rubricated characters

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

The manuscript describes the preparation of a healing salve involving animal fats and plant juices. Ingredients include 'brokkyis grece', 'kattys grece', 'haris grece', 'swynys grece', 'doggis grece', 'capouns grece', 'swet of a der', and 'schepis talwʒe' mixed in equal proportions ('of eche ylyche moche'). To this fat base, juices of 'bismalue' (marshmallow), 'rewbarbe', 'morel', 'comferye', 'daysyes', 'Rewe', 'plawnteyne', 'matithen', 'heyryffes', 'matfelon', and 'dragaunce' are added (p. 42). The mixture is combined in a pan and boiled ('welle tham wele') until reaching the desired state (p. 43). The text itself is rubricated using a red pigment to denote structural divisions and rhythmic pauses (p. 42).

Evidence

"Rubricated characters are reproduced in bold... the scribe has gone to extra lengths to highlight this repetition: not only does he place virgules between each genitive construction but he also rubricates each virgule."

Remarks

The use of red pigment (rubrication) in MS Douce 84, f. 38v, is explicitly analyzed for its role in 'thickening the patchwork texture of collections' (p. 42). The author notes that the scribe rubricated each virgule (/) to make the rhythmic and syntactic patterning of the medical recipe 'visual as well as sonic' (p. 42). This level of craftsmanship is cited as evidence that manuscript producers viewed these practical medical texts through an aesthetic and literary lens, exceeding the strict requirements of utility (p. 42). The red pigment remains vibrant in the provided manuscript photograph, although the support shows some historical staining (p. 43).