Harley MS 3810

A composite Miscellany including a Romance in Verse, Moral and Devotional Poems, and Medical Texts and Recipes; late 14th-15th cent. Middle English and Latin. The MS. is composite and comprises three MSS. of different origin divided into two volumes. Its cataloguing was funded by the Wellcome Trust and only the medical texts found in the first volume are fully itemised. They consist of: - 1) a regimen of health, Middle English, ff. 13v-14 (item 1); - 2) excerpts from Agilon's commentary on urines, Middle English, ff. 99v-101, 128-128v (items 3, 5); - 3) a collection of texts relating to uroscopy, etiology and other medical subjects, Middle English, ff. 101-120 (item 4), including excerpts from Agilon's commentary on urines and physiognomy (items 4a-b); - 4) medical recipes, Middle English and Latin (items 2, 6). The first volume also includes verse in Middle English listed in J. Boffey and A. S. G. Edwards, A New Index of Middle English Verse (London, 2005), p. 304, including: - a) Sir Orfeo, couplets in Middle English, ff. 1-10 (Boffey-Edwards, no. 3868/2), edited by A. J. Bliss from this MS. in Sir Orfeo (Oxford, 1954; Oxford English Monographs; 2nd ed. Oxford, 1966); - b) Richard Maydestone, Penitential Psalms, ff. 17-34, 8-line stanzas (Boffey-Edwards, no. 1961/4); - c) Trentalle Sancti Gregorii, ff. 76v-84v (Boffey-Edwards, no. 3184/2), preceded and followed by a related prose text in Latin, ff. 75v-76, 85v-86 (see R. Pfaff, 'The English Devotion of St Gregory's Trental', Speculum. A Journal of Medieval Studies, 49 (1974), pp. 84-86. It also includes (ff. 87-94) a list of indulgences for the holy sites in Palestine and Sinai, Latin. The second volume contains Johannes, Compilatio metrificata Bibliae, with prose prologue, Latin, inc. 'Quoniam modernis temporibus no nulli non solum ex / simplicibus', ff. 2-58, for which see F.Stegmüller and N. Reinhardt, Repertorium Biblicum Medii Aevi (Madrid, 1950-1980), no. 4127). The compilation is followed by tables including (ff. 59-69v) a table of the commentary by Nicholas de Lyra, and by (ff. 70-76) devotional verse in Latin. The first unit in the first volume was owned in the late 16th cent. by William Shaw, his ex-libris on f. 34v 'Hic liber olim fuit liber / William Shaw cler. / et Curatus de Baddesly / Clintoni Ecclesia' (co. Warwicks). A note (vol. II, f. 1) by Harley's librarian, Humfrey Wanley (1672-1726), regarding the acquisition by Edward Harley (1689-1741), 2nd earl of Oxford and Mortimer, book collector and patron of the arts, of the second volume of the MS. from the bookseller Nathaniel Noel (fl. 1681-circa 1753), on 20 Feb. 1719/20. For the provenance, see C. E. Wright and R. C. Wright, The Diary of Humfrey Wanley (London, 1966), i, p. 196 n. 1, and C. E. Wright, Fontes Harleiani (London, 1972), pp. 254, 435. Bequeathed with the Harleian library to Edward's widow, Henrietta, née Cavendish Holles (1694-1755), during her lifetime and thereafter to their daughter, Margaret Cavendish Bentinck (1715-1785), duchess of Portland. Sold with the other Harley manuscripts by the countess and the duchess in 1753 to the nation for £10,000 (a fraction of their contemporary value) under the Act of Parliament that also established the British Museum. The Harleian manuscripts became part of the collections of the British Library on its establishment in 1973. Harley shelfmarks '121.C.1 ? / 3810' in black ink and '5/VI A' in pencil on ff. I,1 and 36, and II, 1. The MS. is described in A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts (London, 1808-1812), iii, p. 83; H. L. D. Ward, Catalogue of Romances in the Department of Manuscripts in the British Museum, i (London, 1883), p. 171; G. Guddat-Figge, Catalogue of Manuscripts containing Middle English Romances (München, 1976), pp. 204-205 (only first volume); A. J. Bliss, Sir Orfeo, cit. above, pp. xi, xxv.

