Herbal compendium, with miscellaneous medical and religious texts

Herbal compendium, with miscellaneous medical and religious texts

Contents

1. pp. 1-3 De duodecim coloribus secundum varietates complexionum in urinis apparentibus.

p. 1 De duodecim coloribus secundum varietates complexionum in urinis apparentibus ... p. 3 ... coloribus.

2. p. 4 Quaedam proprietas cinamomi.

3. p. 4 Versus pondus medicinale declarantes.

4. pp. 4-14 Collation faicte a paris entre les seigneurs et maistres et docteurs en medecine contre l'epidemie et aultres maladies et pestilences de boces. Partly in French and partly in Latin.

5. pp. 14-39 Orationes totius officii sacratissime ... Virginis Marie. Necnon et orationes de communium sanctorum tam aliis defunctorum suffragiis ...

6. pp. 40-41 Medical receipts in Latin and in French.

pp. 42-46 Blank.

7. pp. 47-74 Utile documentum pro illis qui cotidie vel frequenter confitentur. Orationes ad B.V.M. (and various saints), Hore abbreviate Beate Virginis et Martiris Catherine, Hore Sancti Spiritus, etc. Hore Virginis et Martiris Barbare.

8. pp. 75-372 Herbal in Latin

p. 75 Absinthium est calidum in primo et siccum in 2o ... p. 372 ... et confert ulceri matricis per prouocationem menstruorum. Pandecta. Auicenna. Serapio. Explicit herbarius.

9. pp. 373-394 Pondus medicinale. Notes on pharmacy in Latin.

10. pp. 395-397 Ex libro Hispani primo qui dicitur Thesaurus pauperum contra dolorem capitis.

11. pp. 398-422 Medical receipts in French.

12. pp. 422-425 Versus quidam de Regimine sanitatis [Salernitano] perutiles.

13. pp. 426-429 Medical receipts in Latin.

14. pp. 430-450 Excerpta quedam ex libro qui de proprietatibus rerum intitulatur [Bartholomaei Anglici].

15. pp. 451-454 Salutatio ad B.V.M., with other prayers in Latin.

16. pp. 454-455 Doubling of an Indulgence by Pope Innocent VIII.

p. 454 Innocentius octavus dicentibus duas sequentes ...

17. pp. 455-459 Quedam excerpta ex Practica cirurgie magistri Petri de Argillata.

18. pp. 460-473 Medical receipts in Latin.

c.1490

1 volume 473 pp. + 3 [4] bl. ll. tall 8vo. 21 1/2 x 7 1/2 cm. Original vellum binding, worn: ties wanting. With 116 watercolour illustrations of plants. Some (blank?) leaves have been cut out: one between p. 4 and p. 5, two between p. 62 and p. 63, one between p. 88 and p. 89, p. 102 and p. 103, p. 274 and p. 275, and after p. 473. Page 473 and the last blank leaf are defective, p. 339 has been repaired and the illustration is damaged. Written in a small current French hand. Ornamental initials in red, or red and green, with marginal decorations, headings and paragraph marks in red. There are pen-drawings of grotesque heads, etc. on pp. 47, 52, 56, 58, 60, 61, 64. The pagination is modern.

Purchased 1929.

Probably written in France.

Catalogue description modified in 2014. For original description, see S.A.J. Moorat, Catalogue of Western Manuscripts on Medicine and Science in the Wellcome Historical Medical Library (London: Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, 1962-1973).

Mention of Pope Innocent VIII, who was pope between 1484 and 1492, gives an approximate dating for the manuscript as c. 1490. The vellum end-papers at each end are from fragments of an early 14th century Commentary on the Code of Justinian.