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Description
ff. 1-40v. [Agnus castus]. Incipit: Agnus castus is an herbe that men clepyn Tutsayn other parkeleuys and this herbe hath leuys sumdele red yleke to the levys of Arage. Explicit: Also if a man haue grete itchyng in his Bodi take the Ius//. English. G. Brodin, ed., Agnus Castus: a Middle English Herbal Reconstructed from Various Manuscripts. Essays and Studies on English Language and Literature 6 (Copenhagen and Cambridge, Mass., 1950) 119-201; HM 58 not recorded; the text shares characteristics with Brodin's groups I and II, but many readings resemble the variants listed for London, Brit. Lib., Roy. 18.A.VI, the representative of group II. One leaf missing after f. 8 with loss of most of the entry for "Betonia"; between the entries for "Costus" and "Dragancia," ff. 15v-16, fourteen herbs not copied (contemporary note, f. 16, lists seven missed herbs); on f. 18v, ten lines cancelled and f. 19, a singleton, inserted by the scribe to allow for otherwise missed entries; other herbs occasionally missed; breaks defectively in the entry for "Rosa marinus," although the text may have been completed on the 4 leaves now missing after f. 40. See also A. Zettersten, "A Manuscript of 'Agnus Castus' in the Huntington Library," Notes and Queries 216 (1971) 130-31. ff.8v, 11v, 19v, 23v, 31v, 33, 34, 38v, 39, 41-42v. [Medical recipes]. English. Twenty-nine medical recipes added by several contemporary and later hands in the blank spaces left by the scribe of Agnus Castus in order to begin a new letter of the alphabet at the top of a page; ff. 41-42 were blank leaves completing the quire at the end of Agnus Castus; the recipe on f. 41 begins defectively. On f. 19v, a charm in verse against worms in children; on f. 41v, a charm "For to wynne at dyce." A recipe on f. 31v ends "probatum est per Iohannem Denys," referring to the surgeon John Denyse, whose name appears in records 1475-96/97; see C. H. Talbot and E. A. Hammond, Medical Practitioners in Medieval England (London 1965) 140-41. In a seventeenth century hand in the lower margin of f. 41v: "Master Whettons electuarie for the stone. It is to be sold at Master Spichforkes an apothicarie in chepeside nere the greate cundit there...it is also to be had att the golden morter next shopp to Master Spichforke in chepeside...". f. 43-93v. Forto make a water that is ycleped maidons melke that shal don awai sausefleme and the rede Goute in the visage [i.e. Medical recipes and charms]. Incipit: Take lytarge of Golde and stamp itt ynto poudre. Explicit: And then stille itt yn a lymbak with eesy fyre. Rubric: Forto make a water that is ycleped maidons melke that shal don awai sausefleme and the rede Goute in the visage. English. Approximately 253 recipes, including 2 for the ointment Gracia dei, "that the Ladi Beauchamp used the Erlis wiff of Warweke" (f. 52v) and another "that þe gode Erle of herforde used þat was yhold a noble and Gracyus Surgierer" (f. 53); the non-medical recipes are: f. 69, an incantation against thieves; f. 75v, an incantation to staunch blood; ff. 81v-82, indices to determine if a sick person will live or die; f. 82r-v, means of determining if a pregnant woman is carrying a boy or a girl; f. 84, an incantation for a speedy delivery in childbirth; f. 84r-v, an incantation to deliver a stillborn child; ff. 87v-88v, a passage on the virtues of "betayne." In the margins next to the 4 incantations, in the hand of the scribe, "Prohibitum est exercicium ab Ecclesia catholica." Nine recipes added in contemporary and later hands on ff. 76, 86, 88v, 93v. On ff. 43-62 only, initials added in the margin representing the main word of the rubric, as if in preparation for an alphabetical subject index, e.g. f. 43: "m" for "maidons melk," "p" for "polus rubius," "o" for "oynement"; f. 43v: "c" for "cancrum," "w" for "webbe." On ff. 94-95v (misbound), part of a table of contents for these recipes but possibly copied from a different book. Title supplied by cataloger. The main text of the Agnus castus is agumented by contemporary and later scribes. An additional group of medical recipes and charms in various hands follows. Support: Parchment. Script: Anglicana; Textura. Layout: 1⁸ 2⁶(-1) 3⁸(+6, f. 19) 4-5⁸ 6⁸(-3 through 6 after f. 40) 7⁸ 8-9¹⁰ 10-11⁸ 12⁸(-5) 13². 26-37 long lines on ff. 1-40v; 25-27 long lines on ff. 43-95v; ruled in ink, the top and bottom 1 or 2 lines usually full across; pricking often remaining in the 3 outer margins. Span folios: ff. 1-95v. Errors cancelled in red, omitted material added in the margins in red (e.g. ff. 1, 49), ""probatum"" or ""prohibitum"" notes in the margins in red, and the corrector's (i.e. the scribe's?) note ""cor."" in red at the end of quires 2 (f. 13v), 6 (f. 42v) and 7 (f. 50v). Assigned Date: s. XVex. Input into Digital Scriptorium by: C. W. Dutschke, 3/4/2012. Cataloged from existing description: C. W. Dutschke with the assistance of R. H. Rouse et al., Guide to Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Huntington Library (San Marino, 1989). Bound, s. XV, in untawed skin over wooden boards with cushion bevel; quires sewn onto 4 bands of leather drawn straight into the boards; the front board reused from an earlier binding, reversed, with traces of earlier bands still visible; the rear board split and repaired with cord; evidence of a fore edge strap closing to a pin in the center back cover. HM 58. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.
Botany, Medical--Early works to 1800 Herbals--Early works to 1800 Material medica, Vegetable--Early works to 1800 Medicine--Formulae, receipts, prescriptions--Early works to 1800 Formularies England 15th century. (aat) Herbals (Reference sources) England 15th century. (aat) Manuscripts (documents) (aat)
Source
Manuscripts, Huntington Digital Library
Provenance
Among the pentrials: s. XVI: f. 24, "...noverint universi per presentes nos Iohannes ashington in Comitatu Devon. yeoman teneri et firmeter obligari Iohan__cancelled___ de __cancelled___ ne in Comitatu predicto"; f. 28v, possibly in the same hand, "Iohannes de G.R.A."; s. XVII: f. 68v, "John Penrose"; on the leather turn-ins of the front cover, "George Pyne" and "Frances Pyne"; f. 41v, the note on "Master Whettons electuarie" by an owner presumably living in London to judge from the reference to Cheapside and to the Great Conduit. Sold by Rodd, ca. 1842, possibly n. 295 in one of his catalogues (that number, Rodd's name and the Phillipps shelfmark in pencil on the inside of the front cover) to Sir Thomas Phillipps; Phillipps MS 11077. (CSmH)
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