Johannes de Rupescissa, De consideratione quintae essentiae

A copy of Johannes de Rupescissa, De consideratione quintae essentiae, in Latin, written by two cursive Gothic hands on paper in Italy in the late 15th century.

Contents

1. ff. 1-15v, 15v-23r, 25r-26v: Johannes de Rupescissa (Jean de Roquetaillade), De consideratione quintae essentiae, Books 1-2, in Latin.

The treatise, probably written by Rupescissa about 1351-1352, describes the alchemical processes for the extraction by distillation of the essence of wine, plants and minerals for medicinal purposes. The distillation of the aqua ardens (ethyl alcohol) extracted from wine is at the basis of all the other processes described. The author believes the alcohol to be an element similar to the so-called quinta essentia, the incorruptible fifth element that according to Aristotle forms the essence of heavenly bodies, and is therefore capable of preserving the human body from corruption and illnesses. The text is divided into two books, the first dedicated to the distillation processes with subdivisions called canones, the second to the medical applications of the essences described, organised in chapters called remedia.

The text is 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), no. 458A.

Printed for the first time as Ioannis de Rupescissa qui ante CCCXX annos vixit de consideratione quintae essentiae rerum omnium, opus sane egregium (Basel, [1561]) by Guillaume Gratarolo, with his dedicatory letter dated 1561. The publication also included Arnaldus de Villanova, Epistola de sanguine humano distillato, Raymundus Lullus, Ars operativa et alia quaedam and Michael Savonarola, Libellus optimus de aqua vitae.

For other manuscript copies of this treatise in the Wellcome Library, see MSS 117, 186, 384, 513, 520, 708-709 and 712; imperfect copies in MSS 502, 523 and 711; excerpts in MSS 452, 526 (partly fragmentary), 598, 388 (in English translation); a summary in MS. 517.

f. 1r, Book 1: Caption: Incipit liber \primus/ [later addition in black ink] de consideratione quinte essentie omnem rerum transmutabilium Jn nomine domini nostri Yhesu Christi. Jncipit liber de famulatu philosophie euangelio Domini Yhesu Christi et pauperibus euangelicis viris prologus; Incipit: Dixit salomon sapiencie capitulo.7o. Deus dedit michi scientiam infra que est ut sciam dispositionem orbis terrarum et virtutes elementorum ...

The text of Book 1 was assembled in two stages: the first quire (ff. 1-8) included the Canons 1-4 and 13, but only the text of Canon 1 had been copied in full. The text portions missing in Canons 2-4 and 13 were supplied by a second hand on an additional leaf after f. 8 (on f. 9r), and on ff. 10r-15v in quire 2 and ff. 25r-26v in quire 3 at the end of the volume. Consequently, with portions of text totally out of sequence, the correct sequence of Book 1 is as follows: Canon 1 on ff. 1r-3v; Canon 2 on ff. 3v-5r and 25r (last two chapters 'Scientia diversitatis habendi quinta essentia / Modus primus et omnium principalius …' and 'Magisterium autem separatione vinum ab alia mirabile et ingeniosum est istud / Recipe stillum ferreum acutum'); Canon 3 on ff. 5r-5v and 25r-v (chapter 'Scientia extractionis quintae essentiae ab omnibus fructibus foleis radicibus et herbis / Est aliud ex secretis naturae …'); Canon 4 on ff. 25v-26r (first chapters) and 5v, last line-6r (last chapter 'Scientia ad fortius et uiuacius ad imprimendum virtutes solis in celo nostro / Et in hoc loco decreui reuellare ingenium'); Canons 5-12 on ff. 10r-15v, line 14; Canon 13 on ff. 6v-9r and 26r-v.

f. 15v, line 15, Book 2: Title [underlined in red]: Incipit liber secundus qui de generalibus remediis appellatur; Incipit: Licet primus liber qui est de consideratione .D. tante virtutis in rei veritate existat ut per ipsum possit curare omnis morbi curabilis ...

f. 23r: Explicit: ... vel in eius absencia aqua ardens. Et sic est finis. Laus Deo.

2. f. 9v: Additional alchemical recipes, in Latin, seemingly not identifiable in Johannes de Rupescissa, De consideratione quintae essentiae: a)pro lib .1. istius aque 2/j in anime vini et congelasiones scis lento igne ...; b) Item si vis dissolvere super dictos calces in aqua cum conseruatione sua ...; c) Recipe vinum veterum rubeum vestris anni vel vinum album optimum ... Distillatorium debet inpleri usque ad duas partes et 3 pars debet remanere vacua causa vapori faciendi et ita dicitura perfecta ipsa distillationis; d) Jtem ad faciendum aquam vitae siue ardentis / Recipe duas libras salis ... eam coligimus [?].

