Notes

Source des données : Wellcome Collection - Online Collections

• Gilbertus Anglicus, Practica medicinae in Middle English, plus miscellaneous practical medical treatises (Miscellanea Medica VII)

  Contents

  Adapted from Faye Marie Getz, Healing and Society in Medieval England: A Middle English Translation of the Pharmaceutical Writings of Gilbertus Anglicus (London and Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1991), pp. lviii-lxii

  Booklets are indicated by roman numerals. Each text is given an arabic number, and line numbers are indicated only when several short texts appear on a single page. The division of one text from another is to some extent an editorial judgement.

  I. Ff. 1r-5v booklet blank

  II. Ff. 6r-14v booklet contains two groups of texts, 1-7 and 8-17, each in a different hand

  1. Ff. 6r-9r Excerpts from commentary by unknown author on astrological-medical works, citing Thelit (Thabit ibn Qurra), Haly (Ali ibn Ridwan) and Ptolemy. Similar to a tract found with a Latin Gilbertus in Cambridge, Peterhouse MS 52, ff. 115v-118v. See also The Kalendarium of Nicholas of Lynn, ed. Sigmund Eisner (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1980), pp. 209-23, for a longer but similar Latin text. TK 61. See also Manzalaoui, Secretum secretorum, pp. 63-64].

  Incipit: 'Ad sciendum quo tempore debet dari medicina laxativa ?'

  Explicit '...preter martem. quere veritatem'.

  2. F. 9v Tract on the properties of the moon. See Seymour, pp. 489-95.

  Incipit: Nota quod luna est planetarum infima ?'

  Explicit: '...13 horis, 18 minutis, 38 2is'.

  3. Ff. 9v-10r Aspects of various planets. See Seymour, pp. 460-65

  Incipit: 'Nota quod sunt dignitates accidentales ?'

  Explicit: '... dicunt astronomi fortissimum esse'.

  4. F. 10r Tract on weights and the difference between Troy weights and other systems; similar to the text found in Medical Works of the Fourteenth Century ed. Henslow, p. 131 and many others.

  Incipit: 'Scopolus [i.e. obulus] ponderat xx grana?'

  Explicit: '...per pondera iacentia'.

  5. F. 10v ll. 1-3 On the relative volumes of the planets

  Incipit: Corpus solis continent tre cencies?'

  Explicit: '...corpus terre 7es'.

  6. F. 10v ll. 4-6 On the age of the universe secundum Alfonsum. See 'Extracts from the Alfonsine Tables and Rules for their Use' in Grant, Source Book, pp. 451-487.

  Incipit: 'Nota ab origine mundi?'

  Explicit: '...xli minuta'.

  7. F. 10v ll. 7-12 On which month is associated with which sign of the zodiac.

  Incipit: 'Menses per circulum anni...'

  Explicit: '...Maius 13 gemeni'.

  8. Ff. 10v-11r On how to make Quinta Essencia, in this recipe, a kind of medicinal liqueur. See Aus mittelenglischen Medizintexten, ed. M?ller, p. 27 and following.

  Incipit: 'This is ?e forme and maner?Take a potel of ?e beste aquevite?'

  Explicit: '...wel and close, et cetera'.

  9. Ff. 11r-12r On the properties of Quinta Essencia. See also The Book of Quinte Essence, ed. F. J. Furnivall (1866; rpt. EETS 16, 1965).

  Incipit: 'These ben ?e uertues ?If a man haue ?e pallesy?'

  '...feyr vertues. deo gracias'.

  10. F. 12r ll. 6-10 Recipe, 'For ?e stomake'

  Incipit: 'Take rede myntes?'

  Explicit: '...?ou shalt be hole'.

  11. F. 12 ll. 11-20 Recipe, ' For ?e stomake'

  Incipit: 'Take ?e rote of radiche?'

  Explicit: '...and sanaberis.

  12. Ff. 12r l. 21-f. 12v l. 3 Recipe, 'For sekenes in ?e splene'

  Incipit: 'Take verveyn?'

  Explicit: '...and sanaberis'.

  13. F. 12v ll. 4-13 Recipe, 'For a feuer'

  Incipit: 'Take grene mader ?'

