Merton College MS. 222
Former shelfmark: N. 3. 5
HIPPOCRATES, GALEN &c; S. XIII 3/4
Contents
Language(s): Latin
On f. 1rv are medical notes in hands of s. xv; on the verso are tables of contents, s. xvii.
Ed. D. Garcia and J. L. Vidal, Asclepio 26–7 (1974–5), 267–382; eTK 0856F, 1352I.
Pr. Articella, Venice 1487.
eTK 1585JPr. as part of the Articella, Padua 1476 &c.; eTK 1002B, ; this copy Hippocrates Latinus 210.
Pr. Articella, Padua 1476, &c.; eTK 1205K, 0660A, ; om. Hippocrates Latinus.
GALEN, Tegni, with the commentary of ALI IBN RODHAN (HALY ABBAS), transl. GERARD OF CREMONA
, ,Text pr. as part of the Articella, Venice 1487; eTK 0757H, 0460D, ; commentary pr. as part of the Articella, Venice 1483, fols. 157–210 (GW 2679); eTK 0700J.
Followed by the ‘Nominacio librorum’ or account of Gerard of Cremona’s translations (‘Nominacio librorum qui sunt. Ex libris quos dixit in hoc loco ... in anno Domini n. I. C. M. centesimo lxxxvii amen’), ed. K. Sudhoff, 'Die kurze "Vita" und das Verzeichnis der Arbeiten Gerhards von Cremona', Archiv für Geschichte der Medizin 8 (1914), 73–82, at pp. 75–80. Followed by the common distich, ‘Anno milleno centeno septuageno / Anglorum primas corruit ense Thomas’ (WIC 1267).
An insertion of s. xv.
Followed by 17 lines of verse, beg. ‘Vita breuis misera uia mortis pessima’.
blank.
HIPPOCRATES, Aphorismi, with the commentary of GALEN, transl. CONSTANTINE THE AFRICAN
, ,Pr. as part of the Articella, Padua 1476 &c.; text eTK 1002B, 0847L, ; this copy Hippocrates Latinus 56.
Pr. as part of the Articella, Padua 1476 &c.; eTK 0847L, 1694N, ; Hippocrates Latinus, pp. 201–13.
Text and comm. pr. as part of the Articella, Venice 1487, fols. 75v-119v, &c.; eTK 0660A, , (1205), 922; Hippocrates Latinus 9.
The margins throughout are crammed with additional comment, mostly in one small, neat early anglicana hand (e.g. f. 45v a long paragraph headed ‘Opinio magistralis’); also a distinctive anglicana hand of s. xv, responsible for the additional material on fols. 91–3v, which may be Burbage’s (see below).
Physical Description
Collation
Layout
Ruled with pencil in 2 cols of 58 lines of gloss; the text, in larger script, on every second line. Blocks of text and commentary alternate.
Hand(s)
Proficient French early gothic bookhands.
Decoration
Parisian. Initials with foliage and beasts, in colours (mainly blue and pink) and gold, often with birds terminating the extensions: fols. 2, 5, 14v, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21 (2), 22, 23v, 25v, 57v, 94 (3), the first with the Crucifixion with Mary and John, the second with seated Hippocrates holding a bottle and a plant stem, 101, 109v, 115v, 125, 133v, 141, 146v, 160, 174v, 186, 197v; red or blue initials flourished in the other colour; titles and running heads in capitals of the colours; red or blue paraphs; red highlighting and underlining.
Binding
Standard Merton s. xvii, sewn on six bands; formerly chained from the usual position. Fols. i-ii, 198–9 are paper leaves from this binding, the outermost from the same printed book in MS 11.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Made in Paris, in England early on.
At the head of f. 2 is ‘Liber domus scolarium de Mertonhalle in Oxon’ ex dono Magistri Iohannis Burbacche doctoris in theologia et quondam socii eiusdem domus ut inchatenetur in libraria communi ad perpetuum usum studencium ibidem.’ For John Burbage, fellow 1411–35, see MS 3.
This book was taken out of the library, with the consent of the College, on 27 Oct. 1490, for the use of John Davis, fellow (BRUO 551–2), ‘quia sibi accomodatur pro tempore lecture cuiusdam doctoris in medicinis’ (Registrum, p. 139).
At the head of f. 2 is the James no. ‘79’ (wrongly; this is MS 255), s. xvii in. ‘5’ is inked on the foredge. Inside the front board is a sheet of paper with contents, s. xvii, and ‘P. 2. 5. Art:’, canc. and replaced with ‘No. CCXXII’ and ‘N. 3. 5’ in red; the College bookplate.
Record Sources
Availability
For enquiries relating to this manuscript please contact Merton College Library.
Bibliography

Funding of Cataloguing
Conversion of the printed catalogue to TEI funded by the Warden and Fellows of Merton College .
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
Last Substantive Revision
2019-08-30: First online publication