3. 107r-108r
Tract on the Perilous Days
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 107r Here be þe perlos days of blod letting and þe good dais to blede or for diuers evilis and þe perlos dais of birþe of children and of etyng of gees þat is for to wit
Incipit: 107r-107r In þe first iij dais þat i til if oni man let him blood or fal sik he xal die wiþ in forti days aftyr
Explicit: 108r whan he is ded he xal neuer rote þat is to sey þe first day of januari þe ij dai and þe iij day of februari

Embedded in the preceding collection of seventy-two medical recipes.

eVK2 2146.00 (v0058860000)
eVK2 2928.00 (v0058870000)
eVK2 4983.00 (v0058880000)
For other copies, see Connolly (2009), pp. 88-89
4. 108v
Treatise on betony
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 108v Al þe vertu of bettyn
Incipit: 108v A man þat haþe þe ston gyf him beteyn and he xal be hole anoun and mak hym wel
Explicit: 108v siluer colour and put þat in glas and whan nede is do a droppe ther of in thyn ye that is sore

Written by the same hand that copied ff. 97r-108r.

eVK2 0629.00 (v0058890000)
For other copies, see Connolly (2009), p. 88
5. 109r-124r
Godfridus super Palladium [The Book of Trees and Wine] (English translation) Geoffrey of Franconia [Gottfried von Franken]
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 109r The maner of settyng of trees ys manyfold and so comon þat we wyl not at þis tyme schew þerof but a prevy werkyng towchyng þe same matyr yt schal be seyde aftyrward in his place pleynely
Explicit: 124r þer wiþ þam þei xal be clensid thorow a sachel vp on safron and licoris and it xal be delectabill in sauour and colour. Explicit

English translation of Godfridus super Palladium by Nicholas Bollard, but this copy is missing chapter 60 and parts of chapters 20, 26, 33, 35, 38, 39, and 52.

Written by a different hand, the same hand that copied the next item.

eVK2 6920.00 (v0058900000)
eVK2 2717.00 (v0058910000)
Braekman (1989), pp. 18-19
For other copies, see Connolly (2009), p. 88
6. 124r-129v
The Book of Planting and Grafting Nicholas Bollard
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: 124r Her begynyth the tretis of nicolas Bollard
Incipit: 124r The tretis he seyth is partid in iij partes
Explicit: 129v and þerfo it is not to make here no long trete þer of but eueri thing if it be wel doun wil bring in and teche oþer And þus endith þe tretis of Nicolas Bollard Explicit

Complete, except for the second half ochapter four of the first part.

Written by the same hand that copied the preceding item.

eVK2 7051.00 (v0058920000)
eVK2 2516.00 (v0058930000)
Braekman (1985), p. 21 [as 'U']
For other copies, see Connolly (2009), pp. 89-90
7. 129v-130v
Collection of medical recipes
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 129v For castyng take myllyfoylle and stamp ytt and temper ytt wiþ wyne or wiþ stale ale and geue the seke to drink iij deye fastyng
Explicit: 130v and qwylkesyluer and medyll them together and anowtt the body and ytt wyll dystrow all þe lyse and verme of þe body

Collection of eleven medical recipes written by a later hand. They address the following:

  • f. 129v: for vomiting, for snakebite, for a 'worm' in a person's body, for removing hair
  • f. 130r: for inducing menstruation, for inducing breastmilk, for aposteme
  • f. 130v: for hearing loss, for warts, for 'worms' in a person's body

eVK2 5646.00 (v0058940000)
For other copies, see Connolly (2009), p. 90
8. 131r-135v
Collection of craft recipes for treating cloth
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 131r To make red veluet: Take braseyl and greynis and lake of euery alich and cast hem in clene watur and seth hem togydyr
Explicit: 135v and take þe stonys and het þem a lityl and ley syment ouer hem and let hem stond togyddyr til þei be cold. Explicit

Collection of thirty-seven recipes for treating cloth, perhaps by the same hand that copied copied ff. 97r-108v.

eVK2 5168.00 (v0058950000)
9. 135v-137r
Collection of medical recipes
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 135v For the stone: Take an egge shelle that a chikon is haught out of and pike awey the pille that is wiþin
Explicit: 137r floure and bray hem alle togider till it resonable thik then take it and put it in a boxe and that is a goode oynement

Collection of seven medical recipes copied by a different later hand. They address the following:

