A manuscript dating from the 16th century and known as the 'Booke of soveraigne medecines' is one of the more surprising finds in the College's Aotearoa New Zealand heritage collection.

The manuscript is a collection of some one thousand handwritten medical prescriptions collated by John de Feckenham, a Benedictine monk who once attended Queen Mary I as her chaplain. It also includes rules for good health, some anatomical descriptions of the bones of the extremities, and the benefits of certain waters made from specific herbs.

Reputed as a compassionate man, Feckenham gathered his knowledge 'by good proof and long experience' with the aim of providing remedies for the less fortunate classes:

"Chiefly for the poor which have not at all times the learned physicians at hand"

Feckenham figured in one of the biggest religious upheavals in history, the English Reformation. When Henry VIII rejected Catholicism, the Church's wealth was seized by the Crown as part of the Reformation. As a Benedictine monk known for his staunch Catholicism and opposition to the Protestant reforms, Feckenham was imprisoned in the Tower of London for his views on the new religious order. However, he was later released and continued to be a respected figure under the reign of Queen Mary I, who briefly restored some Catholic practices. In addition to being her chaplain, Feckenham was put in charge of restoring the Benedictine monastery at Westminster and was consecrated Abbot, the last to be appointed to that position. When Elizabeth I ascended the throne on Mary's death, she eventually dissolved the monastery, and Feckenham was imprisoned again, becoming a focal point for those resisting the changes. For the rest of his life, he was confined or imprisoned in various positions but continued to attend the poor and provide for public works at his own expense.

Brought to Auckland in the early 1950's by retired doctor Cuthbert Raymond, the manuscript came into the care of the College by a circuitous path. Raymond initially donated the manuscript to the National Library of New Zealand. However, in 1980, some five years after his death, his daughter Stephanie Raymond wrote to ask if the donation might be withdrawn, and the manuscript be given instead to a College associated medical history group in Auckland, which was forming a library of historical medical books. Unusually, the request was granted, and the book came into the hands of the College's New Zealand members.

However, recognising that the manuscript would quickly deteriorate if not kept in ideal conditions, the members redeposited it with the National Library's manuscript collection in 1989. To make it accessible, the manuscript was digitised by the Library, and additionally, it was studied as a PhD by Daphne Lalor who provided an edited transcript.

The College thanks the National Library of New Zealand for curating this extraordinary work on its behalf.