[Trinity] General discussion of Trinity College MS O.2.48 Apuleii Herbarium

[MarcoP]

Might it be easier if we have a couple of thread about this MS and I put them all in the same subforum? I've got a feeling that this thread will become large and unwieldy soon

Hi Koen, splitting the thread sounds like a good idea, but I am not sure of the best way to do it. There are at least four themes:
1. general structure of the manuscript
2. the Pseudo-Apuleius collection (first part of the herbal and the final bestiary)
3. the second herbal with mostly recognizable plant names and original images
4. the third (Common-Greek-Hebrew) herbal with mostly unrecognizable plant names and illustrations

About the palma Christi, is it normal that "palma" is written like "plam"? It looks like the scribe swaps consonants.

Also, does this say that the roots contain a stone? Is that common? This MS has a thing for stones, it seems.

In the Common-Greek-Hebrew herbal I have seen two plants with magical stones in their roots: Romeys and Dabelion. I don't think this is common. I think it would be interesting to look for something similar in Alfonso's lapidary.

Apparently, Palma Chisti is called "Pla[n]ta Christi" here. That's an interesting observation: I don't know if this variant appears elsewhere.

The "stone" mentioned here is a reference to You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view..

The text here reads "contra lapidem ubicumque scit et probatur a pluribus" - against stones wherever they are [located]; this has been tried by many. At the end of the main body of the text it says "omnem lapidem ubiqumque scit frangit" (it breaks any stone, wherever it is). Interestingly, this use of the plant doesn't appear in Egerton 747 (which has only a few lines of text) nor in Manfredus. Manfredus actually says that it "resolvit superfluitates crossas", which might also be a reference to "stones", but the word "lapis" does not appear in the text.