John Bradmore [Lang]

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) 1992 The Society for the Social History of Medicine
ARCHIVES and SOURCES
John Bradmore and His Book Philomena1
By S. J. LANG*
SUMMARY. BL MS Harley 1736 fols. 2-167 has been accepted by scholars as an original
vernacular treatise on surgery, and its authorship has been attributed to Thomas
Morstede, chief surgeon on the Agincourt campaign of 1415. This paper shows that
there is a Latin source for the manuscript, and that this source can be identified as the
work of John Bradmore, a London surgeon of the late fourteenth and early fifteenth
centuries. Details of-Bradmore's life are given. The attribution of Harley 1736 to
Thomas Morstede is questioned, and the close relationship between the Middle English
manuscript and its Latin source is displayed by transcriptions of two cases common to
both manuscripts.
KEYWORDS: Henry V, Thomas Morstede, John Bradmore, parish fraternities, medi-
eval surgery, vernacular surgical manuscripts, Latin surgical manuscripts, medieval
surgeons.
I
BL MS Harley 1736, a quarto book of 248 folios, written mainly in one
fifteenth-century hand, contains on fols. 2-167 a n anonymous surgical treatise
in Middle English, composed in 1446.2 This treatise was studied by R. T.
Beck,3 who transcribed portions of the text selected from folios 2-52/ He
1 I would like to thank Dr Simone Macdougall, my supervisor, for her unfailing enthusiasm
and encouragement; and to thank her and my family for putting up with John Bradmore non-
stop for months.
2 The date of composition appears on fol. 6. The remainder of the contents are as follows: a
Middle English treatise on surgery (fols. 167—84) and a treatise on the preparation of medicines
(fols. 190-5) attributed in the manuscript to Master Doctor Rede; a Middle English treatise on
ulcers (fols. 196-212); a selection of recipes in Latin taken from the works ofjohn Arderne (fols.
224-6); a selection of recipes in Latin 'de libro Magistri Fyncham' (fols. 227-9); 'the boke of
ypocras... to know be planetes both lyffe and dethe' (fols. 232—7); and a variety of recipes and
marginal notes in different hands, in both Latin and Middle English, throughout the manuscript.
For details of the life ofjohn Arderne, see C. H. Talbot and E. A. Hammond, The Medical
Practitioners in Medieval England, a Biographical Register (London, 1965), pp. 111-12, and Faye Getz,
'Medical Practitioners in Medieval England ', Sofia/ History of Medicine, 3 (1990) 245-83, p. 263,
where she also cites the important work of Peter Murray Jones and H. E. Ussery on this surgeon.
Master Fyncham is not known apart from the attribution in this manuscript; see Getz, Practitioners,
p. 258. Getz suggests (p. 273) that Master Doctor Rede may be William Rede, Bishop of Chichester,
d. 1385, who left medical books in his will; another possibility is John Rede, who was Master of
the Hospital of St Thomas, Southwark, in 1427 (R. R. Sharpe (ed.), Calendar of Hustings Wills,
1358-1688 (London, 1890) pp. 443-4).
' R. T. Beck, The Cutting Edge: Early History of the Surgeons of London (London, 1974).
4 Ibid., pp. 106-19.
* Department of Medieval History, University of St. Andrews, St. Salvator's College, St.
Andrews, Fife, Scotland
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122 S.J. Lang
believed that the treatise as a whole could be attributed to Thomas Morstede
(d. 1450), chief surgeon on the Agincourt campaign in 1415.s Beck's grounds
for assigning the authorship to Morstede were as follows. Firstly, 'it had
been recorded that he wrote a "goodly book on Surgery" '.6 Secondly, the
manuscript was dated four years before Morstede's death, when he would have
had 'leisure and inclination to set down his accumulated surgical experience'.7
Thirdly, Morstede 'bequeathed to Robert Bryttende his apprentice "my English
book bound with two latitudinibus'".8 Finally, the manuscript gives on fol.