  Explicit: '...at euen, et cetera'.

  14. F. 12v ll. 14-16 Recipe, 'For an axes vppon digestion'

  Incipit: 'Recipe borage?'

  Explicit: '...and use it'.

  15. Ff. 12v-13v 'Book of thunders' telling what to expect if thunder is heard in a particular month; TK 652, attributed to Bede: 'Presagium tonitruorum in quolibet mense'; in TK 1466, the same text is anonymous.

  Incipit: 'Januarius. Sol in aquario xi videlicet die erit. si tonitrus hoc mense ?ventos validos?'

  Explicit: '... sol erit in capricorno'.

  16. Ff. 13v-14r Treatise on prognostication by the quality of winter and summer weather, with seven possibilities given, marked A-G. See Stuart Jenks, Astrometeorology in the Middle Ages', Isis 74 (1983): 185-210 for similar texts.

  Incipit: 'Yemps calida estas procellosa ?'

  Explicit: '... fenum multum erit'.

  17. F. 14v On safe days for bleeding; same as text found in John of Arderne: Treatises of Fistula in Ano (1910), ed. D'Arcy Power, EETS 139 (1968), p. 16; similar to TK 1441, 'Si aliquis efficitur'.

  Incipit: 'Si aliquis fuerit vulneratus in capite ?'

  '... pedes facti sunt'.

  III. Ff. 15r-46v booklet contains mainly urine and fever texts, two topics found in L that the Middle English translator appears to have removed; this booklet repairs that omission.

  18. Ff. 15r-40v A compilation of four uroscopies (incipits in bold) with some repetition of material and with links added between the texts; the copyist/translator summarised his material freely from the Latin, see Gundolf Keil, Die urognostische Praxis in vor- und fr?hsalernitanischer Zeit (Freiburg: Institut f?r Geschichte der Medizin, 1970) for Latin analogs.

  Here begynne? ?e practise of ?e sighte of vrynes. Hit is to vndurstonde ?at whoso wille loke an vryn? [f. 21] Here ende? ?e significacion of ?e colours of vryns. Nowe we wille [f. 21] declare and tell of ?e cercles of vryns and begynne at ?e hede of man. A cercle ?at is grete? [f. 23] Here endi? ?e cercles [f. 23v] of vryns with her significacions. And now folowe? ?e contents of hem and ?e passing excesse of hem and ?e open declaryng of hem which ben gode and holsom and commendable. Eche vryn is clensing of blode? [f. 35v] here ende? ?e treatise of ?e cercles of vryns with her significacions and also ?e propirtes [f. 36] of vryns and ouerpassing excesse of hem. And nowe followe? remedy and medysyn for meny of hem ?at ben rehersid. Medisyn for colour as camellis flesshe. Take ?e croppe of sauge? [f. 40v] And ?us ?is practis of fisike ende?.

  19.Ff. 40v-41v On critical days of febrile sickness; similar to TK 997 'Omnis egritudo habet'.

  Incipit: 'Of every sekenes thre tymes ?er be?'

  Explicit: '...by ?e grace of god'.

  20. F. 42r Fever recipe, 'For him ?at is traueled?'

  Incipit: 'Take camylmelle...'

  Explicit: '...?e selfe wise'.

  21. F. 42v ll. 1-10 Fever recipe, 'Forto swage and abate ?e malice of ?e hote axes?'

  Incipit: 'Take mandrake...'

  Explicit: '?in a short time'.

  22. F. 42v ll. 11-17 Recipe, 'For him ?at pisse? blode?'

  Incipit: 'Take wilde sage...'

  Explicit:'...use ?e drinke'.

  23.Ff. 42v-43r Recipe, 'For dymnes of yen?'

  Incipit: 'Take centuary...'

  Explicit: '...to ?y bedde'

  24. F. 43r Recipe, 'For ?e coughe?'

  Incipit: 'Take elemini?'

  Explicit: '...firste and laste...'.

  25. Ff. 43r-43v Recipe, 'Electuary for ?e coughe?'

  Incipit: 'Take cynamum?'

  Explicit: '...and use hit'.

  26.F. 43v Recipe, 'Gargarismus for purgyng of ?e hede?'

