Exploring Medieval Monasteries, part 15

Hello. There may be problems today when it comes to health risks, but believe me, it was far worse in medieval England. Health and safety, nonexistent. Germ theory, totally unknown. If you were unconscious, no one's going to take your pulse. They might put a bowl of water on your chest to see if you're breathing. Circulation of the blood, complete mystery. Cause of disease, often put down to supernatural forces. When the King of France asked the top brains at the University of Paris for an explanation of the plague in 1348, the answer they came up with was a conjunction of the three major planets in the constellation of Aquarius. The source of most knowledge in the medieval period is the church. Literacy is largely confined to the clergy. A common explanation for illness in the medieval period is it's divine judgment, in which case repentance or atonement could lead to recovery. This mindset led some to consider medicine just not a suitable profession for a Christian. However, most monastic orders and the Benedictines in particular, they took a different view that care of the sick was a chief work of mercy. But alongside physical care comes spiritual care and the monastic infirmaries all had their own chapels. It's lack of knowledge that's the big problem. No understanding of how infections spread. If you checked into an abbey infirmary, you might well have to share a bed and that might be with somebody with all sorts of diseases. What knowledge there is of medicine is influenced by two men from the ancient world. Hippocrates, a Greek, 4th century BC, and Galen, Roman, 2nd century AD. And the underlying theory of medieval medicine is the theory of humours. Now this dominated medicine into the 19th century. And the theory is that there were four humours, four principal fluids, and to be healthy, they had to be in balance. And the four fluids were black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, and blood. How do you achieve balance? Partly by diet, partly by medicine, chiefly by bloodletting. And the medieval monks were bled several times a year just to maintain good health, or so they thought, usually done by an incision into the basilica vein just below the elbow inside of the forearm. How did they check your humour? Well, they might look at your urine, look at the colour of it, might have a sniff at it, or look at your blood, which might even be tasted. And a decision on your humour would then govern your treatment. So two people with exactly the same symptoms might receive different treatments if the decision was it was a different humour that was responsible. And the humours were associated with seasons, and with moods, and with bodily organs, and with nature, and the elements. And we use some of the words today to describe people's character, melancholic, choleric, etc. Now herbal remedies were fitted into this system, and plants were ascribed various properties that acted upon different humours. And remedies also drew upon the theory of signatures. And this is the belief that for every ailment, nature provides a treatment. Might be animal, might be vegetable, might be mineral, but it will carry a mark, a signature, indicating its usefulness. So the spotted leaves of lungwort look like lungs, used to treat TB. And those common names like lungwort are often a clue. I'm not sure what nipplewort was used for. The lesser celandine is also known as pilewort, which gives you an idea. Bugwort, wild wormwood, was used for worms. The seeds of skullcap look like mini-skulls, and they were used to treat headaches. And most monasteries developed a herb garden, sometimes called a physic garden, where plants were grown for a variety of uses. And the physic garden at Buckfast Abbey has been recreated. It contains around about 200 plants, typical of a medieval monastic physic garden. And it's divided into four sections, a culinary section for vegetables and flavourings, a household section for dyes and cleaning agents, a medicinal section, and a poisonous section. And there is some overlap because many plants have multiple uses. Where did the knowledge come from? Well, it might be passed on within the monastery by word of mouth, from an infirmary to a trainee, a novice monk. But there were reference books available. And there is a wonderful herbal created in the scriptorium at the Benedictine Monastery of Bury St Edmunds in the 11th century. It's now in the Bodleian Library. And the artist had probably acquired a herbal from somewhere. He has that open in front of him as he begins to paint the plants that he has collected and then add the text to them. Why do I think he had a reference book? Well, the text begins by giving the name the plant was known to the Greeks by, and then the other name by which it was known to earlier civilizations. This is a carrot. And this is what it says. By the Greeks, it is called Staphylimagrium. Others call it Geiger, others Egon. The Romans call it Oudonorion, and the Carthaginians, the Punica, call it Sycansard. The Itali, the Calabrians, call it Pastinorca Sylvatica, which is interesting because that's the modern name for a parsnip. And says it grows in stony places and mounds. And this is how it's used. For women who suffer at childbirth and are not purged. With herb Pastinorca cooked together with the same water in which it was cooked, you take 30 peppercorns mixed together and give to drink. She will be purged. The same recipe also works against toothache. This is the page for marshmallow. And again, it gives the various names that it is known by. And marshmallow used to be collected by fishermen's wives on the East Coast to make marshmallow. There's a lot of starch and there's a sugar that will crystallize in the root. Today, it's made from sugars and starches and glycerin. For gout, mash the plant with old lard and lay it on. In three days, the gout is healed. Many authorities affirm this herbal treatment. And for abscesses, stew marshmallow with fenugreek and finely ground linseed. Put it on the swelling. It dissipates it entirely. And there are one or two other complaints that marshmallow can be used for. I think perhaps the most famous page is the bramble, the blackberry. And this was used for dysentery and to staunch bleeding. And we have the strawberry. That was used as a laxative or a diuretic. The horsetail, the false bulrush, that was used for kidney problems. Now, this is an interesting plant. It grows in the Mediterranean. It's called a squill or sometimes a sea onion. So not a native plant. And it is, like many of these plants, poisonous. So it's all about the dosage and the preparation. That's the important thing. At the bottom of this page, there's a little note that shows it can also be used for making invisible ink. And just to run through some of the others, but let me warn you at this stage, do not try this at home. Dandelion, that was used for liver complaints. Madder, which is used as a dye, of course, also used for liver complaints and jaundice. This is dropwort. It's related to meadowsweet. Again, toxic, but dried, heated up. That destroys the toxins. It was used for bronchial and asthmatic complaints. Black briny, also used for asthma and for rheumatism. And this was another cure for gout. Woad, again, used as a dye, but also made into a plaster to be applied externally. It was good for the spleen. Yarrow was a treatment for colds and for fevers. And this is a nice picture. The description is vervain and the snake from which it gives protection, used against snakebite. Henbane, again, poisonous plant, a narcotic effect. So this was used to dull pain. Foxglove and chamomile. Foxglove, again, toxic properties, but used in the right proportions and prepared properly. It was used as a tonic or to treat sores and swellings. Teasel was made into a treatment for eye wash and warts. Agrimony, this is another of the liver and jaundice treatments. And just finally, one more, Alexanders, introduced into Britain as a pot herb by the Romans, but very soon became naturalised and you find it on waste ground and roadside verges. Now let me repeat one more time, do not try this at home, and tell you that next time we're going to be looking at the wider monastic estate. So we're going beyond the monastic precincts. If you've enjoyed this video, hit the like and subscribe buttons and click on the notification bell to be informed when the next video is released. Or you can subscribe by clicking on the rose window over my shoulder.