Medicinal preparations in a manuscript of a fifteen-century Franciscan monk in Brno

Overview

An unknown Franciscan monk, who worked in his monastery’s apothecary in Brno at the beginning of the 15th century, translated many extracts from Ancient and medieval authors into Czech. The collection, supplemented perhaps also from other manuscripts, contains a number of articles on treatment. It was repeatedly copied and has been preserved in several variants. The collection lists about two hundred medicinal preparations and many other pieces of advice and recommendations, mainly based on folk wisdom and knowledge. The most frequently listed items are aromatic waters, electuaries, potions, ointments, and plasters. The paper deals primarily with the technologies of their preparation and documents them by examples from the text of the collection. The collection includes also a herbarium. Some parts of the collection are markedly similar to other Czech manuscripts.

Key words:
Franciscan monk – pharmaceutical technology in the Middle Ages – Czech pharmaceutical technology – Křišťan of Prachatice