Harley MS 2347

Miscellaneous Collection of Medical texts and Recipes; late 15th cent., 13th cent. Latin, Anglo-Norman and Middle English. Partly imperfect. The cataloguing of this manuscript was funded by the Wellcome Trust. Texts include: - A) Collection of medical and surgical recipes in Latin, Anglo-Norman and Middle English, (ff. 1-14v; item 1), beginning with a herbal glossary (f. 1); - B) Collection of medical recipes in Anglo-Norman and Latin (ff. 15-26v; item 2), preceded by a table of contents (ff. 15-15v); - C) Collection of medical and surgical recipes in Latin and Middle English (ff. 28-43v; item 3), preceded by a table of contents (ff. 27-27v); - D) Antidotary (?) in Latin, 13th-cent. fragment (ff. 44-51; item 4), followed by the later additions of two medical recipes in Latin and Middle English (f. 51v); - E) Collection of medical recipes in Latin and Middle English (f. 52-52v; item 5); - F) Antidotary in Latin (ff. 53-54; item 6); - G) Collection of medical recipes in Latin and Middle English (ff. 54v-67v; item 7). Owned in the late 15th cent. by an unidentified John Lane, his note (f. 52) 'Medicine liber magistri Johannis Lane'. Owned by Samuel Knott (d. 1687), rector of Combe Raleigh, co. Devon, priest of Broad Hembury, co. Devon: see his notes in brown and black ink (passim). Owned by Robert Burscough (1650/51-1709), prebendary of Exeter in 1701, archdeacon of Barnstaple in 1703, rector of Cheriton Bishop in 1705, his MS. no. 64: see Bernard, Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliæ… (Oxford, 1697), t. ii, pt. i, p. 234, no. 7683. For Burscough see Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Acquired with other MSS. from Burscough's widow by Robert Harley (1661-1724), 1st earl of Oxford and Mortimer, politician, on 17 May 1715, the date noted by Harley's librarian, Humfrey Wanley (1672-1726) on f. 1: for the negotiation preceding the purchase see C. E. Wright and R. C. Wright, The Diary of Humfrey Wanley, (London, 1966), i, p. 11 n. 6, ii, p. 490. For the provenance, see also C. E. Wright, Fontes Harleiani (London, 1972), pp. 87-88, 407. Passed on to Robert Harley's son, Edward (1689-1741), 2nd earl of Oxford and Mortimer, book collector and patron of the arts. Bequeathed with Edward's library to his 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 '100.B.4 / 2347' in dark brown and black ink and '2/III A' in pencil on f. i. The MS. is described in detail in A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts (London, 1808-1812), ii, p. 662.

Parchment; ff. ii (paper)+67+ii (paper). Modern foliation in pencil '1-67' (followed here; f. 51v originally blank). Miscellany including one gathering (ff. 44-51) from a 13th-cent. volume. circa 184 x 130mm (some MS. portions slightly smaller). Gatherings: i⁶, ii⁸, iii¹², iv¹⁰, v⁸, vi⁸ (13th-cent.; addition), vii^8-1 (fifth missing), viii⁸. Mostly ruled (single bounding lines only) in pen for single columns of 32-42 lines. Written in English cursive script with Anglicana features possibly by the same scribe but at different times; large initials (1-2 lines) and rubrics in red (ff. 1, 53-54). The added 13th-cent. gathering pricked and ruled in hard point for single columns of 32 lines; written space circa 122 x 80mm; written in a small protogothic script, possibly in southern France; large initials (2 lines) in red, light blue or green. Marginalia include nota signs and manicula (f. 59v). Harleian binding of mottled brown leather with blind-tooled and gilt-fillet decoration; possibly attributable to T. Elliott as the blind-tooling is identical to Elliott Roll 4 illustrated in H. Nixon, 'Harleian Bindings', Studies in the Book Trade in Honour of Graham Pollard (Oxford, 1975; Bibliographical Society Publications, n.s., 18), pl. 14.

