Western Medieval Manuscripts : Composite manuscript of theological and medical texts

Western Medieval Manuscripts

<p style='text-align: justify;'>This composite manuscript, written for the most part in the first half of the 13th century, has passed through several centuries and several owners, but has spent the majority of its life in East Anglia in the East of England where it remains today. The first quire was most likely a personal notebook or <i>vade mecum</i>: it contains a poem, notes for sermons, and various encyclopedic and theological trivia, as well as a copy of a 1381 letter of introduction from the Prioress and Sisters of Hinchingbrooke Priory (Cambridgeshire) asking the then Bishop of Lincoln John Bokyngham to admit the bearer of the letter, a Walter Sayer of Hook Norton (Oxfordshire) to the title of their house. The rest of the manuscript (Quires 2-17) contains popular medical treatises including the <i>Breviarium</i> of Johannes de Sancto Paulo and the <i>Antidotarium Nicholai</i>, copied by four scribes all working together to produce a useful reference book.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>The manuscript is one of several of similar date that once belonged to the Augustinian Priory in Barnwell on the outskirts of Cambridge. A brief ownership inscription - 'Bernewell' - by a fifteenth-century hand may still be seen on f. <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(3);return false;'>i verso</a> (a further inscription, now erased but legible under UV light, is on f. <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(28);return false;'>13r</a>). MS Add. 6865 was likely copied at Barnwell Priory. The hands that copied Part 2 are typical of 12th- to 13th-century English bookhands, and the manuscript thus contains an early copy of a work that emanated from Salerno, the <i>Breviarium</i> of Iohannes de Sancto Paulo (d. 1214/15). In contrast to Benedictine monks, whose Rule emphasised withdrawal from the world, the Augustinian canons were permitted greater latitude and were often involved in the running of hospitals: for example, St Bartholomew's in Smithfield, London, or St John the Evangelist's in Cambridge. This compilation of practical medical texts suggests that the canons of Barnwell may have treated passing travellers or Cambridge's townsfolk. The <i>Breviarium</i> provides a guide to the signs, causes and cures of disease, while the <i>Antidotarium Nicholai</i> (another Salernitan text) was one of the most widely circulated compilations of medical remedies. There are further shorter, anonymous texts on sciatica, stomach pain, fevers and, notably, obstetrics (which fellow canons cannot have needed). Blank leaves also contain a variety of simple recipes for pills, powders and electuaries. One of these - the 'Salt of St Luke' - suggests contact between the Augustinian canons and inhabitants of the university. It comprises hyssop, pennyroyal, camomile, ammi, epithyme, ginger, sal ammoniac and common salt, all ground together, which 'scholars use to preserve their health' (f. <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(29);return false;'>13v</a>).</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>The book probably remained with at Barnwell until 1538, when the priory was dissolved during the Reformation. The owners of Add. MS 6865 in the first century following the dissolution of Barnwell Priory are unknown, but the book came into contact with a 16th-century reader, Anthony Shupton, who added his name to the manuscript in several places and who may be the same Anthony Shupton found in <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='http://searcharchives.bl.uk/IAMS_VU2:LSCOP_BL:IAMS040-002112341'>London, British Library, Sloane MS 4</a>. By the middle of the 17th century, the book belonged to James Cobbes of Bury St Edmunds, who amassed a collection of manuscripts mostly deriving from East Anglian religious houses. Cobbes passed the book to his grandson, James Harvey, and from there the book passed into the hands of the well-known 18th-century collector Rev. Dr Cox Macro. Macro's collection passed to his daughter, Mary Macro and then through her husband William Stainforth's line to his niece Elizabeth Stainforth and her husband the politician John Patteson. Patteson experienced a period of financial difficulty in the second decade of the 19th century, and sold many family assets, including the Macro manuscripts. They were sold in 1820 by the London book-dealer James Christie the Younger to Dawson Turner, who split his purchase with fellow Norfolk collector Hudson Gurney. This manuscript was one of those that was part of Gurney's portion of purchase, remaining with the Gurney family for a little over a century, until it was sold through Sotheby's by Quintin Edward Gurney in 1936 and purchased by the University Library.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>Dr Sarah Gilbert<br /> Project Cataloguer, Curious Cures Project<br /> Cambridge University Library</p>