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Harley MS 6258 B, ff 1r-44v
- Record Id:
- 041-002162299
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 040-002052106
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000001754.0x000381
- LARK:
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Harley MS 6258 B, ff 1r-44v
- Title:
- Pseudo-Apuleius Platonicus, Herbarium; Liber de herba vettonica, attributed to Pseudo-Antonius Musa; and Pseudo-Dioscorides, De herbis femininis and Curae herbarum
- Scope & Content:
-
The text consists of the enlarged Old English translations of three Latin herbals dating from the 4th century. The remedies from the three texts have been merged and rearranged alphabetically according to the Latin names of the herbs. Title (f. 1r) 'A Saxon Herball' added by a 17th-century hand. Explicit (f. 44v): 'explicit the medicinis herbarium'. The text is highly imperfect with many chapters missing, omitted or abbreviated.
The text includes Old-English translations of:
ff. 1r-44r: Pseudo-Apuleius Platonicus, Herbarium. Incipit: '[W]ið innoðes sar genim þa wirte / þe man artemesiam', explicit: 'ealne þane / bite þæs cancores heo afeormað'. 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), no. 221.00.
ff. 5v-7r: Liber de herba vettonica, attributed to Pseudo-Antonius Musa. Imperfect. Title (in the margin) 'Herba Betonica', incipit: 'Þeos wyrt þe man betonicam / nemnað heo', explicit: 'will on beore / sile hin drinca'. Listed in Voigts and Kurtz 2006, no. 185.00.
ff. 2v-44r: Pseudo-Dioscorides, De herbis femininis and Curae herbarum, Excerpts. Imperfect. Title (in the margin) 'De action', incipit: 'Þeos wyrt þe man action nemned hafeð gelice / leaf cyrfættan'. Listed in Voigts and Kurtz 2006, no. 184.00. For further bibliography, see Harley MS 585 (ff. 66v-101v).
Other copies are Cotton MS Vitellius C. III (ff. 18r-74v), Harley MS 585 (ff. 1r-101v), and Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Hatton 76 (ff. 68r-124r). The text is edited in De Vriend, 1984, pp. xxxiv-xxxviii, lv-lxi, 31-233. For the text, see also Cockayne 1864-1866, Berberich 1966, Bierbaumer 1976; J. M. Riddle, 'Pseudo-Dioscorides' Ex herbis femininis and Early Medieval Medical Botany', Journal of the History of Biology, 14 (1981), 43–81 (pp. 70-71 and n. 66); M. A. D'Aronco, 'The botanical lexicon of the Old English Herbarium', Anglo-Saxon England, 17 (1988), pp. 15-33; M. A. D'Aronco, 'Alcune ricette inedite del MS. Londra, B.L., Cotton Vitellius C.III', in Memor fui dierum antiquorum. Studi in memoria di Luigi de Biasio, ed. by P. C. Ioly Zorattini, A. M. Caproni and A. Stefanutti (Udine, 1995), pp. 241-50 (pp. 241, 245 n. 9).
The sequence of the various herbs is listed in Doane (1994-) pp. 46-7.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Harley Collection
Harley Science Project - Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002045828
040-002052106
041-002162299 - Is part of:
- Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts
Harley MS 6258 B : Medical miscellany
Harley MS 6258 B, ff 1r-44v : Pseudo-Apuleius Platonicus, Herbarium; Liber de herba vettonica, attributed to Pseudo-Antonius Musa; and… - Hierarchy:
- 032-002045828[6262]/040-002052106[0001]/041-002162299
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Harley MS 1-7661
- Record Type (Level):
- Item
- Extent:
- 44 folios
- Digitised Content:
- http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Harley_MS_6258_b (digital images currently unavailable)
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- English, Old
Latin - Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1160
- End Date:
- 1199
- Date Range:
- Late 12th century
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)