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.6.33

The Boke of Rota and The Knowing of Woman's Kind in Childing

Contents

Introduction: The two main texts in this manuscript have a shared theme and may have had a common readership in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century England, but are preserved here in two parts that were produced separately from one another before being bound together at some later date. The two texts are gynaecological treatises, each with connections to the 'Trotula' group of texts that emerged from southern Italy, most probably Salerno, during the twelfth century, these being:
  • Liber de sinthomatibus mulierum ('The Book on the conditions of women')
  • De curis mulierum ('Treatments for women')
  • De ornatu mulierum ('Women's cosmetics')
The first text in MS Ii.6.33, The Boke of Rota, is a translation into Middle English of chapters from the Liber de sinthomatibus mulierum and De curis mulierum. The second, known as The Knowing of Woman's Kind in Childing, is based on selections from a French translation of Liber de sinthomatibus mulierum, the Non omnes quidem (mostly derived from Muscio's Gynaecia), the Gynaecia of pseudo-Cleopatra, and other sources, with (in Monica Green's words) 'considerable theoretical embellishments by the translator-adaptor' (Green (1997), p. 85). Both The Boke of Rota and The Knowing of Woman's Kind in Childing cleave to the tenets of Hippocratic gynaecology, such as the recognition of the benefits of sexual activity and menstruation, or the theory of the 'wandering womb'. The material history of the manuscript has been obscured somewhat by the rebinding and repair of the volume. It is clear that the manuscript comprises two discrete parts: both are written on paper but of different stocks. The copying of the first dates to the sixteenth century and the second to the fifteenth century. The first part comprises two quires, originally of 18 leaves each. The first leaf of Quire 1 was perhaps a former pastedown, which has been excised when the manuscript was rebound. A stub before the beginning of Quire 2, and the absence of any interruption to the text, suggests that the 1st leaf was cancelled. The second leaf, now f. 18, has no conjoint leaf. The 17th and 18th leaves of Quire 2, to which the 1st and 2nd leaves would have originally been attached, are no longer present. It is possible, however, that these are in fact ff. 2:37-38, which appear to be from the same paper stock and bear notes by the same hand that was responsible for copying the text in the first part of the manuscript. This hand is nowhere to be found in the second part of the manuscript, which points to the two parts (their shared subject-matter notwithstanding) having been produced entirely separately and only bound together at a later juncture, rather than the second part being already in someone's possession and the first part being copied with the deliberate intention that the two be bound together. The damage that these leaves (ff. 2:37-38) have suffered, however, is of the same pattern as those towards the end of the second part of the manuscript, suggesting that they have been bound in this location for a lengthy period of time. The status of f. 39 is less clear, however. It too is of the same paper stock, so originally belonged with the leaves of the first part of the manuscript, but is more likely a remnant of an endleaf, pastedown or wrapper than part of either Quires 1 or 2. The manuscript was placed into its current binding in 1974. It appears that it was at this point that it was separated from MS Ii.6.34, with which it had been bound in 'paper boards' (according to an unpublished description by M.R. James) since at least the publication of a catalogue of the University Library's manuscripts in 1858, when the two were described as being in a single volume. However, earlier records of these two manuscripts show that this was not always the case. The two are recorded separately - and must therefore have been physically discrete items - in the list of the contents of the library of John Moore (1646-1714), bishop of Ely, published in 1697 by Edward Bernard. Moore's manuscripts (and printed books) came to Cambridge University Library in the year after his death, at the gift of George I, and the two were presumably bound together by the Library at some later juncture. Dr James Freeman| Medieval Manuscripts Specialist| Cambridge University Library

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Paper, of different stocks in each part
Extent: Codex: i + 32 | 36 | 3 + i leaves.
Foliation:

20th-century foliation

[i] + 1-32 | 1-36 | 37-39 + [ii]

Numbered in pencil, in the upper right-hand corner of the rectos, by a hand of the 20th century. The hand has numbered the parts of the manuscript separately rather than in one continuous sequence. For the purposes of cataloguing, digitisation and display, an additional prefatory number is added to each of these sequences, in order to signify the relevant part of the manuscript. So: [i] + 1:1-32 | 2:1-36 | 2:37-39 + [ii].

