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Bald's Leechbook and the Physica Plinii

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

J. N. Adams  and
Marilyn Deegan
J. N. Adams
Affiliation:
University of Manchester
Marilyn Deegan
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
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Extract

The study of the sources of the Anglo-Saxon medical texts began more than a hundred years ago with T.O. Cockayne's monumental edition of most of the medical, magical and herbal material extant in Old English. Cockayne demonstrated that the most significant text in this corpus, the late ninth-century compilation known as Bald's Leechbook, drew on an impressive range of Latin source materials. Recent work by C.H. Talbot and M.L. Cameron has further extended our knowledge of the classical texts which underlie the Leechbook. Among the significant sources is the text known as the Physica Plinii. Although the Physica survives in several recensions, there has as yet been no systematic study of the relationship between these recensions and the version of the Latin text used by the Old English compiler. The present article investigates Bald's Leechbook as a witness to the history of the Physica Plinii, and demonstrates the complexity of the transmission of the latter work.

Type
Research Article
Information
Anglo-Saxon England , Volume 21 , December 1992 , pp. 87 - 114
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

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References

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32 Önnerfors, , Mediaevalia, p. 13Google Scholar; Fischer, , “Quelques reflexions’, pp. 55–6.Google Scholar

33 Önnerfors, , In Medicinam Plinii, pp. 12 and 41. E = Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Strozzi 70 (s. xiv); F = Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Aedilium 165 (s. xiv); P = Prague, Narodni Museum, Lat. 2425 (s. xiv–xv).Google Scholar

34 See Winkler, J., Physicae quae fertur Plinii Florentino-Pragensis Liber Primus, Lateinische Sprache und Literatur des Mittelalters 17 (Frankfurt a. Main, 1984)Google Scholar; Wachtmeister, W., Physicae Plinii quae fertur Florentino-Pragensis Liber Secundus, Lateinische Sprache und Literatur des Mittelalters 21 (Frankfurt a. Main, 1985)Google Scholar; Schmitz, G., Physicae quae fertur Plinii Florentino- Pragensis Liber Tertius, Lateinische Sprache und Literatur des Mittelalters 24 (Frankfurt a. Main, 1988).Google Scholar See K.-D. Fischer's review of the first volume, Gnomon 58 (1986), 493–6Google Scholar, and of the second, Gnomon 59 (1987), 414–20.Google Scholar

35 See Önnerfors, , In Medicinam Plinii, pp. 41–2.Google Scholar

36 On its title and content, see Önnerfors, , Mediaevalia, p. 14Google Scholar; cf. Sabbah, et al. , Bibliographic, p. 128.Google Scholar

37 On this attribution, see Önnerfors, , Mediaevalia, p. 15Google Scholar, and Sabbah, et al. , Bibliographic, p. 128.Google Scholar

38 Rose, , ‘Ober die Medicina Plinii’, pp. 62–3Google Scholar; Önnerfors, , In Medicinam Plinii, p. 43Google Scholar, and Mediaevalia, p. 18Google Scholar; Fischer, , ‘Quelques reflexions’, p. 56, n. 7.Google Scholar

39 See Sabbah, et al. , Bibliographic, p. 128 (no. 468) = p. 63 (no. 175).Google Scholar

40 Giacosa, P., ‘Un ricettario del secolo XI esistente nell' Archivio Capitolare d'lvrea’, Memorie della Reaie Accademia delle Science di Torino 2nd ser. 37 (1886), 643–63, at 653–7.Google Scholar On these recipes and their place in the textual tradition of the Physica Plinii, see Fischer, , ‘Quelques reflexions’, pp. 63–6, who concludes that is a witness independent of F and Θ in the tradition of the Physica Plinii.Google Scholar