Contents relating to medicine as follows:

1. ff. 1-14v. A collection of medical recipes (circa 50 recipes), beginning with a botanical glossary; late 15th cent. Latin, Anglo-Norman and Middle English. Rubric 'Incipit Kalendarium Herbarium', inc. 'Arthemesia vel ermoys [vel] mogwerde'; recipes inc. (f. 1v) 'Prenez ache persil et fenoil et boliez bien en / overse' with marginal rubric 'Pur / les ma/lez purifier'. Recipes in Middle English on ff. 2, 4, 7, 8, 8v-9, 13, 13v-14: inc. (f. 2) 'Take fayre flax and lay it thyn pouuder / nexte the fire'. Recipes on ff. 8v-9 listed in 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. 5991.00: rubric (f. 8v, in the margin) 'Sore / ballo/kes and / pappes', rubric (first line) 'Emplastrum for sore ballokes and for pap/pes', inc. 'Tak spewed benes and bray tham in a / mortar and temper tham wyth the vryne of / a chylde'. The MS. is not listed in R. J. Dean and M. B. M. Boulton, Anglo-Norman Literature. A Guide to Texts and Manuscripts (London, 1999; Anglo-Norman Text Society, Occasional Publications Series, 3). Keywords: recipes, medical; plasters; herbs and herbal medicine; recipes, medical; medicines.

2. ff. 15-26v. Collection of medical recipes (circa 58 recipes), preceded by a table of contents; late 15th cent. Latin and Anglo-Norman. Title (f. 15) 'Medicine Galieni Regis Medicorum', table of contents inc. 'i. Medicina optima pro gutta', expl. (f. 15v) 'lviii. Ut mulier non concipiat', title (f. 16, in the margin) 'Unguentum pro gutta / optimum', inc. 'Prenez les foiles de mybelwort vel dwale / et les foiles de obel'. Keywords: recipes, medical.

3. ff. 27-43v. Collection of medical recipes (circa 95 recipes), preceded by a table of contents; late 15th cent. Latin and Middle English. Title (f. 27) 'Tabula', table of contents inc. 'i. De tiraca duplex est / factura eius similis', expl. (f. 27v) '72. Ffor costyneues or ages / what so ever to be', rubric (f. 28, in the margin) 'Tiraca', inc. (f. 28) 'Recipe quartroun ij gumme arabice. Coprose veri/dis {dram} .i. gallax {dram} .iii.'. Seventy-two recipes listed in the table of contents, plus 23 others added at a second stage. The components of remedies are written in Latin, while the preparation instructions are often given in Middle English. Keywords: recipes, medical.

4. ff. 44-51. Antidotary (?), in Latin, fragment relating to skin diseases, venoms and venomous bites; 13th cent. Latin. Starting at (f. 44) 'pit.to. sulphare vivo. argento vivo', expl. (f. 51) 'cum vino / decoctionis genciane vel bacarum lauri vel vite'. The fragment is divided into sixteenth chapters, relating to 'Impetigine, Gutta rosea, Morphea, Leptra, Leonina, Tyria, Alopecia, Leprosis, Veneno, Morsu serpentis, Morsu Canis'. The fragment is from an earlier MS., possibly from southern France. 15th-cent. marginal notes and two medical recipes added on f. 51v in Latin and Middle English. Keywords: antidotary.

5. ff. 52-52v. Collection of medical recipes, fragment (circa 5 recipes); late 15th cent. Middle English and Latin. Imperfect. Note in the upper margin (possibly added later) 'Medicine liber magistri Johannis Lane', recipe title 'Ffor to make a man to spew a laxatyue', inc. 'Take pulder of lawreol'. Keywords: medical recipes.

6. ff. 53-54. Antidotary; 15th cent. Latin. An abridged antidotary with reference to Isaac Judaeus. Rubric 'Incipiunt quedam confeccionum electuarum ac / tractiarum syruporum collirorum pocionum cli/steriorum pillularum superpositoriorum ac ali/quorum medicinarum receptacula secundum ysaak et alios / huius artis doctores et compilatores', inc. 'Aurea Alexandria ab Alexandro philosopho in/venta, expl. 'Zyuziber conditum… Mel ponitus … mellis de/bent apponi ad unam libram alterius rei'. Keywords: antidotary.

7. ff. 54v-67v. Large collection of medical recipes; late 15th cent. Latin and Middle English. Title 'De expulsione superfluorum', inc. 'Recipe bene quodam quantumcumque aliquis utatur bona'. Keywords: medical recipes.

Recipes: Medicine and Surgery: Miscellaneous collection of medical texts and recipes: late 15th cent. and 13th cent.: Latin, Anglo-Norman and Middle English: Partly imperf.

includes:

• f. 1 Dictionaries: Medicine and Surgery: Botanical glossary relating to medicine, excerpt: late 15th cent.: Latin, Anglo-Norman and Middle English.
• ff. 44-51 Medicine and Surgery: Antidotary, fragment relating to skin diseases and venoms: 13th cent.: Lat: Imperf.
• ff. 53-54 Recipes: Medicine and Surgery: Antidotary, abridged: late 15th cent.