Medieval Medical Recipes : Medical treatises

Medieval Medical Recipes

<p style='text-align: justify;'>This manuscript of medical treatises was owned by Walter Elveden (d. in or before 1360), a scholar at Cambridge, probably Gonville Hall, who composed a number of astrological works, including tables and an almanac: a <i>Kalendarium</i> for the years 1330-1386. Elveden later turned his attention to legal studies, compiling an index to papal decrees. He was associated with William Bateman, bishop of Norwich (d. 1355), and accompanied him on a diplomatic mission to the Continent in 1349. At his death in or before 1360, Elveden donated nine of his books, including this one, to Gonville Hall.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>The manuscript contains various marginal annotations, including medical recipes and charms in Latin and Middle English. These were added to the manuscript both before and after Elveden owned it. Late 13th- or early 14th-century annotations that occur in both of the manuscript's separate parts indicate that these parts must have been bound together by the time of Elveden's donation.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>Dr Clarck Drieshen<br /> Medieval Manuscripts Specialist<br /> Cambridge University Library</p>