The Old English Herbals

by Eleanour Sinclair Rohde

15th century. Macer. “Vertues worthe & commendable propertees of many & diverse herbes.” In three books.

Rawl. C. 81 (V). Bodleian.

15th century. Part of the poem De virtutibus Herbarum. The English names of plants are occasionally given in the margin. In the volume containing Froucestre’s History of the Monastery.

Library of Gloucester Cathedral.

15th century. A treatise of the medical properties of herbs and other simples; arranged alphabetically, being a translation from the treatise of Johannes Platearius, De medicinis simplicibus.

Sloane 706 (IV). British Museum.

15th century. English Herbal, Secundum magistrum Gilbertum Kemor, arranged alphabetically.

Sloane 770. British Museum.

15th century. Of the virtues of Rosmaryne.

Inc. “Rosmaryne is both tre and erbe.”