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 Ii.1.16

Compilation of medical texts

Contents

Introduction: Nine texts - all medical - form the principal contents of this manuscript, together with various notes and recipes in the margins and blank spaces. All were copied by hands of the 14th century. The longest and apparently earliest section to be produced is in the middle of the book, between ff. 62 and 197 (see Part 3, below). It opens with an anonymous commentary on the Viaticum, an adaptation and translation into Latin by Constantinus Africanus (d. before 1098/1099), a Benedictine monk of Tunisian heritage at the monastery of Montecassino, of a medical text by a 10th-century Arabic physician, Ibn al-Jazzār (d. 1009). The first two quires have been copied by one scribe, and those that follow by another. Although the hands differ in appearance, they are both of the first half of the 14th century and there is suggestive evidence that they were contemporaneous, with the two scribes working in co-ordination. The first stint concludes on f. 79v, leaving no blank space, and the second resumes without interruption on f. 80r; it seems less probable, then, that the first scribe was working from an incomplete exemplar, especially as he added a running header on f. 79v stating 'finis quarti in alio quinto', directing the reader to the 'other' part of the manuscript, where he could find the commentary on Book 5 of Constantinus's commentary. The second scribe completed the commentary, and four further texts after that. The first is another copy of the widely disseminated treatise on medical simples attributed to the 12th-century Salernitan writer, Mattheus Platearius, and commonly known by its opening words, 'Circa instans'. Simples are plant, animal or mineral substances that possess inherent medicinal properties, and Platearius's text typically lists over 250 items, given in alphabetical order. There follows the Signa of Richard the Englishman, which deals with the signs of disease that a physician would need to know in order to diagnose an illness, understand its stage and thus offer a prognosis. The identity of Richard the Englishman is obscure. Several figures are known by this name (or its Latinate equivalent, Ricardus Anglicus), all of whom died around the mid-13th century: a writer on canon law (Richard de Morins); a canon at St Paul's in London who also practised medicine and was perhaps doctor to Pope Gregory IX, one of two figures known by the name Richard of Wendover; and the other Richard of Wendover, a contemporary of the first, described by Roger of Wendover as 'a man learned in liberal science'. There were also two writers on alchemy and arithmetic respectively, plus another who may be the author of a text on the conception of the Virgin Mary, about whose lives nothing is known. To this confusing picture is added the disparate circulation of a set of medical texts ascribed to a Master Richard. These were apparently sections of a single work entitled Micrologus that were nevertheless never transmitted together as one (the Signa formed the fifth and final part). This he apparently wrote at Montpellier at the commission of a Lancelinus, dean of Beauvais 1178-1190, and he may be the physician described by another English medical writer, Gilbertus Anglicus (d. c. 1250), as 'of all the doctors the most learned and experienced'. In this manuscript, the Signa is followed by a treatise on urines - another important piece of diagnostic evidence for the medieval physician - which the closing rubric also attributes to 'Master Richard'. However, the opening words do not match those of the Regula de urinis that forms the second part of the Micrologus, so this ascription remains uncertain. Indeed, in other manuscripts, this text is attributed to Gerardus Bituricensis, better known for his commentary on the Viacticum (not that presented here in Part 3) (see ff. 181v-185v). Finally, the scribe copied part of a 'glosule' or 'short gloss' on another pharmacological work that emanated from Salerno, the Antidotarium Nicholai. Whereas the 'Circa instans' dealt with simples, the 'Liber iste' described compound medicines, which comprised two or more chemically combined ingredients. Other hands were responsible for copying the rest of the manuscript. Part 4 contains a commentary on Galen's Tegni ('Art'), written by ʻAlī ibn Riḍwān (d. c. 1068) and later translated into Latin, perhaps by Gerard of Cremona (1113/14-1187). Part 1 contains an incomplete copy of the Practica, or 'Rogerina maior' of Roger de Baron (d. c. 1280) (the first three chapters of part four of the Practica sometimes circulated separately as the 'Rogerina minor'). It was completed later by a different scribe, who added two texts by another physician of 13th-century Montpellier, Bernard de Gordon. The gap left by the scribe at the end of Part 1 suggests that he was working from an imperfect exemplar, rather than in collaboration with the scribe of Part 2, whose handwriting seems to be of a somewhat later period. Where scribal hands are all of roughly the same period, as here, it can be difficult to determine the stages in which a book was made. Annotations in a manuscript can provide valuable evidence of the reading and reception of the text(s) it contains: which passages readers found interesting or wished to highlight with 'nota', pointing hands, or marginal content markers. Here, they also illuminate the order in which the book was assembled. All of the hands wrote differing versions of an English style of cursive handwriting known today as 'Anglicana'. The hand in Part 4 contains a distinctive feature: the top of the letters b, h and l look like fish tails. These 'forked ascenders' were present in Anglicana hands from the later 13th century onwards, but disappeared by the mid-14th century, which helps us to date this hand. The copyist of Part 4 must have owned Parts 1 and 3, since we find this hand - with the same combination of forked ascenders, as well as other stylistic similarities - annotating the text throughout those sections. Their hand is not found at all in Part 2, however, lending weight to the conclusion that it was produced later, specifically for this manuscript, in order to make up the deficiency in the text. Dr James Freeman| Medieval Manuscripts Specialist| Cambridge University Library

