My name is Karolina Szula. I am a PhD candidate in Literature Studies at the University of Wrocław and work in the Manuscript Department of the University Library in Wrocław. My research interests include medieval medical manuscripts and the history of medieval medicine in Central Europe. Thanks to the PAMELA Project, I had the opportunity to spend two weeks in Cambridge in July 2026.
During my stay, I took part in the Hands-On Hackathon 2026, organised by Cambridge University Library and Queen Mary University of London. During the workshop, we worked in teams to develop a prototype of an application devoted to medieval colophons found in manuscript collections. The application was designed for users who are new to the study of manuscripts and would like to learn more about colophons and the work of medieval scribes. The outcome of our work was a series of prototypes presenting material related to colophons in an accessible and engaging way.
During the second week of my stay, I visited several libraries in Cambridge and had the opportunity to examine a number of medieval medical manuscripts with a particular focus on locating and documenting colophons and explicits. I was able to study a particularly interesting codex from the turn of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, MS 21 from the collection of King’s College. The manuscript contains several medical treatises discussing important aspects of medieval medical practice.
Among them is, on fols. 172r–210r, a treatise on diet, Particulares diete, attributed to Isaac Israeli ben Solomon (also known as Isaac Judaeus and Abu Ya’qub Ishaq Sulayman al-Israili), an influential Jewish physician and philosopher who lived in the late ninth and early tenth centuries. His works became an important part of medieval medical learning. De diaeta was translated from Arabic into Latin by Constantine the African in the eleventh century. The work consists of dietary advice and includes discussions of remedies and aliments.
In MS 21, the treatise concludes with an explicit written in red ink: Explicit liber dietarum particularium Ysaac. Beneath the explicit is a drawing executed in black and red ink. Interestingly, the red letters of the explicit flow seamlessly into the shape of a pillow placed beneath the head of a patient lying in bed. The drawing may therefore be understood as a rather unusual visual complement to the explicit.
The image depicts a sick patient lying in bed, accompanied by a physician. It presents what appears to be a scene of a medical consultation. The physician seems to be examining or discussing the patient’s condition, perhaps explaining his diagnosis and recommendations. His outstretched hands may suggest that he is addressing the patient or explaining something to him.
Another interesting manuscript I examined during my stay is MS 169, a parchment codex from the collection of Pembroke College, dating from the turn of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. On fols. 1r–323v, the manuscript contains Compendium seu Lilium Medicinae, one of the major medieval medical textbooks. The work brings together a wide range of medical knowledge and refers to numerous authorities, including Galen and Avicenna. It is a comprehensive medical compilation that was widely used in medieval university education and by practising physicians.
The copy preserved in MS 169 contains a colophon that provides information about the circumstances surrounding the production and use of the manuscript and also helps to identify the copy:
Iste liber est scriptus ad usum magistri G. Johannis Caturcis a domino nostro Ihesu Christo custodiatur amen. Gilbertus Anglicus scripsit.
The two-week stay in Cambridge was a valuable opportunity to combine practical work with manuscript research. It allowed me to explore medieval medical manuscripts in greater detail and to gain new perspectives on the study of medieval medical texts and their material context.
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