  • f. 135v: for the stone, for an old sore
  • f. 136r: for aches in the flesh or bone in an old man or woman or for an old bruise in a young man, for a burn or scald
  • f. 136v: for toothache, a hot drink for an unspecified purpose, an ointment for an unspecified purpose (continuing on f. 137r)

eVK2 4945.00 (v0058960000)
10. 137v
Collection of medical recipes
Language(s): Middle English

Three medical recipes: for haemorrhoids (‘pyllys’) and ‘skyn that wyl not dry’ (f. 137r) and for sciatica (f. 137v), all written by 16th/17th-century hands (the second two by perhaps the same hand).

eVK2 5616.00 (v0058970000)
11. 137v-138r
Collection of medical recipes
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 137v For all maner of venyme or powson take mylk of a gotte and sethe ytt wiþ heympseyd
Explicit: 138r For swellyng of ye tethe take rede myntte and stamp ytt well and then putt ytt in a clowthe in þe jusce with all and ley to þe tothe.

Collection of nine medical recipes, apparently by the same hand that copied the collection of recipes on ff. 129v-130v. They address the following:

  • f. 137v: for all manner of venom or poison, for the pestilence, for toothache
  • f. 138r: two for drawing teeth 'withowt harme or withowtt any instrument or withowtt any pene', for inducing urination in a man, for quinsy, for the stomach, for cleansing the head and for fixing loose teeth, for swelling of the teeth

eVK2 5616.00 (v0058970000)
For other copies, see Connolly (2009), p. 91
13. 138v
Medical recipes
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 138v For deleyng [...] of swellyng of on legges
Explicit: 138v for þe same take þe [...] rynde of a [...] and [...] to powther

Three recipes added by a later hand written in a light faded ink by a different later hand. For swollen legs, and two for a laxative.

eVK2 5616.00 (v0058970000)
14. 138v
Medical recipe to improve eyesight
Language(s): English
Incipit: 138v For to sey by nytgh as by day anont ye eye with they blod of a ? bacll and he sall sey by nygth

Full transcription; apparently added in the hand of Richard Slacke (see f. 139r), dated 1572.

eVK2 5616.00 (v0058970000)
15. 139v
Fragment of the prologue to Matthew's gospel from the Wycfliffite New Testament
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 139v Matheu þat was of iudee as he is sett fyrst in ordur of þe gospelares soo he wrett fyrst the gospell in Iudee and and [sic] fro the offys of a tolgederer he was cleped to god when this mathue hadde preched fyrst þe gospell in Iudde

Full transcription (followed by text that has been crossed out); added by a different later hand.

For other copies, see Connolly (2009), p. 92
16. 139v
Two verses
Language(s): English
Incipit: 139v Johne Sebastiane with other twane / came latlie out of payne
Incipit: 139v god send vs of his geare / In heaven to have a place / and then no dout all thinges is nor as harte can thinke or tounge can [? taste]

Full transcription; added by a late 16th-century hand, possibly the same hand that also added the English historical note on f. 142r.

17. 141r-142r
Collection of craft recipes for bookbinding and writing
Language(s): Middle English and Latin
Incipit: 141r For to make boke glewe take the sowndys of stokfysch and sethe hem in worte or ellys in thynne ale tyl þat þey be tendyr
Explicit: 142r take vytryole and make yt in pouder put yt in a moyst cloth and rub þer þou hast wretyn and yt shal apere þat þu mayst rede yt

Collection of eleven recipes for bookbinding and writing copied by a single hand.

eVK2 0483.00 (v0058980000)
Wright and Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps (1845), I: pp. 163-164
Singer (1930), II, p. 729 (no. 1090B)
18. 141v
A verse
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 141r Adam primus homo damnauit secula pomo

Full transcription; added upside down in the lower margin in a 16th-century hand.

19. 142r
Historical note
Language(s): English
Incipit: 142r This Titus was his wifes sonne as saith Josephus: Jherusalem distroyed by Titus sonne in lawe to Vaspacian themperor of Rome in which Cittie perished with hounger and with the sworde xjC thousande and systen thousande led captine awaie / besydes a greate sorte which was throwne into the rever of whome is mad ano mension

Full transcription: added upside down in the lower margin in added by a late 16th-century hand, possibly the same hand that also added the English verses on f. 139v.