48 a vivid description of an incident after the battle of Shrewsbury in 1403,
when an arrow became lodged in the head of Prince Henry, the future king
Henry V of England. Various surgeons attempted to remove the arrow-head,
and one John Bradmore eventually succeeded. The instrument he used is
illustrated. Beck evidently felt that this description must be an eyewitness
account, and sought to connect it with eminent surgeons who might have
been present, namely Bradmore himself, Thomas Morstede, and William
Bradwardyn9 who was a royal surgeon and connected with Morstede in the
Agincourt campaign of 1415. 'Bradmore and Bradwardyn were dead before
1446' [the date of composition given on fol. 6 of the manuscript] 'but Morstede
may have been present as a young surgeon at the battle. So far as is known no
other surgeon could have written with such authority at that time.'10 Although
other scholars have not wholeheartedly accepted the attribution to Morstede,
the manuscript is frequently referred to as his, and the story of Bradmore's
s For details of Thomas Morstede's life, see Talbot and Hammond, Practitioners, pp. 350-2,
Getz, Practitioners, pp. 278—9, Beck, Cutting Edge, pp. 79-86, 92-7.
6 Beck, Cutting Edge, p. 83. No reference is given for this tradition, and I have been unable to
find its source.
7 Ibid., p. 83.
8 Ibid., p. 83. For Morstede's will (Prerogative Court of Canterbury, Rous 12), see Talbot and
Hammond, Practitioners, p. 293, R. R, James 'The Will of Thomas Morstede, Surgeon to Henry
the Fifth', Lancet, ccxxv:II (1933), pp. 1513-4, where it is translated in full, and D'Arcy Power,
Memorials of the Craft of Surgery (London, 1886) p. 71, where a summary is given, and the Latin
of this bequest quoted: 'meum librum Anglicanum ligatum cum duobus latitudinibus' (the meaning of
the final word is unclear).
9 For details of Bradwardyn's life, see Talbot and Hammond, Practitioners, pp. 387-8, and Getz,
Practitioners, p.281. He is not mentioned in the manuscript account.
10 Beck, Cutting Edge, p. 83. There appears to be no evidence that Morstede was present, or
indeed that he was at this time connected with either John Bradmore or the royal household. He
was a royal surgeon by 1410, however (Calendar of Patent Rolls 1408-13, p. 233), and as Bradmore
was still alive then it is possible that the two men knew one another through a shared connection
with the royal household.
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John Bradmore and his Book Philomena 123
cure of Prince Henry often quoted." Closer study of the manuscript reveals,
however, that this is not the only place in which reference is made to Bradmore.
On fol. 117V, the author of the manuscript writes: 'And Master John Bradmor
telles in his boke off surgery cald philomena off a woman that had scrophules'.
This has obvious implications for the identification of Morstede as author, at
least for the reasons given by Beck. If the author of the manuscript had access
to a book written by John Bradmore as his source, he need not necessarily
have been present himself at the cure of Prince Henry. The vivid account,
apparently that of an eyewitness, could have been copied from Bradmore's
own 'boke off surgery cald philomena'.
No reference appears in the secondary literature to suggest that John Brad-
more had written such a book, but further research in catalogues of manuscripts
has brought to light a book of surgery entitled Philomena, contemporary with
John Bradmore. In a printed catalogue of British Museum manuscripts12 Sloane
MS 2271 is described as 'Distinctiones et partes Philomenae gratiae. Sec. xiv'. The
more modern index of Sloane Manuscripts'3 gives the correct number as Sloane
MS 2272. This folio book (rebound as two volumes in November 1990) appears
to date from the early fifteenth century,'4 and contains 375 folios. The first
eight folios, in a different hand from the remainder of the manuscript, contain
a calendar with marginal notes and additions. Fols. 9-375 contain asingle
surgical treatise, divided into seven parts, each of which is subdivided into
distinctiones and chapters. Marginal notes appear with only a few exceptions to
be in the same hand as the main text. An acephalous table of contents appears
on fols. 9-14, and in this and at the beginning of every section within the
treatise, the work is described as 'Philomena'. The treatise is a compilation, and
is referred to as such by the author: for example 'secundae partis huius presentis
compilationis hie iam incipit'. Various authorities are cited throughout, for
example William of Saliceto, John Gaddesden, and Guy de Chauliac, with
" The manuscript is connected with Morstede in, for example, Carole Rawcliffe, 'The Profits
of Practice: the Wealth and Status of Medical Men in Later Medieval England', Social History of
Medicine, I (1988), 61-78, p. 69 n. 40, and L. E. Voigts, "Medical Prose' in A. S. G. Edwards (ed.),
Middle English Prose — a Critical Guide to Major Authors and Genres (New Brunswick, 1984), p.
