Western Medieval Manuscripts : Medical manuscript

Western Medieval Manuscripts

<p style='text-align: justify;'>This composite manuscript predominantly contains a Middle English translation of the <i>Circa Instans</i>, a Latin work on the medicinal properties of plants, animals, and minerals, which was attributed to the Salernitan physician Matthaeus Platearius. The manuscript also contains a Middle English translation by Nicholas Bollard of <i>Godfridus super Palladium de agricultura</i>, a manual that instructs readers how to graft and cultivate trees, and the translator's own <i>Book of Grafting and Planting</i>. It also contains various medical and alchemical recipes and tracts.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>While the manuscript's first part (ff. 1r-96v) may have been written slightly earlier than its second (ff. 97r-151v), the 16th-century ownership inscriptions that occur in both parts indicate that they have been joined together from an early stage.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>The cataloguing of this manuscripts has made visible the extensive ownership notes and legal texts that were added by one of its earliest owners: Henry Hancoke (fl. c. 1573) of Stubley in the parish of Dronfield, Derbyshire.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>Dr Clarck Drieshen<br /> Project Cataloguer<br /> Cambridge University Library</p>