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 Gg.1.10

Macrobius and Mattheus Platearius

Contents

Introduction: This manuscript comprises three parts, all probably copied in the 12th century, perhaps in France. The first part, which contains Cicero's Somnium Scipionis (Dream of Scipio) and Macrobius' popular commentary on the text, is probably the oldest part of the manuscript and was made perhaps in the first half of the 12th century. The Somnium Scipionis is an extract from Book 6 of Cicero's De re publica in which Cicero describes a dream vision of the Roman general Scipio Aemilianus. In the dream, Scipio looks down on the city of Carthage from a vantage point in the heavens before turning his attention to describing his celestial surroundings and offering a topography of the earth, sky, planet and stars. Macrobius' Commentarium was a highly popular text in medieval western Europe and multiple copies survive - most, like this manuscript, with diagrams that illustrate various portions of Scipio's description of the heavens. The second part of the volume, ff. 55-138, contains two widely circulated medical works often attributed to Mattheus Platearius: his commentary on the Antidotarium Nicholai, known as the 'Liber iste', and his De simplicibus medicinae, known as the 'Circa instans'. The 'Circa instans' follows the pattern of typical medieval European herbals, with a sequence of medicinal plants arranged alphabetically and described according to their taxonomy and their uses in various preparations to treat specified medical problems. Both the 'Liber iste' and 'Circa instans' are thought to originate from the milieu of the medical school at Salerno in the second half of the twelfth century and so this part of the manuscript contains early copies of the most up-to-date and respected medical information available in western Europe at the time. The final part of the volume, ff. 139-140, is a fragment; the two leaves may have once been used as binding waste as the majority of f. 140 has been torn away, and what remains has a visible coating of an adhesive on the verso. Nevertheless, ff. 139-140 preserve several short medical recipe instructions and treatments, so it is possible that the fragment has circulated with at the very least the preceding part of the volume for a long time on account of the similarity of their content, with the two leaves perhaps serving as prepatory research notes, or a place to collect later addenda. It is not clear when all three parts of the volume came together. The two main parts were listed as one volume in Edward Bernard's 1697 list of the contents of John Moore's collection of manuscripts, but the presence of annotations in late-16th and early-17th century hands in both parts suggest that they may have been bound together for a longer period. Dr Sarah Gilbert| Project Cataloguer for Curious Cures in Cambridge Libraries| Cambridge University Library

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Parchment (HFFH).
Extent: Codex: i + 1 + 52 | 84 | 2 + i leaves.
Foliation:

Mid-20th-century foliation:

[a] + i + 1-3, 6-54 | 55-138 | 139-140 + [b]

Foliated in the upper outer corner of each recto in pencil in Hindu-Arabic numerals, mostly by H.L. Pink .

Folio numbers ff. 4-5 assigned to leaves no longer present in the volume (as per historic foliation practice at Cambridge University Library), however leaves missing in Quire 18 have not been assigned folio numbers. Leaves assigned a folio number by the Curious Cures project are marked with [square brackets].

Collation

This manuscript is composite and is comprised of three parts: the first two parts are substantial, with 52 and 84 leaves extant respectively, and the final part is comprised of two leaves. Leaves are missing from the volume in two places, and in both cases the text is interrupted around the missing leaves: Quire 1 is missing its 4th and 5th leaves, and Quire 18 is missing its 1st and 2nd leaves. The final leaf in volume (f. 140) is damaged with over half of the original leaf torn away.

