Western Medieval Manuscripts : Rāzī, Liber Almansoris

Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Zakarīyā Rāzī

Western Medieval Manuscripts

<p style='text-align: justify;'>This manuscript contains a very early copy of a Latin translation of the <i>Liber Almansoris</i> (Kitāb al-Manṣūrī) (The Book of Medicine dedicated to Manṣūr) by Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Zakarīyā Rāzī (sometimes written as al-Razi, Rases or Rhazes). Rāzī was a doctor, alchemist, and philosopher who was born in the late 9th century in the city of Ray, part of modern-day Tehran. After studying and practicing medicine in Baghdad, Rāzī was invited back to Ray to be the director of its hospital by Prince Mansur ibn Ishaq, the city's governor. Rāzī dedicated two of his books to Prince Mansur ibn Ishaq, the <i>Kitab al-Tibb ar-Ruhani</i> (The Book of Spiritual Medicine) and the <i>Kitāb al-Manṣūrī</i> or <i>Liber Almansoris</i>, i.e., The Book of Medicine dedicated to Manṣūr. The latter was one of Rāzī's earlier works, and it is essentially a medical textbook for students studying medicine: it is divided into ten books on topics such as diagnostics, physiognomy and surgery. The ninth book often circulated independently as the <i>Liber Nonus</i>.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>Rāzī's <i>Kitāb al-Manṣūrī</i> was translated into Latin by Gerard of Cremona (d. 1187), probably c. 1180. The demand for access to Arabic medical texts in the medieval west is attested by the activities of translators such as Gerard of Cremona and Constantinus Africanus, who between them produced Latin versions of works by Ibn Sina (Avicenna), Ishaq Ibn Suleiman (Isaac Iudaeus), Hunayn ibn Ishaq al-'Ibadi (Iohannitus), Ibn Wafid (Albenguefit), al-Farghani (Alfraganus), al-Haytham (Alhazen) and others. The <i>Liber Almansoris</i> remained a popular medical text into the early modern period: for example, the Dutch physician and anatomist Andreas Vesalius wrote his doctoral thesis on the ninth book. </p><p style='text-align: justify;'>There are many uncertainties about the origin of Cambridge, University Library, MS Add. 9213 due to its apparent age and its textual content. The production of Cambridge, University Library, MS Add. 9213 has been dated to the late 12th or early 13th centuries, i.e., not long after the death of Gerard of Cremona in 1187. The origin of this manuscript is not known, nor is it known if the manuscript was made for a particular individual or for use in a religious house. The manuscript may have been made in England, although Michael Gullick has proposed a French origin for the volume (personal communication to Jayne Ringrose, recorded in the departmental running files at Cambridge University Library).</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>The particular translation of the <i>Liber Almansoris</i> in MS Add. 9213 is itself of interest for the study of the reception of Arabic scientific texts in north-western Europe. According to Danielle Jacquart, the style of the translation found in this manuscript differs from that in other works translated by Gerard. This not only prompts doubts about the authenticity of the attribution in this instance, but raises the possibility that the manuscript may have been made at an even earlier date. This is significant in the context of other surviving copies of this work made in western Europe. According to one description of this manuscript (Sotheby's Sale Catalogue for 6 December 1993), manuscripts of the complete corpus of ten books of the <i>Liber Almansoris</i> are rare, with only a single other manuscript of English origin known (Worcester Cathedral, MS Q.60), which dates to the early thirteenth century. Only one copy of the complete corpus of ten books was recorded in the early fourteenth-century <i>Registrum Anglie</i> at St Albans (described in CBMLC 2, R.96), but the Sotheby's Sale Catalogue description states that that entry in the <i>Registrum Anglie</i> does not correspond with Worcester Cathedral, MS Q.60. Lynn Thorndike and Pearl Kibre in their survey of scientific manuscript recorded around a dozen manuscripts of the complete corpus of ten books of the <i>Liber Almansoris</i> of mainland-European origin, and none earlier than the thirteenth century.