HERB - Advice PLEASE!!!

[Walter J. Wakefield]

On Tue, 9 Nov 1999 04:56:13 -0800 (PST) Aline Swynbrook
<alineswynbrook at yahoo.com> writes:

>What I am in need of is advice and information.  I
>have been suckered..er talked into lecturing my
>History Club at good old UHS on "Herbs and Medieval
>Medicines."  I have a general knowledge of this, but I
>know not how to put it into begining class form.
>
I noticed you had received several recipes for period dishes, but not so
many suggestions about the period approach to medicine.  So I thought I
would stick in my ha'penny's worth.

You did not say if this is to be a one-shot class, or if it will continue
for some time.  I would assume only a one-time deal.  For books about
herbal medicine, I would suggest some of the excerpt from Gerard's Herbal
(e.g. "Leaves from Gerard's Herbal", Marcus Woodward), "The Elixirs of
Nostradamus" edited by Knut Boeser, "A Medieval Home Companion",
translated and edited by Tania Bayard, and/or "The Medieval Health
Handbook (Tacuinum Sanitatis)", Luisa Cogliati Arano.  All of these are
books I have acquired in the last couple of years, so they should be
available.  Mostly these have interesting recipes in them - some we would
consider quaint or misguided, and some that should work quite well.  But
quoting a few of these would add an interesting touch to the lecture. 
Also, if you have any of the Compleat Anachronist pamphlets on herbs or
the one on cosmetics, they would have some good information.

I was asked several years ago to do a presentation for our local
(mundane) herb club.  So I dressed in garb and did the talk in as high
persona as I could manage.  Reading several passages in Gerard is one way
to get the flavor of speaking forsoothly!  This proved to be quite a hit,
and I have been asked to repeat it several times.  What I did was took
some of my regular recipes (cough syrup, salve for bruises, sedative tea)
and made sure of the period ingredients  (leaving out obviously New World
herbs).  Then I "translated" these to a more period sounding version, and
presented them as Suzanna's suggestions for curing.....  Throwing in a
few jabs at barbers and leeches is always good,,, that sort of thing. 
This approach can be lots of fun.

And you might want to point out that in period there was not always a
clear separation between food and medicine, which is why many spices also
have medicinal uses.  An approach that we are just now starting to
recognize, with our recent "discovery" that nutrition has a lot to do
with health!  You might also mention the 4 humours, and that some
diseases proceed from cold causes and need hot foods to counteract
them...that type of thing.  If you have access to some of Gerard, you can
get quite a few of these kinds of things.  Just a few such quotes can add
a very period flavor to your talk.

Hope this has given you some useful ideas.

Suzanna, the herbalist, Barony of the Steppes, Kingdom of Ansteorra


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