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Royal MS 12 E XX

Record Id:

040-002106774

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

032-002105724

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000277.0x000322

LARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100056059358.0x000001

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Royal MS 12 E XX

Title:

A commentary on Hippocrates, Aphorism attributed to Aptalio; Galen, De arte curativa ad Glauconem; Pseudo-Galen, Ad Glauconem liber tertius; Liber Aureliani; Liber Esculapii; De podagra; Pseudo-Oribasius, commentary on Hippocrates's Aphorims;Medicina Plinii; Gargilius Martialis, Medicina ex oleribus et pomis; Liber dietarum diversorum medicorum; Excerpt from Isidore of Seville, Etymologiae; an anonymous Antidotary; and medical charms and recipes

Scope & Content:

Contents:

ff. 1r-32r: A commentary on Hippocrates, Aphorism attributed to Aptalio and based on an early translation of Hippocrates's work dating to the 6th century, beginning: 'Incipit expositio Aptalionis in .vii. libros Aforismorum Ypocratis. Vita brevis ars autem prolixa, tempus vero velox'.

ff. 33r-111v: An anonymous compilation known as 'pre-Gariopontean ensemble' according to Langslow, The Latin Alexander (2006), pp. 94-95. It includes the two books of Galen, De arte curativa ad Glauconem (Therapeutics to Glaucon), preceded by the prologue (ff. 33r-35v), Book 1 (ff. 35v-56r), preceded by capitula (f. 35v), Book 2 (ff. 56r-68r) preceded by capitula (ff. 56r-v); Pseudo-Galen, Ad Glauconem liber tertius (ff. 68r-82r), preceded by capitula (ff. 68r-v); Liber Aurelii (ff. 82r-90v), an anonymous early epitome of the work of Caelius Aurelianus on acute illnesses, titled here as Ad Glauconem liber quartus preceded by capitula (ff. 82r-v); Liber Esculapii (ff. 90v-107r), an anonymous epitome of the work of Caelius Aurelianus on chronic diseases, preceded by capitula (ff. 90v-91r), titled here as Ad Glauconem liber quartus; De podagra (On gout) (ff. 107r-111v), an anonymous treatise, which derived from the Latin translation of Alexander of Tralles's Therapeutica (Therapeutic), preceded by 23 capitula, imperfect ending with chapter 22.

ff. 112r-114r: Anonymous medical recipes and production of medicines, Olei laurini confectio (Making of laurel oil) (ff. 112r-v); De unguentis (On the unguent) (ff. 112v-113r); De mensuris (On measurements) (ff. 113r-v); Medicines for illness of eyes (ff. 113v-114r).

ff. 114r-116v: Pseudo-Oribasius, commentary on Hippocrates's Aphorims, derived from the earliest Latin translation of the Aphorisms, ending with the preface (ff. 116r-v) (imperfect).

ff. 117r-118v: Several medical recipes, beginning with medicine to heal gout (f. 117r): 'Puluis podagricis et artriticis'.

ff. 119r-135v: Anonymous, Medicina Plinii (Medicine of Pliny), a treatise in three books containing medical recipes, excerpted mainly from Pliny's Natural History and compiled by an anonymous 4th-century author, preceded by capitula of the first book (f. 119r) and the prologue (ff. 119r-v). Book 1 (ff. 119v-124v); book 2 (ff. 124v-129r), preceded by capitula (f. 124v); book 3 (ff. 129r-135v), preceded by capitula (f. 129r).

ff. 136r-146v: Gargilius Martialis, Medicina ex oleribus et pomis (Medicine from vegetables and fruit trees); the four last chapters have been added and are not part of Gargilius's work.

ff. 146r-151v: Anonymous, Liber dietarum diversorum medicorum (Book of the various medical diets), a Latin adaptation of the Therapeutica of Alexander of Tralles.

ff. 151v-154r: Excerpt from Isidore of Seville, Etymologiae (Etymologies), book 4.

ff. 154r-156r: Anonymous miscellany of medical commonplaces. Dieta ad renum inflamationem (Diet for inflammation of the kidney) (f. 154r) is an excerpt from the Liber dietarum; followed by medical recipes (ff. 154r-v); a fictitious question from Plato to Aristotle on the humours (f. 155r); on the three veins (f. 155r); on the four humours of a human being (ff. 155r-v); instructions for bloodletting (ff. 155v-156r).

ff. 156r-162r: Anonymous antidotary.

f. 162v: Added several medical charms, including one that mentions the Seven Sleepers and another including Old English words, written by another scribe.

