Preface: I have had a mundane interest in botany for many years. That interest is reflected in the
areas of research I have followed in the SCA. This paper is but one logical avenue of such research.
The contents of this paper are certainly not exhaustive of the subject matter but it is intended to provide
a synopsis or overview for the common reader. No original ideas are presented herein and the work is
not intended to be a thesis. Readers are encouraged to share their own experiences with the author.
The term “magiferous plants” is the English version of the Latin term used by Pliny the Elder in
describing plants which fall into this classification. His text, Natural History, was a primary reference
source during the period covered by the SCA.
Thesis: There existed a close relationship between medicine and magic as demonstrated
by the use of magiferous plants in the medieval period.
The use of magiferous plants is based upon the belief that the healing properties were
capable of being invoked and directed towards specific ends, through appropriate means, by a
human agency.
The ordinary person living in medieval Europe prior to 1350 expected a positive
outcome from the use of magiferous medicinal plants.
Magiferous medical plants use, by both the formally educated as well as folk
practitioners, can be documented.
Background
It can be stated that most folk societies practiced some form of medicine. We can also state those
societies would have accumulated a body of customs and lore traditionally associated with local beliefs
about, and uses for, the therapeutic plants. However, verifying uses and relating a justification for
therapeutic effectiveness based upon modern bioassays, clinical trials and pharmacological screening is
lacking.
Therefore, it follows that the beliefs regarding the therapeutic properties of many plants, known to have
been used in folk medicine, depended upon evidence or a belief system that might not be acceptable
today.
The attribution of magical and wondrous healing properties to plants is not peculiar to the period known
as the Middle Ages. The close connection between medicine and magic, from antiquity through the 14th
Century, is not easy to appreciate today as the two have diverging paths. Modern scientific medicine is
far removed from the time in which the healer interceded on behalf of the patient in the spiritual or
supernatural manners.
There was considerable variation in the application of the magical arts to medicine, especially with
respect to the use of medicinal and other plants for therapeutic purposes. The result being the
relationship between medicine and magic varied depending upon; the operator; the arts at his/her
command; the complaint being treated; the belief system of the treated patient; and the plants being
used in the healing process. This variation can be seen in the application of magiferous plants from one
period of time to another as the social mores and religious doctrine were modified.
Given the above, I can not state that my documented cases for use of magiferous medical plants would
have been true for the entire range of the SCA period. Such use would only be valid for the time, locale
and conditions described, and then only for those involved. I can infer however, that since my
documentation is primarily found in textual sources, that the practice would probably have been
considered within the social norms of the medieval European society.
Historical
It is not my intention to explain the origin and nature of magic as it relates to medicine or society; there
exists volumes written on that subject. For the purpose of this paper it may be simply noted that many of
the beliefs we would consider magical or superstitious are debased, secularized forms of ceremonies
institutionalized in earlier periods by various state, municipal and religious bodies.
There existed two different principal types of training for practitioners of healing with which we are
concerned in this study. The first is school medicine and the second is folk medicine. School medicine is
a formal education at an established university. Training in England was located at Oxford and
Cambridge under the direction of clerics and the church. Folk medicine training includes oral tradition
handed down from master to apprentice or parent to child. It could also involve some written traditions
that might include formula or recipe books.
During the Medieval Age school medicine and folk medicine looked back upon the classics of Greco-
Roman literature for inspiration and validation. Also, by extension, great trust was set in store to the
authors of those works. Authors like Galen, Aristotle, Dioscorides and Pliny were held in high esteem as
luminaries to the paths of healing not only the physical but also the spiritual body.
The classical texts were copied, painstakingly by hand, in the scriptoriums and libraries of religious
houses for use by court physicians and monastic infirmarians. Extant versions of these texts can be
dated to copies made during the period prior to the invention of the printing press. We know that these
classical texts were used for teaching medicine in European universities and are the foundation around
which the “physic” gardens were based.
Classification of Medieval Medical Plants
For the purposes of this paper I will distinguish three classes of plants involved in medieval medicinal
botany, two of which have therapeutic significance. This system is based upon the writings of Pliny the
Elder’s (23-79 AD) Historia Naturalis originally published in Latin. Pliny is one of the earliest textual
sources for the terms vanitates magicae, plantae magicae, and hierabotane. His concepts involve three
broad classifications of medieval medical botany and provide the basis for discussion. The
classifications used herein will be: 1. Non-magical plants; 2. magical plants; and 3. magiferous plants.
