Lizard shampoo and Spheres of death – new work sheds light on Dark Age medicine

New research led by the University of St Andrews has redefined existing assumptions about medicine in the Middle Ages.  

In collaboration with the Universities of Utrecht, Oslo, Binghamton and Fordham, researchers have more than doubled the known number of manuscripts with medical texts in them from the first millennium.  

They have revealed that, in what was supposed to be a dark age for medical knowledge, there was huge interest in collecting cures and sharing authoritative health advice. Moreover, the project has been able to show medieval Christians adopting insights from non-Christian ancient Greek medicine to understand the rational structures of nature. 

The project was funded by the British Academy and looked at medieval manuscripts in archives across the world and library catalogues. Much of this had been previously overlooked because it is transmitted in manuscripts containing non-medical works such as theology, grammar and science, often copied in margins or on blank pages. 

Researchers found that many medical recipes included exotic herbs and spices that had to travel thousands of miles to reach Europe. Cloves and black pepper, for instance, could come from as far away as Indonesia. Cinnamon could come from Sri Lanka. Cumin and saffron from Persia. Use of such ingredients shows lively long-distance trade across Europe, Africa and Asia, inviting us to rethink how global the medieval world was. 

The popularity of seasonal healthcare and dietary regimes to prevent illness discovered has surprising parallels with modern day social media wellness influencers. Many of the texts promoted the importance of a disciplined lifestyle as the best way to stay healthy, including moderacy in everything and eating seasonal food, as well as all sorts of herbal potions to cure every ailment and reduce toxins. 

They also found a panoply of beauty products including ‘lizard shampoo’ – surprising as many were copied by monks. 

Researchers were also intrigued by the popularity of non-Christian prognostic texts such as the “Sphere of Pythagoras” to predict outcomes of illness or things like the sex of a baby. 

Professor James Palmer, from the School of History at the University of St Andrews, said: “It shows us that, in what was supposed to be a dark age for medical knowledge, there was huge interest in collecting cures and sharing authoritative health advice. Moreover, we have been able to show medieval Christians adopting insights from non-Christian ancient Greek medicine to understand the rational structures of nature.” 

“One of the main findings was that medical knowledge got everywhere, with recipes and other texts jotted down in books on theology, natural science or language. It shows people were curious about medicine and collected all sorts of things that might be useful, from ancient works by Hippocrates and Galen, to local traditional wisdom. It’s a long way from the classic image of the Church rejecting medicine while people wallowed in superstition.” 

The team hope that the project will show the early Middle Ages in a more positive light by highlighting just how much more people valued knowledge. They will be co-authoring a book to make their findings accessible to a wider audience. They will also be publishing editions and translations of some of these new texts to encourage the next generations of researchers. 

ENDS