[Northkeep] re: herbs

[Donna Hufford]

on 4/7/03 10:54 AM, Hegdale family at hegclan1 at valornet.com wrote:
>
> at http://opac.tulsalibrary.org/
> ISBN: 0821223879
> or call #  635.7 W588b 1997
,
>> is this a reliable source?

That depends on what you mean by reliable and what you want to use it for.
It is basically a companion book to the Brother Cadfael mystery books (which
is why I bought it) and the author is a Cadfael expert, not an herb expert.
As far as I can tell all of the plants listed in the book would or could
have been grown in England during the Medieval period.  Now, whether or not
they were used in the way they are used in the Cadfael books I don't know.
There is a fairly informative introduction and bit on Monastic gardens and a
bibliography that could be useful.
If you are looking for actual Herbals of the Middle Ages--or slightly
later-- the two that seem to be quoted most often are Gerard's 'Herbal and
General History of Plants', first published in 1597 and 'Culpeper's Complete
Herbal' first published in 1653.  Both are pretty easy to find in re-print
editions.  For a more extensive list of "period" Herbals you may want to
check out the listing for Period Herbal Books on the Florilegium file at
http://www.florilegium.org--look under Plants, Flowers and Herbs.
I am sure that there are other resources for books about Herbs and their
uses from in period that some others in our group would know of.

Hope this helps a bit

Siobhan
>>

>>
>
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