Constantinus Africanus, Viaticum

A copy of Constantinus Africanus, Viaticum, with glossa by Geraldus Bituricensis, on parchment, written in Gothic hand in France in the late 13th century, with decorated puzzle initials.

Contents

1. f. 1: Medical recipe, early 15th-century hand, faint.

2. ff. 2r-93r, Constantinus Africanus, Viaticum, in Latin, with Glosule by Geraldus Bituricensis.

The medical summa traditionally called Viaticum or Breviarium, as in the present manuscript, is a Latin adaptation by Constantine the African (c. 1020-1098/9) of a standard medical manual in Arabic, entitled Kitab Zad al-musafir wa-qut al-hadir (i.e. Provision for the Traveller and the Nourishment of the Settled) composed by the Abu Ja'far Ahmad ibn Ibrahim ibn abi Khalid al-Jazzar (Ibn al-Jazzar) (d. 979 or 1004-5), the famous physician of Qeirwan (al-Qayrawan, Kairouan) in Tunisia, who had been a pupil of Ishaq ibn Sulayman al-Isra'ili (fl. c. 855-955), known in Europe as Isaac Judaeus. Most of Ibn al-Jazzar's work was lost, but the Kitab Zad al-musafir survived having been translated into Greek during his lifetime. Constantine's adaptation followed the 'a capite ad calcem' order of the original work and was written in the 1070s or 1080s at Montecassino, from where it was widely disseminated throughout Europe mainly by means of manuscripts copied in Benedictine scriptoria.

Constantine's version was conceived as a concise textbook intended for Latin readers, and primarily for the medical school of Salerno. Therefore it remained close to the Arabic original in terms of structure and contents, but differed in length and identification of sources, favouring ancient Greek and Hellenistic references rather than Arabic sources. The Viaticum was taught at medical faculties during the 12th and 13th centuries and was particularly popular in France, as documented by a number of commentaries written within French medical circles up to the 14th century: see Mary Frances Wack, Lovesickness in the Middle Ages. The 'Viaticum' and Its Commentaries (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1990), pp. 31-35; Mirja Martha Brachtel, Ibn al-Jazzar's Zad al-Musafir and Constantinus Africanus' Latin Version Viaticum Peregrinantis: A Comparative Study (Master's thesis, International Islamic University, Malaysia, 2005) [available online at https://www.academia.edu/7595021/IBN_AL-JAZZ%C4%80RS_Z%C4%80D_AL-MUS%C4%80FIR_AND_CONSTANTINUS_AFRICANUS_LATIN_VERSION_VIATICUM_PEREGRINANTIS].

The present manuscript is a copy of the vulgate tradition of the Viaticum (the cataloguer is grateful to Dr Brian Long for the information).

The Glosule represent the first surviving full commentary on the Viaticum by Gerardus (Geraldus, Girard) Bituricensis (of Berry), a French physician operating in Paris between the late 12th and early 13th century; he compiled his glossa probably drawing from direct teaching experience and at the request of his Parisian colleagues: see Ernst Wickersheimer, Dictionnaire biographique des médecins en France au moyen âge (Geneva: Droz, 1936), vol. 1, p. 203; Danielle Jacquart, Supplément (Geneva: Droz, 1979), pp. 92-3; Wack, Lovesickness in the Middle Ages, pp. 51-56.

The texts are listed in eTK, A digital resource based on Lynn Thorndike and Pearl Kibre, A Catalogue of Incipits of Medieval Scientific Writings in Latin (Cambridge, MA: Mediaeval Academy, 1963; with supplements in 1965 and 1968; online at https://medievalacademy.site-ym.com/?page=Books#etk), nos 817D (main text), 1298H (prologue), and 325J (Gerardus's commentary).

For other manuscript copies of Constantine's Latin text in the Wellcome Library, see MSS 208 (imperfect), 209, 547 (ff. 55r-103v; imperfect), 730 (f. 23r; extracts); for copies of Gerardus's commentary see MSS 305, 535 (ff. 61r-120v).

Both Constantine's text and Gerardus's commentary were printed for the first time in 1505 in Venice, together with other works by Gerardus: In hoc volumine continentur, Introductorium iuuenum Gerardi de Solo. De regimine corporis humani in morbis. Consimili officiali & communi. Libellus de febribus eiusdem. Commentum eiusdem super nono Almansoris cum textu. Commentum eiusdem super viatico cum textu (Venice: [Bonetus Locatellus for heirs of Octavianus Scotus], 1505), ff. 89r-192r (leaves M1r-AA8r): see EDIT 16 (online), CNCE 32851; Servizio Bibliotecario Nazionale (SBN online), IT\ICCU\TO0E\018180; Wellcome copy at EPB/1428/D.

f. 2r: Incipit: [rubric in red] Incipit breuiarius constantini affricani qui dicitur uiaticus [end of rubric] / [Q]voniam quidem ut in rethoricis tullius omne inquit expetendum ...

f. 2r: Glossae, Incipit: Cum omnia ex quatuor elementis sint generata ...

f. 93r: Explicit: ... Concule marine incense cum olio rosato multum ualent. / Explicit breuiarius domini Constantini qui dicitur uiaticus.

f. 93r: Glossae, Explicit: ... talia enim puluerizata cum olio rosato consolidare habent et mundificare. / Expliciunt glossule magistri Geraldi Supra Viaticum.

