Dipping my toe into the waters of 18th-century beauty manuals and to no surprise books of secrets are still being printed. One book that I find in many of my research digs is the English translation of Toilette de Flore by Pierre-Joseph Buc’hoz. When I searched for information on Buc’hoz there was very little information … More 18th-century Beauty: Toilet of Flora
This blog post is dedicated to the digital exhibition on Apothecaries from Harvard University (https://collections.countway.harvard.edu/onview/exhibits/show/apothecary-jars/sequence). Apothecaries were a branch of the tripartite medical system of apothecary-surgeon-physician which arose in Europe in the early-modern period. Well established as a profession by the seventeenth century, the apothecaries were chemists, mixing and selling their own medicines. They sold … More 18th-Century Apothecaries
There are many recipes from Italian ‘books of secrets’ (e.g. Isabella Cortese, Alessio Piemontese, Notandissimi Profumi) and from still room manuals that require acqua rosa or rosewater. If you want to make this at home there are two methods that I have tried and will share with you in this post. Of course, you could … More Make Rosewater or Acqua Rosa at Home
There were many cures for impotency in the pharmacopoeia of the Italian Peninsula during the Renaissance. All manner of elixirs and compounds could be made to restore or enhance the vigor of an aging or infirm nobleman or prince like Duke Vincenzo Gonzaga of Mantua. Using the Galenic theory of signatures, foods that resembled the … More The Puzzlement of Potency
Queste sono cose che le donne e gli uomini del trecento usavanno quotadianamente per igiene e cosmetici. Prima, per pulire il viso, utilizzare questo. – Crema Galeni (2 ° / 12 c) – olio d’oliva, cera d’Api, acqua di rose, aceto bianco infuso con rose. (Da Hildegard Bingen et al). Poi per sbiancare il volto, … More Cosmetics and Hygiene Information from De Ornatu Mulierum – Cosmetici e Igiene da Trotula di Salerno
TAKE A POUND OF WHITE [Venetian] SOAP, THE OLDER THE BETTER. CUT VERY fine, put in a basin and splash with rosewater. Mix and incorporate well. Then set in the sun, steeped in the rosewater for two weeks, and mix every day. Ten days in the sun will suffice in July or August. Mix and … More 16th Century Italian Soap Recipe
Raucous Royal Reblog: Raucous Royal of the Month, Caterina Sforza: Daughter of Perdition From http://blog.raucousroyals.com/2010/05/raucous-royal-of-month-caterina-sforza.html “…more is always said then the real truth” – Caterina Sforza On August 1483, the 21 year old Caterina Sforza rode up to the Castel Sant’ Angelo as shouts of “Duca! Duca!” cut through the stifling heat. Clad in a green satin … More Caterina Sforza – Daughter of Perdition
Pier Andrea Mattioli from http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/aconite/mattioli.html Born in Siena, Pier Andrea Mattioli (1501-1577) was personal physician to Ferdinand I and a prolific commentator on De Materia Medica of Dioscorides, the codex of which Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq had attempted to acquire from the court of Süleyman I (the Magnificent). Although he failed to procure the manuscript, he did return from Constantinople, … More Pier Mattioli’s 16th Century Herbal
A rare medieval book gives an insight into the medical practices used 500 years ago. It has gone on display for the first time at the University of Aberdeen. The De Hortus Sanitatis, which translates as the Garden of Health, shows some of the medical methods practiced in Scotland five centuries ago. The book, first … More Ortus Sanitatus 1491
Basil – Ocymum basidium (from Gerard’s Herball, 1597) Gerard claimed that basil juice, “drunke in wine of Chios or strong Sacke,” cures headaches. Mixed with barley meal, rose oil, and vinegar, basil juice was also used as an anti-inflammatory and as an antidote for snakebites. According to Gerard, “the seed drunke is a remedy for … More Renaissance Herb Spotlight: Basil
La Bella Donna 