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 2r: -ciens facta fuit
Form: codex
Support: Parchment
Extent: Codex: ii + 2 + 39 | 18 | 134 | 25 + 2 + ii leaves. 195 × 140 mm.
Foliation:

20th-century foliation

[i-ii] + 1-2 + 3-41 | 42-60 | 62-110 ; 112-197 | 198-222 + 223-224 + [iii-iv]

Written in pencil in the upper right-hand corner of the recto side of each leaf, by an unidentified hand of the 20th century, subsequently emended (overwritten or replaced) by foliation by H.L. Pink . Following Pink's intervention, folio numbers 61 and 111 assigned to leaves no longer present in the volume (as per historic foliation practice at Cambridge University Library). This replaces an earlier, probably 19th-century, sequence of partial foliation, which was used in the catalogue of manuscripts published in 1858. Text is visible on f. 111r, however, and this has therefore been included in the digitisation of the manuscript.

Collation

The collation formula that follows differs from that of H.L. Pink (see Additions). Pink's refoliation of the manuscript assigned numbers to leaves that he judged to be missing from the volume on the basis of its collation. However, there is no evidence that text is missing as a consequence of the removal of the last leaf of Quire 6; this is more likely the excision of a blank leaf (as is also the case in Quire 4). In Quire 20, Pink judged that the 9th leaf had been cancelled, however the text that is visible on the stub between ff. 217 and 218 in fact runs on from the lines written on f. 215v, indicating that this leaf was an insertion contemporary with the copying of the text (M.R. James described this leaf as '+5*'; see Source).

There are also questions regarding the divisions between and within the composite Parts in this manuscript. It is uncertain whether Quires 1-4 and Quires 5-6 were produced entirely separately from one another (as Pink's collation suggests, dividing them with a vertical bar) or were two sets of codicological units. That most of f. 41v was left blank after the end of the first scribe's stint may indicate that the copying of both units was happening concurrently, or that the first scribe was copying from an imperfect exemplar, and the remainder of the Rogerina minor was copied only later by the second scribe. Since the two hands are different in appearance, the second seeming to be slightly later, and with minor differences in layout, the two scribal stints are treated as separate productions.

In Part 3, the commentary on the Viaticum was likewise copied by two hands, the first covering Quires 7-8 and the second Quires 9-11 (as well as those that follow). Again, the evidence is ambiguous. The two hands are markedly different in appearance, but appear to be contemporaneous. The first stint concludes on f. 79v, leaving no blank space, and the second resumes without interruption on f. 80r. That the two may have been working in coordination with one another is suggested by the running header written by the first scribe on f. 79v, 'finis quarti in alio quinto', indicating that the gloss on Book 5 of the Viaticum could be found in the 'other' part of the manuscript.

  • Quires 1-312 (ff. 3-38)
  • Quire 44-1 (ff. 39-41: 4th leaf excised, after f. 41) |
  • Quire 512 (ff. 42-53)
  • Quire 68-1 (ff. 54-60: 8th leaf excised, f. '61') |
  • Quire 78 (ff. 62-69)
  • Quire 810 (ff. 70-79) ;
  • Quire 98 (ff. 80-87)
  • Quire 1012 (ff. 88-99)
  • Quire 1112-1 (ff. 100-110: 12th leaf missing, f. '111')
  • Quires 12-1412 (ff. 112-147)
  • Quire 1514 (ff. 148-161)
  • Quires 16-1812 (ff. 162-197) |
  • Quire 1912 (ff. 198-209)
  • Quire 2012+1 (ff. 210-222: 6th leaf, f. 215, inserted)

1-312 44-1 (4th leaf cancelled) | 512 68-1 (8th leaf cancelled) | 78 810 ; 98 1012 1112-1 (12th leaf missing) 12-1412 1514 16-1812 | 1912 2012+1 (6th leaf inserted)

Additions

Quire signatures ('1-20') 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

18th-century speckled brown leather, with blind-tooled panel and four fleurons at the corners and single roll-stamp along inner edge. Repaired (and rebacked) by W.H. Smith and Son , February 1963 (note by H.L. Pink on front pastedown). Classmark labels preserved from spine and adhered to front pastedown.

