Four Anglo-Saxon Cures from Bald's Leechbook

This was my first entry ever, for Lions Gate's 2018 Canterbury Fayre.

I was super nervous to present, but it was a great experience, and I was super happy with how it came out! Below is a copy of my documentation.




Four Anglo-Saxon Cures from Bald's Leechbook
Aldus Fairclogh
Shire of Lionsdale

British Museum




Upon reading the title "Leechbook," one would be forgiven for assuming the term "leech" refers to the common practice throughout Western history of bloodletting as a cure for most, if not all maladies. And indeed, this practice is recommended plenty in this particular book of cures, which was written in the tenth century, and contains a collection of remedies commonly advised at the time, both from Mediterranean sources, and more local Anglo-Saxon and native British traditions. However, the term "leech" simply referred to an English doctor, and Bald was the man who ordered the book to be written (MacGowan). Hence, Bald's Leechbook.




There are many notable cures listed in the leechbook, ranging from amusing (against a woman’s chatter; taste at night fasting a root of radish, that day the chatter cannot harm thee) to disgusting (a plethora of cures involving a salve containing the dung or tord of various animals) to downright improbable (In case a man be a lunatic; take skin of a mereswine or porpoise, work it into a whip, swinge the man therewith, soon he will be well. Amen.) (Cockayne.) Then there is the recipe for an eye salve, containing onion, garlic and part of a cow's stomach, that was in 2015 found to be effective against methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, otherwise known as MRSA (BBC).




The history of medicine is a long and storied one, and throughout history, most of the people who proclaimed themselves doctors or physicians had little to no formal training, and some had dubious motives. Furthermore, the concept of the scientific method is fairly new. Although humans have always, in theory, had the mental capacity to recognize cause and effect, many of the so called "remedies" recorded throughout history (those in the Leechbook being no exception,) call this into question.




Take the practice of bleeding, for instance. Excepting the occasional case of high blood pressure or other specific maladies in which the procedure may be somewhat helpful, bleeding was bound to have had a negative effect on most of the people who were treated with it. Anemics, pregnant women, and anyone who ended up with an infection at the site of the cut (which would have been common, considering that the concept of sterilization is also relatively recent) would have no doubt had a negative and even fatal reaction to the treatment. And yet it continued for hundreds of years. Surely the first man who decided to put goat dung on an open wound and ended up with a nasty infection would not have recommended it to his friends as an effective cure. And yet, the Leechbook, and many other references like it, wholeheartedly recommend the application of various animal defecations as a treatment for everything from open wounds to a sore shoulder (Cockayne.)




We may never know exactly why so many useless and downright dangerous "cures" were advised for so long. And when reading through the Leechbook, it's easy to come to the conclusion that the few and far between cures that would actually hold up under the scrutiny of modern medicine are simply there by happenstance. If one recommends enough different herbs for a cough, eventually one will have some sort of anti-inflammatory properties. But there are arguments to the contrary. There is strong evidence in favour of the placebo effect, for one. And there are remedies that would have been somewhat effective, even if not for the reasons those using them might have thought. Remedies that called for acidic substances to be mixed in copper or brass vessels, for instance, would have produced copper salts, which are anti-septic in nature (BHP). And many herbs do have anti-bacterial properties that would be effective on a sore throat or open wound. But whether these were effects that were recognized and confirmed through repeated use, or simply a product of the law of large numbers, we may never know.






It's also relevant to note that while modern medicine is leaps and bounds ahead of its Anglo-Saxon counterpart, human beings today are still perfectly susceptible to bogus medical claims. Even in the face of science and decades of medical research, there remains a plethora of books, websites and social media posts recommending treatments and remedies that have no proven effectiveness and may even be dangerous, especially when utilized in place of proper medical treatment. Furthermore, when researching the herbs listed in the Leechbook, I found many instances of their use still being recommended. It is difficult sometimes to know whether a treatment is being recommended because it has been proven scientifically to be effective, or simply because it has a long history and word of mouth to back it up. In this way, we might not be so far removed from our Anglo-Saxon ancestors as we might initially like to think.






For this project, I decided to recreate a selection of innocuous cures (no goat dung here) from the Leechbook, and assess them based on our modern medical knowledge of the ingredients. Below I will detail the remedies I chose, and my process in recreating them.