The manuscript is arranged as follows:

  • Quire 18-2 (ff. 1-8: 4th and 5th leaves missing)
  • Quires 2-68 (ff. 9-48)
  • Quire 76 (ff. 49-54) |
  • Quires 8-118 (ff. 55-86)
  • Quire 126 (ff. 87-92)
  • Quire 1310 (ff. 93-102)
  • Quires 14-178 (ff. 103-134)
  • Quire 186-2 (ff. 135-138: 1st and 2nd leaves missing) |
  • Quire 19two (ff. 139-140)

18-2 (4th and 5th missing) 2-68 76 | 8-118 126 1310 14-178 186-2 (1st and 2nd missing) | 19two

Additions

Occasional glosses and titles to texts and sub-sections in a humanist cursiva (italic) hand of the ?16th century throughout the volume. List of selected texts from the entire volume in a 17th century hand on f. i verso as follows: 'In hoc volumine continentur:
  • 1. Somnium scipionis
  • 2. Platearii Antidotarium
  • 3. Liber simplicis medicinae secundum ordinem alphabeti'

Quire signatures ('1-19') 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 20th century.

Binding

Rebound in March 1967 by Douglas Cockerell and Son in Grantchester, Cambridgeshire. Quarter bound in Morocco leather with marbled paper sides and parchment-tipped corners over millboard. Marbled paper sides are in tones of cream, ochre, brown, and grey in the typical Cockerell style of a dense comb-marbled pattern in geometric forms. Three raised bands on spine. Head and tail bands sewn in a neutral cream yarn. Spine is mid-brown Morocco leather, with blind-tooled single fillets at the upper and lower perimeters of the compartments and horizontally through the centre of the raised bands (i.e., across the width of the spine). Title label in black Morocco leather applied to spine, with title 'MACROBIUS | PLATEARIUS' tooled in gold. Shelfmark label in black Morocco leather applied at the lower opening of the spine with 'Gg.1.10' tooled in gold. Paper pastedowns pasted over the turn ins. All quires taken down and remounted between paper guards during the 1967 rebinding and some quires resewn - paper stubs visible between quire boundaries throughout the volume.

The front pastedown contains: a note by H.L. Pink recording the 1967 rebinding; another by Pink of the shelfmark 'Gg.1.10', in pencil; a bookplate commemorating the donation of the 'Royal Library'; and an 'F' in pencil, which refers to the size of the book according to a Cambridge University Library classification scheme. The rear pastedown contains a collation statement, written in pencil by the hand of H.L. Pink .

Leaves ff. [a] and [b] are paper, blank, and are cojoint with the pastedowns.

History

Provenance and Acquisition

John Moore (1646-1714) , bishop of Ely: no. 822 (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 [Cambridge, University Library, MS Gg.1.10, ff. i + 1r-54v]

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1.1. 1r-3v
Somnium Scipionis Marcus Tullius Cicero
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 1r Incipit somnium scipionis
Incipit: 1r Cum in affricam uenissem
Explicit: 3v Ille discessit ego somno statim solutus sum ||

The Somnium Scipionis is an extract from Cicero, De re publica VI 9-29 that circulated independently in medieval western Europe. See K. Ziegler (ed.), Teubner (1969), pp. 126-136 for text.

Text is defective due to loss of ff. 4-5.

1.2. 54r
Commentary on the Somnium Scipionis Ambrosius Aurelius Theodosius Macrobius
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: || 6r da patefecit : Ideo et nullum eius simulacrum
Explicit: 54r quo uniuersa philosophie continentur integritas
Final rubric: 54r te deum laudamus

Text is defective due to loss of ff. 4-5 and begins at the end of Comm. I.2.15.

Printed by J. Willis (ed.), Macrobius II, Teubner (1970).
1.3. 54v
Commentary on Macrobius' Commentary on the Somnium Scipionis
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 54v Macrobius orinicretes ·i· somniorum interpres comentatus est in scipionis apocalipsi
Explicit: 54v non multorum distans eloquio ab ambrosio mediolanensi ep. qui ut multis placet auctor fuit in scribendo hoc libello ||

A longer version of this text can be found in Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R.9.23, f. 74v .

