A Hebrew Signature in a Latin Manuscript of Galen

Abstract

Manuscript VIII D 30 in the National Library of Naples, unanimously dated to the late 13 th – early 14 th century, contains Latin versions of some of Galen’s medical treatises. While the importance of this manuscript is widely acknowledged, apparently the existence of a Hebrew signature in it has so far escaped notice. This signature can be seen in the middle of f. Iv, verso of the first leaf, which precedes f. 1r, where the first Galenic text begins. It is just a name, probably of the owner of the manuscript: יעקב בכ״ר שמשון Ya‘ aqov ben k e vod rabbi Simson , «Ya‘aqov son of the honoured R. Simson». Possibly the signature sheds some new light on the late stages of the Anaṭoli family, translators, physicians and philosophers, who may have moved from Naples to Benevento, in the Papal States, during the Angevine persecutions of the Jews, in the last quarter of the 13 th century.