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Medical miscellany, second half of the 15th century
- Title(s):
- Medical miscellany.
- Published/Created:
- England?, second half of the 15th century.
- Physical Description:
- 1 volume : paper ; 21 cm
- Holdings:
- Rare Books and ManuscriptsR486 .M43 1450Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon CollectionView by request in the Study Room [Request]
Note: The Study Room is open by appointment. Please visit the Study Room page on our website for more details. - Copyright Status:
- Public Domain
- Full Orbis Record:
- http://hdl.handle.net/10079/bibid/12451568
- Classification:
- Archives & Manuscripts
- Notes:
- Provenance: 1. Edward Barringer of Ealing; 16th c. note on flyleaf -- 2. Richard Heber (1773-1833); lot 758 in the sale of his manuscripts by Evans, 10th February 1836. Auction label on spine -- 3. Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792-1872), MS 8186, number on spine; lot 114 in the sale of his manuscripts by Sotheby's, 28th November 1967 -- 4. Paul Mellon (1907-1999); bookplate on inside cover.
Phillipps MS 8186.
Bound in later half calf and marbled boards.
This manuscript does not have modern foliation. Where possible, the present description uses the incomplete 16th-century foliation, ending at f. 152. Unfoliated pages are referred to using Roman numerals at the beginning of the manuscript, and as if foliated towards the end.
Clarke, M. Crafte of lymmyng and the maner of steynyng, pages lxxxv-lxxxvi, 88-102, etc.
Selected exhibitions: "'The Compleat Horseman': Sporting Books from the Bequest of Paul Mellon" (Yale Center for British Art, 17 February-29 April, 2001).
Manuscript miscellany containing an extensive collection of medical and other recipes, along with two treatises of note: The crafte of lymnynge of bokys (ff. 143r - 151v) and a treatise on the horse and veterinary medicine (ff. 152r - 162r).
The crafte of lymnynge of bokys survives in one other copy, Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales, MS Brogyntyn 2.1, ff. 33r - 52v; the Yale Center for British Art copy preserves the text up to the beginning of f. 42v. For a detailed description, and a full transcription of the Crafte of lymnynge text in the present manuscript, see: Clarke, Mark. The crafte of lymmyng and the maner of steynyng: middle English recipes for painters, stainers, scribes, and illuminators. The YCBA text includes "116 recipes for limning (inks, pigment manufacture, purification and tempering, mixtures and modelling, chrysography, aqueous media, gilding sizes), dyes for thread, linen, and skins, staining waters, gilding and etching metal including To make lynen clothe rede, Forto refreysche clothe of golde, To wryte in stele" (see: Clarke, pp. lxxxv-lxxxvi).
The treatise on the horse begins with the properties of a good horse and is followed by a description of sixty different horse ailments and suggested treatments. While the best known medieval treatise on veterinary medicine is Giordano Ruffo's Liber equorum, this collection of remedies is unrelated either to Ruffo's work or to other known manuscript treatises. It appears to be one of the sources for the anonymously written book Medicines for horses.
f. i recto: "Edw. Barringer of Yeelinge als Zelinge in the cownty of Midd yeoman an anwity of ..." 16th century inscription on flyleaf naming Edward Barringer of Ealing, Middlesex, written in brown ink.
f. ii recto - iv recto: "The Table of this booke For the meygryme; fol. 1o. 11o. 17o For the coughe fol. 1o ... The vertues of sondrye herbes fo. 136 worthye to be read and remembred An excellent salve to heale and clense fo. 143." Table of contents, mostly correct, for ff. 1-15, f. 136, and f. 143. Added mostly in a single hand of the late 16th or early 17th century. ff. iv verso and v are left blank.
f. vi recto - xiv verso: "The Table for the booke following Imprimis to knowe whether a man shall lyve or dye 57. 58. fol. 89. 9 [...] 17. 24. 49. A proved medicene for the meygryme for an impostume, dropsy fevir and all manner sicknes in the hedde eod. . . . A provid drinck for the pestilene eod. for all sicknesses vide eod. To slea and adder eod. 113 Secretum de avibus Hirundinis eod." Table of contents for ff. 17-113. Added mostly in a single hand of the late 16th or early 17th century, but in several different inks. The folio references are not all accurate and some have been corrected. ff. xv and xvi are left blank.
ff. 1r - 12r: "For the megryme In the heed take halfe an unnce of Galyngale and an ounce of gyngere and halfe an ounce Notmygg . . . Also waysche the mouthe that the roote of yvy was sodden in and that schall voyde the ache anon." Medical recipes and charms. One illustration of instruments for washing a fistula on f. 2v, in brown and red ink.
ff. 13r - 14v: "Si manum proferat iubemus ut nunquam obstetryx eum adducat . . . et apprehensa pedibus cum foras adducat." Short treatise on midwifery with sixteen diagrams showing possible positions of the foetus in the womb. The incipit is not recorded by Thorndike and Kibre but the text is the same as that in Oxford, Bodleian Library, Bodley MS 591, ff. 107v - 109r. The text is made up of reordered passages from Non omnes quidem, itself an adaptation of Muscio's Gynaecia.
