John Crophill's Books: An Edition of British Library MS Harley 1735

This dissertation is a complete edition of British Library MS Harley 1735, a commonplace book in Middle English and Latin. The manuscript consists of two originally separate books now bound together. The first book (parchment, early fifteenth century) provides two prognosticary texts and seventy cookery recipes. The second book (paper, mid to late fifteenth century) contains medical and scientific texts transcribed for John Crophill, a rural medical practitioner from Wix in Essex, followed by entries in Crophill's handwriting. A notation in the margin of the first book recording the birth of Crophill's daughter confirms that both books were once in his possession. Legal documents reveal that Crophill was also bailiff of Wix Priory; his medical practice may have been incidental to his duties as bailiff. Items with medical application in the second book include two urinoscopy texts, notes on the four complexions, prognostications, a regimen with advice on diet and bloodletting, charms for childbirth and wounds, and a rhymed rosemary herbal. The Harley manuscript has long been recognized as an important document in the history of medicine because it provides insight into early medical care in rural areas. However, although the texts in Crophill's books furnish evidence of the medical resources available to him, almost the only direct information on his medical practice which Crophill imparts is that he has inspected his patients' urines and has recommended treatments and medicines--he does not list specific case histories, nor his own diagnoses, nor his medical income. The manuscript is valuable rather for what it reveals of Crophill's activities and interests; it also provides evidence of medical material available to rural medical practitioners, which can be compared to that in texts written for and by university-trained physicians. The conclusion suggested by this study is that despite the vernacular presentation and the presence of popular folk-lore elements in Harley 1735, overall the scientific and medical information is sound, differing in level of complexity rather than in subject-matter from the practical medicine in university medical texts.