Harley MS 3247

This manuscript is a composite miscellany, consisting of six parts of different origins (ff. 1-28, 29-38v, 39-48v, 49-60v, 61-61v, 62-69v). It features texts that principally relate to theology, canon law, and medicine, including a commentary on the Psalms and the Summa de matrimonio, a treatise on the issues of marriage by Raymond of Penyafort (b. 1175, d. 1275).

The medical texts include an imperfect copy of the Dietae universales (Universal diets), a Latin translation by Constantinus Africanus (b. c. 1020, d. 1098/9) of the first part of Kitāb al-adwiya al-mufrada wa-l-aghdiya (The Book of Medicinal and Nutritional Terms). This work was originally composed in Arabic by the Jewish physician and philosopher Abū Ya'qūb Ishāq ibn Sulaymān al-Isrā’īlī (b. c. 832, d. c. 932), also known as Isaac Judeus or Isaac Israeli ben Solomon. Another copy of the work is now Harley MS 3140 (ff. 68r-110v). For an edition of the text, see L. Thorndike and P. Kibre, Catalogue of Incipits of Medieval Scientific Writings in Latin, The Mediaeval Academy of America Publication, 29 (London, 1963; with supplements in 1965 and 1968), pp. 307f and 1252l; its electronic edition (Ann Arbor, MI, 2000), nos. 307F and 1252L.

The manuscript also includes an Arabic-Latin glossary of medical terms. The Arabic text has been transliterated. The text consists of two pages of lemmata relating to anatomy, symptoms, diseases, and medical simples and compounds with explanations. The lemmata are possibly copied from the marginalia in an Arabic-Latin translation of a medical work. They are displayed on four (f. 61r) and five columns (f. 61v) respectively. Each of them is preceded by the Arabic definite article al- which is assimilated within the lemma.

The final medical text is an imperfect copy of a Latin translation of Galen of Pergamon's In Hippocratis Prognosticum Commentaria tria, a commentary on the Prognostica of the Greek physician Hippocrates of Kos (b. 460, d. 375 BC), relating to acute illnesses and their treatments. It includes the Latin paraphrase of Hippocrates' work, followed by the Latin translation of Galen's commentary from the Greek, undertaken by the Italian translator Gerard of Cremona (b. c. 1114, d. 1187). A complete copy of the paraphrase and commentary is now Harley MS 5425 (ff. 62r-92r).

Contents:

ff. 1-28r: Commentary on the Psalms, imperfect, relating to Psalms 57 to 108, 13th century;

ff. 29r-38v: Raymond of Penyafort, Summa de matrimonio, with marginalia, imperfect; 13th century;

ff. 39r-48v: an unidentified text on canon law relating to matrimony, imperfect;

ff. 49r-60v: Isaac Judeus, Dietae universales, imperfect, mid-13th century; beginning, '[Q]uod in primis coegit antiquos disputare de naturis ciborum / studium fuit', and breaking at 'ante / cibum sunt sumendi, mollibus vero post'.

f. 61r-v: an Arabic-Latin glossary of medical terms, imperfect at the end, early 13th century; beginning ,'[A]las id est punctis rubeis qui sunt ut pulicis / morsus et fiunt in omnibus membris et precipue in / oculis et cito recedunt / [A]lgorodie id est nodi qui fiunt in collo et / gula et sub ascellis et inguinibus', and breaking at 'Algulanimet est cheras talis ab eo / progenitur sperma'.

ff. 62r-69v: Galen of Pergamon, In Hippocratis Prognosticum Commentaria tria, with notabilia, imperfect, 13th century; the paraphrase beginning, 'Videtur mihi quod ex melioribus rebus est ut utatur medicina privisione', and breaking at 'ypo. Sames aut laudabilior … illi dispositioni est in fi/ne malicie'; the commentary, beginning, 'Manifestum est quod Ypocras non utatur hac dictione privisione', and breaking at 'Galen. Quorum aut oporteat ne sames odorem … ostendi in libris aliis sunt iste. In libro'.

ff. 70r-71r: added pen trials and an ownership inscription.

ff. 28v and 71v are blank.

Decoration:

Large initials in alternating red and blue (ff. 1-28r).