{ "viewingDirection": "left-to-right", "metadata": [ { "label": "Origin Place", "value": "France." }, { "label": "Provenance", "value": "

Owned by King Henry VII of England (1457-1509) and Elizabeth of York (1465-1503): their impaled coat of arms painted onto one side of an added bifolium (f. 6v<\/a>), presumably after their marriage in 1486. On the tomb in which Henry and Elizabeth are buried in Westminster Abbey, Henry's arms are presented above, with these impaled arms below. In such a context, presenting a 'joint' coat of arms in addition to Henry's would presumably have been redundant, thus raising the possibility that the impaled arms are indicative not of joint ownership but rather of Elizabeth's personal possession of this manuscript. <\/p>

The name 'Will(?elmus) Walter(?us)' on f. 86r<\/a> next to a Latin couplet (see Contents for further information) and the word 'llinpenff'(?), all in what appears to be the same 16th-century hand. A William Walter (d. 1523) was known to Henry VII, whom he briefly served as an envoy at the papal curia in the late 1490s. This Walter had studied at Bologna earlier in that decade and was subsequently recorded as doctor of canon and civil law there; he spent the last two decades of his life as archdeacon of Brecon. The word 'llinpenff' bears the hallmarks of an as yet unidentified Welsh placename that began 'Llyn...' (meaning 'lake'), which is also suggestive of a possible connection between this manuscript and this Walter. Another William Walter (fl. c. 1525-1533), poet and translator, was alive around this time. He may have been the owner of London, British Library, MS Sloane 1686, f. 1r<\/a>, a copy of the Canterbury Tales, which bears an ownership inscription matching his name, written in a later, different style of handwriting to the inscription found in MS Ii.5.11. Little is known about this second Walter's life, and Ralph Griffiths has put forward suggestive evidence that the two Walters are one and the same.

R. Griffiths, 'From Bologna to Brecon: The Cosmopolitan World of a Pre-Reformation Archdeacon<\/a>', Medieval Prosopography<\/i> 33 (2018), pp. 153-166<\/div>
A.S.G. Edwards, 'Walter, William (fl. c. 1525-1533), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography<\/i> (2004) [https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/28641<\/a>]<\/div><\/div>
<\/p>

The manuscript may have left the Royal library by c. 1535-1542. MS Ii.5.11 is not listed among the 123 French manuscripts and printed books recorded by an anonymous French visitor to Richmond Palace in 1535. The list is printed in H. Omont, 'Les manuscrits français des rois d'Angleterre au château de Richmond', in Etudes romanes dédiés à Gaston Paris<\/i> (Paris: É. Bouillon, 1891), pp. 1-13 and in CBMLC 7, pp. 3-29 as list 'H1' with minor variations from Omont's list. Nor is MS Ii.5.11 in the list of the books in the Upper Library at Westminster made in 1542 shortly after the death of Henry VIII, which includes four copies of the Régime du corps<\/i> identified in CBMLC 7 as Lisbon, Biblioteca de Ajuda MS 52-XIII-2, London, British Library, MS Royal 20.B.ix, London, British Library, MS Royal 16.F.8, and London, British Library, MS Royal 20.B.x; the 1542 Westminster list is printed in CBMLC 7 as list 'H2', see esp., H2 nos 1291, 1294, 1299(1-2). <\/p>

CBMLC 7, H1 and H2<\/div><\/div>

John Moore (1646-1714), bishop of Ely: no. 577 (f. 2r<\/a>) in Bernard, Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliæ et Hiberniæ<\/i> (c. 1697). <\/p>" }, { "label": "Extent", "value": "Codex: i + 4 + 2 + 80 + i leaves.
Leaf height: 275 mm, width: 210 mm." }, { "label": "Funding", "value": "Wellcome" }, { "label": "Date of Creation", "value": "Mid-15th century." }, { "label": "Classmark", "value": "Cambridge, University Library, MS Ii.5.11" }, { "label": "Donor(s)", "value": "George I, King of Great Britain, 1660-1727" }, { "label": "Additions", "value": "

Quire signatures ('1-12') in the bottom right-hand corner of the recto side of the first leaf of each quire, and '+' in the same position on the first leaf after the centre of the quire, written in pencil by a hand of the 19th/20th century. <\/p>

A note about the Royal arms of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York in pencil on f. 5r<\/a>, by the hand of Charles Sayle (1864-1924). <\/p>