Class 1- Non-magical plants
The plants found in Class 1, or non-magical plants, would be those ordinary plants or plant products that
were employed in a straightforward, naturalistic fashion, either singly or combined, for which no magical
properties were attributed. This would include the seeds, leaves, and roots of many farmyard or kitchen
garden plants. These might be used as the principal ingredients in decoctions, salves, powders,
electuraries and other medicaments. Such plants were familiar to medieval practitioners and functioned
in the same manner as foodstuffs and condiments of plant origin.
Some food stuffs were employed for therapeutic purposes. Examples include wheat, barley and rye that
would comprise the basic diet as well as function in the preparation of poultices. Barley water tea was
used almost universally in restorative diets as well as a topical cleansing agent for abrasions, skin
disorders and ulcerations.
The properties of non-magical or ordinary medicinal plants were described in period herbals. Because
of some detectable or overt physical property coupled with the weight of tradition or antiquity authority,
many ordinary plants were considered to possess some useful therapeutic quality. Such characteristics
as the pungent, hot taste of watercress (Nasturtium sp.), the biting astringency of an unripe quince
(Cydonia sp.), and the penetrating aroma and plasticity of several gums and resins (Myrrh, Gum Arabic,
or Frankensence) led many to believe in their medicinal value.
Class 2- Imaginary (Unreal) Magical Plants (Plantae Magicae)
The second class is composed of unreal and wholly imaginary plants and trees. Some of these were the
products of the magical arts, while others were simply part of the fabulous landscape known from
medieval romances. They possessed certain innate properties we would regard as magical or outside
the physical realm. Magical plants were part of the lore that existed from antiquity and were regarded as
“super natural.” It is difficult today to distinguish between plants of a fantastic or fabulous character and
those plantae magicae. The associated miraculous properties would have the ability to effect cures and
to heal the sick and infirm.
Plantae Magicae are not found in the medical botany texts that I have read. I have not found references
to the use of these fantastic plants in the preparation of syrups, elecuaries, medicaments or poultices. It
can be generally understood that the medieval practitioner would not be able to produce a medicament
out of any material that did not exist, even when the practitioner’s belief system included such plants.
However, there are illuminations and pictures from medieval herbals and other works that illustrates the
fantastic and fabulous attributes believed to be associated with these plant entities. Examples of the
plantae magicae would include the fictitious “amber tree” which grew in the ocean, the “tree of poison, “
or the “Phoenix nest” (the source of cinnamon).
Class 3- Magiferous or Magic Bearing Plants (Heirobotane or Sacred Plants)
The third class of plants, called “magiferous” in academic papers, are magic bearing only with the
intervention of a human agent. In medieval medicine magiferous is not confused with magical plants.
Magiferous plants are real plants that under specified conditions acquire certain properties and hence
therapeutic value which they do not normally possessed. The magiferous plants are subjected to the
magical arts thus their properties and uses are altered or supplemented in a magical fashion. Those
acquired properties generally will conform to contemporary medical, social and religious opinion and
practice.
Common plants, either indigenous to or naturalized in Europe, which are considered as magiferous
include betony (Stachys), celandine (Chelidonium), mugwort (Artemesisia), pervinca (Vinca), and rue
(Ruta). Other plants which were associated with “older” religions include oak (Quercus) and mistletoe
(Viscum ).
The Roman Church through its monastic orders preserved substantial portions of the classical works
following the dissolution of the Roman Empire. The fragments of Greco-Roman medicine that survived
were not the only forms of therapy available. During this period there were common folk traditions based
upon uses and customs regarding indigenous plants for therapeutic, domestic and ritualistic purposes. I
have not found any direct textual evidence in my primary sources for these purported uses.
Later texts, like the Lacnunga, Bald’s Leechbook and OE Herbarium, include allusions to these earlier
folk belief systems. These same pagan views regarding the therapeutic uses of plants later would be
associated with magiferous plants. Early church efforts to replace folk religious practices with Christianity
allowed for co-opting pagan beliefs and rituals providing it was acceptable to ecclesiastical authority.
Magiferous Examples:
Examples of magiferous plants and the manner of utilization can be found in classical texts from
antiquity. These texts were copied by members of religious orders for use in teaching, religious house
libraries, royal libraries and hospitals. Extant volumes of copied classical texts from most centuries in
SCA period can still be found in Western European museum libraries. Modern translations of both the
Greek and Latin medical botany treatises are commonly available in the form of the Loeb Classical
Library published by Harvard University Press.
