Tag: medieval manuscripts

The Wellcome Library houses some 300 manuscripts produced in the Middle Ages – that is, between about 400 and 1500 AD. What these manuscripts have in common is that they all, somehow, relate to medicine and health during this period… Continue reading

Among the medieval manuscripts held by the Wellcome Library, some, such as MS. 49, have survived through time thanks to their status as beautiful objects. Others are less impressive at first sight. MS. 335, a miscellany of medical and religious… Continue reading

Alchemy, with its cryptic language and fantastic symbolism, evokes many aspects of the culture of the Middle Ages. In alchemical manuscripts, drawings of alembics, funnels and furnaces vividly represent this long lost art. Alchemy’s goal of transmuting base metal into… Continue reading

Welcome to Early Medicine, the Wellcome Library’s blog channel on medicine and health in Europe in the ancient, medieval and early modern periods. Our new blog was born from a wish to exploit our growing body of early digitised content… Continue reading

The Etymologies of Isidore, bishop of Seville, which he began to write in Latin before 620 AD, is one of the earliest Western encyclopaedias. After Isidore’s death in 636, his student Braulio, bishop of Zaragoza, edited the final text. Based… Continue reading

Following on from our announcement about digitising our pre-1500 Western Manuscripts, readers may be interested in our Digital Approaches to Premodern Medicine and Health workshop, which is taking place on Friday 23 May, 09.30-16.45 at the Wellcome Trust. The workshop… Continue reading

This month the Wellcome Library will begin digitising its entire collection of pre-1500 Western European manuscripts. The digitised manuscripts, about 300 items in total, will be freely accessible through the Library catalogue and will become available steadily through the course… Continue reading

The Library’s Western MS.275 is a remarkable volume. Produced in Florence, it contains inventories in Italian of the possessions of the hospital of San Giovanni Battista Decollato from 1387 to the mid-fifteenth century. The text is bound in wooden boards… Continue reading