321. However, in Linda E. Voigts and Michael R. McVaugh, 'A Latin Technical Phlebotomy and
Its Middle English Translation', Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, 74:2, (1984),
arguments for Morstede's authorship are not found 'to be convincing ones' (p. 16 n. 50), and L.
E. Voigts in 'Scientific and Medical Books' i n j . Griffiths and D. Pearsall (eds.), Book Production
and Publishing in Britain, 1375—1475, (Cambridge, 1989), p. 390 n. 26 refers to the manuscript as
'the putative Morstede'. Talbot and Hammond, Practitioners, accept the identification of Morstede
as author; they do not refer to the manuscript in their entry on Morstede (pp. 350-2) but attribute
it to him in their entry on John Bradmore (pp. 123-4), when they quote the story of the cure of
Prince Henry, acknowledging Beck as the source for their information. This probably accounts
for the Bradmore story appearing in C. H. Talbot, Medicine in Medieval England (London, 1967)
p. 195, rather than Talbot having come to the same conclusions independently of Beck, as some
have assumed.
12 S. Ayscough, A Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the British Museum Hitherto Undescribed, vol. II
(London, 1782), p. 640.
13 E. J. L. Scott, Index to the Sloane Manuscripts in the British Museum (London, 1904), p. 352.
" Cases are described in the manuscript which date from the reign of Henry IV, and as the
manuscript is referred to in Harley 1736, it may be assumed to date from before 1446, the date of
composition given on fol. 6 of the latter.
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124 S.J. Lang
added comments and case histories which appear to be drawn from the author's
own experience. That this manuscript is indeed John Bradmore's 'boke of
surgery cald Philomena' mentioned by the author of MS Harley 1736 on fol.
117V is made clear by the fact that it not only contains the story of the woman
healed of scrofula (Harley 1736 fol. 117V, Sloane 2272 fol. 63r, which differs
between the two manuscripts only in the number of ingredients for the
ointment used), but also, even more convincingly, the cure of Henry Prince
of Wales (Harley 1736 fol. 48, Sloane 2272 fol. I37r), with an illustration of
the surgical instrument used.'5 John Bradmore does not refer to himself by
name in the latter account in Sloane 2272. The entry reads 'Quiquidem nobilis
princeps per me collectorem huius presentis philomene gratias inmensas deo ago per me
taliter juit curatus in Castello de Kyllyngworth' (fol. I37r), whereas Harley 1736
reads 'than was John bradmor surgen to the kynge and helyd hym in the
castell of kelyngworth' (fol. 48v). The account of the case in Sloane 2272 is
considerably fuller than that in Harley 1736, giving, for example, details of
treatment before the arrowhead was removed, and a more complete description
of the ointments applied to heal the wound afterwards. The actual removal of
the arrowhead appears in Harley 1736 simply as 'with the wyche Instrument
was pullyd owt the arrow hed', whereas in Sloane 2272 the surgeon himself
gives details of his method, 'et tune pars etparum vibrando, cum dei adiutorio, caput
sagitte extraxi'. A marginal note in Sloane 2272 draws the reader's attention to
the case, 'Cura domini principis Wallie' (fol. I37r).16
Further information on Bradmore appears in Sloane 2272 on fol. 144V, where
a marginal note {'Cura Johannis Bradmor') draws attention to a case in the
accompanying text which was undertaken by Bradmore himself (in contrast to
other marginal notes which draw attention to cases taken from William of
Saliceto, Guy de Chauliac, and other authorities). The incident described is dated
in the first year of the reign of Henry IV (1399-1400), and took place in London.
The king's Master Pavilioner ('magister tentarum domini Regis') apparently
attempted suicide, stabbing himself in the abdomen and rupturing his intestines.
His servants working in another chamber heard his cries and, finding him
wounded, ran to fetchjohn Bradmore, begging him for the love of God to help.