Decoration:

Large initials with interlace and foliate or zoomorphic features including human figures at the beginning of texts; some initials are in red, green, blue, yellow and brown (ff. 1r; 33r; 56v; 91r), other remained uncoloured or are partially coloured (ff. 68r; 82v; 107v; 119r-v; 129r; 136r; 146v).

Smaller initials in red, green or purple. Rubrics in red.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

England and France 700-1200 Project
Royal Collection

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002105724
040-002106774

Is part of:

Royal MS 1 A I-20 E X : Royal Manuscripts

Royal MS 12 E XX : A commentary on Hippocrates, Aphorism attributed to Aptalio; Galen, De arte curativa ad Glauconem; Pseudo-Galen, Ad Glauconem…

Hierarchy:

032-002105724[0994]/040-002106774

Container:

View / search within Archive / Collection: Royal MS 1 A I-20 E X

Record Type (Level):

File

Extent:

A parchment codex

Digitised Content:

https://iiif.bl.uk/uv/#?manifest=https://bl.digirati.io/iiif/ark:/81055/vdc_100056059358.0x000001

Thumbnail:

Languages:

English, Old
Latin

Scripts:

Latin

Start Date:

1100

End Date:

1149

Date Range:

1st half of the 12th century

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

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Physical Characteristics:

Materials: Parchment.

Dimensions: 180 x 125 mm (text space: 150 x 85 mm).

Foliation: ff. 164 (+ 1 unfoliated paper flyleaf at the beginning + 2 at the end); ff. 163, 164 are medieval parchment flyleaves.

Script: Protogothic.

Binding: British Museum/British Library in-house. Rebound in 1957.

Custodial History:

Origin: ?Canterbury or Rochester, Southeastern England.

Provenance:

?The Benedictine cathedral priory of Christ Church, Canterbury: its style of decoration, according to Boase, English Art (1957), pp. 44, 63.

?The cathedral priory of St Andrew, Rochester: its style of decoration, according to Dodwell, The Canterbury School (1954), p. 74.

Added, charms including one with Old-English words written by a contemporary 12th-century hand (f. 162v).

Added, notes and annotations written by a late 12th-century hand throughout (e. g., ff. 40v, 73r).

Added pen trial in the margins (ff. 110v-111r).

Presented to the British Museum by George II in 1757 as part of the Old Royal Library.

Information About Copies:

Full digital coverage available for this manuscript: see Digitised Manuscripts at http://www.bl.uk.manuscripts/.

Select digital coverage available for this manuscript: see Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts at http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/welcome.htm.

Publications:

V. Rose, Anecdota graeca et graecolatina: Mitteilungen aus Handschriften zur Geschichte der griechischen Wissenschaft, 2 vols (Berlin: Duemmler, 1864-1870), II, p. 103.

George F. Warner and Julius P. Gilson, Catalogue of Western Manuscripts in the Old Royal and King’s Collections, 4 vols (London: British Museum, 1921), II, p. 56.

C. R. Dodwell, The Canterbury School of Illumination 1066-1200 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1954), p. 24.

T. S. R. Boase, English Art 1100-1216, Oxford History of English Art, 2 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957), pp. 44, 63, pl. 7b.

A. Önnerfors, In Medicinam Plinii Studia Philologica (Lund: C. W. K. Gleerup, 1963), pp. 117-27.

C. M. Kauffmann, Romanesque Manuscripts 1066-1190, Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in the British Isles, 3 (London: Harvey Miller, 1975), p. 64.

Pearl Kibre, 'Hippocrates Latinus: Repertorium of Hippocratic Writings in the Latin Middle Ages (II)’, Traditio, 32 (1976), 257-92 (pp. 266-67).

