Johannes de Rupescissa, De consideratione quintae essentiae

Galleries and Reading Room

Library

Shop

Café

Due to essential system maintenance, online requesting will be unavailable from 9pm until midnight on Tuesday 21 April. You can still search the catalogue as usual. We apologise for any inconvenience.

We're running paid user research studies to improve Wellcome Collection online

Take part in research

Johannes de Rupescissa, De consideratione quintae essentiae, in Latin, on paper, Northern Italy (Bologna or Padua?), late 15th century.
Contents
1. ff. 1-22v, 22v-30v: Johannes de Rupescissa (Jean de Roquetaillade), De consideratione quintae essentiae, in Latin.
The treatise, probably written by Rupescissa about 1351-1352, describes the alchemical processes for the extraction by distillation of the essence of wine, plants and minerals for medicinal purposes. The distillation of the aqua ardens (ethyl alcohol) extracted from wine is at the basis of all other distillations. The author believes the alcohol to be an element similar to the so-called quinta essentia, the incorruptible fifth element that according to Aristotle forms the essence of heavenly bodies, and is therefore capable of preserving the human body from corruption and illnesses. The text is divided into two books, the first dedicated to the distillation processes with subdivisions called canones, the second to the medical applications of the essences described, arranged in chapters called remedia.
The text is listed in eTK, A digital resource based on Lynn Thorndike and Pearl Kibre, A Catalogue of Incipits of Medieval Scientific Writings in Latin (Cambridge, MA: Mediaeval Academy, 1963; with supplements in 1965 and 1968; online at https://medievalacademy.site-ym.com/?page=Books#etk), no. 458A.
For other manuscript copies of the treatise in the Wellcome Library, see MSS 117, 186, 384, 513, 520, 708, 710 and 712; imperfect copies in MSS 502, 523 and 711; excerpts in MSS 452, 526 (partly fragmentary), 598, 388 (in English translation); a summary in MS. 517.
f. 1r: Book 1: Incipit: [D]Ixit salomon sapientie capitulo .septimo. deus dedit michi horum scientiam veram que sunt ut sciam dispositionem orbis terrarum et virtutes elementorum ...
f. 22v, column 1: Book 1: Explicit: ... ad consolationem euangelicorum virorum et honorem ecclesie sancte dei et cetera / Explicit liber primus qui est de consideratione quinte essentie. Jn nomine domini.
f. 22v, column 1: Book 2: Incipit: Jncipit liber 2.us de generalibus remediis feliciter / [L]Jcet primus liber qui est de consideratione quinte essentie tante virtutis in rei veritate existat vt per eum possit curari omnis morbis curabilis ....
f. 30v, column 1: Explicit: ... nichil efficacius spa-/simum sedat quam nobilissima quinta essentia vel in euis absentia Aqua ardens. / Et In hoc est finis huius libri. / [rubric in light purple] Finis libri de quinta essentia singularissimi Ac secreti valde.
2. f. 30v, column 2: Six medical recipes: 1.[rubric in light purple] Ad inflammationem ma./millarum [end of rubric] / Si mamille inflentur ex lactis multi./tudine …; Aut cum faba fracta trita …; In augmento appone ouum cum oleo roxato et istud tumorem mamillarum et omnes defectus tollit; 2.[rubric in light purple] Ad inflationem [sic] testiculorum [end of rubric] / Recipe farinam fabarum …; 3.[rubric in light purple] Ad tumorem mamillarum et testiculorum [end of rubric] / Absinthii mente ana partes equales decoquantur in vino …; Item fabe frixe mundate …; 4.[rubric in light purple] Ad faciendum faciem pulcram [sic] / Recipe radices lenistici …[end of rubric]; 5. Ad maturandum omnem tumorem / Recipe cepam et decoque cum oleo …; 6.[rubric in light purple] Ad dolorem dentium [end of rubric] / Recipe piretri dramme se. …

Johannes de Rupescissa, De consideratione quintae essentiae

Licence and re-use

Contents