Curious Cures completed:
hundreds of medieval medical manuscripts now accessible 

Over the course of the last three years, and thanks to the generous support of the Wellcome Trust, the Curious Cures in Cambridge Libraries project has been enhancing the discoverability of medieval medical recipes in historic library collections across the University of Cambridge.  

The project was coordinated by the University Library Research Institute, which supports a portfolio of ground-breaking research projects based on the collections and expertise of Cambridge University Libraries.   

In total, 190 manuscripts have been conserved, catalogued and digitised. More than 7,000 pages of medieval medical recipes are now freely displayed on the Cambridge Digital Library. The contents of these valuable sources are now available for historians of medicine and health around the world.  

To enhance their discoverability, some of these recipes have been transcribed and translated for the first time, bringing to life for modern audiences the voices and ideas of medieval practitioners. 

Healing the books

The first stop for many of the project manuscripts was the Conservation Department at Cambridge University Library. In-depth condition reports were prepared for each manuscript, identifying any areas of vulnerability. This work was vital for ensuring that digitisation could proceed safely and guarantees that researchers can continue to consult and handle the manuscripts in the long term. 

Some of the books needed only minor treatments, while others received more in-depth attention. Repairing tears and losses on paper and parchment was by far the most common treatment carried out by the Project Conservators Marina Pelissari and Rachel Sawicki. Some of the bindings also needed board reattachment or stabilisation, and pigments were consolidated, preventing further damage. 

One manuscript that required more intensive treatment was a 12th-century copy of the Homilies of Origen. It was included in the project because remedies for 'the stone' had been added by a 16th-century hand to one of the endleaves.

Not only does the manuscript lack its rear cover, making the final leaves particularly at risk of being damaged, but some of the text had begun to peel off the page.  

This may have been caused by the use of a relatively thick ink on the parchment that subsequently became wet or exposed to humid conditions for a long period. Parchment is hydroscopic: it absorbs and releases moisture depending on its environment. As it dries, it contracts, and this can cause the ink to lift from the surface of the page.

The conservators’ solution was to examine the manuscript under a microscope and, using a very fine one- or two-hair brush, to secure each letter to the page by applying isinglass - a form of glue derived from fish bladders - to the backs of the lifting letters. 

Picture this

Once the conservation treatment had been completed, the manuscripts' next destination was the Cultural Heritage Imaging Laboratory (CHIL), where each manuscript was digitised from cover-to-cover using specialist photographic equipment and custom-built, supportive cradles.

Altogether, more than 42,000 images were generated over the course of the project: the majority by Curious Cures' Project Photographer Raffaella Losito, and the rest by other members of the CHIL team, Mark Box, Scott Maloney and Błażej Mikuła.

A further 15,000 images were kindly supplied by Trinity College for 44 of their manuscripts that had been digitised prior to the project. A further three were photographed specifically for Curious Cures. 3,500 images from pre-existing digitisation were likewise provided by Corpus Christi College for 11 of their manuscripts. 

Being technical, academic textbooks, most medical manuscripts have little decoration beyond simple painted initials.

One stunning exception is a mid-15th-century copy of the Régime du corps. Once owned by Elizabeth of York, Queen of England and mother of Henry VIII, the manuscript is filled with charming miniature vignettes: illustrations of medical treatments such as bloodletting and cupping, of matters essential to maintaining a healthy body, such as a good night's sleep or exercise, and of the many plants and animals that could form part of a proper diet.  

When photographing this manuscript, Raffaella used lighting paired with a reflective white card mounted on the lens to highlight the vividness of the illustrations whilst maintaining their authenticity.  

However, our photography team are not only skilled in photography for digital heritage preservation but also in dramatic imagery for promotional and story-telling purposes of the project. When tasked with shooting Regime du corps for publicity for the project and its associated exhibition (more on that later!), Raffaella made a customised camera 'snoot': a light modifying tool attached to a camera's flash, in order to control the light reaching the subject.  

In both cases, the photography skills allow you to get a feel of the shimmering splendour in the golden pigments of the vignettes - still shining hundreds of years later. 

Another manuscript that called on specialised imaging techniques was a 15th-century medical compilation that survives in its original medieval binding. The manuscript contains remedies for treating wounds, swellings, epilepsy ('the falling evil'), excessive sweating, trembling hands, snake bites, and many other ailments. There are also instructions for preparing a magical amulet called the 'Seal of Solomon', which protects its wearer against demonic attack.  

As well as allowing researchers to view the original features of the manuscript and its textual contents, the photography team used cutting-edge heritage science technologies to reveal details not easily visible to the naked eye.

Multi-spectral imaging (MSI) revealed an inscription previously undetected, providing the name of an early, if not the earliest, owner of the manuscript: a certain 'Thomas Wort, leche' (i.e. a 'leech' or practitioner of healing). 

By digitising the manuscripts, a global audience of researchers can now access their contents via a dedicated collection on the Cambridge Digital Library

High definition photography enables scholars to consult the manuscripts at the most detailed level, and preserves in digital form these unique and irreplaceable objects for generations to come

Understanding the collections

In the course of their work on the project, the cataloguing team identified 7738 medieval texts in the project corpus.

They provided the names of the authors (where known), titles, as well as incipits and explicits (the opening and closing words) for all of the texts. This will enable researchers to search and find them, as well as identify further copies in manuscripts in other collections. 

All of the 190 manuscripts in the Curious Cures project have one thing in common: they each contain at least one medical recipe.

They encompass compilations of recipes, as well as medical and non-medical manuscripts into whose margins or blank spaces medical recipes have been copied. Besides medicine, the contents of the manuscripts included Books of Hours, bibles, poetry, mathematics, astronomy, theology and many other subjects besides!

The project corpus was thus a highly varied cross-section of Cambridge's collections, and of the medieval European book in general: 

Curious Cures: Medicine in the Medieval World

When the Curious Cures project was announced in 2021, there was a tremendous response from researchers, journalists and members of the public around the world. Evidently, there was an enormous appetite for more information and stories about the world of medieval medicine, its practitioners and its patients, and some of the weird and wonderful remedies that are to be found in the manuscripts.

At an early stage, we began to make plans for an exhibition, so we could share these books and their fascinating contents with a broader audience. Curious Cures: Medicine in the Medieval World showcases many of the manuscripts that the project covered and is open to all until 6 December 2025.