P. O. Kristeller, 'Bartholomaeus, Musandinus and Maurus of Salerno and other early commentators of the Articella with a tentative list of texts and manuscripts', Italia Medioevale e Umanistica, 29 (1976), 57-87 (p. 75).

Cornelius O'Boyle, The Art of Medicine: Medical Teaching at the University of Paris, 1250-1400 (Leiden: Brill, 1998), p. 87.

Richard Gameson, The Manuscripts of Early Norman England (c. 1066–1130) (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), p. 118.

The Libraries of King Henry VIII, ed. by J. P. Carley, Corpus of British Medieval Library Catalogues, 7 (London: The British Library, 2000), p. xxxvi, n. 48.

Faith Wallis, 'Anselm and the Articella', Traditio 59 (2004), 129-74 (pp. 141, 147).

D. R. Langslow, The Latin Alexander Trallianus: The Text and Transmission of a Late Latin Medical Book (London: Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies, 2006), pp. 94-95.

St Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury, ed. by B. C. Barker-Benfield, Corpus of British Medieval Library Catalogues, 13, 3 vols (London: British Library, 2008), p. 1820.

G. V. M. Haverling, ‘On textual criticism and linguistic development in the Late Latin translation of the Hippocratic Aphorisms’, in Body, Disease and Treatment in a Changing World: Latin Texts and Contexts in Ancient and Medieval Medicine ed. by D. Langslow and B. Maire (Lausanne: Éditions BHMS, 2010), pp. 105-18.

Valerie Knight, 'The De Podagra (On Gout): a pre-Gariopontean treatise excerpted from the Latin translation of the Greek Therapeutica by Alexander of Tralles' (Unpublished PhD thesis, Manchester University, 2015), pp. 39, 319-22.

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)

Notes:

This manuscript is part of The Polonsky Foundation England and France Project: Manuscripts from the British Library and the Bibliothèque nationale de France, 700-1200.

Names:

Subjects:

Grammar
Science

Places:

Canterbury, England
Rochester, England

Related Material:

From George F. Warner and Julius P. Gilson, Catalogue of Western Manuscripts in the Old Royal and King’s Collections, 4 vols (London: British Museum, 1921), II, p. 56:

'MEDICAL TREATISES, in Latin, a 12th cent. collection, viz.:

1. 'Incipit expositio Aptalionis in xii libros Aforismorum Ypocratis': a commentary on the Aphorisms of Hippocrates, unedited and apparently undescribed. The translation of the text differs not only from the usual (13th cent.) version, but also from the older version which the 13th cent. translator criticizes (see Littré, Œuvres d'Hipp. iv, p. 444), and which is the basis of the [Pseudo ?] Oribasian gloss. The name of the commentator (as Altalio al. Attalio) occurs in the preface to that gloss, see below, art.4. Beg. 'Vita breuis, ars autem prolixa, tempus uero uelox, expetimentum autem fallens, determinatio molesta: Vitam breuem artem autem prolixam dixit co quod ars medicine;'. Text ends with vii.

87 of Littré's edition of the Aphorisms. f. 1.

2. 'Incipit liber primus (-vi) Galieni philosophi ad Glauconem nepotem suum': a compilation perhaps meant to be taken for a work of Galen, as it begins with part of the preface to the treatise Ad Glauconem de medendi methodo, but containing really a different recension of the Passionarius of Gariopontus of Salerno (including the books on fevers and their symptomata, see above, 12 B. IX, 12 C. XXIV). The arrangement, however, is totally different. Preface beg. 'Quoniam quidem non solum communem'; lib. i, 'Febrium species nemo discernere potest'. Imperf., by loss of leaves after f. III, ending in lib. vi, cap. xxii (De catapuciis dandis = Passionarius, iv, 17). f. 33.