Bradmore washed the wound with wine and stitched it, and the patient survived,
though the cure was a long process, taking some eighty days.I7 This case is firmly
15 These two cases will be transcribed fully in section II of this article. At least one other case
is common to both the manuscripts (Sloane 2272 fol. 152V, Harley 1736 fol. 76r): however, there
are place-name variants between the two, the implications of which will be further investigated
in my thesis. In organization Harley 1736 fols. 9-167 (the treatise considered by Beck) and fols.
196-211 (a treatise on ulcers) follow the pattern of the equivalent sections of Sloane 2272 closely,
and in places are a word-for-word translation.
16 In view of this case it is interesting to note that a later hand has added to the calendar (fol.
8v) the date of the battle of Shrewsbury, following a note of the date of the Black Death, which
may suggest that these were in some way 'key dates' to the scribe who inserted them.
" The Master Pavilioner when Henry IV took over the throne in 1399 was William Wyncelowe
(CPR 1391-6, p. 568); on October 8th 1399 he was replaced in this office by John Drayton (CPR
!399-i4OI> P- 9)- John Drayton appears to have been fairly active in this office during his first
year, so William Wyncelowe is a more likely candidate for the attempted suicide. William
Wyncelowe was still alive in 1403 (CPR 1401-3, p. 314), and John Drayton remained Pavilioner
until his death in 1408 (CPR 1408-13, p. 68).
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John Bradmore and his Book Philomena 125
attributed in the manuscript by John Bradmore to himself: 'Preterea curaui ego
ipse quemdam armigerium domini Regis... quiquid armigerjuit eodem tempore magister
tentanim domini Regis'. This account confirms John Bradmore's connection with
the royal household, which is more firmly suggested by the reference to him
in Harley 1736 on folio 48V as 'surgen to the king'.
John Bradmore appears from the evidence of Harley 1736 and Sloane 2272
to have been a surgeon of some standing in his day, and yet he has not
been given such prominence in medical history as Morstede. Morstede's
involvement with the proposed joint fellowship of physicians and surgeons in
1423,l8 and more importantly his involvement with the Agincourt campaign
of 1415, have ensured that he is mentioned in the secondary literature, and
must have influenced Beck's attribution to him of the authorship of Harley
1736. However, the discovery of the Latin book Philomena, which would
appear to have been a major source for Harley 1736,19 suggests firstly that the
Middle English manuscript is not as original a work as has been thought, and
secondly that its attribution to Morstede is questionable.
Not only is John Bradmoreauthor of a sizeable surgical tract, the Philomena,
but his life is in itself worthy of study, and casts light on the social standing
of surgeons in his day. The principal secondary literature on Bradmore is the
entry given by Talbot and Hammond, which refers to a charge of false coining
brought against him by two traitors in Oxfordshire, for which he was pardoned
by the king in 1386.20 Other authors who refer to John Bradmore would appear
to have been heavily dependent on Talbot and Hammond, and some have
suggested, probably because of this charge, that he was rather a shady charac-
ter.21 However, further researches reveal him to have been a respectable and
respected citizen.
The register of the Fraternity of the Holy Trinity in the parish of St Botolph
without Aldersgate" offers a fresh insight into John Bradmore's life, and indeed
casts further light on the manuscript Philomena. He was already present in
London in 1377 (nine years earlier than the first reference given by Talbot and
Hammond), when he and his wife Margaret were among the founder members
18 R. R. Sharpe, (ed.) Calendar of Letter Books of the City of London: Letter Book K, (London,
1906) p. 11, D'Arcy Power, Memorials Appendix B and pp. 52-9, and Beck, Cutting Edge, pp.
62-70.
19 For the relationship of Latin and vernacular medical works see Peter Murray Jones, 'Four
Middle English Translations ofjohn of Arderne', in A. J. Minnis (ed.), Latin and Vernacular: Studies
in Late Medieval Texts and Manuscripts (London, 1989) pp. 61-89, and Faye Getz, 'Charity,
Translation and the Language of Medieval Learning', Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 64 (1990),
pp. 1-17.
20 Talbot and Hammond, Practitioners, pp. 123-4.
" Beck, Cutting Edge, p. 55, describes the Bradmore brothers as 'colourful characters'; R. S.