Two volumes. British Library binding with Harley arms and motto gilt-tooled at centre of covers.

Volume 1. Paper; ff. 134+i. Modern foliation in pencil '1-134' (followed here; ff. 70v, 74v-75, 85, 99, 129-130 blank; ff. 34v, 36v, 70, 71-74, 121v-122, 134v originally blank). Composite volume formed by two MSS. of different origin (ff. 1-34, 35-134); f. 35 originally used as front pastedown for the second MS. Leaves individually mounted on guards: the original measures circa 145 x 103mm. Composition of original gatherings lost; traces of leaf signatures on ff. 9-12 suggest that the first two gatherings were of eight leaves each. Unruled or ruled only for the bounding lines in pen for single columns of circa 16-29 lines. Written in cursive English scripts (littera cursiva media-currens - secretary with Anglicana features) by different hands. Decorated initial (3 lines; f. 37) in red with contrasting penwork in brown; initials (1 or 2 lines, ff. 39-52, 60) in red; minor initials and rubrics touched in red (ff. 37-52). Marginal drawing of a man (f. 33, margin); a chart of the fours (elements, complexions, ages etc.) (f. 73). Music staves (ff. 120v-121).

Volume 2. Parchment; ff. i+75+i. Modern foliation in pencil '1-76' (followed here; including first flyleaf as f. 1). circa 158 x 135mm. Gatherings: i-iv⁸, v^8-5 (missing fourth-eighth), vi-viii⁸, ix⁸⁺¹ (ninth added), x^8-1 (eighth excised). Ruled in pen (mostly for bounding lines only) for single columns of circa 22-30 lines. Written in cursive English scripts (littera cursiva media-currens - secretary and Anglicana) by different hands. Verse initials (1-2 lines) in alternating red and blue; rubrics, running titles and paragraph marks in red.

Medical contents in volume I as follows:

1. ff. 13v-14. Regimen of health in verse; 15th cent. Middle English. Copy. Inc. 'Surve þy God trewli / And þe world byseli'. Listed in Boffey and Edwards, A New Index…, cit. above, no. 3087/7; L. E. Voigts and P. D. Kurtz, Scientific and Medical Writings in Old and Middle English: An Electronic Reference, CD-ROM, 2nd ed. (Ann Arbor, MI, 2006 = eVK2), no. 4526.00. Keywords: verse; maxims.

2. f. 73v. Three medical recipes; 15th cent. Middle English. Rubric 'For drynesse of the lyuer', inc. 'Take fyve percely rotis fyve fenel rotis'. Listed in eVK2, no. 5362.00. Keywords: recipes, medical; herbs and herbal medicine.

3. ff. 99v-101. Walter Agilon, Commentarium urinarum, excerpt; 15th cent. Middle English. Copy. Agilon's text is here out of order. Rubric 'Here marke the melancoly man', inc. 'He ys hevy as the erthe dry and colde / and for because he ys dry his vryn ys / thynne', expl. 'of hys nature / and complexyon'. Another copy imbedded in the collection described below (item 4b). Listed in eVK2, no. 2099.00. Keywords: humours; physiognomy; pulse; urine and uroscopy.

4. ff. 101-120, 125v-128. A collection of texts relating to uroscopy, etiology and humours (including a copy of the text at item 3); 15th cent. Middle English. Copies. Rubric 'Diversa iudiciaria / urinarum perfectissima', inc. 'In the begynnyng thu schalt take hede / of 4 that longyth to the dome of urine', expl. (f. 128) 'And þe more haþe melancoly / wt yn and colur wyth owt'. Listed in eVK2, no. 2876.00. The texts relating to urine and uroscopy on ff. 101-104 are mentioned in R. H. Robbins, 'Medical Manuscripts in Middle English', Speculum, 45, no. 3 (1970), p. 399 n. 14. Keywords: urine and uroscopy; etiology; humours; natural and unnaturals; pediatric medicine.