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'> The earliest, though incomplete, evidence of the manuscript's provenance does not resolve any of the questions surrounding this manuscript's origin, but it does describe something of the manuscript's later-medieval receiption. The provenance-indication is found on f. <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(10);return false;'>iv verso</a>, one of the endleavesat the front of the manuscript. An inscription in a fourteenth-century hand at the top of the page reads 'Liber colegii de [...]', pointing to the possession of the manuscript by a college at one of the universities. The removal of the following word makes a conclusive identification impossible, however it may be that the manuscript belonged to Clare College (then known as Clare Hall): a 'Librum Rasis in Almasorio' is recorded alongside three other books in the 'Master's Old Book' (now Clare College Archives, C, 1/7, p. 17) as having been given to the college by William de Acton/Aketon (d. by Feb. 1391). In addition, Linda Voigts has noted that the mnemonic verse in the margin of f. <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(385);return false;'>188r</a>, in a section of the text dealing with uroscopy, may be by the hand of Roger Marchall (fl. 1436-1477), doctor of medicine, and physician to King Edward IV whose handwriting appears in a number of medical manuscripts now in the possession of various Cambridge Colleges, but that there is no other evidence of his participation in this manuscript. </p><p style='text-align: justify;'>Thirteen manuscripts owned or used by Roger Marchall (and another with possible Marchall connections) are being digitised, catalogued and conserved as part of the <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/collections/medievalmedicalrecipes'><i>Curious Cures in Cambridge Libraries</i></a> project: <ul><li>- <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-GONVILLE-AND-CAIUS-00059-00153/1'>Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 59/153</a> (Voigts 1995, no. 2) </li><li>- <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-GONVILLE-AND-CAIUS-00098-00050/1'>Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 98/50</a> (Voigts 1995, no. 4) </li><li>- <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-GONVILLE-AND-CAIUS-00105-00057/1'>Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 105/57</a> (Voigts 1995, no. 5)</li><li>- <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-GONVILLE-AND-CAIUS-00159-00209/1'>Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 159/209</a> (Voigts 1995, no. 9)</li><li>- <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-GONVILLE-AND-CAIUS-00178-00211/1'>Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 178/211</a> (Voigts 1995, no. 10)</li><li>- <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-GONVILLE-AND-CAIUS-00181-00214/1'>Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 181/214</a> (Voigts 1995, no. 11)</li><li>- <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-GONVILLE-AND-CAIUS-00345-00620/1'>Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 345/620</a> (Voigts 1995, no. 12)</li><li>- <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-GONVILLE-AND-CAIUS-00373-00593/1'>Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 373/593</a> (Voigts 1995, no. 13)</li><li>- <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-GONVILLE-AND-CAIUS-00379-00599/1'>Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 379/599</a> (Voigts 1995, no. 14)</li><li>- <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-GONVILLE-AND-CAIUS-00401-00623/1'>Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 401/623</a> (Voigts 1995, no. 16)</li><li>- <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-PETERHOUSE-00095/1'>Cambridge, Peterhouse, MS 95</a> (Voigts 1995, no. 24)</li><li>- <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-PETERHOUSE-00222/1'>Cambridge, Peterhouse, MS 222</a> (Voigts 1995, no. 28)</li><li>- <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='https://mss-cat.trin.cam.ac.uk/Manuscript/O.8.31'>Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.8.31</a> (Voigts 1995, no. 29)</li><li>- <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-ADD-09213/1'>Cambridge, University Library, MS Add. 9213</a> (possible Marchall connections) (Voigts 1995, no. 48)</li></ul></p>Dr Sarah Gilbert<br /> Curious Cures in Cambridge Libraries Project Cataloguer<br /> Cambridge University Library<br /> and<br /> Dr James Freeman<br /> Medieval Manuscripts Specialist<br /> Cambridge University Library<p style='text-align: justify;'><b>References</b>: <div style='list-style-type: disc;'><div style='display: list-item; margin-left: 20px;'>R. W. Hunt, ‘Medieval Inventories of Clare College Library’, <i>Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society</i>, 1.2 (1950), 105–25</div><div style='display: list-item; margin-left: 20px;'>CBMLC 2</div><div style='display: list-item; margin-left: 20px;'>Danielle Jacquart, ‘Les Traductions Médicales de Gérard de Crémone’, in <i>Gerardo Da Cremona</i>, ed. by P. Pizzamiglio, Annali Della Biblioteca Statale e Libreria Civica Di Cremona, 41 (Cremona, 1992), pp. 57–70</div><div style='display: list-item; margin-left: 20px;'>Sotheby's Sale Catalogue for 6 December 1993</div><div style='display: list-item; margin-left: 20px;'>See L. Voigts, 'A doctor and his books: the manuscripts of Roger Marchall (d. 1477)', in R. Beadle and A. J. Piper (eds.), <i>New science out of old books: studies in manuscripts and early printed books in honour of A.I. Doyle</i> (Aldershot, 1995) pp. 249-314</div></div><br /></p>