Gilbertus Anglicus | Page 8

Rolandina. However, it is the best representative of the "Chirurgia" of Roger at present available. See De Renzi, op. cit., p. 425.]
From a careful review of the data thus presented we may epitomize, somewhat conjecturally, the life of Gilbert substantially as follows: He was probably born about 1180 and received his early education in England. On the completion of this education, about the close of the 12th century, he proceeded to the Continent to complete his studies, and spent some time in the school of Salernum, where it is probable that he enjoyed the instruction of Roger of Parma, Ricardus Salernitanus, and may have had among his fellow-students Aegidius of Corbeil. Probably after his return to England he served for a brief period on the staff of Archbishop Hubert Walter, after whose death in 1205, but at an unknown period, Gilbert returned once more to the Continent, where it seems probable he spent the remainder of his life. This comports best with his extensive European reputation, his surname "Anglicus" and the comparative dearth in England of any facts relating to his life. The date of the Compendium I am inclined to place about 1240, prior to the literary activity of Ricardus Parisiensis or Richard of Wendover, Roland of Parma, Roger Bacon and Theodorius of Cervia. We may place his death, conjecturally, at about 1250.
The first edition of the Compendium is a small quarto of 362 folios (724 modern pages), five by seven inches in size, printed in double narrow columns, in black letter, perfectly legible and clear. The pagination shows some errors, but the text itself is remarkably accurate, though the presence of a multiplicity of contractions and ligatures renders the reading somewhat difficult to the modern student. On the last page we find the following colophon:
_Explicit compendium medicine Gilberti Anglici correctum et bene emendatum per dominum Michaelem de Capella artium et medicine doctorem: ac Lugduni Impressum per Jacobum Saccon: expensis Vincentii de Portonariis. Anno Domini M.D.x. die vero vigesima mensis Novembris._
_Deo Gratias._
The second edition (which I have not seen) is said to bear the title: "Laurea anglicana, sive compendium totius medicinae, etc," Geneva, 1608.
It should be noticed that the title "Laurea anglicana" is not mentioned in the original edition of 1510, but is apparently due to the exuberance of enthusiasm of the editor of the later edition, whose taste seems to have been more flamboyant.
Various manuscript works of greater or less authenticity are ascribed to Gilbert by different authorities. Of these Mr. Kingsford furnishes the following list:
1. "Commentarii in Versus Aegidii de Urinis," quoted by John Gaddesden and probably authentic.
2. "Practica Medicinae," mentioned by Pits, but of doubtful authenticity.
3. "Experimenta Magistri Gilliberti, Cancellarii Montepessulani," noticed on page 2, but authenticity doubtful.
4. "Compendium super Librum Aphorismorum Hippocratis." MS. in Bodleian.
5. "Eorundem Expositio." MS. in Bodleian.
6. "Antidotarium." MS. in Caius College.
To these he adds, on the authority of Bale and Pits:
7. "De Viribus Aquarum et Specierum."
8. "De Proportione Fistularum."
9. "De Judicio Patientis."
10. "De Re Herbaria."
11. "De Tuenda Valentudine."
12. "De Particularibus Morbis."
13. "Thesaurus Pauperum."
All of these latter may be regarded as doubtful.
The authorities named by Gilbert are Pythagoras, Hippocrates, Plato, Aristotle, Galen, Rufus, Maerobius, Boetius, Alexander of Tralles, Theodorus Priscianus, Theophilus Philaretes, Stephanon (of Athens?), the Arabians Haly Abbas, Rhazes, Isaac Judaeus, Joannitius, Janus Damascenus, Jacobus Alucindi, Avicenna and Averro?s; the Salernian writers, quoted generally as Salernitani and specifically Constantino Africanus, Nicholas Praepositus, Romoaldus Ricardus and Maurus, and two otherwise unknown authors, Torror and Funcius, classed by Gilbert as "antiqui." The latter author is also said to have written a "Liber de lapidibus." Certainly this list suggests a pretty good medical library for a practitioner of the 13th century.
Dr. Payne calls attention to the fact that all these writers antedate the 13th century, and thus limit the period of Gilbert in antiquity. This is undoubtedly true with reference to authorities actually named, but does not exclude from consideration other writers quoted, but not named, whom we shall have occasion to refer to hereafter.
The Compendium opens with a very brief and modest foreword, couched in the following terms:
"_Incipit liber morborum tam universalium quam particularium a magistro Gilberto anglico editus ab omnibus autoribus et practicis magistrorum extractus et exceptus, qui compendium medicine intitulatur._"
It will be observed that no claim whatever for originality is presented by the author. He calls his book a compendium extracted from all authors and the practice of the professors, and edited only by himself. The same idea is more fully emphasized later (f. 55c), where he says:
"_Sed consuetudo nostra est ex dictis meliorum meliora aggregare, et ubi dubitatio est, opiniones diversas interserere; ut quisque sibi eligat quam velit retinere._"
The self-abnegation implied in these extracts must not, however, be interpreted too literally, for the editorial "_dico_" on numerous pages, and even an occasional chapter marked "Propria opinio," testify to the fact