Gottfried, Doctors and Medicine in Medieval England 1340-1530 (Princeton, 1986) pp. 142—3, suggests
that they associated with criminals, and that John was a smuggler. Gottfried cannot be relied upon,
however, as both the references he quotes and the conclusions he draws from them seem frequently
to be in error.
" P. Basing, Parish Fraternity Register (London, 1982). This book is an edition of BL Add. Ms.
37664, the register of the fraternities of the Trinity and SS. Fabian and Sebastian in the parish of
St Botolph without Aldersgate, and is rich in information about John Bradmore.
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126 S. J. Lang
of the fraternity of the Trinity, paying a subscription of i2d.23 The majority
of the members of this fraternity actually lived in the parish of St Botolph
without Aldersgate, and there seems no reason to regard John Bradmore as an
exception, for the Husting Rolls show that he bought and sold property in the
parish from 1391 until his death in 1412.24 He was active in the fraternity,
becoming master for the year 1409-1 o2S, and in his will26 he left them a cloth
of silk, and also arranged that the tenements he left to his wife and children
were, on their deaths, to pass to the wardens of the fraternity in order that
prayers might be said for his soul. He was a churchwarden of St Botolph in
1400,27 and left money to the church in his will. Membership of the fraternity
put him in close contact with people from a wide social range; other members
listed include craftsmen, tradesmen, clergy, royal serjeants-at-arms, and
gentry.28 These parish connections probably brought him patients as well as
property. They were also useful to him in other ways, for when he became
involved in a dispute between his brother Nicholas and the barber Richard
Asser in 1405, four out of the six people who stood bail for them were members
of the Trinity fraternity.29
At what stage he became involved with the royal household is not clear.
Beck states that 'John Bradmore... had served Richard [II] for several years',30
but the first reference to his royal service (outside the two manuscripts discussed
above) is a payment of 40/- in 1403 to John Bradmore 'chirurgico domini
Regis' for medicines for the king and his household.31 In 1408 he was appointed
searcher of the port of London.32 If this was, as Carole Rawcliffe suggests,33 a
reward for his treatment of the Prince of Wales, it would seem a somewhat
delayed reward, and perhaps can rather be taken to indicate a continuing
involvement with the royal household. Sadly, the majority of records con-
cerning John Bradmore relate to property rather than to surgery.
John Bradmore's wife Margaret died some time between 141 o, when she
appears with him in a property transaction,34 and 7january 1412 when he made
his will.35 By this time he was married again, to a woman called Katherine,
2) Basing, Parish, p. 5.
24 References to his property transactions are given by Beck, Cutting Edge, (pp. 75—6) and Talbot
and Hammond, Practitioners, (p. 124). Vivienne Aldous, an archivist at the Corporation of London
Record Office, has kindly checked for me all references in the Husting Rolls.
2' Basing, Parish, p 17.
26 Ibid., pp. 42-3.
27 Ibid., p. 53; CPR 1399-1400, p. 362.
21 Basing, Parish, pp. xxi—xxiv.
19 Calendar of Close Rolls, 1405-1409, p. 81.
J0 Beck, Cutting Edge, p. 55; no reference is given for this statement.
!l PRO Exchequer Various Accounts, E101/404/21, fol. 4OV. (He also received a payment of
40/-for robes in the same year (fol. 45), and again in 1406 (BL MS Harley 319, fol. 46).) See also
Rawcliffe, Profits p. 69 n. 40, and J. H. Wylie, History of England under Henry the Fourth, vol. iv
(London, 1898), pp. 153, 204. Wylie assumes that these medicines were for Henry IV himself, as
his health was often poor. However, it is possible that the payment also relates to Bradmore's
treatment of Henry Prince of Wales in that year.
12 Calendar of Fine Rolls 1405-1413, p. 104.
" Rawcliffe, Profits, p. 69.
J4 Corporation of London Record Office, Husting Rolls 137 (88), membrane 18.
