One of the biggest differences between medieval and contemporary life is our current medical knowledge. Today, we boast a plethora of vaccines; we’ve eradicated some of the world’s deadliest diseases; and, above all, our understanding of the human body and its health is far more advanced than it has ever been. We may pop an Advil for a headache or apply Neosporin to a cut, but what did our ancestors in the 15th century do? Curious Cures has some answers.
Funded by a Wellcome Research Resources Award through the University of Cambridge, Curious Cures serves as a meticulous digital archive, complete with 186 medieval manuscripts that contain 8,000 unedited medical recipes. These recipes, or receptaria, were written in Latin, French, and Middle English between the 11th and 16th centuries, with most dating back to the 14th or 15th centuries. Throughout, we encounter commonalities such as ale, white wine, vinegar, milk, and honey, alongside surprising and at times bizarre products like roasted puppy fat, dove feces, fox lungs, salted owl, and eel grease.
Apart from these outlandish ingredients, many recipes also reveal medieval attitudes toward the human body, some of which may strike us as superstitious. One recipe by astrologer, occultist, and alchemist John Dee, for instance, describes a medicinal ointment for curing wounds that can allegedly heal patients at a 30-mile distance. The recipe becomes even more peculiar, with Dee insisting that rather than applying the medicine directly to a wound, it must be applied to the “blooded weapon” that caused the injury to begin with. As to be expected at this point, the recipe’s ingredients are equally unusual: skull moss, human fat and blood, and powdered mummy.
“The gruesome recipe was at the center of a heated debate in which the Calvinist physician Rudolph Goclenius defended the salve, explaining that it operated through magnetic powers between the weapon and wound that [traveled] via the stars, whereas the Jesuit priest Jean Roberti attributed its efficacy to demonic powers,” a Curious Cures researcher writes in an essay about Dee’s remedy.
Some manuscripts veer even more toward the supernatural, with instructions written in Latin for making a mystical amulet that apparently protects its bearer against demons. Another text describes a magical hazel branch that can be used to cure bleeding, while still another emphasizes the Cross as a therapeutic symbol. Beyond such medicinal topics, the contents of the digitized manuscripts also comprise bibles, poetry, mathematics, astronomy, and theology, among other subjects.
To explore the entire database for yourself, visit the Curious Cures page on the University of Cambridge website.
Managed through the University of Cambridge, the Curious Cures database compiles more than 180 medieval manuscripts that contain 8,000 unedited medical recipes.
These medieval medical recipes feature some bizarre ingredients, ranging from skull moss, dove feces, fox lungs, and eel grease.
Though unusual, these recipes offer incredible insight into medieval attitudes toward the human body, medical science, and superstition.
Curious Cures in Cambridge Libraries: Website
All images via Curious Cures.
Sources: Medieval Medical Recipes; A Cure from the Crypt: Weapon Salve in the Library of John Dee; Thomas Wort, ‘leech’, and his book of remedies; Curious Cures completed: hundreds of medieval medical manuscripts now accessible; Childbirth and charms: two new online exhibitions
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