History

Provenance and Acquisition

Given to Cambridge University Library in 1655 by John Rant (c. 1610-1658) , fellow of Gonville and Caius College. An inscription recording his donation is written in ink on the front pastedown: 'Ex dono ornatissimi simul et doctissimi viri Johannis Rant olim Collegii Gon. & Caii socii dignissimi 1655'.

Venn:ACAD RNT626J
Oates (1986), p. 281

Recycled endleaves [Cambridge, University Library, MS Ii.1.16, ff. 1-2, 223-224]

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1r-2v
Unidentified text
Language(s): Latin

From a ?theological text or ?sermon.

223r-224v
Unidentified text
Language(s): Latin

From a ?theological text or ?sermon.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Parchment
Extent: Two fragments, comprising two cropped bifolia: 2 + [...] + 2 leaves.
Dimensions (leaf): 195 × 140 mm.

Layout

Ruled in leadpoint, frame and line. Two columns.

Hand(s)

Written in Anglicana, by a hand of the 15th century.

History

Origin: 15th century. ; England.

Part 1 [Cambridge, University Library, MS Ii.1.16, ff. 3-41]

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1.1. 3r-41v
Rogerina maior Rogerius de Baron
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 3r: Practica Ricardi Anglici. Est et alius liber Compendium Ricardi inscriptus. Habeo practicam Anglicam Magistro Rogero ascriptam que cum hac non ordine solum sed et sententiis convenit
Incipit: 3r: Habemus ab antiquis auctoribus
Explicit: 41v: in anterioribus et posterioribus tibiarum quandoque apponatur||

Opening rubric added by a hand of the 17th/18th century, attributing the text to Richard the Englishman (c. 1162-1242), medical writer . Text ends imperfectly in this Part, but resumes without interruption in Part 2.

eTK 0593I (t0115510000), with ref. to 'Rogerina minor' (sic)
eTK 1479M

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 4r: -ciens facta fuit
Form: codex
Support: Parchment (FHHF)
Extent: Codex: 39 leaves. 195 × 140 mm.

Collation

  • Quires 1-312 (ff. 3-38)
  • Quire 44-1 (ff. 39-41: 4th leaf excised, after f. 41) |

Layout

170 × 95-105 mm. Ruled in leadpoint, frame only. Single columns, 31-37 lines to the page, written above top line.

Hand(s)

Written in Anglicana by a single hand.

Decoration

Gaps left for two- or three-line initials

Fancy ascenders in top line of text (ff. 1r-9v).

Additions

Opening rubric added by a hand of the 17th/18th century. See Contents for further details.

History

Origin: First half of the 14th century. ; England.

Part 2 [Cambridge, University Library, MS Ii.1.16, ff. 42-61]

Contents

Language(s): Latin

2.1. 42r-53v
Rogerina maior Rogerius de Baron
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: || 42r: tibiarum quandoque apponatur
Explicit: 53v: hec de sinthomatibus dicta sufficiunt||

Text begins imperfectly, but continues without interruption from Part 1. See also Cambridge, University Library, MS Ee.2.20; text here lacks the conclusion that is found in that copy.

eTK 0593I (t0115510000)
eTK 1479M
2.2. 54r-60v
Regimen acutorum Bernard de Gordon
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 54r: Reginem [sic] acutarum egritudinum
Incipit: 54r: Consistit in tribus . in dieta pocionibus
Explicit: 57r: et fumatur lambendo diutissime in ore tenendo ||
Final rubric: 57r: Hec omnia facta sunt post lecturam continuam . xi . annorum etc

Ends imperfectly, without the 'De recapitulatione' (see Ferrara 1486 edition of the Lilium medicinae: cf. Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, 2 Inc.c.a.1759, f. x3 .

eTK 1344B
2.3. 57r-60v
De ingenio sanitatis Bernard de Gordon
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 57r: Ingenia curationis morborum quantum est de presenti sunt decem
Explicit: 60v: opus totum de crisi et creticis diebus breuiter et cum integritate sicut scitis
Final rubric: 60v: Explicit tabula in geniorum curandi / Benedictus deus saluator mundi / Amen
eTK 0743L

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 43r: et scarificationes
Form: codex
Support: Parchment (FHHF)
Extent: Codex: 18 leaves. 195 × 140 mm.