41 Leechdoms, ed. Cockayne II, 18, 24, 26 and 28, for instance.Google Scholar

42 See above, n. 3.

43 Cameron, , ‘Bald's Leechbook’, pp. 159–63.Google Scholar

44 We have changed the punctuation of Önnerfors's text here: see below, p. 95.

45 So Önnerfors: see below, p. 95.

46 The manuscript has eos, but the sense requires eo, as Önnerfors notes.

47 The manuscript has illis.

48 Leecbdoms, ed. Cockayne, II, 250–2: ‘For hardness and sore of the spleen, take a new pig's bladder, fill it with strong vinegar, lay it over the hardness of the spleen, then bind it on so that it will not slip off, but let it be bound there firmly for three days. After that unbind it and you will find, if it is efficacious, the bladder empty, the hardness softened, and the pain eased. Again, take ivy leaves, boil them in vinegar, and boil down bran in the same vinegar. Put this into a bladder and bind it on the sore place. Immediately afterwards give a herbal medicine made thus: for hardness of the spleen, take earthgall, beat or rub it to a powder so that there are three spoonfuls or more, add three spoonfuls of powdered savine to it, and three spoonfuls of boiling pitch, powdered. Sift all, then give a spoonful to be drunk in wine, fasting. If there is a fever, give the herbs in hot water made lukewarm to drink, so that the pitch is not left standing with the other powders. Again, for one with a diseased spleen and for all internal ailments: vinegar mixed with gladden, prepare it thus, put three pounds of small pieces of gladden rind in a good-sized glass vessel, add five sextarii of the most acid wine. Set it in the hot sun in summer when it is very hot, and the clear bright days of which we have written, so that it may reduce and soak for four days or more. Afterwards, give the afflicted one a spoonful of the vinegar, then immediately give something to drink, because it is very strong for someone who has never taken it previously. This is also beneficial with honey added, either for disease of the spleen, or for the stomach, or for consumption, or for one who spews blood, or for all internal ailments. It also gets rid of scurfiness or itch. This remedy is efficacious for scurfiness or itch: prepare a wax ointment from vinegar, take five spoonfuls of vinegar and put into a new pot. Add a bowlful of oil, boil together. Sprinkle on five spoonfuls of new sulphur and a little wax. Boil this down again until the vinegar is boiled off. Then remove it from the fire and stir it. Afterwards smear the scurfiness and itch with it.’Google Scholar

49 E.g. Cato, , De agricultura, 160Google Scholar; Pliny NH XXIV.181, XXVI.91, XXVIII.48; Marcellus, , De medicamentis XXXII.47, 50Google Scholar; Valerius, Maximus, Facta et dicta memorabilia II.v.6: ‘remedia, quae corporibus aegrorum adnexa fuerant’.Google Scholar

50 Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, ed. Hastings, J., 12 vols. (Edinburgh, 1908–1926) VII, 747, s.v.Google Scholar; ‘Knots’, especially 750, §S ‘Knots in the cure of diseases’; see also ibid. III, 436, s.vv. ‘Charms and amulets’.

51 See most of the passages cited above, n. 49; also Önnerfors, , Physica Plinii Bambergensis, index s.v.Google Scholar

52 Indeed lauetur is the reading of various manuscripts of Flor. (F1PPigh.); leuetur is only in F (after correction) and E. For these manuscripts, see Wachtmeister, , Physica Plinii … Liber Secundus, p. 26 (cited above, n. 34).Google Scholar

53 E.g. Flor. II.45.24 'induces a uertebra coxe usque ad geniculum ita, ne subfraginem tangas’. Cf., e.g. Celsus, De medicina III.xi.1, III.xxii.12, III.xxiii.5 and IV.xix.2; anon., Mulomedicina Chironis 475Google Scholar; and Pelagonius, , An veterinaria 256.3.Google Scholar Both ita ne and sic ne occur in this construction. See further Hofmann, J.B. and Szantyr, A., Lateinische Syntax and Stilistik (Munich, 1965), pp. 641–2Google Scholar, and Svennung, J., Vntersuchungen zu Palladius und zur lateinischen Fach-und Volksspracbe (Uppsala, 1935), p. 513.Google Scholar

54 Note that the Old English has preo niht, an example of the Germanic custom of counting twenty-four hour periods by nights rather than days. See Tacitus, , Germania xi.l ‘nec dierum numerum, ut nos, sed noctium computant’, with Anderson, J.G.C., Cornelii Tacitide Origineet Situ Gcrmanorum (Oxford, 1938), p. 84.Google Scholar Cf. Bamb. 68.5 per dies septe [sic] = LeeMookll.7 scofon niht.