3. ff. 93v-94r: Additional notes in different 14th- and 15th-century hands, including medical recipes and a charm, notes on the immortality of the human soul, and a coloured diagram relating to contraries.

f. 93v, lines 1-6: Medical recipe for headache, entitled 'Pillole mirabiles probate ad dolorem capitis'.

ff. 93v, lines 9-17, and 94r, lines 3-13: Note on the human soul, copied by two different hands, incipit: In carne et anima constat homo. In utroque bonum suum habet …; explicit: … non est mirum si racio incorporalis quae aspectus est anime tot ymagines et tantas contineat cum corporalis oculus tanta comprehendat.

f. 93v, lines 18-31: Coloured diagram of Contraria (i.e. contraries), in red, blue and black ink.

f. 93v, lines 32-38: Macrobius, De somno Scipionis, Book II.xiii, 6-7, a quotation relating to the immortality of the soul, incipit: Macrobius de sompno Scipionis, liber secundus // Jn Pheudrone [sic] Platonis quem trantulit [sic] cicero validissimis argumentis anime immortalitas …; explicit: … autem quia procuratione alterius a morte defenditur.

f. 94r, lines 1-2: medical charm [?] in Latin, incipit: Febris acuta thisis scabies …; explicit: lepra frenesis contagia prestant.

On parchment, with a number of parchment flaws, occasionally with contemporary repair (see f. 34r).

92 leaves plus one flyleaf at the beginning and at the end, modern foliation '1-94' in pencil in upper right corner of leaves, including flyleaves, followed here. 307 x 215 mm; written area in single column for main text (textus inclusus) 95/190 x 78 mm, 20-40 written lines to the column; written area for glossa in two columns surrounding the main text 217/264 x 161 mm, 44-64 written lines to the column; ruled in ink for double vertical bounding lines, single vertical bounders between columns, single horizontal bounding lines and writing lines, guided by pricking in upper and lower margins (pricking at fore-edges probably obliterated by binder).

Collation: 1-11⁸, 12⁴; horizontal catchwords at lower right edge of the last verso of each quire; traces of quire signatures ['ia-iiiia'-'in-iiiin'] in lower right corner of leaves in the first half of each quire (see ff. 20-21, 27-28, 44-45).

Secundo folio: amplius renascantur.

Written in brown ink in a small Gothic bookhand (Textualis Currens) used for both the main text and the glossa.

Decoration: Six- to nine-line puzzle initials in red and blue, with red, blue and light purple penwork decoration, marking the beginning of books (ff. 2r, 17r, 28v, 40v, 53v, 68v, 77r), the first and fourth (ff. 2r, 40v) extending into the inner margin to form a partial border; two-line chapter initials in alternating blue and red with contrasting penflourishing in red and purple throughout; running titles in alternating blue and red with contrasting penflourishing throughout. Rubrics, index initials, and paragraph signs marking the commentary chapters, all in red, throughout.

With sparse marginal annotations in brown ink in confident cursive Gothic script by two northern European hands, 14th century.

A square diagram of Contraria (i.e. contraries), in blue, red and black, added by a later hand (f. 93v), 14th century.

Binding: Parchment over wooden (beech?) boards, slightly cushioned, sewn on three double-split alum-tawed-skin spine-bands, with parchment pastedowns and conjoint flyleaves at the beginning and the end, leather-core endbands (tail endband wanting), traces of two leather straps for fastening clasps (wanting) secured to the fore-edge of the lower board by means of a brass quatrefoil-shaped plaque and nail (plaque and nail for the upper strap wanting); two holes for two fastening metal pins (wanting) on upper board; Germany, late 13th or early 14th century; first and last quires and conjoint pastedowns and flyleaves resewn and restored.

Purchased by Sir Henry Wellcome at the Phillipps sale (Further portion of the classical, historical, topographical, genealogical and other manuscripts & autograph letters of the late Sir Thomas Phillipps ... including upwards of two hundred volumes on vellum dating from the tenth century ... pt. 14), at Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge, 6 June 1910, Lot 208, for £52.50.

An erased 15th-century ownership note on f. 1v, possibly reading 'Iste liber est domini Henrici [?] Beddeker S<.> S<..> [?]', Heinrich Beddeker unidentified. Another erased ownership note follows below, possibly beginning with the word 'Monasterij'.

Manuscript title 'Breuiarius Constantini Affricani qui dicitur Viaticus' in a German early 16th-century hand in the upper margin of f. 2r.

Marked '92' in black ink on upper cover, 18th [?] century.

Reverend Leander van Ess (1772-1847), OSB Marienmünster, professor of theology at Marburg university, MS. 94 in his sale catalogue Sammlung und Verzeichniss handscriftlicher [sic] Bücher aus dem VIII. IX. X. XI. XII. XIII. XIV, etc. Jahrhundert, bestehend aus 171 Bänden auf Pergament, 19 theils auf Pergament theils auf Papier, und 190 auf Papier. Nebst einer Sammlung von alten Holzschnitten und kleinen Gemälden mit Vergoldung, die leider! aus alten Pergament-Handschriften ausgeschnitten sind, welche besitzt Leander van Ess, Theol. Doctor, vorhin Professor und Pfarrer in Marburg (Darmstadt: privately printed, 1823), p. 19 (the manuscript shows a paper label marked '94' pasted onto second spine compartment); sold in 1824 to Sir Thomas Phillipps with 367 other Western manuscripts, a few Arabic manuscripts and over 900 incunabula from van Ess's collection.

Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792-1872), baronet collector of books and manuscripts, his armorial stamp 'Sir T. P. / Middle Hill' on f. 1r; his MS. '479' (number inscribed on ff. 1r and 2r); described in Catalogus librorum manuscriptorum in bibliotheca D. Thomae Phillipps, Bt. (impressum Typis Medio-Montanis [i.e. Middle Hill]), 1837-[1871]; Facsimile reprint: [London], Orskey-Johnson, [2001], with new intro. by A. N. L. Munby), vol. 1, p. 6, MS. 479.

Marked '372' crossed out and substituted with '412' in pencil on upper pastedown, 20th century.