Collation

  • Quire 512 (ff. 42-53)
  • Quire 68-1 (ff. 54-60: 8th leaf excised, f. '61') |

Layout

170 × 95-100 mm. Ruled in leadpoint, frame only. Single columns, 41-46 lines to the page, written below top line.

Hand(s)

Written in Anglicana, by a single hand.

Decoration

One two-line initial, in red (f. 46r).

Gaps left for a three-line initial at the start of a text (f. 54r), and for two-line initials elsewhere.

History

Origin: Second half of the 14th century. ; England.

Part 3 [Cambridge, University Library, MS Ii.1.16, ff. 62-197]

Contents

Language(s): Latin

3.1. 62r-110v
Glossa super Viaticum
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 62r: Super primum librum uiatici
Incipit: 62r: Ante omnem purgationem particula est
Explicit: 110v: extraneo obedit calori unum sit febris continua

See also Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 190/223, ff. 102r-109v .

eTK 0107C (t0020620000)
3.2. 83v
Medical recipe
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 83v: Recipe radicis cellendonie terci puluerisati modici saponis albi et potet in seruisia et infra septimana emendabitur. Item succus celidonis ?ponitus in lacte vaccine vel mulieris quam [...] ictericum valet.

Two recipes against jaundice, written in the bottom margin. Full transcription.

3.3. 108r
Medical recipe
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 108r: Nota quod quando fleuma habundat in stomaco et in intestinis et causat febrem accipe aquam in bona quantitate et calefacias bene et da bibere tam calidam sicud tollerare post nam ratione calidatis dissoluit viscositatem fleumatis et ratione frigiditatis naturale resistit calore febrili et uero est melior medicina

Recipe against fever arising from excess phlegm in the stomach or intestine, written in the bottom margin. Full transcription.

3.4. 108v
Medical recipe
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 108v: Ad stringendum sudore accipiatur camisia inda alba ponatur in aqua rosarum uel nenufare postea inter manus exprimatur aqua et illam camisiam multociens in die induat paprius tamen lauetur totum corpus cum predictis aquis sed ad prouocandum sudore herbe uel semina diu recepta decoquantur in aqua postea terantur et ponantur in sacculo et sacculus calidus postea super stomacum [...]

Recipe against sweating, written in the bottom margin; last word lost to cropping. Full transcription.

3.5. 110v
Medical recipe
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 110v: Nota optimum eplastrum [sic] mitigatiuum in apostematibus accipe lac vaccinum et lento igne coque quosque incipiat in spissari post addito parum dialtee et farina lini fiat vnguentum et optime maturat apostemata et dolorem acutissimum mitigat. Nota quod sepum quod invenitur circa fisillium ferreum molendini malaxatum cum tercia parte dialtee maturat bene aphostemata [sic] de omni materia.

Two recipes against apostemes, written in the bottom margin. Full transcription.

3.6. 112r-161r
De simplicibus medicinae ('Circa instans') ?Mattheus Platearius (attrib.)
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 112r: Circa instans negocium in simplicibus medicinis necessarium seruatur propositum
Explicit: 161r: uelis conseruare appone ceteri et confice et pone in pixide
Final rubric: 161r: Explicit liber platearii crisostomi de simplici medicina pro quo intoxicatur est ab inuidis et mortuus est
eTK 0211C
3.7. 121v-122r
Medical recipe
Language(s): Latin

Against cardiacam (cardiac fever / angina / other heart disease). Written in the top margin, across the opening.

3.8. 142v
Medical recipe
Language(s): Latin

Against menstrual flow, dysentery and worms. Written in the bottom margin.

3.9. 161r-161v
Notes on diseases and ingredients
3.10. 162r-181v
Signa Richard the Englishman, medical writer
Rubric: 162r: Richardus Anglicus de Signis et vrinis vixit anno domino 1230
Incipit: 162r: Vis medicine laudabilis ita duntaxat
Explicit: 181v: corruptionem iam conformatam in corde et in aliis membris
Final rubric: 181v: Expliciunt signa magistri ricardi

Opening rubric added by a hand of the 17th/18th century, attributing the text to Richard the Englishman (c. 1162-1242), medical writer . See also Cambridge, University Library, MS Ee.2.20, which differs from this copy.