55 See e.g. Önnerfors, , Physica Plinii Bambcrgensis, index p. 152, s.v. pix.Google Scholar

56 On which Önnerfors cites Svennung, Untersuchungen zu Palladius, p. 509, n. 4.Google Scholar

57 ‘Bald's Leechbook’, p. 160.Google Scholar

58 For this use of sed, see e.g. Pelagonius, Ars veterinaria 335: ‘alumen, sed scissum’ [scil. non liquidum]; for the two types of alumen, spissumjscissum and liquidum, see Pliny, , ATH XXXV.184. So there are two types olagua calida, feruens2.nA tepida; sed followed by the one adjective implies a following non+ the other adjective.Google Scholar

59 Cf. Bamb. 13.2 for a similar sentence introduced by autem: ‘facit autem non solum ad dolorem seá etiam ad tumorem …’

60 See Clemoes, P., Liturgical Influence on Punctuation in late Old English and early Middle English Manuscripls (Cambridge, 1952), repr.Google ScholarOld English Newsletter Subsidia 4 (1980).Google Scholar

61 See below, p. 99.

62 See also Svennung, , Untersuchungen zu Palladia:, p. 480Google Scholar, n. 2, citing e.g. Mulomedicina Chironis 834Google Scholar: ‘pastillum ad uenenum, qui morsi sunt’. Cf. Lofstedt, E., Vermischte Studien zur lateinischen Sprachkunde und Syntax (Lund, 1936), pp. 142–4Google Scholar, and Hofmann, and Szantyr, , Lateiniscbe Syntax und Stilistik, pp. 555–6.Google Scholar

63 Cf. also Bamb. 76.3, 82.4 and 82.78.

64 It was pointless of him to cite Önnerfors, Mediaevalia, p. 63Google Scholar (on a medieval metrical text), and the same work, p. 336Google Scholar (n. 23: unclassified bibliography on the phenomenon) or Hofmann, and Szantyr, , Lateinische Syntax und Stylistik, pp. 475–6 (where most examples quoted show -que attached to adverbs or conjunctions: e.g. ideoque, cumque).Google Scholar

65 Bamb. 5.1, 5, 7, 36.15, 57.13 and 62.3.

66 Bamb. 13.2, 5, 8, 10, 17.22 three times, 17.24 twice and 33.2 twice.

67 Flor. 11.2.16 = Bamb. 65.16.

68 Flor. II.4.7 ructus quoque = Bamb. 68.6 ruptosquc.

69 E.g. Medicina Plinii ll.iv.3 = Bamb. 80.3 = Flor. II.15.4; Medicina Plinii II.v.6 = Bamb. 86.21 = Flor. II.23.23.

70 For other comparable examples of -que, see 11.15.15 ‘eademque curatione suspiria tolluntur’ (the source Medicina Plinii II.iv.6 has simply ‘sic suspiria tollentur’), 11.17.51 ‘adduntque aliqui figatum lupi ad denarium I’ (introducing a possible additional ingredient after a long recipe; Bamb. 82.55 has ‘aliquanti addunt ficatum lupi in modum unciae unius’); cf. II.2.4 and II.2.6.

