The Library of Trinity College, Cambridge, contains the largest
collection of medieval manuscripts of any college in Great Britain, and
one of the most important collections in the world. The subjects
contained therein cover the whole range of topics usual to medieval
manuscripts, with the single bias being that the majority were produced
in Britain. Particularly noteworthy are Wycliffite translations of the
Bible, sermons, and Wycliffite tracts; three manuscripts containing
Nicholas Love's 'Mirror of the Blessed Lif of Ihesu Crist'; and major
collections of devotional texts. Trinity is also rich in medieval
scientific manuscripts, many of which came through Roger Gale's interest
in this field; they include a number of large medical manuscripts whose
compilers were apparently trying to bring together much of the current
knowledge of the day, from tracts by such men as John of Arderne and
Gilbertus Angelicus, with recipes for treatments, under a single cover.
The collection also contains major compilations of alchemical tracts;
historical and legal material; and unique Middle English translations of
classical and early medieval texts. Finally, a number of known Middle
English texts not previously thought to be in the Trinity Collection are
identified, opening new areas for study of Trinity's manuscripts,
especially the medical and scientific texts which have much to tell of
scientific learning in England in the later middle ages. LINNE R. MOONEY
is Associate Professor of English at the University of Maine (and a
former graduate of the Center for Medieval Studies at Toronto).
