Herbals: 15th cent.
Date
Late 15th century
Topic
Genre
Browse more like this
Medieval and Early Modern manuscripts
Summary
Herbal with 204 illustrations in colour of medicinal plants, etc., with short descriptions of their virtues in Italian, a few in verse. Written in a neat humanistic hand. On fol. 32v is an illustration of a patient in bed to whom a nurse is bringing a large bowl of 'polte de orzo' (barley-broth?); and on fol. 95 is an illustration of two women preparing 'formentini', one of whom appears to be rolling pastry, or possibly making a poultice. The text seems to be original, though clearly derived from standard mediaeval works on the virtues, qualities and uses of medicinal herbs. Signature of 'Federico Patella MS. no. 94' on the first leaf.
Originals held by
Wellcome Library
Reference
MS336