71 Leechdoms, ed. Cockayne II, 26–8: ‘Again, from the vapour and fumes of humours, and from nausea, comes mist of the eyes, and the sharpness and eructation causes it, against which this is to be done. For mist of the eyes, take a spoonful of celandine juice, another of fennel < juice >, another of southernwood < juice >, and two spoonfuls of honey drops. Mix them together, then with a feather put some in the eyes in the morning and at midday, then again in the evening when it is dried up and gone. Against the sharpness of the ointment, take the milk of a woman who has a child and put it in the eyes.’,+another+of+southernwood+<+juice+>,+and+two+spoonfuls+of+honey+drops.+Mix+them+together,+then+with+a+feather+put+some+in+the+eyes+in+the+morning+and+at+midday,+then+again+in+the+evening+when+it+is+dried+up+and+gone.+Against+the+sharpness+of+the+ointment,+take+the+milk+of+a+woman+who+has+a+child+and+put+it+in+the+eyes.’>Google Scholar

72 See Winkler, , Physical … Liber Primus (cited above, n. 34), ad loc.Google Scholar

73 Leechdoms, ed. Cockayne, II, 24: ‘Again, another gargle in summer: mix together a good bowlful of wine boiled with herbs and a moderate one of vinegar, and leaves and blossoms of the herb called hyssop. Let it stand for a night, and in the morning boil it down in a pot. The patient should sip it lukewarm and swill the throat and rinse the mouth. For the same in winter, put in a chalice a spoonful of powdered mustard and half a spoonful of honey, then afterwards mix it with water and heat it and strain it through a linen cloth, and he should swill the throat with it. After this medicine, he should frequently swill the throat with oil.’Google Scholar

74 Ibid. II, 180: ‘For a sore stomach: five or seven or nine rose leaves and as many pepper corns, grind them small and give in hot water to drink. For the same again, take twenty cleaned kernels of pine nuts, and as much cummin as you can pick up with the tips of three fingers. Grind up a bowlful. Boil in a mortar, add two good bowlfuls of cold water. In the first instance, give half to drink.’

75 Bamb. 3.11, 19.11, 20.1, 24.7, 48.5, 48.11, 69.1, 76.3 and 82.52; cf. 17.18.

76 Bamb. 8.8 and 8.11.

77 Bamb. 48.6.

78 Uncia is obviously a mistake.

79 For another instance of an imperative (represented in Bamb. and the LecMook) apparently converted into a participial construction by the redactor of Flor., see Bamb. 77.1 ‘data bibere: sitem conpescit’ = Leecbbook 11.14 sele drincanpat styrò pam purste, ‘give to drink, it quenches the thirst’; contrast Flor. H.12.1 ‘data bibere sitim compescit’.

80 Cf. Flor. II.3.5 ‘factocpie ex his ceroto, lintheo impones’ = Bamb. 66.6 ‘factum cerotum in linteolum inpone’, Flor. II.3.8 ‘oleum solues cera addita’ = Bamb. 66.10 'resina oleo solu < i > to, ceram adicito’, Flor. II.4.5 ‘melle modico admixto’ = Bamb. 68.4 ‘paruo melli mixtum’. Some ablative absolutes are shared by both versions (e.g. Bamb. 71.3 = Flor. II.6.3, Bamb. 82.65 = Flor. 11.17.43), but the incidence of the construction is higher in the Florentine version.

81 Leechdoms, ed. Cockayne, II, 20: ‘For a half head ache, take dust of the clusters of laurel, and mustard, mix together, pour vinegar upon them, smear the sore side with that.’Google Scholar

82 Ibid. II, 24: ‘Boil chervil in water, give to drink, then that draws the evil humours out through the mouth or through the nose.’

83 See Andre, J., Les noms de plantes dans la Rome antique (Paris, 1985), p. 58 s.v. chaerephyllum.Google Scholar

84 For trifolium, see Andre, , Les noms de plantes, p. 264.Google Scholar

85 Leechdoms, ed. Cockayne, II, 180: ‘Again, here is a poultice to strengthen the stomach and to bind it after diarrhoea, or after a purge. Boil clean toasted bread in old wine if you have it. If it is summer, add to it powdered wormwood seeds. Boil together, put in a cloth, smear over it with oil, lay it on the stomach. If it is winter, you do not need to add the wormwood.’Google Scholar

86 Ibid. II, 190: ‘Take for the same two parts of juice of fennel, one of honey, boil till (it) has the thickness of honey, then give after a spoon measure full, fasting; that checks nausea, that improves the lungs, that heals the liver.’