35 BL Add. MS 37664, fols. 46r-47v; Basing, Parish, pp. 42-3.
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John Bradmore and his Book Philomena 127
who was pregnant at the time of his death. He died three weeks after making
the will, on 27th January.36 His will confirms that the surgeon Nicholas
Bradmore was indeed his brother, which had been assumed by Talbot and
Hammond but was not certain,37 and gives further details about his family. In
his will he left one of his tenements to his daughter Agnes for life, and two to
his widow Katherine for life, to pass on her death to the child she was carrying
and its heirs, if it should live, or else to revert to the wardens of the fraternity
of the Trinity. The tenement left to Agnes was also to revert to the fraternity
on her death. Goods were left to Katherine for her dowry, in order that she
might remarry, but not to Agnes, which may suggest that she was already
married at this time. The fact that property was to pass at Agnes' death back
to the fraternity may suggest that at this time she had no children and was not
expected to have any. Goods were left to various others: a black paper book
(unum nigrum librum de papiro)3* to his brother Nicholas, silver and linen to
Agnes, a gold ring to Nicholas' daughter Joan, a dagger to Alexander Boner,
his black book of surgery (meum nigrum librum de cirurgica)39 and a sword to
Philip Brychford,40 and to John Longe his book called 'Philomena grade'41
(meum librum vocatum Philomena grade) .42 It is possible that John Longe was also
a surgeon. The name is rather common, but a John Longe, surgeon of London,
is recorded, when in 1436 a dispute arose about the will of his widow Agnes,
who had remarried a London stonemason William Mody, and was by 1436
herself dead.43 A John Longe and his wife Agnes had joined the Trinity
fraternity in 1402—3. *• There is a possibility that the Agnes concerned was John
Bradmore's daughter. This theory is strengthened by thefact that in 1458
William Mody was involved in a property dispute, attempting to lay claim to
a tenement in the parish of St Botolph which had once belonged to John
Bradmore. It appears that by this date Katherine Bradmore's child, a son
Nicholas, was dead.45
If John Longe, to whom Bradmore left the Philomena in his will, can be
16 Basing, Parish, p. 1. The date of his death has also been added to the calendar in Sloane 2272,
fol. ir.
17 Talbot and Hammond, Practitioners, pp. 123—4, 218—9.
>° BL Add. MS 37664, fol. 46r.
>•> Ibid., fol. 46r.
40 Philip Brycheford was a surgeon on the Agincourt campaign of 1415; see Talbot and
Hammond, Practitioners, p. 256.
41 As there is no indication in John Bradmore's will that Philomena is a book of surgery, Basing
suggests a possible identification with one of the religious poems of that name then current (Basing,
Parish, p. 43 n. 1). It is of interest with regard to the connection of this book with John Longe to
note the presence in the calendar of Sloane 2272 of the obits of Richard Longe (fol. 4v) and Alicie
Longe (fol. 5r), added by a later hand.
42 BL Add. MS 37664, fol. 46r. Of all the bequests, the possessive, meum, is used only in the
case of this book and that bequeathed to Philip Brychford — so it is possible that both these books,
in contrast to unum nigrum librum bequeathed to his brother Nicholas, were of John Bradmore's
own composition.
4J Getz, Practitioners p. 266; Stuart Jenks, 'Medizinische Fachkrafte in England zur Zeit Heinrichs
VI (1428/29-1460/61)', Sudhoffs Archiv, 69 (1985) 214-27, p. 220.
44 Basing, Parish, p. 15.
45 Helena M. Chew (ed.), London Possessory Assizes, A Calendar (London, 1965), p. 126.
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128 S.J. Lang
identified with the surgeon of that name, then he was not himself the compiler
of the Middle English manuscript Harley 1736, as it is dated 1446, by which
time he had been dead at least ten years. However, the close relationship
between the two manuscripts does cast grave doubts on the attribution of
Harley 1736 to Thomas Morstede, particularly as no definite connections
between Morstede and Bradmore, or indeed between Morstede and John
Longe, have come to light. Until further connections between any of these
practitioners and Harley 1736 can be established, it must be regarded as
anonymous. However, regardless of questions of authorship, the Philomena of
John Bradmore (Sloane 2272) and Harley 1736, which constitute the basis for
my Ph.D. thesis, offer a fascinating insight into fifteenth-century English
surgery and the degree of dependence of a Middle English treatise on its major
Latin source.