Classical Texts:
Through the efforts of the Catholic Church, and its monastic orders, substantial portions of the classical
medical tradition survived the sundering of the Roman Empire. The religious houses are the source for
early medieval redactions of Greco-Roman medical texts. These texts were collected, studied,
annotated, excerpted and in some cases “new” revised editions were made.
I believe this work was carried out neither for altruistic reasons nor out of a sense of piety, but rather for
the immediate and practical value found therein. At a time when competent, professional medical care
was virtually nonexistent, a medical text or even a few recipes or charms provided hope for healing. The
religious houses grew herb gardens to facilitate the manufacture of medicaments, built libraries and
scriptoriums to house and reproduce the texts. Eventually these same orders built hospitals and
schools for training in the arts of healing, first to their own members and later to lay practitioners.
The De Medicina text:
Celsus was a prolific writer from the Roman Empire. While there is no evidence that he was a
practitioner himself, he produced medical treatise that has survived.
He describes the concept of “doctrine of signatures” in his work De Medicina. This doctrine ascribes a
“supernatural influence” that produced an outwardly visable “signature” upon those plants that have
medical uses thus allowing practitioners with training to decipher and utilize. This is a direct contrast to
Theophrastus and Aristotilean medical thought and is one of the earliest works I have found to
encompass the idea of magiferous plants. De Medicina includes the following specific remedies that
have magiferous qualities:
Black Hellebore – effective for black bile disease (melancholia)
White Hellebore – effective for swollen neck glands, expectoration of white phlegm
Worms boiled in oil – for suppurations containing maggots
Red light and red cloth – treatment for smallpox rash
The “doctrine of signatures” is sympathetic magic. This theory becomes popular in England with the
publication of Nicholas Cullpepper’s herbal in the 16th Century.
The Historia naturalis text:
Pliny’s encyclopedia of natural history records some great rites of the Roman Empire. One such
description includes sagmen, a sacred piece of ground, upon which a ceremonial cleansing with Verbena
(heirbotane) is performed to cure the ills of the state. Magiferous plant examples from Historia naturalis
include:
Hieracion, Urospermum picroides, hawk-plant- Pliny reports that accipiters (hawks and falcons) rip
heiracion apart to moisten their eyes to restore vision. He concluded that the juice, when mixed with
mother’s milk would heal eye diseases.
Nymphaea, Nymphaea alba, white water lily – According to tradition, wrote Pliny, Nympae was a nymph
who died of jealousy for Hercules. He concluded that drinking an extract of nyphaea for twelve
consecutive days would make the drinker incapable of intercourse.
Early Period Texts:
The early period medical botany texts represent the efforts of local practitioners to create a written
method of preserving local traditions of healing techniques within the context of classical writers. When
reviewing the Lacnunga, Bald’s Leechbook, and OE Herbarium with comparisons to the herbals of
antiquity the reader will notice significant similarities. The native English authors show a dependence on
the authority of ancient practitioner writers for many basic components of healing prescriptions. Healing
prescriptions are coupled with the prevailing attitude of the religious establishment found within the
Roman Catholic Church. This adds a sense of correctness and justification that a common man
receiving the treatment could acknowledge.
We find in English early period medical botany texts a unique combination of native tongue, Latin, Old
French, pagan and Roman Catholic ideas. These are melded into the rudimentary, ritualized
methodology for producing magiferous plants and medicaments.
I am presenting here only the modern English translation for the native English tongue found in the
original. The Latin and Old French are maintained for emphasis.
The Lacnunga Manuscript:
25. Sing this prayer over the black blains nine times: first “pater noster”; “Bind, bind, bind; calicet
aclu sedes adclocles acre earcre arnem nanabiud aer aernum nidren arcum cunad arcum arctua fligara
uglen binchi cutern nicuparam raf afd egal uflen arta arta arta trunacula trancula, as and you will find; by
the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit I bid you that you frown no larger but dry up; you will read on
the asp and the basilisk, and you will stamp on the lion and the dragon; cross Matthew, cross Mark, cross
Luke, cross John”.