Collation

The manuscript comprises two parts, both written on paper but of different stocks. The first part comprises two quires, originally of 18 leaves each. The first leaf of Quire 1 was perhaps a former pastedown, which has been excised when the manuscript was rebound. A stub before the beginning of Quire 2, and the absence of any interruption to the text, suggests that the 1st leaf was cancelled. The 2nd leaf, now f. 18, has no conjoint leaf. The 17th and 18th leaves of Quire 2, to which the 1st and 2nd leaves would have originally been attached, are no longer present. It is possible, however, that these are in fact ff. 2:37-38, which appear to be from the same paper stock and bear notes by the same hand that was responsible for copying the text in the first part of the manuscript. (This hand is nowhere to be found in the second part of the manuscript, which points to the two parts - their shared subject-matter notwithstanding - having been produced entirely separately and only bound together at a later juncture). The damage that these leaves have suffered, however, is of the same pattern as those towards the end of the second part of the manuscript, suggesting that they have been bound in this location for a lengthy period of time. The status of f. 39 is less clear, however. It too is of the same paper stock, so originally belonged with the leaves of the first part of the manuscript, but is more likely a remnant of an endleaf, pastedown or wrapper than part of either Quires 1 or 2.

The second part of the manuscript comprises two quires of 16 leaves, plus a third quire of 4 leaves: these may be two bifolia, however the tightness of the binding means that the sewing is not visible and so the structure remains uncertain.

  • Quire 118-1 (ff. 1:1-1:17: 1st leaf excised, probably blank)
  • Quire 218-3 (ff. 1:18-1:32: 1st leaf cancelled; 17th and 18th leaves not present, but probably ff. 2:37-38) |
  • Quires 3-416 (ff. 2:1-2:32)
  • Quire 5four (ff. 2:33-2:36)

118-1 (1st excised) 218-3 (1st cancelled; 17th-18th not present, probably ff. 2:37-38) | 3-416 5four

Additions

Note concerning the rebinding of the manuscript in 1974 added to the rear pastedown by Arthur Owen.

Binding

Quarter-bound binding in modern leather with marbled paper, vellum tips, by Douglas Cockerell and Son, 1974.

In an unpublished description of the manuscript by M.R. James (see Source), the manuscript is described as being bound in 'paper boards'. MS Ii.6.33 was bound with MS Ii.6.34 in this form since at least the publication of the relevant volume of the Catalogue of manuscripts preserved in the Library of the University of Cambridge (vol. 3, 1858), where this is noted, and presumably until 1974 (see Additions).

In the first listing of the contents of John Moore's library in 1697 (see Provenance), these two manuscripts were described separately: Ii.6.33 as no. 253 and Ii.6.34 as no. 200. This suggests that they were at that stage physically discrete items. It may be that they were bound together only after the arrival of Moore's library at Cambridge University Library in 1715, only to be separated again in 1974.

History

Provenance and Acquisition

John Moore (1646-1714) , bishop of Ely: no. 253 in Bernard, Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliæ et Hiberniæ (c. 1697). This number cannot be found in the manuscript, but the description in Bernard matches the contents and it may be that the number was lost when the first leaf was excised and the manuscript rebound and/or bound with MS Ii.6.34.

Presented to the University Library in 1715 by George I . The donation bookplate engraved by John Pine in 1736, usually to be found in manuscripts that came from Moore's library via the royal gift, is not present in this manuscript.

Part 1 [Cambridge, University Library, MS Ii.6.33, ff. 1:1-32, 2:37-39]

Contents

Language(s): Middle English

1. 1:1r-1:22r
The Boke of Rota
Rubric: 1:1r This boke mad a woman named Rota of the prive sicknesses that long to a woman, with medicynes to helpe them in ther neade.
eVK2 7358.00 (v0059580000)
eVK2 4565.00 (v0059590000)
eVK2 4565.00 (v0059600000)
1.1. 1:1r-1:1v
Capitula list
1.2. 1:1v-1:22r
Text
Rubric: 1:1v Of sleppyng out of the matrice
Incipit: 1:1v Sleppynge downe of the matrice, is when it falleth over lowe downe to the opennenge
Explicit: 1:1v-1:22r potycarys haue all wey such oyles redy

Full transcription of passage on cravings during pregnancy:| Also aftur a woman ys conceved many wyse gyffe her what so euer she desyres be is [sic] swete thynge or soure as tarre or pych or caudells with soche other / from the two fyrst monythis she hath many quaynt appettitis and these appetytis begynne to seace at the thyrde moneth and at þe fourthe / And when she is with child gyffe her what so euer she desyreth or else it may be the cause of the childes deth as physicke seyes and so it hath byn proved in diuerse wemen . | Full translation: Also, after a woman has conceived, in many ways give her whatsoever she desires, be it sweet things or sour as tar or pitch or caudells [a warm drink of sweetened or spiced wine or ale, thickened with other ingredients], with other such things. From the first two months, she has many unusual appetites, and these appetites begin to cease at the third month and at the fourth. And when she is with child, give her whatsoever she desires, or else it may be the cause of the child's death, as physicians say, and so it has been proven in various women.