1.4. 54v
Declaration about the transfer of property between a husband and wife
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 54v Monas trias hoc opus contineat: In exordio mundane creationis
Explicit: 54v ut potestatem habeas faciendi quicquid tuo libuerit arbitrio

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 2r in custodia corporis
Form: codex
Support: Parchment (HFFH).
Extent: Codex: 1 (f. i) + 52 leaves. 205 × 130-135 mm.

Collation

  • i parchment endleaf +
  • Quire 18-2 (ff. 1-8: 4th and 5th leaves missing)
  • Quires 2-68 (ff. 9-48)
  • Quire 76 (ff. 49-54)

Layout

155 × 80 mm. Ruled in hardpoint, frame and lines, in single columns. Written above top line, typically 34-35 lines to the page.

Hand(s)

Main texts written in protogothic by at least two scribes, and annotated by at least one contemporary hand.

Decoration

Marginal diagrams, typically in dark brown but with occasional use of red on ff. 12r, 25r, 30r, 33r, 33v, 36r, 38v, 41v, 43r, 45r.

Red initial with blue pen-flourishing on f. 1r.

Blue initial with red dot decoration on f. 36v.

Rubric in red and blue in a script inspired by capitalis rustica on f. 1r.

Additions

Note recording the presence of the Somnium scipionis on f. i recto in ink in a hand of perhaps the 17th century..

Additional rubric in an English hand of the second half of the 13th century or the first half of the 14th century in the the upper margin of f. 8v: ‘Hic incipit commentum sine expositio ; Sompnii Scipionis’ above a section of the main text beginning ‘Ostendebat autem Kartaginem’ (Macrobius, Comm., I.4.5).

Note on f. 54r in an English hand of the second half of the 13th century or the first half of the 14th century describing the contents of another book:‘ In libello qui intitulatur Regula S. Benedicti et Augustinis sunt ·xvi· folia uersus finem de creacione mundi elementis et aliis quoniam ut ait Tullius in prologo Rethoricorum etc.’

History

Origin: 12th century, probably first half. ; ?France.

Part 2 [Cambridge, University Library, MS Gg.1.10, ff. 55r-138v]

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1. 55r-92v
Commentary on the Antidotarium Nicholai ('Liber iste') ?Mattheus Platearius
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 55r Incipit summa Mattheus Platearius super antidotarium
Incipit: 55r Liber iste quem in presentarium legendum assumpsimus ex multorum antidotis est compilatus
Explicit: 92v Aliquod prauum sinthoma generet per duos annos seruetur

Marginal annotations throughout in several 12th-16th century hands.

Scribal prayer in the upper margin of f. 55r, probably by the main scribe of the text, 'SANCTI SPIRITUS ASSIT NOBIS GRATIA'.

Printed Venice, 1495
eTK 0821H (t0157990000)
eTK 0821H (t0158000000)
2. 92v
Note on weights and measures
Language(s): Latin

Written in the margin beneath the first column of text, by a later 13th- or 14th-century hand.

3. 92v
Medical recipe to promote hair and beard growth
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 92v Si uolueris facere capillos uenire, aut barbam homini non habenti ita facies. In asinorum cruribus inueniuntur, quaedam durusculi, id est quaedam dure collationes, sine pilis, quae in hieme illis crescunt, sed estate decidunt. Has acceptas quos poterius, combure, et ipsum puluerem cum uetustissimo oleo commisce, et sepius loca inunge. Hic tam ualidus est ut est mulieribus quibus negat natura. Si sepius maxillas earum inungas, barbam sine dubio nasci uidebis.

Written into the blank space after the end of the preceding commentary. Full transcription.

Full translation: If you want to make hairs come forth, or the beard in a man that does not have one. In the leg of a donkey are found certain little hard things, that is certain hard collections, without hair, which grow on them in winter, but fall off in summer. Take these when you can, burn, and grind them, mixing [them] with very old oil, and anoint the place often. This is of such strength that, with women, it goes against nature [i.e. is effective even on women]. If you anoint his jaw often, without doubt, you will see a beard grow.