20. 142v-149v
pseudo-Albertus Magnus, Recipes including Pseudo-Albertus Magnus, Semita recta (English translation)
Language(s): Middle English and Latin
Incipit: 142v Salt commen ys key berer of þis craft and he is þus preparat solue yt in hote watyr and clense þorow a thyk lynen cloth into a treen wessel
Explicit: 149v and yt schal turne into þe best sol clennest and most perfite þat may be. Explicit

Alchemical treatise with recipes copied by the same hand that copied the next two items.

eVK2 4427.00 (v0058990000)
Singer (1928), I, p. 155 (no. 177.xvii)
For other copies, see Connolly (2009), pp. 92-93
21. 150r
Treatise on making furnaces
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 150r Sum must be more and sum las aftyr þe quantite of þi werke. The philosofors furneys must be made be a wal so þat he may take wynde
Explicit: 150r ȝe must make a crest of erthe to set ouer yowre vessel of calcynacyoun so þat yowre fyre may be undyr and þese be the schappys of þe furneys

Copied by the same hand that copied the preceding and next item.

eVK2 4594.00 (v0059000000)
Singer (1930), II, p. 743 (no. 1111.xliii) and p. 750 (no. 1112.xxiv)
For other copies, see Connolly (2009), p. 93
22. 150v-151v
Alchemical recipes
Language(s): Middle English and Latin
Incipit: 150v [...] vessel of erthe þat þou wylt glare and a noynte hym wiþ past made of wyne lyys and of lunayle of saturne and set yt in þes furneyce to dry ouer þe barrys of iren
Explicit: 151v et conuertetur in mercurus et [...] fecerunt Alkymiam

Copied by the same hand that copied the preceding two items.

Singer (1930), II, p. 743 (no. 1111.xliii) and p. 750 (no. 1112.xxiv)
For other copies, see Connolly (2009), p. 93
23. 151v
Household note
Language(s): English
Incipit: 151v To the trenete - xx - vijs - vjd

Full transcription.

Note of a payment or donation to a (?) church; added in the late 15th or early 16th century.

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 98r of blode
Form: codex
Support: Paper, folded in quarto. Tête de boeuf ( 55 × 30 mm. ) On the inner center of the folio, comparable to Briquet 15044. >This example is dated to 1455.
Extent: Codex: 54 leaves. 205 × 140 mm.

Collation

  • Quires 13-1412 (ff. 97-120
  • Quire 1510 (ff. 121-130
  • Quire 1610-1 (ff. 131-139: 10th leaf missing)
  • Quire 1712-1 (ff. 141-151: 12th leaf missing)

Letters 'a' to 'f' used as leaf signatures in quire 14.

Condition

This part of the manuscript occasionally features stains. The text on ff. 151r-151v is much faded. The upper margins of ff. 150-151 have been torn and repaired with blank paper.

Layout

155-180 × 100-120 mm. Ruled in leadpoint, frame only (ff. 97r-137v). Single columns. 20-35 lines to the page, written below top line.

Hand(s)

This part of the manuscript features three different hands writing in Gothic cursive scripts with features of Anglicana and Secretary:

  • Hand 1: ff. 97r-129v and ff. 130v-135v
  • Hand 2: ff. 129v-130r and ff. 137v-138r
  • Hand 3: ff. 142v-151v

Decoration

Half-page with drawings of alchemical vessels and furnaces in brown ink on f. 150r.

Additions

History

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

Provenance

John Smythe (fl. 1450-1500) : his name inscribed on f. 151v: ‘John Smythe’.

Additional Information

Record Sources

This catalogue entry draws on M. Connolly, Manuscripts in the University Library, Cambridge (Dd-Oo), Index of Middle English Prose, 19 (Cambridge: Brewer, 2009), A. Timmerman, 'Alchemy in Cambridge: An Annotated Catalogue of Alchemical Texts and Illustrations in Cambridge Repositories', Nuncius, 30:2 (2015), 345-511, and an unpublished description of the manuscript composed between 1926 and 1930 by M.R. James , now held in the University Archives (UA ULIB 7/3/74).

