• Brittany (probably)

Saint-Gall

• Medicine

Medical compilation, including recipes by Galenus and Oribasius (acephalous, lacunose and incomplete; for a detailed description of the contents, see Beccaria 1956: 384–5).

• Probably written in Brittany

Beccaria (1956: 384) described the script of this MS as follows: 'Minuscola del principio del secolo IX, mista di elementi insulari e continentali.' This description echoes Lindsay's, who characterised it as a 'rude minuscule of Insular type' and dated it to 'saec. viii–ix' (Lindsay 1915: 485). Accordingly, Bischoff's ascription of this MS to Brittany seems very plausible (cf. Kat. §5846, based on Bischoff 1966–81: III, 15, where this MS is discussed together with Orléans, Médiathèque, MS 221 and MS 302, i.e. other Breton codices possibly dating from the early ninth century; cf. also Bischoff 1994: 30, where Saint-Gall 759 is described as 'the barbarian Receptarium'). Indeed, this MS contains a strong Breton diagnostic feature: the abbreviation ɔc (and ɔ-c) for contra (e.g. p. 1, l. 15; p. 7, l. 2 from the bottom, etc.; for more information on this abbreviation, see the entry for Rome (Città del Vaticano), BAV, Reg.lat.1263 in the present Handlist). While this MS would undoubtedly deserve to be studied in greater detail, especially from the palaeographical and linguistic points of view, a Breton origin seems in any case highly probable. Unfortunately, it is unclear how and when this MS reached Saint-Gall.

Beccaria 1956: 384–6 (§135); Bischoff 1966–81: III, 15, 40; Bischoff 1994: 30; E-Codices; Lindsay 1915: 485; Smith 1992: 171 (n. 95).

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