4. 93r-137r
De simplicibus medicinae ('Circa instans') ?Mattheus Platearius
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 93r Incipit liber simplicis medicine secundum ordine litterarum alphabeti
Incipit: 93r Circa instans negotium in medicinis simplicibus
Explicit: 137r nisi propter diuturnam decoctionem
Final rubric: 137r Explicit

Second part of the rubric ('secundum...') added by a hand of the first half of the 14th century. Marginal annotations in contemporary and later hands throughout.

Printed with the works of Serapion, Venice 1497
eTK 0084G, K, N, O
eTK 0085D
eTK 0211C (prologue)
4.1. 93v-94r
Medical recipes
Language(s): Latin

Added by hands of the 13th century, to the bottom margins. They address the following:

  • f. 93v: for an eye-salve (rubric added by a later hand: 'medicina pro oculis')
  • f. 94r: for swollen eyelids (blepharitis) (see below for transcription and translation) and for a proven eye-salve.
  • f. 95v: for chest pain ('ad dolorem pectoris')
  • f. 96r: for gout in the bones ('ad guttam in ossatam')
  • f. 103v: for pain in a woman's breasts ('ad dolorem mamillarum')
  • f. 104r: for purging blood/pus or blood from the heart ('ad expuentem saniem uel sanguinem ex pulmone')
  • ff. 109v-110r: for a broken arm or leg ('Brachium uel crus fractum') (continuing on f. 110r with instructions for bathing)
  • f. 112r: for an unspecified purpose
  • f. 117v: for an uncertain purpose; text now largely faded
  • f. 119v: for worms in the body (begins by distinguishing between the signs of incurable and curable disease)
  • f. 121r: for an unspecificed purpose
  • f. 123v: two for diarrhoea and dysentery
  • f. 128v: two for constipation
  • f. 131r: two for eye-salves to treat darkening of the eyes (?shadows) and restore them to beauty ('collirium ad obscuritatem oculorum et eos pulcros reddens')
  • f. 134v: several for ?bladder pain
  • f. 137r: for an unstated purpose

Full transcription of the recipes on f. 94r: Ad grossas et pingues palpebras. Calefac aliquantulum duas tegulas in igne et rubea folia kersonis quae super eminent aquae trita; inter tegulas pone per horam. Postea liga tepidum super palpebras. Secunda die, minus calefac. Tertia die, minus. Quarta die, nihil - sed apponas folia cruda trita. Hiis diebus utatur patiens tamen aqua. Collirium probatum. Pingredine porci mundam et recentem pone in bacino, et perfora ipsam digitis, et in singulis foraminibus infunde acetum, et cooperi alio bacino, et post tertiem diem auferens acetum. Moue simul ipsum pingredinem, et fac ut prius usque ad quadraginta dies. Deinde in misce zinziber et piper minutissime cribratum et pone in eneo uase.

Translation of the recipes on f. 94r: For large and thick eyelids. Slightly warm two roof-tiles in the fire, and put between the tiles for an hour the crushed red leaves of watercress, which stand up above the water. Afterwards, bind it warm above the eyelid. The second day, warm it a little less; the third day, less still; the fourth day, not at all; but apply the raw, crushed leaf on these days. On these days let the patient drink water, however. A proven eye-salve. Put in a basin fresh, clarified pig fat and make holes in it with your fingers, and in each hole pour in vinegar, and cover the basin. And after three days, pour out the vinegar, stir the fat, and likewise do to that for forty days. Then, mix in ginger and finely sifted pepper and place in a copper vessel.

5. 137v-138r
Medical recipes
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 137v Allium calidum est et siccum in medio .iiii. gradus . Allium aliud domesticum aliud siluestre quod scordio appellatur
Explicit: 138r per paruum in illud uas. ad lumbricos occidendos dentur pillule ex galbano inuncte ex melle.

By the same hand as the previous text and rubricated and initialled in the same way.