29. This is the holy drink against elf-siden (1) and all temptations of the devil: write on
the housel-dish (2) “in the beginning was the word…” as far as “they did not understand” and further
“Jesus went round all Galilee teaching…” as far as “and a great crowd followed him”, “God, in your
name…” to the end; “ God have mercy on us…” to the end; “Lord God in assistance…” to the end. Take
cristall, and disma, and zedoary and hassock and fennel (3); and take a sester (4) full of blessed wine,
and bid a man without marks to fetch from stream in silence a half-sester of running water; take it an lay
all the plants in the water and wash the writing off the housel-dish completely in it; then pour the blessed
wine from above onto the other [liquid]; then carry it to church and have a mass sung over it, first “to all
the saints” second “against trouble” third “holy Mary”; sing these prayer psalms: “have mercy on me,
God”, “God, in your name”, “God have mercy on us”, “Lord, God”, “Bend, O Lord” and “I believe” and
“Glory to God in the highest”, and the litany, “Our Father”; and eagerly bless the name of the Lord
almighty, and say “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost may it be blessed”;
use it afterwards.
(1) elf-siden – nightmare, disturbing dream, afflicting flying venom, invasive phenomena
(2) housel – Eucharist, housel-dish would be the holy paten
(3) cristall- unidentified plant, Greek tradition, powerful against sorcery; disma – abbreviated form of
tansy, tanacetum; zedoary – tumeric, curcuma zedoaria; hassock – a sedge or grass, deschampsia
caespitosa; fennel – foeniculum vulgare
(4) sester – Latin sextarius, a particular kind of vessel, a unit of measure
Bald’s Leechbook - Book III:
64. For devil and for madness, a mild drink: put into ale hassock, lupin’s roots, fennel, radish,
betony, hindhealth, marche, rue, wormwood, catmint, elecampane, elfthon, wolf’s comb; sing twelve
masses over the drink and let him drink it; it will soon be better for him. A drink for the devil’s
temptations: hawthorn, cropleek, lupin, radish, bishopwort, fennel, hassock, betony; hallow these plants,
put holy water into ale and let the drink be inside where the sick person is, and always before he may
drink it, sing thrice over the drink “dues in nominee tuo saluum me fac”
OE Herbarium – Manuscript V:
8. Lionfoot – This herb, which one calls ‘pedum leonis’ and by another name ‘lionfoot’, is produced in
open land and in ditches and in reed-beds. 1. If someone be in the affliction that he be ‘bewitched’ you
can unbind him then; take five bushes of this plant which we named lionfoot, boil in water under a waning
moon and wash him with it and lead him out of the house before nightfall and waft him with the plant
which is called ‘aristolochiam’ (smearwort) and when he goes out let him not look back, thus you can
unbind him from the affliction.
European Texts
These texts were built upon the knowledge found in the classical works from antiquity, the early period
works, folk tradition, and belief. Concepts of the correctness in using magiferous plants show an
increased dependence upon ritual.
Italian Manuscript of 1396, Francesco di Marco Datini, The Merchant of Prato
Regarding a woman suffering from malaria:
“If she would be healed speedily, let three sage-leaves be picked at morn before sunrise, and let the
man who picks them do so on his bended knees, saying three Our Fathers and three Hail Mary’s in
honour of God and the Holy Trinity, then send the leaves here in a letter, and I will write some words on
each. And as the fever approaches let her say and Our Father and a Hail Mary, and then eat a leaf, and
so for each one of the three… But she must have faith, for if she does not, they will be of no avail.”
English Religious Medical Practitioners
St. Bede; English Historian and Doctor of the Church (672-735), OP; Historia ecclesiastica gentis
anglorum
St. Bede justifies illness as a method of purification for the soul in preparation to ascend into heaven.
Here we see the conceptual seeds of the idea that illness is God’s method of separating the clean
(religious) from the unclean (sinner). We still find in society today the idea that disease is an outward
mark of the condition of one’s soul.
St. Albert the Great [Albertus Magnus] (1193-1280), Bishop, OP; the Roman Catholic Church recognizes
St Albert as “Doctor Universalis
Albert wrote commentary on the Corpus Aristotelicum for the Dominican Order. His work, De vegetabilis
libri setum, avoids references to the various incantations and magical rites associated with the collecting
and harvesting of medical plants. Albertus does reinforce ecclesiastically approved rites for various
plants used in pendants, medallions and amulets. The plants included in the approved list by Albert are
betonica, ruta, salvia and verbena.