II
The extracts which follow are transcriptions from the Latin of BL MS Sloane
2272 and the Middle English of BL MS Harley 1736, and illustrate two cases
held in common by these manuscripts. It is evident that in these particular
passages the compiler of Harley 1736, while following Sloane 2272 closely, is
not offering a complete word-for-word translation.
Transcription and conventions
Both passages transcribed below are in the main scribal hand of the manuscript
in question. All emendations to these passages (which are indicated in tran-
scription) are also in the main scribal hand of the manuscripts. The following
conventions have been adopted:
( d) = word deleted by scribe in manuscript
( ) = scribal insertion above the line
BL MS Sloane 2272, fol.
Et sciendum est quod (contigitd) anno domini m° cccc° iij° Et anno regni Regis
illustrissimi henrici quarti post conquestum (anglium) quarto in vigilia sancte
marie magdalene contigit quod [henrici in margin] filius et heres dicti iamscripti
illustrissimi Regis et princeps Wallie dux acquetanie et lancastrie apud bellum
de Shrouesbury in facie iuxta nasum ex sinistra parte cum sagitta fuit percussus
quaequidem sagitta intrauit ex transverso et capud dicte sagitte postquam
sagitta fuit extracta stetit in posteriori parte ossis capiti secundum mensuram
6 uncharum. Quiquidem nobilis princeps per me collectorem huius presentis
philomene gratias inmensas deo ago per me taliter fuit curatus in Castello de
Kyllyngworth. Ad quod quidem castellum diuersi periti medici uenerunt
dicentes quod caput sagitte uoluerunt extrahere cum pocionibus et aliis curis
sed non potuerunt. Tandem ego ad eum accedens. In primis tentas paruas feci
et uulneri imposui de medulla sanibus ueteris et bene siccate et bene sute in
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John Bradmore and his Book Philomena 129
panno lineo mundo ad longitudinem vulneris. Quaequidem tente intincte
fuerunt in melle ro[se]. Et postea maiores tentas feci et longiores et sic con-
tinuaui praedictas tentas semper amuntando usque dum habui latitudinem
vulneris et profunditatem ad meum libitum. Et postquam vulnus fuit tarn
dilatatum et tarn profundum quod per meam ymaginacionem (tente)
deuenerunt ad fundum vulneris tune reparaui de nouo tenaculas paruas et
concauas ad quantitatem unius sagitte et in medio tenacule intrauit quoddam
vyse cuius finis tenacule interius et etiam exterius erant bene lunate et etiam
finis illius vyse qui in medio intrauit erat bene lunatus circumque ad modum
unius vyse ut melius et forcius teneret cuius forma hie est [illustration].
Quamquidem tenaculam ex transverso inposui eodem modo sicut et sagitta
primo intrauit deinde illud vyse in medio etiam imposui et tandem tenacula in
foramine capitis sagitte intrauit et tune pars et parum vibrando (cum dei
adiutorio) caput sagitte extraxi. diversis gentilibus et de predicti principis
seruientibus astantibus et omnibus deo gratias agentibus. Et tune cum uno
squirtillo inpleto cum vino al[bo] vulnus mundificaui et tune nouas tentas de
stupis lini inposui intincte in mundificativo quod sic fit. [Item] Recipe micam
panis al[bi] et bulliantur in aqua bene et stringantur per pannum. Tune Recipe
farine ordei et mellis quod sufficit et omnia bulliantur super lentum ignem
donee spissetur et postea addatur terebentina quod sufficit et fiat unguentum
mundificativum. Et dictas stupas in dicto unguento intinctas de 20 die in 2 diem
abbreuiaui et sic infra 20 dies vulnus fuit perfecte et bene mundificatum. Et
postea carnem regeneraui cum unguento fusco. Et nota quidem in principio
cure et usque ad finem cure mee (semper d) (cotidie) inunxi eum mane et sero
in collo cum unguento neruale et desuper emplastrum ca[lidum] inposui propter
timorem spasmi qui meus maximus fuit timor et sic gratias deo agente perfecte
curatus fuit.