Notes about the rebinding of the manuscript written in ink and the classmark written in pencil on the front pastedown<\/a> - and a collation formula written in pencil on the rear pastedown<\/a> - all by the hand of H.L. Pink. <\/p>" }, { "label": "Subject(s)", "value": "Medicine, medieval" }, { "label": "Associated Name(s)", "value": "Aldobrandino, da Siena, -1287; Béatrice de Savoie; Richard, Duke of York, 1411-1460; Edward IV, King of England, 1442-1483; Sayle, Charles, 1864-1924; Pink, H. L.; Pine, John, 1690-1756" }, { "label": "Format", "value": "Codex" }, { "label": "Data Source(s)", "value": "This catalogue entry draws on the description provided by Paul Binski and Patrick Zutshi, with the collaboration of Stella Panayotova, Western Illuminated Manuscripts: A Catalogue of the Collection in Cambridge University Library<\/i> (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011) (used here by kind permission of Cambridge University Press), an unpublished description of the manuscript composed between 1926 and 1930 by M.R. James, now held in the University Archives (UA ULIB 7/3/74<\/a>), and the Catalogue of the manuscripts preserved in the library of the University of Cambridge: Vol III Gg-Kk<\/i> (Cambridge, 1858)." }, { "label": "Language(s)", "value": "Middle French with some annotations in Latin and Middle English" }, { "label": "Binding", "value": "

Rebound in August 1961 by Douglas Cockerell and Son in Letchworth. Quarter bound in goatskin with marble-paper sides and parchment tips on outer corners. Blind single-fillet decoration around perimeter of leather back-piece. Four raised bands on spine<\/a>. Head and tail bands visible and sewn in a cream yarn. Two black leather labels applied to spine with text tooled in gold, the first a title label 'GOUVERNMENT DE CORPS DOMME', and the second a shelfmark label 'Ii.5.11'.<\/p>

Paper pastedowns pasted over the turn ins. The front pastedown<\/a> contains a note about the rebinding and a pasted-in strip of paper with the labels from an older binding fixed with an adhesive. <\/p>

One paper endleaf cojoint with the adjacent pastedown added at each end of the volume (ff. i and ii).<\/p>

Binding dimensions (L x W x D): 280 x 220 x 35 mm.<\/p>

A former binding of 'paper boards' recorded in an unpublished description of the manuscript by M.R. James.<\/p>" }, { "label": "Condition", "value": "In good condition. The manuscript has been trimmed for rebinding at least once and some marginal text and decoration has been lost to trimming." }, { "label": "Script", "value": "

The main text is written in a late northern textualis formata<\/i> with some libraria<\/i> features.<\/p><\/div><\/div>" }, { "label": "Physical Location", "value": "Cambridge University Library" }, { "label": "Abstract", "value": "

Cambridge, University Library, MS Ii.5.11 is a fifteenth-century illustrated copy of a household health text commonly known as the Régime du corps<\/i>. It contains a full version of the text with 143 accompanying illuminations. These images are in the form of historiated initials, capital letters that contain small, relatively simple scenes within them. This type of initial letter is often used to introduce chapters or sections of a text. <\/p>

The Régime du corps<\/i> is a French text originally composed in 1256 by the physician Aldobrandino of Siena. Aldobrandino\u2019s text was essentially a compendium of small excerpts culled from various established medical sources that were associated with the training of physicians in universities. Presented in a concise, general, and accessible tone, the resulting text was directed toward those who oversaw households. The advice it offers was intended for the maintenance of health and the treatment of minor illnesses in the home, serving as a kind of self-help guide. This thirteenth-century health guide was one of the first medical texts to be written in French rather than Latin and it would become popular and influential: it was translated into at least four other languages and exists in dozens of surviving copies that were made during the next two hundred years. The topics covered include activities for good health like rest, bathing, and clean air and water, interventions such as a phlebotomy and purging, chapters on specific body parts, and recommended foods, spices, and beverages. <\/p>

According to the prologue that accompanies some copies, the ambitious countess of Provence, Beatrice of Savoy, enlisted Aldobrandino, her personal physician, to compose this guide for her to pass along to her four daughters just as they were forming their own households. These daughters were also the present or future queens of England, France, Germany, and Sicily. Women like these queens probably played a role in the spreading of the text and its knowledge across Europe. <\/p>

In addition to the Régime du corps<\/i>, CUL MS Ii.5.11 also includes a short selection of French and Middle English recipes (Régime<\/i>: 7r-85r<\/a>; recipes: 85v-86r<\/a>). The manuscript was likely made in France in the mid-fifteenth century, in the Rouen region. By the later fifteenth century, however, the manuscript was in royal English hands. The arms of Henry VII, king of England (1457\u20131509) and Queen Elizabeth of York (1465\u20131503) are found on folio 6v<\/a>. This was likely added after 1486, when the couple was married; based on this date, Henry was a later, probably second owner of the manuscript. <\/p>