Albertus and the church derail the use of oak galls by the Aeromantici for the purpose of divination and
the use of iusquiamus (Hyocscyanmus niger, henbane)
by necromancers for invoking demons. [qui in nigromantia]
Albertus also considers the use of populus (Populus sp.; poplar) for women as an arbortifacient [non
concipiat, sed sterilis efficiatur] to be unworthy of true medical practice. He attributes such uses to
enchanters [incantatores].
Gilbertus de Aquila or Gilbertus Anglicus, cleric in major orders, physician to the English King by 1207
and probably was educated abroad [the medical school at the university in Salerno]. His work represents
the largest published English medical text in period. As a cleric in major orders he could not perform
surgery or cautery as these would have been life threatening. Clerics would practice in the areas of
prognostication, urine diagnosis and diet/nutrition therapy as well as herbcraft.
Astrological Medical Botany
Astrological medical botany gains great favor after the Black Death of 1348-1350 AD which ravaged
Europe. The French king asked the medical faculties how such a plague could have came to be without
any warning. He was answered that the great conjunction of Jupiter and Mars predicted the Black Death
several years prior, but because it was not part of the curriculum of the schools, the medical practitioners
were unprepared. On hearing this explanation he ordered astrology to be included in the teaching of
medicine in France.
Paracelsus
Theophrastus Bombast von Hohenheim (1493-1541) known as Paracelsus, was an alchemist, physician,
and professor of medicine at the university in Basle. He is the author of several pseudo-botanical and
alchemical texts. Paracelsus was a proponent of the “Doctrine of Signatures” which holds that medicinal
plants are stamped by God with a clear indication of their respective uses or medical properties.
Dr. von Hohenheim, as a professor of medicine, did not demonstrate the correct and accepted level of
humility towards the classical texts of antiquity. He publicly destroyed and burnt texts by Galen, Pliny and
Theophrastus while promoting his own works as the only truth. These actions resulted in his dismissal
from the University and ridicule by his colleagues. Thereafter he is unable to obtain employment again in
the field of teaching.
Magiferous Plants Attributes
I have comprised the following brief herbal from the list of magiferous type plants I have researched in
various medical botanical works. This is a very short listing and is used here for the purpose of
illustration only. These are not the only magiferous plants and the attributes are certainly not
exhaustive, but are included to provide the reader with a sense of period context.
Betony
The OE name betonice is taken over directly from Latin, also known as Bishopswort, and woundwort, the
herb was once widely used for all forms of headache, neuralgia, and palpitations. The OE Herbarium
(MS V section 1) says “This herb, which one calls ‘betonica’, … has might for both a man’s soul and his
body; it shields him against terrible night-goers and frightening visions and dreams, and the herb is very
holy, and you must take it therefore in the month of August, without iron; and when you have taken it,
shake the dirt off so that no part of it sticks on, and then dry it in the shade very thoroughly, and with the
roots as well make it to a dust, then use it as you have need.”
A medical poem of c. 1400 says “who so betonye on him bere/ from wykked sperytes it wyll him were” or
“Whoever may carry betony on him, it will guard him against wicked spirits.”
The original use of the plant was essentially amuletic, being worn about the neck while sleeping, but
subsequent texts are more inclined to attribute its calming effect to its smell.
English tradition for betony includes its protective value against nightmares, delusions and harmful
spirits. It is referenced for such into the 17th century. The original source is probably the Herbarium
Apuleii that circulated in various copies and translations throughout the Medieval period. Pollington, pg
101
“Whoever is plagued by wrong dreams should have betony leaves close by when going to sleep, and this
person will see and feel fewer bad dreams.” St. Hildegard, PL 1182B-1183A
Greater Celandine
OE Materia Medicas: cildenige, celdenie, celedonie, or wortwort. The OE name is an inporatation
through Latin of Greek Chelidonion. The OE Herbarium gives five remedies using this plant, which has
narcotic and toxic properties. It has been used in the treatment of jaundice, eczema and scrofula. It
exudes an orange latex when cut or bruised which is a powerful irritant; this effect is mitigated in the
leechdoms by heating or drying. Pollington, pg 108
Mugwort
Leechdom 79: (The Nine Herb Charm) mugwort is called the “oldest of plants” (yldost wyrta).
Leechdom 178 prescribes ‘red’ mugwort for men and ‘green’ for women. The plant is named after Diana
who is named Artemis.