3. Some minor tracts and recipes (imperf. at beg.). Included are:-(a) De oleis, beg. 'Olei laurini confectio'. f. 112;-(b) 'De unguentis', beg. 'Vnguentum giras laudabile'. f. 112b;-(c) 'De mensuris', beg. 'Siliqua sexta pars est'. f. 113;-(d) 'Item incipit ratio ponderum uel mensurarum diuersarum medicinarum' beg. 'Siliqua habet grana ordei iiii'. f. 113 b;-(e) 'De epifora ad tumores oculorum infusos', beg. 'Coclee sine putamine trite'. f. 113 b;-(f) 'De oculis suffusis sanguine', beg. 'Sanguis instillatus'. f. 114;-(g) 'De naribus', beg. 'Testa ouorum'. f. 114.

4. Extracts chiefly from [Pseudo?] Oribasius' commentary on the Aphorisms of Hippocrates. Including i, 1, 2. iv, 36-42, vi, 43 and the preface of the work (incomplete) at the end. The text differs so constantly from the phraseology of Guinther's edition (Paris, 1533) as to afford a presumption that the two are different translations from a Greek original, though the nonexistence of such an original has been asserted by Goulin and supported by Littré (Œuvres d'Hippocrate, iv, p. 442). Preface (f. 116) beg. 'Quoniam necesse est semper in omni libro quqdam necessaria predici'; commentary (f. 114), 'Vita breuis [&c., translation as in art. 1]: Continuo Yppocras in initio locutionis sue propulsare uidetur'. The name of the supposed author of art. 1 appears here as Altalio. f. 114.

5. Miscellaneous medical notes, recipes for powders, pessaries, &c. Beg. 'Puluis podagricis et artriticis'. f. 117.

6. 'Plinii iunioris de medicina' libri: four books, of which (a) the first three are the compilation of a 4th cent. epitomator from the Natural History of the elder Pliny. The writer wishes to pass as Pliny himself, but is distinguished by Marcellus (wrote circ. 408, his 'uterque Plinius' refers to this work and the Natural History) and later writers. See V. Rose in Hermes (viii, 1874, p. 18) and edition by him (Teubner Ser., Leipzig, 1875). Beg. 'Frequenter mihi in peregrinationibus accidit'. f. 119;-(b) Lib. iv is a similar compilation of medical extracts taken from the work of Gargilius Martialis, the (3rd cent.) writer on agriculture. Printed from this and other MSS. by Rose in the Teubner series as above. Beg. 'Raphano calidam inesse uirtutem'. The last four chapters, though common to the MSS., do not come from Gargilius. f. 136.

7. 'Incipit liber dietarum diuersorum medicorum, hoc est Alexandri et aliorum': an extract from the old Latin abridgement of Alexander Trallianus. Beg. 'Cibos accipiant illi quibus capilli cadunt'; ends 'et ab omni legumine'. Artt. 6 (b) and 7 being commonly found in MSS. with art. 6 (a) became gradually incorporated with the Pseudo-Pliny, and were printed as Pliny's (libb. iv, v) by Pighinuccius (Rome, 1509, see Rose, l. c.) and at Bologna, 1516, but it is to be noted that libb. i-iii of those editions are not the genuine text as in art. 6 (a), but a later and much extended compilation. f. 146 b.

8. 'Proprietas artis medicine' : an extract, with slight alterations, from S. Isidore, Bishop of Seville, containing nearly all lib. iv of the Etymologiae. Beg. 'Medicina dicitur a modo, ut non nimis'. f. 151 b.

9. Miscellaneous commonplaces of medicine, including:-(a) 'Dieta ad renum inflammationem'. f. 154;-

(b) Various recipes. f. 154-(c) 'Questio Platonis ad Aristotelem de humoribus hominum'. f. 155;-(d) De tribus venis. f. 155;-(e) De iv humoribus. f. 155;-

(f) De uenarum sectione. f. 155 b.

10. An antidotary, or collection of compound medicines. Beg. 'Antidotum gariofilatum ad stomachum'. At the end are added (f. 162 b) a few charms, one containing some English, and another consisting of the names of the Seven Sleepers. f. 156.

Vellum ; ff. 164. 7 in. x 4³/₄ in. XII cent. Gatherings of 8 leaves (xiv, xv⁷, xx⁴). Written in England, in a good small hand. Sec. fol. 'nimie repletiones'. Fine ornamental initials, but not all filled in with colour (see pl. 73 b, c). Not in cat. of 1666; CMA. 8617.'