The abundantly and extravagantly illustrated copies of the Régime du corps<\/i>, including CUL MS Ii.5.11, were high status objects. While it is unclear how heavily such health guides were used for the information they contained, they were unquestionably objects that reflected luxury as well as the kind of specialized content that was attractive to bibliophiles. The illuminations of CUL MS Ii.5.11 are characterized by diverse colors, elaborate leafy vines in the margins, and some use of gold leaf. The artistic style of CUL MS Ii.5.11 results in figures with somewhat oversized hands and heads, appearing just a bit too large for the space provided them. Status is often conveyed through specificity in clothing and headwear. <\/p>

A few examples demonstrate the unique style evident in this manuscript. On folio 27v<\/a>, the chapter on corruption is represented with a particularly well-dressed physician advising a patient. In a delightful initial to accompany the chapter on fromage, the cheese is set out to dry with a basket hanging nearby (fol. 77r<\/a>). In the image for the chapter on caring for a newborn, two female attendants tend to the infant and new mother in this conventional lying-in scene (fol. 34v<\/a>). The chapter on pregnancy shows a lone woman holding a book, possibly consulting the same manuscript in which this image appears (folio 33r<\/a>). Depictions of the domestic sphere are abundant, reinforcing the association of these manuscripts with household management overseen by women. <\/p>

Numerous illustrated copies of this health guide exist, including seven that are illustrated with historiated initials. CUL MS Ii.5.11 includes 143 historiated initials, reflecting the increased illustration program of several other later copies. It is among a group of four made in the fifteenth century, of which three are remarkably similar to each other. The Cambridge copy shares much in common with both New York, Morgan Library MS M.165<\/a> and London, British Library, Sloane MS 2401<\/a>. CUL MS Ii.5.11 and Morgan MS M.165 were likely both made in Rouen around 1440\u201350. Sloane 2401 shares much with these two copies and likely has a similar origin. <\/p>

The determination of royal, English ownership by the late fifteenth century raises questions about where and for whom the Cambridge manuscript was originally produced. During the Hundred Years War, the English presence in the area around Rouen in the mid-fifteenth century was prominent; Elizabeth of York\u2019s grandfather Richard, Duke of York (1411\u201360) was in residence in that area, and her father, Edward IV, was born in Rouen in 1442. Edward was a pronounced collector of Continental, specifically Burgundian, manuscripts; another, later illustrated copy of the Régime<\/i>, Lisbon, Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal, MS Ajuda 52-XIII-26<\/a>, may have been produced for him in Bruges. That the Cambridge manuscript took such a path to the collection of Henry VII seems quite plausible. <\/p>

References<\/b>:

J. Borland, \u2018Freeze-Framed: Theorizing the Historiated Initials of the Régime Du Corps\u2019, Word & Image<\/i>, 32.2 (2016), 235\u201350 [https://doi.org/10.1080/02666286.2016.1172546<\/a>]<\/div>
J. Borland, 'Female networks and the circulation of a late medieval illustrated health guide', in Moving women, moving objects (400-1500)<\/i>, ed. by T.C. Hamilton and M. Proctor-Tiffany (Brill, 2019), pp. 108-136 [https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004399679_007<\/a>]<\/div>
J. Borland, Visualizing Household Health: Medieval Women, Art, and Knowledge in the Régime Du Corps<\/i> (University Park, PA: Penn State University Press, 2021) https://doi.org/10.1515/9780271091495<\/a><\/div><\/div>
<\/p>

Dr Jennifer Borland
Professor of Art History and Director of the Center for the Humanities
Oklahoma State University<\/p>" }, { "label": "Former Owner(s)", "value": "Henry VII, King of England, 1457-1509; Elizabeth, Queen, consort of Henry VII, King of England, 1465-1503; Moore, John, 1646-1714" }, { "label": "Title", "value": "Aldobrandino da Siena, Régime du corps" }, { "label": "Author(s) of the Record", "value": "Sarah Gilbert, Project Cataloguer, Curious Cures in Cambridge Libraries, with additions on provenance by Dr James Freeman, Medieval Manuscripts Specialist, Cambridge University Library" }, { "label": "Material", "value": "Parchment (HFFH<\/i>)." }, { "label": "Collation", "value": "

The majority of the manuscript is formed of regular quires of 8 leaves, with some variant quires at the beginning and end of the volume. A bifolium (ff. 5-6) was added after the first quire in order to accommodate a coat of arms (see Provenance).