Jewish Vernacular Medical Knowledge in the Crown of Aragon: MS Munich 291

The Jewish scientific repertoire in the late medieval Crown of Aragon was characterised by the production of medical texts in various languages, drawing on diverse knowledge traditions. It comprised Hebrew translations of the Galenic corpus, mainly from Arabic, as well as renderings of Latin scholastic medical texts. From the thirteenth century onward, Jews also produced translations and transcriptions into Ibero-Romance languages and, at times, composed original treatises. This article examines the role of Catalan and Aragonese within the medical repertoire of Jewish physicians in the Crown of Aragon through an analysis of Cod.hebr. 291, held at the Bavarian State Library in Munich. It presents an edition and translation of 32 medical recipes in Catalan written in Hebrew script. Jewish medical writing in the Crown of Aragon operated at the intersection of languages, traditions, and epistemologies. Medical books and recipes not only reflected a fusion of scholarly and popular practices but also navigated the boundaries between medicine and magic. The article highlights how Jewish multilingualism in the Crown of Aragon was embedded in broader patterns of cultural and scientific pluralism and interconnected with other parts of the Mediterranean.