eTK 1702L (t0324450000)
eTK 0561M
3.11. 181v-185v
'De urinis' ?Richard the Englishman, medical writer
Incipit: 181v: Presentium corporis dispositionum licet utilis reperiatur
Explicit: 185v: subrubea mediocritis spissa inferius minus obscura
Final rubric: 185v: Explicit summa magistri ricardi de urinis

Attributed to Richard the Englishman in the closing rubric (from which the title is taken), though the incipit differs from the treatise on urines, Regula de urinis, that forms the second part of Richard's Micrologus (see eTK 1205G; WIC 15458). The attribution is uncertain and elsewhere this text is attributed to Gerardus Bituricensis (see Saint-Omer, Bibliothèque d'agglomération de Saint-Omer, MS 624, ff. 141v-143r.

eTK 1086E (t0209400000)
3.12. 185v-197v
Glosule antidotarii (Short gloss on the Antidotarium)
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 185v: De divisione practice secundum auicenna
Incipit: 185v: Quod uult auicenna practica diuiditur in conserua est sanitatis
Explicit: 197v: tamen si sunt acute et multum furiose nondum expectare||

Ends imperfectly.

eTK 1256H (t0240890000)

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 63r: substantialiter tamen
Form: codex
Support: Parchment (HFFH and FHHF)
Extent: Codex: 134 leaves. 195 × 140 mm.

Collation

  • Quire 78 (ff. 62-69)
  • Quire 810 (ff. 70-79) ;
  • Quire 98 (ff. 80-87)
  • Quire 1012 (ff. 88-99)
  • Quire 1112-1 (ff. 100-110: 12th leaf missing, f. '111')
  • Quires 12-1412 (ff. 112-147)
  • Quire 1514 (ff. 148-161)
  • Quires 16-1812 (ff. 162-197) |

Layout

150-175 × 100-110 mm. Ruled in leadpoint, frame and line. Single columns, 37-44 lines to the page, written above top line.

Hand(s)

Written in Anglicana, by two hands: Hand 1, ff. 62r-79v; Hand 2, ff. 80r-197v.

Decoration

Gaps left for three-line initials at the start of the first text (f. 62r), and for two-line initials elsewhere.

Additions

Opening rubric added by a hand of the 17th/18th century. See Contents for further details.

History

Origin: First half of the 14th century. ; England.

Part 4 [Cambridge, University Library, MS Ii.1.16, ff. 198-222]

Contents

Language(s): Latin

4.1. 198r-222r
Commentary on Galen's Tegni (tr. ? Gerard of Cremona) ʻAlī ibn Riḍwān
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 198r: Res sunt omnis doctrine que ordine habentur
Incipit: 198r: In omnibus doctrinis que secundum ordinem currunt
Explicit: 222r: Et si est declinus ad capud||

Without the prologue. Quotations from Galen rubricated by underlining. Ends imperfectly, part-way through the commentary on ch. 93.

eTK 0700J (t0135500000)
4.2. 222v
Medical notes
Language(s): Latin, with plant-names in Middle English
Incipit: 222v: Note modum ordinem et in omni egritudine curandi
Explicit: 222v: Persicaria herba sicca et amare

Not part of the commentary on Galen's Tegni, as suggested by the 19th-century catalogue of manuscripts and eTK. Plant names include 'wilde arach' and 'chikenemete'.

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 199r: ad ea que optet
Form: codex
Support: Parchment (FHHF)
Extent: Codex: 25 leaves. 195 × 140 mm.

Collation

  • Quire 1912 (ff. 198-209)
  • Quire 2012+1 (ff. 210-222: 6th leaf, f. 215, inserted)

Layout

165-175 × 100-105 mm. Ruled in hardpoint, frame only. Single columns, 30-33 lines to the page, written below top line.

Hand(s)

Written in Anglicana by a single hand. An attempt at Anglicana formata used as a display script for quotations from Galen.

History

Origin: First half of the 14th century. ; England.

Additional Information

Record Sources

This catalogue entry draws on an unpublished description of the manuscript composed between 1926 and 1930 by M.R. James (1862-1936) , 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

    Hippocrates Latinus: repertorium of Hippocratic writings in the Latin Middle Ages (I) Traditio: Studies in Ancient and Medieval History, Thought, and Religion, Kibre, Pearl (31, 100-126, 1975) Experimenta, compilation and construction in two medieval books Poetica: An International Journal of Linguistic-Literary Studies, Jones, Peter Murray (91 & 92, 61-80, 2019)

Funding of Cataloguing

Wellcome

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Cambridge Digital Library

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