Western Medieval Manuscripts : Medical and astrological treatises

Western Medieval Manuscripts

The principal contents of this manuscript are two long compilations of medical recipes and cures. The second of these is in large part extracted from the Liber medicinarum sive receptorum liber medicinalium of the surgeon and author John Arderne (1307/08-after 1377), who is better known for his description of successful operations to treat anal fistulas. The first compilation, meanwhile, is anonymous – there is no evidence here to connect it with Arderne – and is entitled Radix medicinarum in its closing rubric. It is apparently known only in this manuscript. Like Arderne, its author-compiler was an Englishman, and was evidently well-acquainted with important medical authorities, which familiarity he shows off in the prologue. Using a well-worn modesty topos, he explained the reasons for undertaking the work, beginning with a quotation from the Practica brevis of the Salernitan writer Iohannes Platearius II (fl. 1090-1120) that rather self-consciously aligns his own work with that of his illustrious predecessor:Because, as Platearius says in the first [book] of his Practica, 'He becomes a friend, who bends to the wishes of his friends', and because, dearest and most beloved friends, you asked, through the grace of God, that it be carried out quickly by me, it has been undertaken by me with the greatest diligence to address every single part of the body, by dealing in succession with the head all the way to the soles of the feet, and for them the simple and also compound medicines, and the sources of illnesses, towards their [i.e. the medicines'] more effective use. The writer affirms the importance of paying close attention to the study of a patient's urine and its four regions, which he explained correspond to four regions of the body: the first of these is the 'circulus' (the upper layer of urine when it is examined in a flask), which relates to the head and wherein all of its ailments are signified. Following the common head-to-toe order of recipe compilations, he explains that the head and its contents, as the first region of the body, will be the first in order, along with all of its related maladies, 'and thus I descend, describing in detail, all the way to the last region'. The first section does indeed deal in successive chapters with allopecia, hair loss, greying, dandruff, sores, 'fanis' ('an ailment of the head when pus emerges from the head like honey'), headache, migraine, lethargy, frenzy, mania and melacholy, epilepsy, apoplexy, spasms, paralysis, drunkenness, catarrh, sleeplessness, sneezing, watering and various other problems of the eyes such as redness or spots, numerous ailments of the ears, nose and teeth, bad breath, tongue problems, and freckles. However, the system breaks down thereafter, with the final chapters of this section addressing coughs, asthma, breathlessness and complaints of the heart and breasts. While the marginal rubric on f. <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(94);return false;'>43v</a> states that it marks the beginning of the 'Secunda Regio', the rubric in the text itself reads 'De infirmitatibus tertie regionis, que est a diafragmate usque ad renes'. The section on the kidneys begins on f. <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(125);return false;'>59r</a>, with genito-urinary and obstetric matters following from f. <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(129);return false;'>61r</a>, before turning without a break to different types of leprosy from f. <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(134);return false;'>63v</a> ('lepra', 'leonina', 'tiria', 'elephancia'), then arthritis, morphew, apostemes and finally verrucas, with a final grouping of miscellaneous cures whose end is marked 'Explicit cirurgia'. The final section is on fevers. Each chapter proceeds more or less systematically: for example, Chapter 10 in the first section, 'De frenesis' ('Concerning delirium/madness', ff. <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(38);return false;'>15v-16v</a>), describes the illness and then its signs, as well others that indicate the disease is incurable or that death is near. It then provides potential cures, and advises what food and drink should be given (this included pumpkin seeds, almond milk, wheatbread, purslain, and lettuce with a sour dressing).At the beginning of the text, the writer lists six authoritative sources from which his work was compiled, all but the last apparently connected with the medical school at Salerno: Constantinus Africanus in his Pantegni and Viaticum, Platearius, 'Gerard' (perhaps Gerardus Bituricensis, who glossed the Viaticum), 'Roger' (presumably Ruggero Frugardo, author of a surgical treatise), and Ricardus Anglicus. 'Seventh, and last,' he concludes, 'I will write down everything tested by myself and all of my secrets, and also everything which I have seen through others in my time, whether foreigners or Englishmen...'. However, other sources are mentioned besides those listed in the prologue. In the chapter on frenesis, Avicenna, Serapion and Razes are also referred to, though these are likely second-hand quotations culled from another source text. Elsewhere, the author records a cure for catarrh that he saw used by a 'Master Marcus' in London (f. <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(50);return false;'>21v</a>; this too may not be original), and mentions another for the same from the anonymous antidotary text, Pomum ambre. Elsewhere, he cites a 'Brother John Holm' (f. <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(73);return false;'>33r</a>), perhaps a mistaken reference to William Holme, Franciscan friar and author of Tractatus de medicinis (c. 1400) and De simplicibus medicinis (c. 1415).The two main texts are on discrete groups of quires – the Radix ending in Quire 11, the excerpts from John Arderne beginning in Quire 12 – but the presence of numerous content markers by a variety of 15th- and perhaps early 16th-century hands, some of which made notes in both sections, confirms that the two parts of the manuscript were bound together from an early stage. Indeed, there is evidence to indicate that they were in fact produced together: their leaves are each frame-ruled for two columns, in the same manner and to similar overall dimensions (with slight differences in column width), and the hand responsible for each appears also to be the same (albeit executing a somewhat larger module of script in the second section). Regrettably, the manuscript has suffered badly from damp and its current binding from 1954 is rather tight at the gutter; this unfortunate combination has caused many of the leaves to deteriorate where they bend as the book is used. A limitation on the degree to which the manuscript may be opened safely has meant that the text immediately adjacent to the gutter is sometimes obscured and could not be captured during digitisation. This also prevented further analysis of the parchment sewing guards wrapped around the outside and inside of the spinefold of each quire. Many are blank, but some bear text, and as is often the case they appear to have been recycled from a contemporary document of some sort. On the longer ones, some of the writing is legible and two snippets in particular are worth mentioning – references to the parish church of 'Westleueton' (probably Westleton) (ff. 65v×66r) and to a monastery dedicated to St Mary at 'Wyveton' (perhaps Binham Priory, near Wiveton) (ff. 69v×70r) – which together are suggestive of a Norfolk provenance at some point in the manuscript's early history.Dr James Freeman Medieval Manuscripts Specialist Cambridge University Library