Bernardus de Gordonio

Bernardus de Gordonio (c. 1258–c. 1320). [Lilium medicinae]. Translated into Hebrew. Decorated manuscript on paper, written by Moses ben Shmaya de Castro. Escalona, Spain, 11 January 1466. (BRMS 22)

Bernardus de Gordonio wrote the Lilium medicinae in 1303-05 while teaching medicine at the University of Montpellier in France. A compilation of essential medical knowledge for young doctors, it enjoyed widespread popularity in Europe for more than three hundred years. The original Latin text, brought into Spain by Christian doctors, was translated into Hebrew c. 1360 at Seville. According to a scribal inscription at the end of the present manuscript, this copy was transcribed by the Jewish doctor Moses ben Shmaya de Castro at Escalona, Spain, in 1466. It is a rare survivor of the widespread destruction of Hebrew books following the expulsion of Spain’s Jews in 1492.