Revolting Remedies from the Middle Ages

by Daniel Wakelin

For a zitty take urine eight days old and heat it over the fire; wash your face with it morning and night.

In late medieval England, ordinary people, apothecaries, and physicians gathered up practical medical tips for everyday use. While some were sensible herbal cures, many were weird and wildly inventive, prescribing elixirs and regimens for problems like how to make a woman love you and how to stop dogs from barking at you. The would-be doctors seemed oblivious to pain, and would recommend any animal, vegetable, or mineral, let alone bodily fluid, be ground up, smeared on, or inserted for medical benefit. Full of embarrassing ailments, painful procedures, icky ingredients, and bizarre beliefs, this book selects some of the most revolting and remarkable remedies from medieval manuscripts in the Bodleian Library. Written in the down-to-earth speech of the time, these remedies offer humorous insight into the strange ideas, ingenuity, and bravery of men and women in the Middle Ages, and a glimpse of the often gruesome history of medicine through time.
 

Genres: Nonfiction, History

112 pages, Hardcover

Published September 15, 2018

Reviews

[Manybooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Taken from 15th century British manuscripts housed in the Bodleian Library, compiled by University of Oxford students and introduced/edited by Oxford professor of mediaeval English palaeography Daniel Wakelin, Revolting Remedies from the Middle Agess (2018) is an absolutely delightful dual language Middle English/Modern English collection of over forty “remedies” for diverse diseases as well as some protective charms and love potions (for both common and also more exotic ailments, and yes, many if not even most of these supposed cures are generally rather strange, majorly creepy, contain as listed ingredients various animal parts, crystals etc., are often abusive in nature and indeed even potentially dangerous). And the creep-out factor totally, utterly notwithstanding, Revolting Remedies from the Middle Ages is fun, educational, interesting and with editor Daniel Wakelin also providing in his introduction the caveat of not trying ANY of the featured mediaeval cures at home, although I do personally find it a bit hilarious and also kind of ridiculous that this kind of admonishment would even be necessary for Revolting Remedies from the Middle Ages. But well, I guess, better safe than sorry, and to also point out that Revolting Remedies from the Middle Ages is supposed to be humorous and focus on the strange, on the freaky and creepy, that the presented remedies were specifically chosen for that and that Mediaeval medicines and cures also and indeed had many herbal based decoctions, teas etc. that worked well, but that Revolting Remedies from the Middle Ages does indeed limit itself to what the book title says, to remedies that are all encompassingly revolting or that at least would be considered this today.

Five stars for Daniel Wakelin’s introduction, for the wonderful dual language cure examples of Revolting Remedies from the Middle Ages, and that I have certainly found it hugely entertaining and marvellously linguistically interesting to compare and contrast the Middle English originals with their Modern English counterparts (and that I have also hugely enjoyed the creepiness, the strange mixtures, the warped philosophies behind these Revolting Remedies of the Middle Ages), but sadly, I am going to be lowering my rating to four stars, as the font size for the appreciated sources and the suggestions for further reading for Revolting Remedies from the Middle Ages is a bit too small for my ageing eyes, and that I really do massively despise getting eyestrain and having to squint even while wearing my reading glasses.

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a quick read, but not one that I'm going to forget about very soon; I find it interesting with some of these remedies how there are parallels with modern medicine. Of course, there's plenty of remedies that sound ridiculous, but I'm curious about how these practices came into being--definitely a read that has sparked my curiosity in a subject I wouldn't have otherwise thought about!

[Terence · Rating 3 out of 5]

What does it say about the 21st century reader that the editor of this slim volume feels constrained to write:

So these remedies come with a health warning: don't try this at home. Those of us who have gathered these tips do not endorse them. You will not fix incontinence by sitting naked in a vat of ale. You will not stop your own wounds bleeding by slaying a pig. Nor do we condone the things done to other people or animals in these remedies. Please do not shave the skin off your feet to make a woman love you against her will; this is immoral. Please do not slit owls open to cure your gout; this is cruel (p. 5)

Wakelin has collected some of the odder medical remedies he and his students have come across in studying Medieval texts. He does make the point that these concoctions are outliers; most remedies were relatively harmless and some could have been efficacious (if only as placebos).

[Hetta]

Middle Ages bros were wild

[Amanda Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short but amusing.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not for the weak stomach nor a book to read while eating.
What’s interesting is some of these do make sense and use similar ingredients we have now for home remedies.
I also love how there is the original text including Latin then the modern translation.
However, this will make you be glad that we live in a world with educational and scientific medicine.
💊💉

[Marcela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really revolting remedies… so happy to live in the modern world

[Pamela · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would have liked a short explanation on how these remedies came about and why people believed in them. That would make it a 5-star read. Nevertheless, these remedies really amused me.

[Ali Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

a very quick, but very fun, read

[Kealey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the comparison of original and translated texts, but without additional analysis or context, it was difficult for the book to be more than just okay.