RE: Macer Floridus' "De Viribus Herba"...

["ddhopper" <ddhopper@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The reference is from this book in the Huntington library:

Here begynneth the seynge of urynes, of all the colours that uryns be of, by
[[London] : Imprynted by [J. Rastell for] me Rycharde Banckes dwellynge in
London in the Pultry, a lytell fro ye stockes, at the lo[n]ge shoppe by
saynt Myldredes churche dore, 1525

At the end of this book there is this statment:

"All ye that desyre to have knowledge of medycynes/ for all such uryns as
before in this boke/ go ye to the Herball in Englysshe/ or to the boke of
Medycynes/and there ye shall find all suche Medycynes that be most
profytable for man."

All three were published the same year by Rycharde Banckes, with the claim
that this is the first time these books have been set down in English.

It is based on this that I tie the three together as a set- the same
printer, the same year, apparently the same anonymous author, and the
suggestion that the three work together in agreement, which they do.

After 1525 there were several abbreviated versions of the Herball printed in
English, one especially from 1543 that claims it to be a translation of
Macer's Herball.  The true translation of Macer's Herball seems to be "The
Great Herball", and not the Banckes' Herball, although Banckes' seems to be
somewhat based on Macer's Herball.  Bancke's Herball is heavy into female
disorders, and Anthony's writings even more so, and both also have a higher
focus on treatments of the eyes.  It's when the three are tied together
under the book of astronomie that we find they are based on Messalah's
astrology.

The consistency of diseases and cures is either from some book or some
teaching, as all three are written to agree with one another.  Two years
later, in 1527, Banckes added the Virtuous Book of Distillations, a
translation from the Dutch of one Jerome Brunswyke.  Although not part of
the original set of three, they are connected in the sense that Banckes was
heavy into the printing of medical books, and whoever had the first three
would probably also have this book setting on their shelf.  Banckes probably
knew most of his clientelle and would have tried to increase his sales by
offering it to those who bought the first three.  Cambridge would also have
been given a copy.

One can only speculate as to the author of the first three books, and
Anthony Askham would have been too young to perform the translations.  There
is no doubt however that he relies heavily on this set in his own writing,
even when newer books had come out.

We do know that Anthony went back to Yorke on his leaving Cambridge, and
although he graduated B.A. instead of M.D., the economic situation in Yorke
under Henry VIII was horrible, and this is probably why we find Anthony
calling himself a physician, as he was probably practicing in that roll for
want of qualified doctors.  Under Edward, Anthony was appointed Vicar of
Burnstyn in 1553, but as early as 1551 he calls himself "physician and
priest".  After 1553 he calls himself only "Priest".

If the Voynich is a product of Anthony Askham, or even if he was once
knowledgeable of its contents, his own work points to Messalah as the source
of his astrological calculations and medical application of knowledge.  Even
if Anthony had absolutely nothing to do with it, Messalah still figures
prominently in what we would expect to find in the Voynich.

If you are building a "probable word list", it becomes necessary to discover
the names of the minor stars and constellations (72 total, as I perceive),
as well as a list of names of herbes and herbal remedies prominent in this
time period.  Chances are that a working physician without access to the
expensive and exotic herbes of London would have used much trial and error
in concocting remedies from local herbes as well.

This may account for Anthony's heavy dependence on the stars in his
practice, since he was somewhat limited in his choice of medications.  In
his own treatise on astronomie, he is very conscious of the rising of these
constellations and says that medications would have to be changed to
heighten their influence if a patient was undergoing treatment when these
events occurred.

This is a long way from our understanding of medicine, but whoever wrote the
Voynich had a working knowledge of these systems, and it is in our best
interest to develop some semblance of that knowledge as well.

GC





-----Original Message-----
From: Nick Pelling [mailto:incoming@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2002 5:09 AM
To: voynich@xxxxxxxx
Subject: Macer Floridus' "De Viribus Herba"...


Hi GC,

>Much of this information harkens to the so-called Banckes' Herbal of 1525.
>(Banckes was the printer, the herbal is anonymous).  I had been under the
>impression this was a stand-alone book, but it turns out it is a partial
>translation of Macer's Herbal

May I ask your source for this? When I last looked, there were so many
books and papers on English herbals that it was hard to know where to
start. :-/

>I'm wondering if
>there isn't a manuscript copy of Macer or some other herbal based on this
in
>the Cambridge library.  If so it might provide the common thread to these
>interesting artistic stylings.

There are certainly numerous incunabula and printed copies of Macer
Floridus' "De Viribus Herba" dotted around the world: the British Library
(of course) has two (one from 1495?/Geneva, and one from 1500?/Geneva,
though only the second is marked as being illustrated with woodcuts),
there's also MS. X91 in the Royal Library of Stockholm (which was the copy
upon which Gosta Frisk's Middle English thesis was based), and so on.

When I'm next in the British Library (I'm hoping for next Monday), I'll see
if I can get their two copies out & see what they're like. Shelfmarks: I.A.
38486 / I.A. 38486a, and I.A 38498 / I.A. 38498a.

As for a possible manuscript copy in Cambridge, I'll be going up there on
Tuesday so will ask around, see if I can find someone who knows someone who
might know. :-)

The first incunabulum of Macer Floridus' herbal appeared in Milan in 1477,
and woodcuts began to be added to it round about 1495-1500 in the Geneva
editions. A quick literature search hasn't revealed anything that looks as
though it may contain a systematic comparison of the woodcuts between
separate editions:but this may well be a revealing exercise in itself.

BTW: in 1477, Caterina Sforza was 14 and living in Milan (it was the year
that she got married to Girolamo Riario). :-)  So shoot me for pointing it
out! :-)

>To them I say, millions from McDonald's still
>can't buy you an ounce of common sense.  :-)

Still, it would be nice to have both. :-)

Cheers, .....Nick Pelling....