3. ff. 23v-24r: Alchemical process to obtain gold, in Latin, unidentified.

f. 23v: Title: Opus ex basilisco ad aurum faciendum; Incipit: Est autem aurum secundum saracenos …

f. 24r: Explicit: … et de thesauro acquisito pro dei gratiam in immensum letare et cetera.

4.f. 24v: Alchemical recipe, in Latin.

f. 24v: Title: Magisterium furni philosophorum sic fit; Incipit: Recipe de luto magisteri ex argilla et stercore equi …; Explicit: … non tangens latera scutellarum.

5. f. 25r-26v: Johannes de Rupescissa, De consideratione quintae essentiae, f. 25r, Book 1, Canon 2, last two chapters: 'Scientia diversitatis habendi quinta essentia / Modus primus et omnium principalius …' and 'Magisterium autem separatione vinum ab alia mirabile et ingeniosum est istud / Recipe stillum ferreum acutum'; f. 25r-v Canon 3, chapter beginning 'Scientia extractionis quintae essentiae ab omnibus fructibus foleis radicibus et herbis / Est aliud ex secretis naturae …'; ff. 25v-26r, Canon 4, first chapters; ff. 26r-v, Canon 13, last portion.

6. ff. 26v-27r: Six medical receipts supplied in Spanish by several 16th century hands: a) 'Y tomaras la yeruce …; b) 'para orinar'; c) 'recipe calzina biba'; d) 'tomaras aqua poistada'; e) 'para les barbes'; f) 'para los renyse'.

7. f. 27r: Invocation within a square frame: 'his manuel. Ysach. His rrael [or srael]'.

On paper. Watermarks: 1. scissors (height c. 25 + 10 mm, width 23 mm, distance between chainlines 60 mm), not dissimilar from Briquet 3674 (Siracusa, 1478); 2. glove (height c. 50 + 37 mm, width 25 mm, distance between chainlines 62 mm), unidentified. These two watermarks alternate in quire 1. 3. quire 2 (ff. 10-11, upper margin: format in-octavo, rather than in-quarto): grapes (height c. 25 + 36 mm, width 45 mm, distance between chainlines unknown), possibly similar to Briquet 13065 (Lyon, 1485-1530).

27 leaves, plus two modern flyleaves at the beginning and the end; late 15th- or early 16th-century foliation '12-37' written in a very small hand in faint brown ink on the upper edge of the outer margin of rectos of ff. 1-26; 16th-century foliation '1-26' in brown ink in the upper margin of rectos of ff. 1-26; modern foliation '1-27' in red at centre of the lower margin of rectos, followed here. c. 212 x 145 mm. Quire 1: written space 157 x 104 mm, ruled in single vertical bounding lines in metal point and 37-39 ruled/written horizontal lines (writing above ruled line) to the column, with no trace of pricking holes; quires 2-3: written space 155/172 x 95/110 mm, mostly unruled or with single vertical bounding lines in ink and 34-41 written horizontal lines (mostly without horizontal ruling or written above upper ruled line when present) to the column, with no trace of pricking holes.

Collation: 1⁸ with catchword in the lower right corner of last verso; one added leaf (f. 9); 2¹⁰ with catchword in the lower right corner of last verso; 3^8-1 (wanting viii, possibly blank); 1 leaf (f. 27).

Secundo folio: infirmum curare deperditum ... .

Written in two small and confident Gothic hands, hand 2 in quires 2 and 3 being more irregular than the first.

Title 'Frater iohannes rubecissa [sic] ordinis' added in grey ink by a contemporary reader in the upper margin of f. 1r. Marginalia in cursive Italian humanistic hands to text in quire 1.

Modern case-binding of parchment over pasteboard, with parchment tackets at head and tail of spine, and manuscript title 'Johannes de Rupescissa .M.s. XVI s.' in black ink, 20th century.

This manuscript was originally part of a larger volume containing MSS 443 [Lullius] and 444 [Lullius], as is proved by the identity not only of the main script, but also that of the several 16th-century added medical receipts in Spanish, and by the oldest foliation '12-37' in the upper right edge of rectos finding correspondence with a similar foliation in the two other manuscripts.

A typescript description of the manuscript in French inserted at the beginning, 20th century.

Marked '3025' in pencil on upper pastedown, 20th century.

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), vol. 1, pp. 522-3.