Remedy #1: Wound Salve














Cockayne 327

The ingredients to this remedy are fairly simple. Yarrow is a common flower that grows wild in North America, and can be easily accessed. Woodruff is more commonly known by the name Sweetscented Bedstraw, and is native to Europe. Fieldmore is an usual term that luckily is translated in the index of Leechdoms, Wortcunning, and Starcraft of Early England to mean a carrot or parsnip (Cockayne 383). Finally, Solwherf gave me some trouble, but I finally discovered it to be the old English word for the common flower Calendula, a type of Marigold (Eberly). I ordered dried yarrow, woodruff and calendula from a botanical supplier, and purchased a bunch of carrots from my local grocery store and chopped up the leaves. For the butter, I used plain, unsalted, and the cloth, a scrap piece of linen.













After one false start of burning the butter, I successfully boiled the herbs in the butter and strained them through the linen. The result is basically just melted butter with some infused herbs. But would it do anything for a wound?






Unfortunately, butter is not a good treatment for wounds. Especially in its unsalted form, butter is susceptible to bacterial growth, which can lead to infection (4 Agents…). Yarrow and Calendula, however, are both astringents, which means that when applied to the skin they can cause it to tighten, which is helpful for the stopping of bleeding (Astringent Herbs and Tannins). As for the carrot tops, I was unable to find any medicinal benefits to them, although they can apparently be nice in a salad.






In conclusion, this remedy may have been somewhat effective, provided the wound didn't become infected. Additionally, boiling the ingredients, and by extension the cloth used to strain the herbs and treat the wound, would have helped avoid infection, even if the doctor administering the treatment didn't realize this.










Remedy #2: For Host or Cough














Cockayne 313






Marrubium might be more commonly recognized by the name Horehound. Marketed as a cold and cough medicine in the USA until the 1989, when the FDA challenged its efficacy, it is still sold and used for colds in many parts of Europe (Duke). As an herbal tea, it is safe to drink (unless you are pregnant or suffer from stomach ulcers) so drunk hot, it certainly wouldn't hurt a sore throat (McVicar).






The secondary recipe however, is a little more complicated. It's well known that honey has antibacterial and antiseptic properties, and was even found to be more effective at curing a sore throat than dextromethorphan, a common cough suppressant (Steckleberg). However, the recipe instructs to boil the honey, which many studies say can greatly reduce honey's antibacterial properties (Heating Honey…).






















In the end, however, this remedy for a cough does seem like it might be effective, particularly the drink of hot marrubium tea, sweetened by honey. As for the solid honey with infused marrubium, it may be effective, provided the honey was not boiled for very long. It's also important to remember that in most cases, a cough will eventually get better on its own, so cold-sufferers of the past and today can be forgiven for assuming it was the folk remedy that they relied upon that did the trick.










Remedy #3: Burn Salve














Cockayne 131






Because I did not have immediate access to any old grease, I decided to focus on the second recipe for a burn salve here. I already had dried yarrow, and purchased some lily bulbs to use. It is unclear whether the lily here was the root or the plant itself, I chose to use the root, since it is suggested to have some anti-inflammatory and astringent properties (Medicinal Uses…). However, any effectiveness the yarrow and lily may have here is contrasted by the use of butter.






















Unfortunately, placing butter (or any oily substance, including grease) on a burn can seal in heat, causing the burn to become worse. Additionally there are the afformentioned issues with butter, and as a burn is an open wound, it can easily become infected, and butter (especially unsalted) is succeptible to bacteria. Butter has not been found to be antiseptic, antibiotic or pain-reducing in any way, so despite it's persistance as a folk treatment for burns up until modern day, it is simply not effective (Health Library).














Remedy #4: For Sore and Ache of Ears














Cockayne 41






Betony is another common herb native to Europe that I was able to acquire from a botanical supplier. It is commonly used as a tea and tincture for many issues, but there isn't very much in the way of proof of its effectiveness, besides it's astringent properties. However, it was very popular among the Anglo-Saxons, particularly as a cure for head-aches, which probably explains its inclusion here (Whitmer). As for the rose oil, I used a rose essential oil. The use of essential oils in medicine is quite controversial even today, but there is little to no evidence to support them being effective (Nierenberg).


