Embedded text:

4a. ff. 112v-115. Walter Agilon, Commentarium urinarum, excerpt; 15th cent. Middle English. Copy. Text relates to urine. Rubric (f. 112v) 'Here note that the exposicioun off / thes derke wurdys schal folowe / here after', inc. 'Albe urine betokenyth opilacoun of / the splene and then the urine ys bemy', expl. (f. 115) 'Ruffe as golde or rede as fyre'. Listed in eVK2, no. 789.00. Keywords: urine and uroscopy.

4b. ff. 119v-120, 125v-126. Walter Agilon, Commentarium urinarum, excerpt; 15th cent. Middle English. Copy. Text relates to physiognomy. Rubric (f. 119v) 'Here note þe melancoly man', inc. 'He ys hevy / as the Earth. dry and colde. And for he ys / dry hys urine ys þynne', breaking at f. 120 to resume on f. 125v as signalled by a star-sign and the note 'require ad tale figuram * / in sexto folio subsequente', expl. (f. 126) 'from þe disposicion / of hys nature and complexyon'. Another copy of the text described above (item 3). Listed in eVK2, no. 658.00. Keywords: humours; physiognomy; pulse; urine and uroscopy.

5. ff. 128-128v. A Walter Agilon, Commentarium urinarum, excerpt; 15th cent. Middle English. The text relates to the significance of rufus color in urine. Rubric 'Galienus dicit', inc. 'Emetrices ben seldum helyd of a man / the fyrst may be helyd'. The text is followed (ff. 128-128v) by six diagnostic meanings of rufus urine, inc. 'Item Ruse urine betokes abundante of / salt fleume'. Keywords: disease, signs and symptoms; recipes, medical.

6. f. 129. Two medical recipes; late 15th cent. Middle English and Latin. Rubric 'medicyn for þe toth ache / or for chillynn of tethe', inc. 'Take vi cornys of peper and vi of stavakyr (?) / and as moche of alum'; rubric 'Pro colica passio', inc. 'Recipe Ffilantropos {ounce} ii diaturbith / benedicta'. Copied by two different hands. Keywords: recipes, medical.

Medicine and Surgery: Romances: Poetry MIDDLE ENGLISH: Composite miscellany including a romance in verse, moral and devotional poems, and medical texts and recipes: late 14th-15th cent.: Enm. and Lat: Copies.

includes:

• vol. I, ff. 1-10 Romances: Poetry MIDDLE ENGLISH: Sir Orfeo, romance in verse: late 14th cent.: Enm: Copy.
• vol. II, ff. 2-58 Bible. Commentaries: Johannes: Compilatio metrificata Bibliae by Johannes: early 15th cent.: Lat: Copy.
• vol. I, ff. 13v-14 Medicine and Surgery: Poetry MIDDLE ENGLISH: Regimen of health in verse: 15th cent.: Enm: Copy.
• vol. I, ff. 17-34 Poetry MIDDLE ENGLISH: Richard Maidstone, alias Maydestone: Penitential Psalms, verse by Richard Maidstone: late 14th-early 15th cent.: Enm: Copy.
• vol. I, ff. 73v, 128-128v, 129 Recipes: Medicine and Surgery: Medical recipes: 15th cent.: Enm. and Lat.
• vol. I, ff. 75v-86v Poetry MIDDLE ENGLISH: Trentalle Sancti Gregorii, in prose and verse: 15th cent.: Lat. and Enm: Copy.
• vol. I, ff. 99v-101, 119v-120, 125v-126 Medicine and Surgery: Physiognomic text: 15th cent.: Enm: Copies.
• vol. I, ff. 101-12o, 125v-128 Medicine and Surgery: Collection of texts relating to uroscopy, etiology, humours and pediatric medicine: 15th cent.: Enm: Copies.
• vol. I, ff. 112v-115 Medicine and Surgery: Walter Agilon: Commentariorum urinarum by Walter Agilon: 15th cent.: Enm: Copy.