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

    Reliquiæ Antiquæ: Scraps from Ancient Manuscripts, Illustrating Chiefly Early English Literature and the English Language Reliquiæ Antiquæ, Wright, ThomasHalliwell-Phillipps, James Orchard (London, William Pickering, 1841) 'The Feate of Gardening': Transcript of Trinity College, Cambridge MS 0.9.38 and University Library Cambridge MS Ee.1.13 Archaeologia, Amherst, A.M.T. (54, 157-172, 1894) Bibliotheca musico-liturgica: A Descriptive Handlist of the Musical and Latin-Liturgical MSS. of the Middle Ages Preserved in the Libraries of Great Britain and Ireland, Frere, W.H. (London, 2, 1894) Catalogue of Latin and Vernacular Alchemical Manuscripts in Great Britain and Ireland Dating from before the XVI Century, Singer, Dorothea WaleyAnderson, AnnieAddis, Robina (Brussels, Maurice Lamertin, 1928-1931) Medical Manuscripts in Middle English Speculum, Robbins, Rossell Hope (45, 3, 393-415, 1970, http://www.jstor.org/stable/2853500) A linguistic Atlas of Late Mediaeval English, McIntosh, AngusSamuels, M.L.Benskin, Michael (Aberdeen, Aberdeen University Press, 1986) Bollard's Middle English Book of Planting and Grafting and Its Background Studia Neophilologica, Braekman, Willy Louis (57, 1, 19-39, 1985) Geoffrey of Franconia's Book of Trees and Wine Scripta, (Brussels, Omirel UFSAL, 1989) Prolegomena to a Literary Geography of Later Medieval Norfolk Regionalism in Late Medieval Manuscripts and Texts: Essays Celebrating the Publication of 'A Linguistic Atlas of Late Mediaeval English' York Manuscripts Conferences: Proceedings, Beadle, Richard (Cambridge, 89-108, D.S. Brewer, 1991) Obstetrical and Gynecological Texts in Middle English Studies in the Age of Chaucer: Yearbook of the New Chaucer Society, Green, Monica H. (14, 53-88, 1992) A Middle English Treatise on Horticulture: Godfridus super Palladium Popular and Practical Science of Medieval England Medieval Texts and Studies, Gylkowski, David G. (East Lansing, MI, 301-329, Colleagues Press, 1994) Obstbau und Kellerei in lateinischen Fachprosaschriften des 14. und 15. Jahrhunderts Würzburger medizinhistorische Forschungen, Kiewisch, Susanne (Würzburg, Königshausen & Neumann, 1995) Women's Healthcare in the Medieval West: Texts and Contexts Collected studies, Green, Monica H. (Aldershot, Ashgate, 2000) Database of Alchemical Manuscripts - Cambridge Alchemy Web Site, McLean, Adam (1995) Practical Reading for Body and Soul in Some Later Medieval Manuscript Miscellanies Journal of the Early Book Society, Connolly, Margaret (10, 151-174, 2007) Humanism, Reading, and English Literature, 1430-1530, Wakelin, Daniel (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2007) Vernacular Herbals: A Growth Industry in Late Medieval England Design and Distribution of Late Medieval Manuscripts in England, Keiser, George R. (York, 292-307, York Medieval Press in association with the Boydell Press and with the Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York, 2008) Making Women's Medicine Masculine: The Rise of Male Authority in Pre-Modern Gynaecology, Green, Monica H. (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2008) Manuscripts in the University Library, Cambridge (Dd-Oo) Index of Middle English Prose, Connolly, Margaret (Woodbridge, D.S. Brewer, 2009) Of Dirty Books and Bread The Recipes Project: Food, Magic, Art, Science, and Medicine, Timmermann, Anke (2013, https://recipes.hypotheses.org/2859) Uroscopy in Middle English: A Guide to the Texts and Manuscripts Studies in Medieval and Renaissance History, Tavormina, M. Teresa ([Michigan?], 2014) Alchemy in Cambridge: An Annotated Catalogue of Alchemical Texts and Illustrations in Cambridge Repositories Nuncius: Journal of the Material and Visual History of Science, Timmermann, Anke (30, 2, 345-511, 2015) Evidence for the Continued Use of Medieval Medical Prescriptions in the Sixteenth Century: A Fifteenth-Century Remedy Book and Its Later Owner Medical History, Connolly, Margaret (60, 2, 133-154, 2016) Manuscript Relations through Form and Content in the Middle English Circa Instans SELIM. Journal of the Spanish Society for Medieval English Language and Literature, Garrido Anes, Maria Edurne (13, 1, 2019) A Middle English Version of the <hi rend="italics">Circa Instans</hi>, Edited from Cambridge, CUL, MS Ee.1.13 Middle English Texts, (Heidelberg, Universitätsverlag Winter, 2020) Re-Using Manuscripts in Late Medieval England: Repairing, Recycling, Sharing York Manuscript and Early Print Studies, Ryley, Hannah (Woodbridge, Boydell and Brewer, 2022) John Shirley's Recipes and Fifteenth-Century Celebrity Endorsement Recipes and Book Culture in England, 1350-1600, Connolly, Margaret (Liverpool, 74-94, Liverpool University Press, 2024)

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