About Plants and Animals
About Plants and Animals
InquiryAbout Plants and Animals
A splendid manuscript with exceptional content
The British Library, home to one of the greatest manuscript collections in the world, houses an artwork with a very special content: About plants and animals, a medical compendium created in Northern France or England in the late 12th century. This book captivates with its abundance of beautiful and accurately executed miniatures – more than 240 illustrations on 95 folios – which form an encyclopaedia of the knowledge of herbal medicine at the time. Based on classical scientific texts, popular medicine and other medical doctrines, such compendia were mainly used as handbooks in hospitals – which until the 13th century were generally in monasteries – for the preparation of medicines.
MOASTIC MEDICINE AND MEDIEVAL HEALTHCARE
In Christian Europe, the care of the sick was assumed by monasteries and convents up to the 12th/13th centuries; as early as the 6th century, Benedict of Nursia described it as one of the essential obligations of the clergy (‘Infirmorum cura omnia et super omnia adhibeanda est’ – ‘The care of the sick is most important of all’). Such care involved the preparation of natural remedies from medicinal herbs, which was mainly based on texts from Greco-Roman antiquity (Hippocrates, Galen and texts based on these authors). The supply and storage of medicinal plants and the production of drugs from animal and herbal components were among the essential tasks of medieval healthcare, as is evidenced by the considerable number of copies of medicinal herbaria that have been preserved.
MEDICINE - AN ACADEMIC DISCIPLINE
Thanks to active scholarly interest in translation in Toledo and Salerno, Arabic texts and other ancient works which had been preserved in the Orient entered Europe. The first university medical schools were founded in the 10th century in Salerno and then in Montpellier. New literature and knowledge gained from Arabic scientific writings led to a scientification of medicine in the 11th and 12th centuries. Medicine was taught as an academic discipline and was separated from pharmacology.
A prohibition issued by the Synod of Clermont in 1130 forbidding clergy to conduct medical treatments was a turning point for medical care, and monastic medicine was replaced by healthcare provided outside the monastery walls.
HEBRIA AND MEDICAL COMPENDIA
The compendium from the British Library includes the three most popular medical texts of the 12th century: the Herbarium of Pseudo-Apuleius, Pseudo-Dioscorides’ De herbis feminis and Sextus Placitus’ De medicina ex animalibus, along with other short medical texts.
The Herbarium of Pseudo-Apuleius probably dates from the 4th century and was originally attributed to the Roman poet and philosopher Apuleius of Madauros (124–170). The text is based on Pliny’s Historia naturalis and Dioscorides’ De Materia medica. Each of the approximately 130 chapters describes one plant and its medical indications as well as recipes for its use.
Pseudo-Dioscorides’ De herbis feminis is a popular herbarium from the 5th/6th century, which was much copied and used in the Middle Ages.
Placitus of Papyra’s De medicina ex animalibus was written in the 4th century and presents a collection of remedies obtained from animals as well as their usage.
THE FACSIMILE- EDITION
A true-to-the-original facsimile edition of the manuscript Sloane MS 1975 from the British Library in London in a strictly limited edition of 900 copies worldwide. An astonishing 244 illustrations of plants and animals, as well as three full-page miniatures and one halfpage miniature showing drug preparation and medical treatments, illustrate this unique manuscript on 95 sheets of 30 x 20 cm each. The cover of the original, in classic black leather with the gilt embossed emblem of the Sloane Collection, has been exactly reproduced and represents with its five raised bands a genuine bibliophile masterpiece. A magnificent box protects the precious facsimile volume.
The scholarly commentary, written by Taylor McCall, Ph.D., describes all aspects of the manuscript, traces its fascinating history and explains all the miniatures and initials in detail.
"A masterpiece of herbal medicine: On Plants and Animals – in elegant leather binding, limited to just 900 copies worldwide."
Steckbrief
About Plants and Animals | |
| Creation Year | About 1190 - 1200 |
| Place of Origin | British Library, London |
| Library | Sloane MS 1975 |
| Signature | 95 folies |
| Miniatures | 244 illustrations, including 3 full-page and 1 half-page miniature. |
| Type of Manuscript | Manuscript |
| Genre | Ca. 1190 - 1200 |
| Artist/Workshop | British Library, London |
| Sloane MS 1975 | |
The Edition
About Plants and Animals | |
| Format | 30cm x 20cm |
| Limitation | 900 copies worldwide |
| Binding | luxurious black leather binding embossed with the gold emblem of the Sloane Collection. |
| Commentary Volume (Language) | By Taylor McCall, Ph.D. |
| Publisher | Müller und Schindler |
| Item Number | 72095 |
Fragen und Antworten
Was ist der Inhalt der medizinischen Sammelhandschrift Von Pflanzen und Tieren, die sich in der British Library befindet?
Die Handschrift umfasst eine Enzyklopädie des Fachwissens zur Pflanzenheilkunde, die auf antiken wissenschaftlichen Texten, Volksmedizin und anderen medizinischen Lehren basiert, und enthält über 240 Miniaturen.
Welche Rolle spielten Klöster im 12. und 13. Jahrhundert bei der medizinischen Versorgung?
Klöster waren maßgeblich für die Krankenpflege zuständig, produzierten Heilmittel aus Heilpflanzen, die oft in den Klostergärten angebaut wurden, und kopierten antike medizinische Texte.
Wie kam es zur Verwissenschaftlichung der Medizin im 11. und 12. Jahrhundert?
Übersetzungen arabischer und antiker Texte, die durch Städte wie Toledo und Salerno nach Europa gelangten, führten zu einer Verwissenschaftlichung der Medizin und zur Trennung der Pharmakologie.
Welche bekannten medizinischen Texte sind in der Sammelhandschrift enthalten?
Die drei populärsten medizinischen Texte des 12. Jahrhunderts sind das Herbarium des Pseudo-Apuleius, De Herbis Feminis von Pseudo-Dioscorides und De medicina ex animalibus von Sextus Placitus.
Was ist besonders an der Faksimile-Edition der Handschrift?
Die Faksimile-Edition der Handschrift enthält originalgetreu nachgebildete Illustrationen auf 95 Blättern und wird in einer limitierten Auflage von nur 900 Exemplaren weltweit veröffentlicht, mit einem hochwertigen Ledereinband.
Warum war die Übersetzung arabischer medizinischer Texte im Mittelalter von so großer Bedeutung für die europäische Medizin?
Arabische Texte bewahrten und erweiterten das Wissen der Antike, das in Europa teils verloren gegangen war. Die Übersetzungen brachten neue medizinische Theorien und Praktiken nach Europa, was die medizinische Ausbildung und Forschung revolutionierte.
In welcher Weise waren die mittelalterlichen Klöster auch Zentren des Wissens und nicht nur der Krankenpflege?
Neben der Krankenpflege bewahrten Klöster antikes Wissen, kopierten und überlieferten medizinische und naturwissenschaftliche Texte, und sie betrieben Heilpflanzengärten, die als Grundlage für die pharmazeutische Versorgung dienten.
Wo kann man "Von Pflanzen und Tieren" erwerben?
Die "Von Pflanzen und Tieren" ist über die Universal Art Group erhältlich, die sie als Teil ihres Engagements für die Verbreitung von kulturell und historisch bedeutsamen Werken anbietet.