  Incipit: 'Take mustard?'

  Explicit: '...til ?ou be esid'.

  27.Ff. 43v-44v Recipe, 'For a collerike man...'

  Incipit: 'Take borage?'

  Explicit: '...and sanaberis'.

  28. F. 44v Recipe (in Latin), 'Gargarismus for ?e hede...'

  Incipit: 'Recipe nigelle...'

  Explicit: '...super umbilicum'.

  29. Ff. 45r-46r On the relationship of the four ages of man to the four seasons, winds, and humors; see Little and Withington's edition of Roger Bacon's 'De retardation', p. 199, where this information is presented in the form of a wheel; and Seymour pp.

• 291-93.

  Incipit: 'Ther ben iiii Ages?'

  Explicit: '...soupe is ?eir quarter'.

  30.F. 46r. The relationship of the four complexions to the hours of the day, 'Nowe folowe? ?e reigning of ?e complexiounes?'

  Incipit: 'Fro ?e iii of ?e clocke?'

  Explicit: '...is most greuid'.

  31. Ff. 46-46v Recipe, 'For ?e morfu'.

  Incipit: 'Wasshe al ?y body?'

  Explicit: '...be wel usid.

  32. F. 46v Recipe, 'For ?e iaundice' (same hand as nos. 34 and 35)

  Incipit: 'Take greyness?'

  Explicit: '...at ones'.

  F. 47r-v blank

  IV. Ff. 48r-310v contain the Middle English Gilbertus and a recipe added in a later hand (no. 34), which is related in content to the recipe added at the beginning of V (no. 35).

  33. Ff. 48r-310v Gilbertus Anglicus, Practica medicinae, on the practice of medicine arranged from the head downward; in Middle English cf. Seymour, pp. 343-411.

  Begins imperfectly, '?superfluities and moche slepe...'

  Explicit: '...and to stonis. deo gracias'.

  34. F. 310v Recipe, 'A medisyn for ?e stoon?' (same hand as nos. 32 and 35)

  Incipit: 'Take karewaye...'

  Explicit: '...of a conseruatif.

  V. ff. 311r-322v [recipe in later hand plus tables for practice of astrological medicine].

  35. F. 311r Recipe, 'Ano?er maner making is ?is (same had as nos 32 and 34)

  Incipit: 'Take alle ?ese?'

  Explicit: '...?es dissesis'.

  Ff. 311v-315r blank

  36. Ff. 315v-317r Golden Numbers for calculating the dates of the new and full moon in metonic (nineteen-year) cycles; useful for prognostication and for explaining the past onset of illness; most commonly used in calculate the date of Easter.

  37. Ff. 317v-318v Dominical Letters for calculating the date in any year upon which the first Sunday

• ould fall; useful in the practice of astrological medicine in as much as certain zodiacal signs govern certain days of the week; ecclesiastical use.

  38. Ff. 318v-319v Signs of the zodiac; useful in practice of astrological medicine

  Incipit: 'Quicumque cursum lune?'

  Explicit: '...eorum tractavimus'.

  39. Ff. 320r-321v Lunar tables telling which signs of the zodiac the moon will be in; especially useful for bloodletting and administering medicines; same as Power, John of Arderne, pp. 18-19.

  40. Ff. 321v-322v Instructions on how to use the lunar tables above; same as Power, John of Arderne, p. 16.

  Incipit: 'Si scire vis sub quo signo luna est?'

  Explicit: '...in antedictis membris'.

  VI. This booklet certainly was constructed to exist independently; ff. 323 and 336 form its covers, are blank, and are larger in size than the material in between.

  Ff. 323r-325v blank

  41. F. 326r Instructions for the following tables; dated 1462 and useful until 1519

  Incipit: 'In this qwair be conteyned alle the changes of the moone?'

  Explicit: '...ccc.lxv et sex hore'

  42. Ff. 326v-333r Lunar tables used to determine when the moon will be full; more exact than no. 36.

  Ff. 333v-336v blank

  F. 337r Signature 'galfrydus halle' in a medieval hand.

  F. 337v blank

  Bibliography

  Alonso-Almeida, Prancisco. 'Middle English medical books as examples of discourse colonies: G.U.L Hunter 307' in Isabel Fandi?o , Sofia Moskowich-Spiegel and Bego?a Crespo Garc?a, Bells Chiming from the Past: Cultural and Linguistic Studies on Early English (Amsterdam and New York: Rodopi, 2007), p. 69.