Tradition holds that the it be harvested before sunrise with a short magical invocation ‘tollam te artemisia
ne lassus sum in via’; that it should be hallowed with the sign of the cross as it is picked. Later tradition
also assigns to the plant the power to protect a house from harmful spirits, a belief that held into the 15th
century. The mane mucgwyrt betrays its links with midges (mycgas) which are said to be attracted by
the plant’s fragrance. Pollington, pg 142.
Rue
St. Hildegard presents a series of anitmelancholica herbs including Rue. She recommends chewing one
leaf promptly after eating a meal. It neutralizes the “black bile.” St. Hildegard CC 146, 4
Rue is one of the components of Mithridatium. Pliny the Elder attributes this antidote to poisoning from
Mithridates VI Eupator, King of Pontus (~63 BC):
“Two dried walnuts, two figs and twenty
Leaves of rue pounded together with a
Bit of salt; whoever took this fasting
Would be immune to all poison on that day.”
Pliny, Natural History, XXIII
Verbena
St. Hildegard recommends this herb be boiled with Vermouth in equal parts to make a mouth wash,
remove toxic blood and to cleanse the body of putrefication or pus formation. St. Hildegard CC 173, 14
and PL 1190 B
Pliny raises this lowly plant to major significance as the premier Heirobotane. Pliny states it was “used by
the people of Gaul in fortune-telling and in uttering prophecies. The Magi claim that people rubbed with
the plant obtain their wishes, banish fevers, win friends, and cure all diseases without exception.”
Pliny, Natural History, 25.59.106
Dioscorides states the name comes from its use as an amulet and in purification rites.
Pseudo-Apuleius recommends wearing the root suspended from the neck as a cure for ulcera of the
throat and swollen glands.
Mistletoe
Mistletoe was revered in ancient northern Europe because of its liminal nature- neither plant nor shrub,
and bearing leaves while its deciduous host had shed its own. The berries may have been regarded as
the host tree’s vital force or semen, and protected against lightning, fire and witchcraft; invocation of
sexual license.
The mistletoe wand was credited with killing the Norse god Baldur at the hand of his trouble making
brother, Loki.
The leaves were used in the preparation of a treatment for epilepsy, and the berries against stitch and
sudden, severe pain.
Oak
The oak tree was associated strongly with the ancient gods of the sky; Zeus, Thunor and Jupiter.
Magical smoke for driving away serpents and maleficia specifies charcoal from oak trees. About the year
1000 AD, oaken torches (aecanan brande) are employed in a medico-magical ritual. This ritual,
accompanied with Christian prayers, was designed to counteract “flying venom.” Lacnunga 133.
Oaken made instruments are specified as the tools used to collect magiferous plants.
Oak galls, a source of tannic acid, were used as an astringent and hemeostatic by both folk medicine
and school medicine practitioners.
Oak galls, along with hazel bush were part of “seeing” or prognostication for the patient prior to the
beginning of therapy. Other plants used in this ritual formula include mugwort, pimpernel, celandine, and
catnip. Stannard V, pg 37
Vinca
French tradition holds that its use was in love potions and various charms. Apuleian tradition assigns
beneficial properties, the bearer is always prosperous and welcome. Leaves used in muscle cramp and
for its astringent properties.
Ritual Collection Example
I have talked extensively about the process of making the ordinary plant into a magiferous plant for use
as a medicament. The following example is for the collection of Verbena, a magiferous plant that has no
current medical uses. In period this small plant was ascribed as being an all heal or panacea, with the
ability to cure almost any disease found in man and beast.
Ritual collection for Verbena:
1. Specified time, season, day. Proper collection time determined for anthesis. For verbena, the
Middle English text by Garrett, ME Rimed Medical Treatise states:
“Als maitres us telles he gadered schalbe
wt pater nosters and aves thre
ffastande if the weber be grill
be twix middle marche and mydde aprill.”
Another text specifies St. John the Baptist’s, or Midsummer, Day. The association of magiferous plants
can be seen in the Shakespeare play “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
2. Prayers, invocations and/or charms are spoken. A formulaic consecration of the plant followed,
either in the field or at the place of preparation. For verbena the early German formula follows:
“wie man verbena peschweren sol.
So ge am sandt Johanns nach obett,
Wo das krut wacht, nim silber oder gold,
Perchwer das krut also und sprich:
Ich peshwer dich verbena,
Ein wurtzel aller kruter,
Bi Gott dem vatter…….
