Western Medieval Manuscripts : Scientific and medical texts

Western Medieval Manuscripts

This manuscript comprises three parts of different dates and places of origin. The first, made in the later 15th century, is a copy of the Middle English Treatise on the Astrolabe. Written by Geoffrey Chaucer (d. 1400), and ostensibly addressing his son Lewis, this text explains the various functions and uses of this widespread astronomic instrument. The second text is a copy of the lapidary treatise of Marbod of Rennes (1035-1123), the Liber lapidum. Written in Latin verse, it sets out the various properties - in particular the magical and medicinal virtues - of gemstones such as adamantis, agate, alectoria and sapphire. The third text is a compilation of medical recipes, also in Latin. The earliest definitive evidence of these texts being bound together dates from the later 16th or 17th century, the approximate date of the hand that added a table of contents that mentions all three to f. <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(17);return false;'>v recto</a>. The presence there also of an ownership inscription of the 16th century, of a '?Jhon Hanleys', raises the possibility that they were bound together from a still earlier date. Closely similar though the dimensions of these three parts are, it is possible that it was more than mere codicological convenience that brought them together. Each has a bearing on medical practice of the later medieval period. First, astrological observations played a role in determining auspicious or perilous times to conduct medical and especially surgical interventions such as blood-letting (see the introduction to <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-ADD-03303-00003/1'>Cambridge, University Library, MS Add. 3303(3)</a> for further discussion of astrological medicine). Astrolabes were a useful instrument in this process, allowing their user - among other things - to identify specific stars and planets. Second, medieval people lived in a world that was divinely created and organised for the inhabitation and benefit of mankind. It was thus entirely logical that plants, animals and even stones and minerals might possess curative potential - and the more rare and more precious these were, it was thought, the greater their healing powers might be. Third, by the late medieval period, there had developed a large and highly varied body of empirical medical knowledge: that is, remedies that drew on these aforementioned resources, and which people knew (or thought they knew) to be effective, even if they did not necessarily understand why that was: which was the active ingredient, for instance, or what was the particular mechanism at work. It is possible, therefore, that one or more late medieval readers gathered these texts together, and/or made or commissioned copies of additional texts that would fit within the same binding as others already in their possession, in order to assemble a single volume that addressed some of these key medical topics. It is unfortunate that damage to the manuscript - in particular damp - has made passages in the first and third parts difficult to read.Dr James Freeman Medieval Manuscripts Specialist Cambridge University Library