Green (1992), Trotula Translation C
Green (2001), Eng5
2. 1:22r-1:29r
Medical recipes
Language(s): Middle English

They address the following:

  • ff. 1:22r-1:22v: dysentery ('To staunche þe flyx')
  • ff. 1:22v-1:25v: constipation ('For costyffnes')
  • ff. 1:25v-1:26r: the falling evil (presumably epilepsy)
  • ff. 1:26r-1:26v: cramp
  • ff. 1:26v: sleeplessness/insomnia
  • ff. 1:27r-1:27v: to make a tooth fall out without pain
  • f. 1:27v: hernia ('For a man þat is brostyn')
  • f. 1:28r: to help a woman deliver her afterbirth ('...to make a woman to be delyuered of her latter binden')
  • f. 1:28v: to induce menstruation; and to help a woman to conceive ('proved by hychecocke')
  • f. 1:29r: to remove a false pregnancy or cleanse the womb ('For mola matricis, stoppyng or corruptyng of the matrice to clense it...')

The recipes include an extended note on the case of a woman in York, on whom a medicine for costiveness was proven (see ff. 1:24r-1:24v: 'Yf a woman were neuer so costyffe, and she be grett with child þat she cannot make water nor go to the drawyght, this is a feyre medicyne for yt as it was proued by a lady of yorke [.] ther was a lady in yorke þat was so gret with child that she had but a monyth to go. And she was so costyfe both before and behynd þat she mygh not make water but a sponfull att ones, nor behynd she mygh do no thynge but foule blacke [.] brentt gere lyke [?garlic] to þe tirde ...(?) of a shyppe and þat was with outrage payne and gret and when all þe fysicions of yorke had forswen her and seyd she was lyke to dye, than com a doctur of fisike to yorke and saw her at þe instance and prayer of a kynnes man of his, the doctor tauygh her thes medecyne followynge...'. The note relates how the woman undertook the treatment, but advises readers, 'And [if] woman can not do yt her selfe let a nother woman helpe her.'

eVK2 4898.00 (v0059610000)
1:29r-1:30r
Household recipes
Language(s): Middle English

To make parsley grow in an hour's time, to make vinegar quickly, to make roses grow plentifully.

1:30r-32v
Medical recipes
Language(s): Middle English

They address the following:

  • f. 1:30r: to prevent baldness / alopecia
  • ff. 1:30r-1:30v: to make hair grow where there is none
  • f. 1:30v: for a woman that lacks milk; for the phlegm
  • ff. 1:30v-1:31r: for the saucefleme on a man's face
  • f. 1:31r: for bladder stones; for speaking in one's sleep
  • ff. 1:31r-1:31v: for wounds that are full of blood
  • f. 1:31v: for a man's voice
  • ff. 1:31v-1:32r: for pricking of a sinew with a thorn
  • ff. 1:32r-1:32v: for hoarseness
  • f. 1:32v: for itching hands

eVK2 4898.00 (v0059610000)
3. 2:37r-2:38v
Medical recipes
Language(s): Middle English

They address the following: for an uncertain complaint during a woman's labour, to stop menstrual flow, toothache, and ?soreness in a knee or joint.

eVK2 5192.00 (v0059640000)

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 1:2r burdens lystyng
Form: codex
Support: Paper, folded in octavo.
Extent: Codex: 32 | 3 leaves. 150-155 × 100 mm.

Collation

  • Quire 118-1 (ff. 1:1-1:17: 1st leaf excised, probably blank)
  • Quire 218-3 (ff. 1:18-1:32: 1st leaf cancelled; 17th and 18th leaves not present, but probably ff. 2:37-38)

Condition

Some staining around the edges of the leaves and occasionally on the text block itself. Edges of the leaves are roughly trimmed and uneven. The outer leaves (ff. 1:1r and 1:32v) are slightly grimier than the rest, presumably as a consequence of being exposed before it was bound with the rest. Folios 2:37-2:38 are in poor condition, the outer corners having in large part crumbled away; they have since been repaired.

Layout

140 × 80 mm. Unruled, written in a single column. 16-22 lines to the page.

Hand(s)

Written by a single hand in an inexpert, uneven secretary script.

History

Origin: 16th century, possibly late 15th century. ; England.

Part 2 [Cambridge, University Library, MS Ii.6.33, ff. 2:1-2:36]

Contents

Language(s): Middle English

4. 2:1r-2:36r
The Knowing of Woman’s Kind in Childing
Incipit: 2:1r Owre lord god. whan he had storid the word of all creatures.
Explicit: 2:36r and than a man shaldo cure hem be no cuttynge nor be no fire.