87 Ibid. II, 26: ‘bor the same again, mix the juice of wild rue, dewy and bruised, with equal amounts of strained honey, smear the eyes with that.’

88 Ibid. p. 40: ‘For the same, take melted hen fat, then put it in the ear lukewarm, drip it in. For the same, take oil, take also goose fat, pour it into the ear, then the pain passes away.’

89 Ibid.: ‘For deafness of the ears, take cow's bile mixed with goat urine, drip it lukewarm into the ear.’

90 Ibid. p. 28: ‘Take equal quantities of balsam and of honey drops, mix together and smear with that.’

91 Ibid.

92 Ibid.

93 Ibid. p. 30.

94 Ibid. p. 26.

95 cf. Bamb. 13.9, 16.1, 17.14, 17.18, 18.3, 19.1, 19.6, etc.

96 leaechdoms, ed. Cockayne, II, 28Google Scholar: ‘Again for the same, smear and bathe the eyes with juice of celandine and sea water. It is best, then, if you take juice of celandine and of mugwort and of rue, equal quantities of all, add honey to it, and balsam if you have it. Put it into the vessel such that you may boil it suitably, and use it well: it is beneficial.’

97 Cf. Bamb. 48.19 = Flor. 1.50.10 for sartago.

98 leechdoms, ed. Cockayne, II, 100: ‘For the same, take an earthworm, rub it very fine, add vinegar to it, bind it on and smear with it. For the same, take savine, rub to dust, and mix with honey and smear with it. For the same, take roasted eggs, mix with oil, lay on, and bathe freely with leaves of beet. Again, take a calf's dung, or an old bullock's, warm, and lay it on. Again for the same, take hart's shavings, shaven off the skin with pumice, and soak with vinegar and smear with that.’Google Scholar

99 ‘Bald's Leechbook’, p. 161.Google Scholar

100 The correspondence here is not exact. It is possible, as Professor Fischer suggests to us, that if the OE compiler did indeed have tusa, he thought of the dry herb rather than the fresh plant which may have been meant in the Latin.

101 For examples, see Önnerfors, A., Plinii Secundi lunioris qui feruntur de Medicina Libri Tres (Berlin, 1964), p. 148, s.v. recens.Google Scholar

102 Cf. e.g. Flor. II.39.5 ‘uermes quoque terreni contritf’ and Flor. III.15.11 ‘terreni item uermes trite.’

103 Cf. Bamb. 17.11 ( = Flor. 1.18.10) / Leechbook 1.2, Cockayne, p. 28 ‘wip eagna miste gebzrned sealt 7 gegniden’, ‘for mist of eyes, salt burnt, and rubbed fine …’, Bamb. 75.2 ( = Flor. II.10.2) / Leechbook 11.12, Cockayne, p. 190 ‘genim sinfullan gegnid on scearp win’, ‘take houseleek, rub it fine into sharp wine’.Google Scholar

104 See NH XXX.106.

105 For nermes terreni + tritijcontriti, see e.g. I.xiii.8, II.xviii.3, III.1.4, III.iii.1.

106 Leechdoms, ed. Cockayne, II, 44–6: ‘For matter in the neck again,… a root of red nettle boiled in vinegar and beaten and laid on like a cake of wax; if the matter is then beginning, the salve drives it away; if it is old it opens it, and so the evil rises out until it is healed.’Google Scholar

107 The Practica Alexandri, for instance, the only edition of which was published in 1504: Alexander of Tralles, Practica Alexandriyatros greet cum expositione glose interlinearis lacobi de partibui et lanuensis in margineposite (Lyons, 1504).Google Scholar The authors are grateful to K.-D. Fischer and H.D. Jocelyn for their comments on a draft of this paper, and to M. Lapidge for his commendable insistence on clarity.