6. 138rv
Medical recipes and other notes
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 138r Experimentum Iohannis Alemanni contra fistulam in torace sui in corporis stipite absconditam
Explicit: 138v piperis ana que partes elementare(?) siccus denssiores[sic] et solidiores partibus ||

Text is damaged due to rubbing and trimming of the leaf. The recipes address the following issues:

  • f. 138r: fistula (an 'experimentum' attributed to a Iohannes Alemanni) [bottom margin], swelling of the arms or lower legs and gout [below the end of the second column of text]
  • f. 138v: unclear due to loss of opening line(s) and fading of text [top half of the page], thinning of fat (x 3), unclear due to fading of text [between remedies for thinning]

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 56r cata in puluere detur uel in pilulis
Form: codex
Support: Parchment (HFFH).
Extent: Codex: 84 leaves. 205 × 130-135 mm.

Collation

  • Quires 8-118 (ff. 55-86)
  • Quire 126 (ff. 87-92)
  • Quire 1310 (ff. 93-102)
  • Quires 14-178 (ff. 103-134)
  • Quire 186-2 (ff. 135-138: 1st and 2nd leaves missing)

Layout

170 × 100 mm. Ruled in leadpoint, frame and lines. Two columns, typically 39-41 lines to the column, written above top line.

Hand(s)

Written in protogothic minuscule of the second half of the 12th century by several scribes.

Decoration

Red initials, typically 2-3 lines high at the start of each new section of text, typically 3-4 initials per page.

Rubricated (in red) at the start of each new text and each section of text. Rubrication more frequent ff. 93r-137r.

History

Origin: 12th century (?second half). ; ?France.

Part 3 [Cambridge, University Library, MS Gg.1.10, ff. 139-140]

Contents

Language(s): Latin

3.1. 139r-140v
Medical recipes
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 139r in certa quantitate predicta et bulliant in oleo oliuario uel buturo ad tepidum ignem
Explicit: 140v de primum autem ergo [defective]||

Folio 140 is a torn fragment, probably a former pastedown as it has adhesive staining on the verso. The remaining text on the leaf, and particularly on the verso is rubbed and stained and only partial readings are possible.

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 140r Mulieri non concipienti si detur
Form: codex
Support: Parchment (HFFH)
Extent: Fragment: two leaves from a late-12th century or early-13th-century manuscript. 2 leaves (ff. 139-140). 210 × 135 mm.

Collation

Two leaves, with significant damage to the 2nd leaf (f. 140).

Condition

The majority of f. 140 has been torn away; the remainder of 140v is stained with an adhesive residue, so the leaf was perhaps once used as a pastedown in a former binding. The leaf has undergone conservative restoration; the missing portion of the leaf has been restored with a graft of paper, and holes in the remaining parchment have been filled with conservation silk.

Layout

190 × 190 mm. Ruled in ink, frame and lines. Double columns, 63 lines to the column, written above top line.

Hand(s)

Written in protogothic minuscule between narrow lines; text is particularly small and cramped.

History

Origin: (?Second half of the) 12th century. ; ?France.

Additional Information

Record Sources

This catalogue entry draws on the published description on the manuscript in the third volume of the Cambridge University Library Catalogue of Manuscripts (1858, rpr. 1980) and 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) (Unpublished description by H.L. Pink of Cambridge, University Library, MS Gg.1.10 (M. Tullius Cicero, Somnio Scipionis, with commentary by Macrobius; Matthaeus Platearius, Commentaries on Antidotarium Nicholai and De simplicibus medicinae)).

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. 92v-93r and 93v-94r).

Bibliography

    L'étude des auteurs classiques latins aux XIe et XIIe siècles Documents, études et répertoires (Institut de recherche et d'histoire des textes), Munk Olsen, Birger (Paris, 3:2: Addenda et corrigenda, tables, Éditions du CNRS, 1989)

Funding of Cataloguing

Wellcome

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Cambridge Digital Library

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