Cambridge, University Library, MS Ff.6.51
Collection of theological works
Contents
Physical Description
Mid-20th century foliation
[i]-[iv] + 1-3 + 4-63 | 64-92 + 93-96 + [v]-[viii]
Numbering in pencil in the upper right-hand corner of the rectos. ff. [iii]-[iv] and [v]-[vi] are early modern paper endleaves; ff. [i]-[ii] and [vii]-[viii] are stubs conjoint with those leaves (not counted in Extent).Collation
- Quire 110 (ff. 4-13)
- Quires 2-4 12 (ff. 14-49)
- Quire 514 (ff. 50-63) |
- Quire 612 (ff. 64-75)
- Quire 78 (ff. 76-83)
- Quire 88+1 (ff. 84-92: 9th leaf inserted, after f. 91)
110 2-412 514 | 612 78 88+1 (9th inserted)
Additions
Table of contents for the manuscript as a whole (f. 1v), written in Latin in a 17th-century hand, listing only Bernard of Clairvaux, Liber de gratia et libero arbitrio; Honorius of Autun, Imago Mundi; and the anonymous theological treatise identified by its first section: ‘De sapientia dei’; perhaps added when it was acquired by Cambridge University Library as part of the library of Richard Holdsworth (1590-1649), Master of Emmanuel College (see Provenance): the table of contents matches exactly with the manuscript's description in the inventory of Holdsworth's manuscripts compiled by William Crowe (Cambridge, University Library, MS Dd.8.45, f. 153v [p. 301]).
Quire signatures ('1-8') 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 century.
Binding
Early 18th-century 'Cambridge' binding of stained brown calfskin with two blind-tooled panels consisting of a large rectangular frame of 2 lines around the cover's edges with a smaller rectangular frame with blind-stamped flower motifs in its corners at the centre.
The spine has a gold-stamped title label of red russia leather in a gold-tooled frame.
Paper pastedowns on the inside covers are leaves from an early modern printed book, containing a Latin poem with reference to Classical works, including Virgil's Aeneid.
Dark stained fore edges.
Binding height: 140mm; width: 100mm; depth: 25mm.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
One of the manuscripts of Richard Holdsworth (1590-1649) , Master of Emmanuel College.
Acquired by the University Library in July 1664: no. 174 (this number also inscribed on f. 1r) in the inventory of Holdsworth's manuscripts compiled by William Crowe (Cambridge, University Library, MS Ff.4.27 / Dd.8.45).
Part 1 [Cambridge, University Library, MS Ff.6.51, ff. 1r-63v]
Contents
Language(s): Latin with Middle English additions
Added in the late 15th or early 16th century. The recipes are to whiten the face ('Ad dealbandum faciem') and for a marvellous water that works against all infirmities ('Aqua mirabilis contra omnes infirmitates'). The latter concludes: 'It is a precious water, with which one can cleanse onself of leprosy, which does not come, in truth, and all other sickness of the body and of the eyes, and keeps a man younger for longer, and in health, and makes him [i.e. his skin] fair-coloured, most certainly' ('ys ys precyus watur cum qua mundari potest lepra quae non venit ex uera et omnia alia sekenes corporis et oculorum and kepyth a man long ȝongur and in hele and makyth hym fayre ycolowryd certissime').
Physical Description
Collation
- Quire 110 (ff. 4-13)
- Quires 2-4 12 (ff. 14-49)
- Quire 514 (ff. 50-63)
Condition
Layout
105 × 75 mm. Ruled in leadpoint, frame, with occasional line ruling. Single columns. 25 lines to the page, written below top line.
Hand(s)
This part of the manuscript is written by a single scribe in Northern Gothica Textualis.
Added cosmetic recipes on f. 2r are written in Secretary, but with occasional Anglicana round 'e'.
Decoration
Partial (one-sided) border of blue and red penwork on f. 4r.
Two- or three-line blue initials with red penwork decoration on ff. 4r, 32r-33r.
One-line capitals highlighted in red throughout.
History
Part 2 [Cambridge, University Library, MS Ff.6.51, ff. 64r-92v]
Contents
Language(s): Latin, with added Middle English recipes
Added in the late 15th or early 16th century. The recipes are for bad breath ('for stynkyng breth'), for bad breath caused by the stomach ('Pro fetido anelitu oris ex causa stomachi'), for bad breath ('Pro fetido anelitu') and for the stomach ('For þe stomake').
Anonymous theological treatise in five chapters extracted from Bonaventure, Breviloquium: ‘De sapientia dei’ [I.8], ‘De voluntate dei’ [I.9], ‘De creatura mundi’, [II.1] (omitted from the rubric heading), ‘De integritate eukaristie’ [6.IX], and ‘De integritate penitentie’ [6.X].
Added in the late 15th or early 16th century. The recipes address the following issues:
- f. 92v: for blocking of the stomach ('Pro obturacione stomachi')
- f. 93r: for hoarseness and to clear the voice, to make a man sleep all day, for a woman that may not conceive, for a man that sleeps too much, and two for loss of speech when sick
- f. 93v: for a leperous face, two for an adder or snake in a man's or woman's body, and three for scabs on a man's hands
Added in the late 15th or early 16th century.
Full transcription; added in the late 15th or early 16th century.
Extract of the Drecetals of Gregory IX, Book III, Chapter XXVI, added in the late 15th or early 16th century.
Physical Description
Collation
- Quire 612 (ff. 64-75)
- Quire 78 (ff. 76-83)
- Quire 88+1 (ff. 84-92: 9th leaf inserted, after f. 91)
Condition
Layout
105 × 75 mm. Ruled in leadpoint, frame only. Single columns. 25 lines to the page, written below top line.
Hand(s)
This part of the manuscript is written by a single scribe in Northern Gothica Textualis.
Added medical recipes on ff. 83v, 92v-93v are written in Secretary, but with Anglicana features, including the round 'e' (regular) and long 'r' (occasional).
Decoration
Two-line blue or red initials with with penwork decoration in the opposite colour and sometimes with partial (singl) J-borders in blue and red.
One-line initials alternatively in blue and red used in the table of contents on 64r.
One-line capitals highlighted in red throughout.
Line filler in red ink on 84r.
Headings rubricated in red ink throughout.
Marginal chapter numbers in Roman numerals in blue and red.
Paraphs alternatively in blue and red.
Underlining in red.
History
Additional Information
Record Sources
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
Bibliography
-
S. Bonaventurae opera omnia, Peltier, A.C. (Paris, 7, Vivès, 1866)
Sancti Bernardi Opera, (Rome, Editiones Cistercienses, 1957)
Honorius Augustodunensis, "Imago mundi" Archives d'histoire doctrinale et littéraire
du Moyen Âge, Flint, Valerie I. J. (49, 7-153, 1982)
Manuscripts in the University Library, Cambridge (Dd-Oo) Index of Middle English prose, Connolly, Margaret (Woodbridge, D.S. Brewer, 2009)
Funding of Cataloguing
Wellcome
Digital Images
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
