A collection of medical recipes, in Italian and Latin
A collection of medical recipes and pharmacological compounds mostly in Italian, but also in Latin, on paper. North-East Italy, probably Padua, late 15th century. Mostly in the hand of a single scribe probably active at the Benedictine abbey of Santa Giustina in Padua, as suggested by a passage referring to Padua in the text relating to 'Aqua quae vocatur Mater Balsami' (ff. 57v-58r), reading 'Vn altro monago nostro el qualle portando un grande traue cum altri fradelli monacj in Sancta Iustina de Padoa Anchora auendo veduto una mirabile cossa vno homo nobile padoano'. The spelling of the Italian language is also consistent with the vernacular spoken and written in the Veneto region. Contents: 1. ff. 1r-19r: Collection of medical recipes in Italian and Latin, formerly identified (by S.A.J. Moorat) as a translation of Guy de Chauliac, Chirurgia parva, based on a general similarity of the contents, and of the arrangement of surgical subjects. The collection includes recipes for the preparation of plasters and bandages, and ends with recipes for ailments of the eye. f. 1r, Incipit: Al nome de dio. Comentiamo dalla piaga simplice la qualle e in carne facta ... f. 19r, lines 10-18, Explicit: ... La catarata non conferma se medega cum molta purgatione de corpo Fa colirij con sugo de extremita de fenochio. E sapi che in questo libreto tu non auera compida doctrina delle egritudine deli ochii. per questo haueray algune bone cosse. 2. ff. 19r-51r, Antidotario, a collection of simple and compound drugs in Italian and Latin. The collection includes recipes for the preparation of electuaries, unguents, eyedrops, plasters, waters, oils and pills for ailments including eye infections, female complaints, headache, toothache, stomach complaints, tumours, heart conditions and pestilence. The text is imperfect due to the loss of single quires after ff. 24 and 50 respectively, and of two leaves after f. 27. f. 19r, line 19 onwards, Incipit: Antidotario de medesine composite de molte altre [above the line] simplice / Receuerai adoncha amigo carissimo questa composicion de medesine la qualle io te ho promessa denancij e son medesine pizole lequalle esta approva molte uolte per mi. E primamente delle repercussiue, po de le resolutive, po de le mundificatiue, [f. 19v] poy de le glutinatiue. poy de le molificatiue. dele dureze. poy de le cauterizatiue. [paragraph mark] Sapi adoncha quando tu intendi a repercuotere e bon in principio vacuare el corpo. La materia calda se uoda cum questa segura medesina. toy sosini .x. porcini viole 2/3. Fa cuosere in una libra de aqua. Per fina amezo. Jn laltra meza libra daqua fa bolire la mancho .ij. bogi tamarindi. Mana e cassia. an 2/3.5 la qalle coladura sia strecta cun le man forte ff. 50v-51r, lines 1-2, Explicit: [f. 50v ending] Impiastro a male de pestillentia. tolli valeriana poy tuoy rasa de pino pinze nauale p[er] / [large textual gap due to the loss of one quire] / [f. 51r] metille in nel focho e lasale venire ben rosse e poy dala a manzare alo infermo. 3. ff. 51r-123v: Additional pharmacological recipes for the preparation of electuaries, unguents, plasters and bandages, waters, eyedrops, oils, pills, in Italian and Latin, supplied at different times by the main scribe and also by other hands from f. 75 onwards. The text is imperfect due to the loss of single leaves after ff. 50, 52 and 54 respectively. f. 51r, line 3, Beginning imperfect: Jtem Vnguento mirabile che sana e libera tute le fistole f. 123v, lines 5-9, Explicit: Vnguentum ad panariciam digitorum R olii masticini vnguentum de suco enule libr. j. misse et fiat unguentum. 4. f. 123v: Two pharmacological recipes in Italian. f. 123v, lines 10-16, 17-22, Incipit: 1) A purgare a uno che teme il figato / R syr accetosi syr de endiuia endiuie lupillorum an quantum suffic.; 2) Unguento da tegna / R spiuma marina 3.10 bauracho sol pero uino euforbio cum feza de olio anticho.
1 volume On paper. Watermarks: 1) Triple mount surmounted by cross, with pommetty at the ends, consisting of two lines (height: c. 58 mm; width: c. 17 mm; distance between chain-lines: c. 33 mm) in quires 1-12: similar to Piccard no. 151857 (Cittadella [north of Padua, Italy], 1486); 2) balance with round scales, surmounted by a 5-petal flower (height: c. 30 mm; width: c. 83 mm; distance between chain-lines: c. 30 mm), in quires 13-14: unidentified; 3) balance with triangular scales, surmounted by a 6-point star, all within a circle (height: more than 85 mm; width: c. 32 mm; distance between chain-lines: c. 28 mm), in quires 15-16: unidentified, but not dissimilar in design to Piccard no. 117239 (Ravenna, 1499). ff. 123 of 144 originally, plus one modern unfoliated flyleaf at the beginning and one at the end, foliated 124; wanting one quire (probably of 8 leaves) after f. 24, 2 leaves after f. 27, one quire of 8 leaves after f. 50, 1 leaf after ff. 52 and 54 respectively, and 1 leaf (probably blank) after f. 123; old foliation '1-121' in grey ink in the lower right corner of leaves, supplied after loss of leaves, probably in the late 16th or early 17th century, omitting one leaf after f. 7, and repeating no. 55; modern foliation '1-124' in pencil in the upper right corner of leaves, including lower flyleaf, followed here; 144 x 105 mm, written area c. 100 x 80 mm, 21-27 lines to the page; no visible trace of ruling. Collation: 1-38, [48?; wanting], 58-2 [wanting leaves iv-v], 6-710, [88; wanting], 98-2 [wanting leaves iii and vi], 10-158, 1620-1 [wanting leaf xx], with quire signatures 'a-q' in brown ink below the bottom line of text on the right, early 16th century; quires 5-9 (i.e. ff. 25-56) with earlier alphabetical leaf signatures 'a-d'-'t-y' in black ink in the lower right corner of leaves in the first half of each quire, late 15th century. Secundo folio: Sel fosse fatta una piaga cum spada. Written in an Italian cursive humanistic script, with occasional marginal additions and corrections, late 15th century: written solely by one hand up to f. 51r, line 2; from f. 51r, line 3 the first hand wrote in different brown inks at different times and in different writing modules; he also made some additions to his previous texts (see f. 41v, last two lines, i.e. lines 26-27, in darker ink); from f. 75r a few additional recipes are occasionally added by other hands either in cursive humanistic or Gothic script, in various degrees of cursivity. Rubrication: A few rubrics in red ink (ff. 10r-18r); paragraph marks in red ink on ff. 1-44, late 15th century. Marked by two black-ink finger-prints in the lower margin of f. 20r. Binding: Bookblock sewn on three spine bands of alum-tawed skin, possibly late 15th or early 16th century; endbands of parchment core and decorative secondary sewing in yellow and green threads laced to the limp parchment cover, with trace of [parchment] ties at fore-edges, the manuscript title 'Sechreti' descending along the spine, late 16th or early 17th century. Slight dampstains.
Medicine, Traditional; Formulas, recipes, etc.; Surgery
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Format: Archive, Institution: n/a, Identifier: b19643111, Digicode: digwms, Collection code: MS.327