Namen unser herren Jesu Christi + omnipotens + amen +”
Grabner: 77 nomina sacra
3. Tools for processing of the raw plant into the herba sacra. Here is where the oaken made mortar
and pestle, bowls, mace, and table were required. The outward appearance of the plant would be
unchanged but its properties were now sacred. Adding a heirobotane to a composita would increase its
value. Our verbena is now miriface sanat. Pseudo-Apuleius, Herbarius III
This would be a component in the holy salve, the well known emplastrum gratia dei. Lacnunga 63
Conclusion:
In sum, there are essentially three influences upon the development of medieval medical botany:
Greco-Roman school medicine-philosophic rational for therapy
Christianity- sometimes flexible sometimes strict orthodoxy
Pagan/Folk medicine-gods, heroes, men, and trees coexist equally
In each case the use of certain plants for therapeutic purposes was an accepted fact. It was also
generally accepted that the function of those plants was enhanced by an appeal to something beyond
the events in the physical world. This loosely textured eclecticism prevailed and appeared in
leechbooks, herbals, and recipe books through the Medieval time frame.
I can conclude from the preponderance of evidence presented that the ideas found at the outset of the
thesis are validated. This does not preclude that other equally valid ideas about the use of medical
botany may be true during the same time frame. Each of us today is looking back upon such times past
using our own personal yardstick and individual collective knowledge to measure the reasoning found in
medieval society.
I will hold, however, from my personal research that the thesis is valid and that there existed a close
relationship between medicine and magic as demonstrated by the use of magiferous plants in the
medieval period. Further, the use of magiferous plants was based in medieval society upon the belief
that the healing properties were capable of being invoked and directed towards specific ends, through
appropriate means, by a human agency.
The use of such magiferous plant material caused the ordinary person living in medieval Europe, prior to
1350, to expect a positive outcome in treating illnesses. This may have changed with the advent of the
“Black Death” (1348-1350 AD).
Magiferous medical plants were prepared as medicaments, in period, by both the university educated
physician as well as the folk practitioner. Use of such medicaments crossed social and economic strata,
and were accepted as a normal component of medicine and healing. The storehouse of lore and
knowledge on the ritual use of such magiferous plants can be found in religious and secular libraries
allowing for its contemplation over an extended time frame.
Glossary:
The following is a brief glossary of terms used or alluded to within the above paper. I have given as
short but I hope adequate explanation.
Aelfsiden OE– enchanted by an elf.
Burgrune OE – one skilled in mysteries; from helrune or hellerune – one skilled in the mysteries of the
world of the dead.
Domus medicorum Latin- physicians quarters, most often associated with a religious house, abbey or
monastery.
Esa OE – heathen gods, non Christian gods.
Ethno-pharmacology – the folk healing tradition of any given area, taking the form of herbal remedies,
poultices, potions, ointments, and amulets. It can also include general procedures to procure a cure.
Fleogende attor OE – flying venom, an infectious disease which spreads rapidly.
Galdorcraeft OE – magic, skill of power singing or chanting, a verbal spell
Associated with galdor - oral magic, charms.
Herbularius Latin- herbal garden, most often associated with a religious house, abbey or monastery.
Leech –from Laece OE – common term for a healer of any kind, is not connected to the leech which is a
bloodsucking parasite.
Compounds from laece include laecedom – leechdom or remedy, laeceiren or lancet and laecefinger or
healing finger, now known as ring-finger.
Runstafas OE – runic marks or written magic.
Waelcyrie OE cognate of the Norse valkyrja – chooser of the slain.
Wiccan OE – witch, by some regarded as a corruption of the witega or prophet and seer, an invoker or
summoner of supernatural powers.
Wyrtgaelstre OE – wortcharmer, one who charms plants or herbs by singing over them. Non-Christian
incantations were forbidden by the Church, as a form of idolatry, during the time period covered in this
paper.
Ylfa OE – elves.
Ylfa gescot OE – elfshot, a common cause of disease and suffering, explanation for rheumatism, arthritis
and stitch.
Ylfig OE– elfy, insane, mad, demonic possession.
Bibliography
I have added some brief comments after the citation. These comments represent my own opinion and
should not be construed as academic sustenance.
Classical
Celsus, A. Cornelius; De Medicina, eight volumes, (Loeb Classical Library) atin text published ca 30 AD,
English translation by W. G. Spencer; Harvard University Press, 1935.