Overall, it seems unlikely that this remedy would have been particularly effective for an ear ache. The astringent qualities of the ingredients may have helped to clear up a blockage in the ear, but would have little to no effect on an infection, which is the most common cause of ear ache, and would require some form of antibacterial or anti-fungal treatment to cure (Bright).














In conclusion, it seems that the remedies contained in Bald's Leechbook are a combination of effective use of herbal remedies, remedies that may have done nothing more than give the patient some comfort and a feeling of proactivity, and of course the remedies that would have done more harm than good. Medicinal practitioners in Anglo-Saxon times would have used a variety of unique methods in their work, and the effectiveness of their methods would also have varied greatly. If a British citizen in this time period was unlucky enough to need the service of a physician, it was only up to luck whether they would end up with the doctor who recommended a nice herbal tea, or one who was a little too keen to slap some goat dung on and call it a cure.

















Works Cited










1,000-year-old onion and garlic eye remedy kills MRSA. (2015, March 30). Retrieved March 20, 2018, from http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-32117815


4 Agents to Avoid When Treating Wounds. (2016, April 13). Retrieved March 20, 2018, from https://www.advancedtissue.com/4-agents-to-avoid-when-treating-wounds/


Astringent Herbs And Tannins: Medicinal And Cosmetic Uses. (2005). Retrieved March 20, 2018, from https://www.anniesremedy.com/astringent-property-11.php


Balds Leechbook: British Museum Royal manuscript 12 D. XVII. (1955). Copenhagen: Rosenkilde and Bagger.


Bright, S. (2016, January 13). 19 Proven Home Remedies To Cure An Ear Infection. Retrieved March 20, 2018, from http://www.naturallivingideas.com/home-remedies-for-ear-infection/


Duke, James A. The Green Pharmacy Herbal Handbook: Your Comprehensive Reference to the Best Herbs for Healing. St. Martins Paperbacks, 2000.


Eberly, S. (2015). Calendula Calendula officinalis. Retrieved March 20, 2018, from http://wyrtig.com/GrowingHeirloomPlants/CalendulaMedievalWorks.htm


Health Library: True or False: Applying Butter to a Burn Aids Healing and Relieves Pain. (n.d.). Retrieved March 20, 2018, from https://hcahealthcare.com/hl/?%2F156971%2FTrue-or-False--Applying-Butter-to-a-Burn-Aids-Healing-and-Relieves-Pain%29


Heating honey kills enzymes. But is boiled honey toxic? (2018, March 01). Retrieved March 20, 2018, from http://healthywithhoney.com/heating-honey-kills-enzymes-but-is-boiled-honey-toxic/)


MacGowan, D. (2017, June 05). How can a 9th-century 'Leechbook' be relevant today? Retrieved March 20, 2018, from https://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/stories/how-can-a-9th-century-leechbook-be-relevant-today


McVicar, J. (2004). New book of herbs. London: Dorling Kindersley.


MEDICINA DE QUADRUPEDIBUS. (2012). In T. Cockayne (Ed.), Leechdoms, Wortcunning, and Starcraft of Early England: Being a Collection of Documents Illustrating the History of Science in this Country before the Norman Conquest (Cambridge Library Collection - Rolls, pp. 326-373). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9781139168793.007


Medicinal Uses & Health Benefits of Lily Flower. (n.d.). Retrieved March 20, 2018, from http://www.home-remedies-for-you.com/herbs/lily-flower.html)


Nierenberg, C. (2015, September 03). The Science of Essential Oils: Does Using Scents Make Sense? Retrieved March 20, 2018, from https://www.livescience.com/52080-essential-oils-science-health-effects.html


Steckelberg, M. J. (2015, June 05). Honey: An effective cough remedy? Retrieved March 20, 2018, from https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/common-cold/expert-answers/honey/faq-20058031


The British History Podcast Episode 58 – Dark Age Medicine [Audio blog post]. (2012, October 15). Retrieved March 19, 2018, from https://www.thebritishhistorypodcast.com/71-anglo-saxon-health/


Walker, J. (2013, October 14). Anglo-Saxon Medicine. Retrieved March 20, 2018, from http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2013/10/anglo-saxon-medicine.html?_ga=2.99652190.1713283406.1519198503-1693687944.1512683855


Whitmer, P. (2010, January). Herb to Know: Wood Betony. Retrieved March 20, 2018, from https://www.motherearthliving.com/plant-profile/wood-betony