This manuscript contains parts six and seven of a much longer medical text. The end of part seven is similar to the corresponding section of Gilbertus Anglicus’ Compendium Medicinae (‘The Compendium of Medicine’). The Compendium was a summary of medical knowledge first written in the mid 13^th century. It continued to be copied and studied up to the 17^th century. The first page of each part (part six on fol. 1r and part seven on fol. 163r) contains a list of numbered chapter titles (capitula) to be addressed in the following text, marked by alternating red and blue letters with elaborate penwork. To help the reader navigate the text, the number of the part is written on the top left of each folio and the chapter number at the top right.

At the end of the manuscript (fol. 317v) are two medical recipes for the treatment of gout (‘pro gutta’ and ‘pro podagra’), added in the 15^th century.

 

Literature: Neil R. Ker and Alan J. Piper, Medieval Manuscripts in British Libraries, Volume IV: Paisley–York (Oxford, 1969), pp. 631–32; Paul Yeats-Edwards, Winchester College (Warden and Fellows’ Library) Medieval Manuscript Collection: Brief History and Catalogue (London, 1978), p. 10.

Provenance: Unknown, at Winchester College by 1634.

Location: Fellows’ Library