This text, in eight volumes, is based upon four period manuscripts made between 800-1400 AD, located
in the Laurentian Library, Florence and the Vatican Library. Used in period as a teaching text.
Pliny (Plinius Caecilius Secundus or Pliny the Elder), Natural History, Ed. H. R. Rackham, et al. (Loeb
Classical Library) (10 volumes), Harvard University Press, 1938-1962.
These texts contain the encyclopedic thirty-seven books in ten volumes of Pliny’s Historia naturalis.
Translated from the Latin, one of the most copied and quoted authorities in Medieval Europe. A
collection of science and pseudo-science that many period masters took to be the literal truth.
Period
Arano, Luisa Cogliati; The Medieval Health Handbook, Tacuinum Sanitatis, 2nd ed., Oscar Ratti and
Adele Westbrook translators, George Braziller, New York, 1996.
This text contains color reproductions of some of the original colored plates which were produced
following Dioscoride’s Herbaria Codex. Plates were probably produced ca 1375 to 1400. 48 color plates
and 243 black-and-white plates. With commentary.
Fuchs, Leonhart; The New Herbal of 1543, coloured ed., Tashen, Klon, Germany, 2001.
This text contains a complete replication of the authors personal copy which was hand colored. The
original is housed in the Municipal Library of Ulm. With minimal commentary.
Getz, Faye Marie; Healing and Society in Medieval England, A Middle English Translation of the
Pharmaceutical Writings of Gilberus Anglicus, The University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 1991.
This text contains the Middle English translation (ca 1460) [and notes] of a Latin text, Compendium
medicinae, by Gilbertus Anglicus (ca 1250). The text was thought to be lost until Dr. Getz discovery in
the Wellcome Institute Library, London. With commentary.
Green , Monica H. ed and trans; The Trotula, An English Translation of the Medieval Compendium of
Women’s Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2002.
A translation of one of the treatises found in Tony Hunt’s Anglo-Norman Medicine Vol II. With long
commentary.
Hildegard of Bingen; Holistic Healing, The Liturgical Press, Collegeville, Minnesota, 1994. ( A
translation of Causae et curae)
This text was translated by Manfred Pawlik and Patrick Madigan, SJ, edited by Mary Palmquist and John
Kulas, OSB. Originally published as Causae et Curae ca 1158.
Hunt, Tony; Anglo-Norman Medicine, Vol I and Vol II, D. S. Brewer, Cambridge, Great Britain, 1997.
These texts contains the whole of the Anglo-Norman medical texts found in the Trinity College Library
from the thirteenth century. Both texts are presented in the treatises original language and are not
translated. With commentary.
Hunt, Tony; The Medieval Surgery, The Boydell Press, Suffolk, Great Britain, 1992.
This text contains fifty-one drawings from Trinity College, Cambridge, MS 0.1.20. The drawings
represent English workmanship around 1230-1240 by an unknown artist for the text Chirurgia. With
commentary.
Pollington, Stephen; Leechcraft, Early English Charms, Plant Lore, and Healing, Anglo-Saxon Books,
Redwood Books, Trowbridge, England, 2000.
This text contains both the Old English text as well as a modern English translation of three complete
early medical texts. The text also includes excerpts from surviving manuscripts. With much commentary.
Academic
Arber, Agnes; Herbals, Their Origin and Evolution, A Chapter in the History of Botany, 1470- 1670, 3rd
ed., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1990.
Collins, Minta; Medieval Herbals, The Illustrative Traditions, The British Library and University of Toronto
Press, London, 2000.
Rawcliffe, Carole; Medicine for the Soul, The Life, Death and Resurrection of an English Medieval
Hospital, St. Giles’s, Norwich, c. 1249-1550, Sutton Publishing,
Bodmin, Corwall, Great Britain, 1999.
Rawcliffe, Carole; Medicine & Society In Later Medieval England, Sandpiper Books, Sutton Publishing,
Trowbridge, Wiltshire, Great Britain, 1995.
Stannard, Jerry; Herbs and Herbalism in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, Ashbate Varioum,
Aldershot, Great Britain, 1999.
Stannard, Jerry, Pristina Medicamenta, Ancient and Medieval Medical Botany,
Ashgate Varioum, Aldershot, Great Britain, 1999.
THL Fiachrae Bonesetter
Darrell E. Samples
darrell@fiachrabonesetter.com
Magiferous Plants and Magic in Medieval
Medical Botany
THL Fiachra Bonesetter
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