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Herbs in the Middle Ages Wild plants have been used in food and medicine for hundreds of years. In the Middle Ages herbal knowledge often lay in monasteries, with their 'physick' gardens, but was also passed on through local folklore and word of mouth. Herbs had many uses. For strewing and to repel insects, for cooking and medicine, for decoration, to use as a dye and for their properties linked to tradition and superstition. Many herbs have medicinal properties. Meadowsweet has now been shown to contain aspirin, which is named after its old botanical name. Lavender is a versatile herb which not only helps with sleep and headaches; but bunches were also put into washing to keep insects away. |
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Lovage was laid inside shoes to revive the feet of weary travellers, whilst lemon balm was said to cure baldness! Some were known as 'plague herbs'. Plague ravaged the country from 1348-50. Rosemary was carried in a neck pouch to be sniffed when travelling through suspicious areas. Bay, vervain and angelica were also thought to ward off the plague. Herbs were useful in cooking. For instance, pot marigold was so named because it was put in the pot along with the vegetables and it was 'pot luck' which bit you received in your meal. Good King Henry was used very much like spinach. Alecost was used to clarify and give a minty flavour to beer. Rosemary was wrapped around meats to preserve them, and at Easter tansy was made into a rich custardy pudding of the same name.
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Smells,
Scents and Superstition
Strewing herbs were scattered on floors to make rooms more fragrant and to help keep out insects. Herbs often had local names and Meadowsweet was also known as 'bridewort' as it was strewn along the aisle for brides to walk on. Its other name was 'courtship and matrimony'. The heady smell of the flowers represented courtship, whilst the sharper smell of the foliage represented the reality of marriage. Woodruffe was also used on the floor, to stuff beds and perfume linen. It is only fragrant when dried and if added to a wine cup it was said to 'make a man merrie'. Lady's Bedstraw was named after the Virgin Mary who laid on a bed of it at the stable in Bethlehem. It was said that the donkey had eaten all the fodder! Traditionally a woman laying on Lady's Bedstraw would have a safe and easy childbirth. |
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Herbs were
used to colour food and fabrics. Lady's Bedstraw was used to colour
cheese and was also said to be used by dairymaids to dye their
hair. Woad was used to make blue dye. The mills where it was crushed
and fermented were recorded as having a foul smell. The leaves
of Lady's Mantle would be boiled for a green wool dye, whilst
madder made red and weld and agrimony made yellow.
Folklore also showed some herbs to have special properties. Heartease, also known as 'love lies bleeding' and 'love in idleness', was said to mend a broken heart. Borage was for courage. The star shaped flower was floated on the stirrup cups of men as they went off to the Crusades. Rosemary was said to 'keep thee youngly'. Lemon balm was sewn into a herb bag as a lucky love charm. And both women and men should note that where parsley flourishes'missus is master'. |