ff. 15r - 16r: "Contra difficile partum multi dicunt quod rasura ossium dactilorum . . . recipiatur inferius sperire facit." Obstetrical text in Latin, giving recipes to help with expelling the foetus and reducing pain during labour.
ff. 16r - v: "Her begynnythe charmys for women that travellythe on chylde take and say thys charme . . . he schall be hole by the grace of god probatur." Medical charms and recipes mostly relating to childbirth, in English.
ff. 17r - 82v: "For to weet whether a man schall lyve or dey Here ys a fayer asay if thy good frende be sycke . . . in to the nethyr pott that stondith in the erthe and that ys a nobyll oyle for many maner syckenes and namlyche for the palsey." Medical recipes and charms, including instructions for making various waters and oils.
ff. 83r - 88v: "Here be gynnythe the makingis of oynementis For the make an oynement that ys callyd ex ceteris . . . and draw hit thoroughe a clothe and put hit in to a boxe." Treatise on the making of ointments. On f. 88v a recipe "For bittyng of a whild dogge" has been added in a later hand.
ff. 89r - 101v: "Here ys a lytel mater comprehendit of gederyng at diverse tymes wryten of diverse medcenys . . . or pure hit clene for hyt ys right goode." Medical recipes and charms, including a series of recipes for "intretes."
ff. 101v - 114r: "Here begynnethe the makyng of entretys For to make a plaster that ys called gratia dei . . . and do hem after in whyght wyne and let hym ete þe cromis and after fry summe in schepis tallow and lete 3ete hym." Medical recipes and charms. The title seems to refer to the preceding text, not to this one.
f. 114v: "[...] of oure lorde Ihesu cryste thys [...] was take of hym be an angell and [...]tyd to þe kynge of costantyne de noble . . . iudeorum fili dei miserere mei Amen longitudo duarum virgarum et unum pollex." After f. 112 there are two damaged leaves, then foliation returns with f. 121, implying the loss of ff. 115-120.
ff. 121r - 125r: "Artemisia 1, Abortano 2, Absinthio 3 . . . Zedogar tollit fetorem alii et odorem vini ..." Lists of herbs and their properties.
ff. 125v - 134v: "Anabulla spensus tituvalli i Sporge Amantille Potentilla Maturella . . . Zucara Zacara Zucorum id Zedoarum radix est Amen." Glossary of names for herbs and other materia medica.
ff. 135r - v: "Oculus christi Warance Bugle Rouge cholet Orval Ces sunt les v. herbys . . . sauge egremony franckencense code rosenmarey butter and oyle de olyfe." List of herbs and their properties in Latin, French, and English, with some medical recipes.
ff. 136r - 141r: "Here may ze know the vertues of herbis after Gallyen and ypocras whyche been hoot and whyche been colde and for howe many thingis they been good Quyntefoyle and the v. leffe . . . thys herbe stampyd and made in thys maner a plaster woll brynge out nayle and thorne." Treatise on herbs: eVK2 1422.00.
ff. 141r - 142v: "Sicut dicit philosophus in phibus omnis sciencia de genera bonorum est verum cum eius operacio aliquando bona . . . caudam serpentinam et alias ad modum [...]ule de cuius sanguinem..." Pseudo-Albertus Magnus, Liber aggregationis, Bk 1. Incomplete.
ff. 143r - 151v: "Ars limnandi modo optimo: Here begynnythe the crafte of lymnyng of bokys who so canne wysly consider þe nature of hys colouris . . . To wryte on a swerde or knyfe take pouder of ... and temper hit with olde uryne et cetera."
ff. 152r - 162r: "[F]or to chose an horse for a retrete a letuale For a gravolyng that is a sore hoofe . . . in the myddyl ther of and than he schal nat naye whyle hit ys on done." [Medicines for horses]
ff. 162r: "For to take mollys take a depe potte . . . and thus 3e schall take hem."
ff. 162v - 163v: "Take floure of ryse or of whete and 3olk of eggys and draw hem . . . put ther to Cow mylke and boyle hit a lytel and a none take hit fro the fyer and a lay hit with 3olkis of eggis." Sixteen culinary recipes, including recipes for pigeon, whelks, mussels, and oysters.
ff. 164r: "Take ... halfe a pound Bees wax halfe a pound . . . if yt be to moyst put thereto a littell wheate flower." Two medical recipes added to the flyleaf in a later hand (late 16th c.?) - Subject Terms:
- Barringer, Edward, of Ealing -- Ownership.Formulas, recipes, etc. -- Early works to 1800.Heber, Richard, 1773-1833 -- Ownership.Herbs -- Early works to 1800.Horses -- Diseases -- Early works to 1800.Horses -- Early works to 1800.Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval.Ink -- Formulae, receipts, prescriptions.Manuscripts, Renaissance -- Connecticut -- New Haven.Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts, Yale Center for British Art.Paint -- Formulae, receipts, prescriptions.Phillipps, Thomas, Sir, 1792-1872 -- Ownership.Pigments -- Formulae, receipts, prescriptions.Veterinary medicine -- Early works to 1800.Writing materials and instruments -- History -- Sources.
- Form/Genre:
- Manuscripts, Renaissance -- 15th century.
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