Transcription of passage concerning the care of women during pregnancy:| How women shal kepe hem whan they knowe hem conceyuyd with chyld . loke that they kepe hem restly . and vse not here body . with ouer meche labour . or rydynge or goynge . nor that they be not steryd to ouer meche anger and wrath . And in the . vij . monyth lete here esyly . for than is the childe fourmed . and be ouer meche sterynge of the wombe . it myght lyghtly passe or ellis be mysshapyn . |Translation: How women should look after themselves when they know that they have conceived a child. Look that they remain restful and not use their body with too much labouring or [horse] riding or going out, not that they be stirred to excessive anger or wrath. And in the seventh month, make her comfortable, for then the child is formed, and if the womb is stirred too much it [the foetus] might miscarry or else be disfigured.

Green (1992), Trotula Translation A
Green (2001), Eng1
eVK2 3972.00 (v0059620000)
eVK2 8238.00 (v0059630000)
5. 2:36r
Medical recipe

A proven medicine for the 'white-floures, of wyf or maydyn to stoppe hem yif they come to surfetously', i.e. leukorrhea, excess white or colourless secretions from the vagina.

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 2:2r other that hath shewid
Form: codex
Support: Paper, folded in octavo.
Extent: Codex: 36 leaves. 150 × 100-105 mm.

Collation

  • Quires 3-416 (ff. 2:1-2:32)
  • Quire 5four (ff. 2:33-2:36)
Leaf signatures occasionally visible (see ff. 2:1r-2:7r, 2:16r, 2:19r). Catchwords in ornamental scrolls, drawn in ink.

Condition

Outer leaf (folio 2:1r) is noticeably grimier than the rest, presumably as a consequence of being exposed before it was bound with the rest. Edges of the leaves are roughly trimmed. The outer corners of the leaves towards the end of the part have often crumbled away; they have since been repaired.

Layout

100-105 × 65-70 mm. Ruled in hardpoint, frame only. Written in a single column, 21-22 lines to the page, below top line.

Hand(s)

Written by a single hand in bastard secretary.

Decoration

Four-line initial in red, with infill and marginal flourishing drawn in brown ink (f. 2:1r).

Two-line initial in blue, with flourishing drawn in red ink (f. 2:17r).

Two-line plain initials in red.

Simple line-fillers drawn neatly in red ink.

Additions

Marginal annotations by one or hands of the 15th century (ff. 2:4v, 2:5v, 2:6v, 2:7r, 2:8v, 2:30r, 2:34r.

Nota marks added at intervals to the margin by the text scribe.

History

Origin: 15th century. ; England.

Additional Information

Record Sources

This catalogue entry draws on unpublished descriptions of the manuscript and MS Ii.6.34 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.

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. 1:16v-1:17r and 2:9v-2:10r).

Bibliography

    Medical Manuscripts in Middle English Speculum, Robbins, Rossell Hope (45, 3, 393-415, 1970, http://www.jstor.org/stable/2853500) 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 handlist of the Latin and vernacular manuscripts of the so-called <hi rend="italics">Trotula</hi> texts. Part II: The vernacular translations and Latin re-writings Scriptorium: Revue internationale des études relatives aux manuscrits / International Review of Manuscript Studies, Green, Monica H. (51, 80-104, 1997) Translation and Censorship in Medieval Gyncaecological Treatise The medieval translator = Traduire au Moyen Age, Ellis, RogerTixier, RenéWeitemeier, Bernd (6, 306-320, 1998) Women's healthcare in the medieval West: texts and contexts Women's healthcare in the medieval West Collected studies, Green, Monica Helen (Aldershot, Ashgate, 2000) The knowing of woman's kind in childing: a Middle English version of material derived from the Trotula and other sources Medieval women: texts and contexts, (Turnhout, Brepols, 2001) The Trotula: a Medieval Compendium of Women's Medicine, Green, Monica Helen (Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001) Making women's medicine masculine: the rise of male authority in pre-modern gynaecology, Green, Monica Helen (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) 'Women of oure tunge cunne bettir reede and vnderstonde this langage': Women and Vernacular Translation in Later Medieval England Multilingualism in medieval Britain (c. 1066-1520): sources and analysis Medieval texts and cultures of Northern Europe, Dearnley, Elizabeth (Turnhout, 259-272, Brepols, 2013) Cold, wet, hot and dry: <hi rend="italics">The knowing of a woman's kind in childing</hi>, a fourteenth century vernacular and obstetrical and gynecological treatise, Smith, Karen D.L. (Saskatoon, 2013, MA)

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Wellcome

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