Manuscript, written in South France or Spain in the first half of the 12th-century, containing medical treatises.

Item

Identifier: Adv.MS.18.6.11

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The contents of the manuscript are as follows:

(i) 'Liber febrium' by Isaac (Isḥāq ibn Sulaiman al-Isrā'ili), translated by Constantinus Africanus, in prologue and five books. The author and translator are given in the contents list only (folio 1).

(ii) 'Secretum secretorum' by Pseudo-Aristotle, the medical section translated by Joannes Hispalensis, without title (folio 82). See 'Speculum', volume xxxiv, page 24.

(iii) 'Micro-tegni' by Galen, translated by Constantinus Africanus, entitled only 'Tegni' (folio 85).

(iv) 'De differentia animae et spiritus' by Costa ben Luca (Qustā ben Lūqā), translated by Joannes Hispalensis, without title (folio 104 verso).

(v) 'De taxone' by Sextus Placitus (B text; 'Corpus medicorum latinorum', volume iv, pages 230-232), without title (folio 108 verso).

(vi) 'Liber simplicis medicine', incipit 'Simplex medicina est aut de existentibus per se' (folio 109).

Three main hands wrote (i), (iii) and (vi) respectively; one other added (ii) and (iv), another (v). A Durham hand wrote a contents list on folio iii verso, which includes (i) and (vi) only and concludes 'Volumen presens continet supra dicta'; this has been completed by a 15th-century hand.

There are marginal notes in several hands. Headings and initials are in red (green initials on folios 126-128); the initials on folios 10 verso-11 recto have not been added; space has been left for larger initials on folios 1, 26 and 59, but these have not been added.

Dates

Creation: 1st half of 12th century.

Extent

1 Volumes (ii (paper) + i + 129 + ii (paper) folios.)

Language of Materials

Latin

Additional Description

Arrangement

Collation: 1-7⁸, 8-9⁴, 10⁸, 11-12⁶, 13-17⁸, 18⁶ (-6). No signatures or catchwords. Pricking with flat and pointed awls. Ruling in ink (1-2, intermittently thereafter) and hard point. 1 column. 31-32 and 35-37 lines in 1-12 (first hand; increase at folio 49), 32 in 13- 15 (second hand), 40-44 in 16-18 (third hand). Written area 148-160 x 80-85 millimetres in 1-12, 158 x 90 millimetres in 13-15, 158 x 95 millimetres in 16-18.

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

Vellum. Binding of green morocco, tooled gilt, 18th century.

Custodial History

The volume was given to Durham Cathedral about the middle of the 12th century by Magister Herebertus medicus (catalogue in ‘Catalogi Veteres Librorum Ecclesiae Cathedralis Dunelm.’, page 7); it appears again in catalogues of 1391 and 1416 (‘Catalogi Veteres Librorum Ecclesiae Cathedralis Dunelm.’, pages 33, 110). On folio iii is the note `liber sancti Cuthberti Dunelm. cuius usus conceditur domino Roberto Ebchester per d. W. ffigy`, mid 15th century. It later belonged to Sir Robert Sibbald and was sold with his library. Former pressmark: W.5.23. The volume was bought by the Advocates’ Library in 1723.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Presented, 1925, by the Faculty of Advocates to the nation on the foundation of the National Library of Scotland.

Existence and Location of Copies

Microfilm available: Mf.Sec.MSS.350.

Bibliography

Mynors, R A B. ‘Durham Cathedral Manuscripts’ (Oxford, 1939), number 92).

Thorndike, L. ‘Speculum’, volume xxxiv (1959).

‘Corpus medicorum latinorum’, volume iv (1927).

‘Catalogi Veteres Librorum Ecclesiae Cathedralis Dunelm.’ (Surtees Society, 1838).