  Getz, Faye Marie. Healing and Society in Medieval England: A Middle English Translation of the Pharmaceutical Writings of Gilbertus Anglicus (Madison and London: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1991).

  Getz, Faye Marie. 'Gilbertus Anglicus Anglicized', Medical History26 (1982), pp. 436-438.

  Gonz?lez-Hern?ndez, A. and Dom?nguez-Rodr?guez, M. V. 'Migraine in Gilbertus Anglicus' Compendium medicinae. The Cases of MS Sloane 3486 and Wellcome MS 537', Journal of the History of the Neurosciences: Basic and Clinical Perspectives 17:2 (2008), pp. 147-159.

  Hanna, Ralph. The Index of Middle English Prose Handlist I: Manuscripts in the Henry E. Huntington Library (Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer, 2007), p. 41.

  Jones, Peter Murray. 'Medicine and Science', The Cambridge History of the Book in Britain vol. III ed. Lotte Hellinga, J. B. Trapp, John Barnard and David McKitterick, (Cambridge: CUP, 1999), p. 436.

  Hern?ndez-Campoy, Juan Manuel and Conde-Silvestre, Juan Camilo. The Handbook of Historical Sociolinguistics (Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012), p. 144.

  Keiser, George R. 'Epilepsy: The Falling Evil', Popular and Practical Science of Medieval England ed. Lister M. Matheson (East Lansing: Colleagues Press, 1994), pp. 219-44.

  Keiser, George R. Review of Getz, Faye Marie, Healing and Society in Medieval England: A Middle English Translation of the Pharmaceutical Writings of Gilbertus Anglicus, in Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences 30:1 (1994), pp. 71-73.

  Payne, Joseph Frank. 'English Medicine in the Anglo-Norman Period', British Medical Journal 2 (1904), pp. 1281-84.

• Taken near-verbatim from Faye Marie Getz, Healing and Society in Medieval England: A Middle English Translation of the Pharmaceutical Writings of Gilbertus Anglicus (London and Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1991), p. lxiii

  The manuscript was deliberately defaced with a cutting tool after the eighteenth century, removing any evidence of previous ownership. In addition to the missing first page of the Middle English Gilbertus, several other pages have been damaged, but not necessarily at the same time. The location of this damage has been described above. A date and possibly a signature in an eighteenth-century hand have been cut out of f. 5, and f. 337 shows the mutilated signature "Galfrydus Halle" in a medieval hand not found elsewhere in the codex. It is followed by a series of probationes pennae in the same hand. An armorial bookplate has been ripped off the inside front cover so that only the crest remains. The Royal College of Arms in London was unable to identify the owner of the crest and it does not match the bookplates of any of the people known to have seen the book or to have owned it.

  The manuscript's history in the nineteenth century is more clear. It belonged to Joseph Payne (1808-76), best known as England's first professor of education, who sent it to the antiquarian Francis Douce for his opinion as to the date of copying. An inscription in black ink on the inside front cover states, "Mr. Douce says this manuscript was written about A.D. 1400 - before 1450."

  The manuscript is accompanied by a letter dated May 13, 1858, and written to "J. Payne" by Thomas Wright, author of several pieces on medieval science. Wright dated the manuscript to "the reign of Hen. VI and Ed. IV."

  The manuscript passed to Joseph Frank Payne, Joseph's son (1840-1910), a physician who was the author of "English Medicine in the Anglo-Norman Period" in the British Medical Jour. 2 (1904): 1281-84. Dr. Payne's collection of rare books and MSS went on sale at Sotheby's in 1911 (July 13, this manuscript, item no. 406). The manuscript was described in the catalogue as having been damaged. The Wellcome Library bought the book and it remains in their collection. No record survives of the purchase price.

• An armorial book-plate pasted beneath this inscription has been torn out. From the Payne Collection, No. 406 in Sotheby's Catalogue.
• Purchased 1911.