BL MS Harley 1736, fol. 48
And yt ys to undyrstond that in the yer of owr lorde m1 cccc° and iij (the
pacyent d)In the iiijtc yer of kynge [herry in margin] the iiijtc on mary mawdlen
Evyn at the batell of Schrewesbery yt happyn soo that herry the worthy prynce
and eyr of the sayd herry kynge was smetyn in the face be syd the nose on the
lefte syd with an arow the wyche sayd arow entryd overwharte and after the
schafte wase takyn owt and the hede ther of a bod styll in the hyndyr parte of
a bone of the hede after the mesur of vj ynche and than was John bradmore
surgen to the kynge and helyd hym in the castell of kelyngworth to the sayd
castell come that tyme dyverse of wyse lechys sayand that thei wold draw owt
the arrowe hed with drynkys and odyr curis but thei myght note and at the
laste the sayd John bradmor entyrmetynge of the sayd cur and had owt the
arow hede wyth swyche an Instrument the wyche Instrument [illustration]
was mad in the maner of tonges and was rownde and holowysche and be the
myddes ther of entryd a lytyll wyse with the wyche Instrument was pullyd
owt the arrow hed and afterward the wounde was wasched with wyne and
clensyd with mundificatyfe onyment of iij parttes of populion and the iiij part
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130 S.J.Lang
of hony so contynewynge the space of vij dayes and afterward the place was
(helyd) with unguentum fuscum cirurgicum.
BL MS Shane 2272, fol. 6jr
Quedam vero mulier habuit scrophulas in mamilla cum tanto dolore quod fere
de se ipsa disparant et omnes alii earn videntes indicauerent earn morituram.
tandem rogatus ab amicis dictae mulieris ad earn accessi et cum dei adiutorio
et cum isto emplastro quod dicitur Gracia dei (etd) maior nigrum earn perfecte
curaui. quod sic fit. Recipe betonice pimpernoll vervene consolide maior et
minor piloselle plantaginis laureole millefolii centauree auence foliorum lauri
flos campi (salgemnie d) salgie anam 1 et bulliantur ad medietatem et plus in
lagena vini et postea permitte stare per 12 horas et coletur per pannum et
ponitur intus gummi sic terebentine cere on" *. 1 litargiri auri tr. 1 et f galbani
tr.. 1 et z 1 ceruse tuthie masticis armoniac' an"i 5. colofonie storacis liquide
vel rubie on"^ 10 mirre bodellii oppoponacis astrologie longe on°̂ 1 olibani z
1 et j 1 virideris jf olei veteris f. 1 vel 2 si necesse fuerit. bulliantur et moveantur
cum spatula et in fine bullicionis addatur terebentina et fiat emplastrum. [Item]
Istud emplastrum Gracia dei maior nigrum vocatur quia inventum et factum
fuit primo per dei gratiam (quam d) magis quam per sensum humanum. Et
habet virtutem dissoluendi et consumendi et maturandi omnes durities et sedat
omnes dolores ex causa frigida et aliquos in causa calida et habet easdem virtutes
sicut et gracia dei maior que dicitur in Antitodario de vulneribus.
BL MS Harley 1736, fol.
And Master John Bradmor telles in his boke off surgery cald philomena off a
woman that had scrophules in hyr tete the wyche was lykly to a ben ded ther
off and at the Instance off gret praes off good frendys he mellyd with hyr and
helpyd hyr in this wyse he layd to hyr a payster off gracia dei maior every
odyr day remevynge the playster the wyche playster ys mad in this wyse. Take
betony pympernell verueyne an™mi centory millyfoli mowser' flos campi salgie
on" mf schope thes erbys smale and boyle them in iij pynttes off gascoyne wyne
and after streyne yt and do ther to a pynt off mete oyle and a handfull of wax
colophoni of edyr ij j litarge off goolde j lib.. ceruse thutie mastyke olibanum
off yche ij 3 mirr bdellium opoponake verdgrece an" 3 j and seth thes to y t be
playster wyse the wych may be known be droppynge ther off in watter when
yt ys hardysche and not fatty nor clevynge to the fyngurs. This playster may
well be cald Gracia dei maior for after the prophete and virtues ther off yt was
Rather fownde be the grace of god than be mannys wytt for yt has the virtue
to dyssolue and consume hardnes off scrophules and in corrupte sorres to frete
awey prowd flesche and after to consowd and hele them.
S. J. LANG
University of St. Andrews
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