Harley MS 4349

Collection of Medical and Cosmetic Recipes and short Medical Treatises; circa 1510. Middle English. Copies. The MS. includes a collection of medical recipes (ff. 5-12v, 13-222v, 249-249v; item 1), short medical treatises (ff. 223-248; item 2) and cosmetic recipes (ff. 258v-260v, 262v-266; item 3). It also includes a table of contents with reference to the old pagination (ff. 1-4v), an eye-witness account of the attempt to poison the abbot of St Sofia in Benevento (ff. 250-257v) and a table of measures for medical purposes with symbols (f. 271v). According to a note on f. 9, the MS. was put together in 1510 by Donatus Antonius the younger, purportedly prior of Bury St Edmunds, possibly for Susanna Fontainblew who gave it to T. Nonne: 'T. Nonne / Ex dono prudentissime atque / peritissime femine domine / Susanne Fontainblew / The booke was written by Donatus / Antonius the younger in the / yeare of our Lord Christ one / thousand five hundred and tenn / in which yeare he was Pryor / of the Great Abby or Monastery / of Bury St Edmonds in Suff.': see also M. H. Green, Women's Healthcare in the Medieval West. Texts and Contexts (Aldershot - Burlington, Vermont, 2000; Variorum Collected Studies Series), article vii, pp. 59 item p, 69 no. 50, , 74 n. ax. However, in 1510 the Prior of Bury St Edmunds was William Cadenham: see Victoria County History, Suffolk, ii (London, 1907), p. 72. The provenance, date and circumstances of the arrival of the MS. in the Harleian collection are unknown. The provenance from Bury St Edmunds, hypothesised by M. R. James has been rejected by A. G. Watson: see M. R. James, 'Bury St. Edmunds Manuscripts', The English Historical Review, 41, no. 162 (1926), p. 257; Medieval Libraries of Great Britain. A List of Surviving Books, ed. N. R. Ker. Supplement to the Second Edition, ed. A. G. Watson (London, 1987), p. 7. The volume is not mentioned in C. E. Wright and R. C. Wright, The Diary of Humfrey Wanley (London, 1966), ii, p. 263 n. 1, or in C. E. Wright, Fontes Harleiani (London, 1972). Possibly acquired by Robert Harley (1661-1724), 1st earl of Oxford and Mortimer, politician, before appointing Humfrey Wanley (1672-1726) as his librarian, or by Harley's son, Edward (1689-1741), 2nd earl of Oxford and Mortimer, book collector and patron of the arts, after Wanley's death. Bequeathed with Edward Harley'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 '127.A.26 / 4349', by two hands in different inks, and 'I/III C' in pencil on f. 1. The MS. is described in the Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts (London, 1808-1812), iii, p. 137. The cataloguing of this manuscript was funded by the Wellcome Trust.

Paper; ff. 271. Old foliation 'i-xii' (ff. 1-12) and pagination '1-510' (ff. 13-217; repeating nos. 23, 141-142, 272, 303, 320, 349-350, 392, 414, 441, omitting nos. 101, 177, 188, 277, 343) in black ink ; modern foliation in pencil ff. '1-271' (followed here, including addition paper slip as f. 45; ff. 5v, 8v, 108v, 248v blank). circa 190 x 152mm. Gathering: i-xxviii⁸, xxix-xxxix⁴, xl^8-2 (seventh and eighth cancelled); first two gatherings possibly added at a later stage. Written in an early 16th-cent. cursive English script by several hands. Running titles on ff. 223-248. British Library binding with Harley arms and motto gilt-tooled at the centre of covers.

Contents as follows:

1. ff. 5-12v, 13-222v, 249-249v. Collection of medical recipes; circa 1510. Middle English. Copies. Title 'for the ethie fever', inc. 'Recipe conser rosarum et violarum ana [dragme] / syrrupus deviobus de rosaci / Diamargariton sine or speciebus / Let him use this ointment / of the marrow'. The recipes on ff. 5-12v were probably added at a later stage together with the table of contents. The MS. is not 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). Keywords: recipes, medical.

2. ff. 223-248. Short medical treatises; circa 1510. Middle English. The treatises relate to and give recipes for the cure of 'angina' (ff. 223-227v), 'imbecilitas ventriculi' (ff. 228-232), 'melancholia' (ff. 232v-237v), 'pleuritis' (ff. 238-244) and 'dolor stomachi' (ff. 244v-248). Title 'How to know the Angina', inc. 'Angina is the inflammation of the iavoes or apper / part of the gullet', expl. 'in a red / cloath of silke fiat sacculus pro stomacho'. With running titles. See M. H. Green, Women's Healthcare…, cit. above, vii, p. 74 n. ax. Keywords: medicine.

3. ff. 258v-260, 262v-266. Cosmetic recipes; circa 1510. Middle English. Title 'of medicines to cleere the teeth by rubbing', inc. 'Amongst the ceasts of dressing of women are / dentifricia'. See M. H. Green, Women's Healthcare…, cit. above, article vii, pp. 69 no. 50, 74 n. ax. Keywords: recipes, cosmetic.

Recipes: Medicine and Surgery: Donatus Antonius, the Younger: Collection of medical recipes and treatises and cosmetic recipes , copied by Donatus Antonius: circa 1510: Enm.