Herbal remedies are ubiquitous in medieval alchemy, a practice combining elements of science, spirituality, and mysticism. Recipes are passed down through folklore and word of mouth. Renaissance physician Paracelsus introduces Spagyria or herbal alchemy to the West.
Alchemists of the Middle Ages seek unique properties of a plant or substance for medications and enlightenment. Although alchemy is commonly associated with gold-making, it also has roots in ancient medicine, the combination and processing of ingredients.
Alchemists and herbologists work with herbs, flowers, seeds, leaves, stems and roots, using processes such as distillation, infusion, and fermentation in complex and plentiful experiments. Especially in the convents and monasteries of the Middle Ages, herbal remedies take form.
The terms convent and monastery are often interchangeable in medieval times. From late antiquity through the blossoming of the Renaissance, these houses of the holy welcome the practices of alchemists. Many are friars, seeking to make the world a better place.
They include Roger Bacon, Jean de Roquetaillade and Albertus Magnus. Recipes are from the texts of Dioscorides in De materia medica, the book used for reference and guidance in the times of the medieval knights. These remedies spread throughout Europe.
Aegiceras corniculatum — River Mangrove, Black Mangrove
"The leaves of aigeiros applied with vinegar help gouty pains, and its resin is mixed with softening medicines. The seed (taken as a drink with vinegar) is good for epilepsy.
"It is also reported that the oozing which trickles down from them near the river Padus grows hard and becomes amber, called chrysophorum by some. This yields a sweet smell when rubbed and looks like gold. Ground finely and taken as a drink it stops excessive discharges of the stomach and bowels."
Herbal remedies are not only used for physical ailments but also for spiritual and metaphysical purposes. Alchemists believe certain plants held the key to unlocking the secrets of the universe and immortal life.
Even in the early centuries alchemists experiment with narcotic, hallucinogenic or euphoric plant substances from such flora as cannabis, opium poppy, henbane, fly agaric and monk's hood. Ancient Egyptian priest-physicians are fond of blue lotus.
As early as 300 AD Zosimos of Panopolis describes medicinal infused wines:
“…wines can be made in a multitude of ways, shown through many accounts authors have left to us, and nature, and art such things, that is, grown wines from the vineyard and medicinal, or by adding various spices like palm, cannabis seed etc …”
“Certainly brewers of Egyptian beer [‘zythi’], which is more powerful [than our beers] are not lacking in the false and wicked arts, and might be better used for intoxication. This includes: borage, cannabis seeds and leaves, helenium, ivy leaves, strychnine, and darnel.”
Like their ancient ancestors, medieval alchemists brew up elaborate potions, elixirs, and tinctures using a combination of herbs, minerals, and other natural substances. Recipes are usually learned through a teacher or family member rather than in books.
Muem athemantica - Bear Root, Spignel
"The roots (boiled with water or pounded smooth [or fine] without boiling and taken in a drink) lessen pains caused by obstructions around the bladder and kidneys. They are good for urinary difficulties, a gas-filled stomach, griping, diseases of the womb and pain in the joints.
"Pounded into small pieces with honey and taken as syrup they help a rheumatic chest. Boiled for a hip bath they draw out the blood of the menstrual flow.
"Applied as a plaster to the lower part of children’s bellies they induce the movement of urine. If more of a decoction than is suitable is taken as a drink it causes a headache."
The practice of herbal alchemy is deeply intertwined with the concept of the "Doctrine of Signatures," which posits plants resembling certain body parts can be used to heal ailments related to those parts.
For example, the city of Alexandria, long known for its prestigious library and medical schools, is among the first to allow study of human anatomy. By 100 AD, the human brain is well documented. Thus are walnuts taken to treat headaches in ancient and medieval Europe.
Kardamomun - Amomum cardamom: Cardamom
The two types of cardamom are black and green. Green cardamom is one of the most expensive spices by weight, but little is needed to impart flavor. Cardamom compliments both sweet and savory flavors.
"The best cardamomum is brought out of Comagene, Armenia and Bosporus. It grows too in India and Arabia. Choose that which is hard to break, full, tightly shut (for that which is not is out of date), and which also has an offensive smell, and is sharp to the taste and somewhat bitter.
"A decoction (taken as a drink with water) is able to heat. It is good for those who have illness comitralis [lesions on the heart], coughs, sciatica, paralysis, hernias, convulsions and griping, and it expels rectal worms.
"Taken as a drink with wine it is good for those who have defective kidneys and difficulty meiendi [urination]. It is also good for one who has been stricken by a scorpion and for all those hurt by the venom of other creatures.
"A teaspoonful (taken as a drink with bark from the roots of bay) breaks stones [kidney, urinary]. Taken as inhalations of smoke or fumes it is an abortifacient, and daubed on with vinegar it takes away parasitic skin diseases. It is also mixed in thick ointments and other antidotes."
Many alchemists of the medieval period are physicians, friars or courtiers, as they're literate in Latin. European medical, alchemical and other records are usually written in that language. Alchemists unable to read Latin, or at least some Greek, are at a substantial disadvantage.
Herbal remedies in medieval alchemy treating physical symptoms and try to restore balance and harmony to body, mind, and spirit. Some alchemists view the natural world as a reflection of the divine order.
Due to the influence of the Church, Religious Wars and Medieval Inquisitions, the European alchemist at this time is funneled into a certain world view. Blasphemy and heresy, such as not believing in a Christian God, is punishable by death.
Phou, Phu - Valeriana officinalis - Valerian
Phu grows in Pontus (south coast of the Black Sea), and has a stalk of a foot high or more — smooth, soft, inclining to a purple color, hollow in the middle and distinguished by knots. The lower parts are somewhat like those of narcissus but bigger, more tender and purple in a pale white.
The root in its upper part is about the thickness of the little finger, and it has filaments growing within one another — a pale yellow, pleasantly-scented and resembling nardus in its smell, with a certain poisonous kind of heaviness.
Dried and given in drinks it's warming and encourages urine. A decoction does the same. It is good for painful rectum, encourages menstrual flow, and mixed with poison antidotes. Some sell it with roots of ruscus: these are hard, not easily broken and without any good smell.
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