1 month ago - During the early Middle Ages, botany had undergone drastic changes from that of its antiquity predecessor (Greek practice). An early medieval treatise in the West on plants known as the Ex herbis femininis was largely based on Dioscorides Greek text: De material medica.

The Development of Medical Botany and Pharmacology During the Middle AgesOverviewOnce early humans developed the ability to reason, they began to experiment with various plants and herbs. Through the process of trial and error, early humans discovered which plants might be used as a food source, which could be used to flavor food or drink, which caused sickness or death, and which had medicinal value.

In this selection of papers on ... of modern pharmacology to measure the descriptive accuracy and therapeutic efficacy of Materia Medica from Hippocrates to the Renaissance....

We offer an interdisciplinary theoretical and methodological framework toward broadening the interpretative scope of medieval archaeobotanical datasets, with an emphasis on humoral and spiritual ontologies. ... It is challenging to identify clear, tangible evidence for medicinal plant use in medieval archaeobotanical datasets, partly because of the differential preservation of plant parts and species, and the difficulty of interpreting remains recovered in low quantities.

January 28, 2026 - Knowledge of medieval botanicals was closely related to medicine because the plant's principal use was for remedies. Herbals were structured by the names of the plants, identifying features, medicinal parts of plant, therapeutic properties, and some included instructions on how to prepare and ...

Three studies of the scholastic botany of Albertus Magnus form the centrepiece of the collection, and the detailed indexes cover both common and scientific names of plants. ... Books with Buzz Discover the latest buzz-worthy books, from mysteries and romance to humor and nonfiction. Explore more · 'Pristina Medicamenta stands as one of the most outstanding contributions to the study of classical and Medieval botany currently in print' Herbs- Journal of the Herb Society 'Jerry Stannard probably did more than any man this century to kindle academic interest in ancient medical botany, yet his death in 1988 scarcely attracted more than a single obituary.

This article outlines the early development of medical botany and pharmacology during the Middle Ages and identifies the role of the Silk Roads in helping fuel an incredible period of scholarship, particularly within the field of medicine, during the 8th and 9th centuries CE.

September 1, 2001 - Stannard would have dealt with this question by looking at less-well-known authors and texts in order to pinpoint the contributions of Greek medical theory; philosophical schools; Christian, pagan, and magical beliefs; folklore; and observations of local flora (see, e.g., the essays on Lucian, Aretaeus, Marcellus of Bordeaux, and Benedict Crispus in PM; and on Joachim Camerarius and Hans von Gersdorff in HH). He would have continued to mine the vast, largely anonymous literature of botanical glossaries, medical recipes, and craft treatises for what they could reveal about the knowledge and uses of plants in the Middle Ages (see the three essays on rezeptliteratur in HH).

January 13, 2023 - Roman and Celtic botanical lore started to be recorded, blending folk remedies with Greek medical theories. This transition to written herbals laid the groundwork for medieval texts.

As a specialist in German mediaeval studies, until the time Peter Bierbaumer introduced me to Old English plant names and approached me with the idea of republishing and updating his Der botanische Wortschatz des AltenglischenI had no idea how fascinating Old English could be. ... The present paper surveys the medicinal applications of a number of fossils which were well known in classical, mediaeval and renaissance times….

October 28, 2024 - The attribution to plants of magical and wondrous healing properties is not peculiar to the Middle Ages; nor is the belief that those properties or operationes

Common diseases during the Middle Ages and plants used to treat them.

January 23, 2024 - Some plants were used for specific ... were made up of many different herbs. Medieval medicine was based on the four humeral theories notion of Hippocrates and Galen....

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March 4, 2010 - Their illustrations include scientific representations of plants and other substances used as medicines, as well as illustrations featuring other factors that influence human health. The illustraions offer snapshots of medieval daily life, environment and activities. Such images are of particular importance to the history of botanical knowledge and illustration, Touwaide points out in the study volume.

Galen, a physician considered the “medical pope” of the Middle Ages, wrote extensitvely about the body’s four “humors” — the four fluids that were thought to permeate the body and influence its health. Drugs developed by Galen were made from herbs that he collected from all over the world. The studies of botany and medicine became very closely linked during the Middle Ages.

January 12, 2026 - Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Codex Vindobonensis 93 The Medicina Antiqua is an elaborately decorated copy of the Herbarius complex, a medieval anthology of medicine. The Medicina Antiqua was produced in early 13th-century Italy when medical education was based on Imperial Roman ...

Launched on July 1, 2008, The Medieval Garden Enclosed immediately established a loyal following: 182 posts, 528,582 visits, and readers from 199 countries from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe were recorded through December 2013. This blog will continue to serve as a valuable resource for interpreting ...

Many of the recipes are written in Latin, and some in French, but a substantial proportion are written in Middle English, and illustrate the beginnings of the circulation of medical knowledge in the vernacular language of this country. A wide range of ingredients - animal, mineral and vegetable - are mentioned in these recipes. There are herbs that are known today - such as sage, rosemary, thyme, bay and mint - as well as common perennial plants: walwort, henbane, betony and comfrey. Ingredients were often mixed with common products such as ale, white wine, vinegar, milk or honey, but medieval physicians also exploited international trade networks, using cumin, pepper, ginger and other spices in their formulations.

Wonderful series of miniatures from a late 12th-century herbal with delightfully abstract depictions of plants including Cannabis), and a variety of medieval medical procedures, such as cauterization and the removal of haemorrhoids.