17th Centurey Home and Healthe

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Crewel Embroidery Pillow, by Mellow-Stuff Mie.

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@gardenphysick I know how much you enjoy pretty embroidery

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Marigold (Marygold, Marigould, Marygolde)

Marigolds are a good salad herb, both the flowers and leaves being edible. It was considered a plant good against poisons and fevers of all kinds, as well as recommended for sore eyes and to take away warts. The flowers can also be made into a soft yellow dye, traditionally used to color cheeses.

Marigold blossoms can be strung in windows to both brighten your rooms and to keep away flies. Planting marigolds in your garden around fragile plants can also drive bad insects away, and draw both bees and butterflies close. 

TO MAKE AN INFUSION OF MARIGOLD

Place several petals (preferably fresh, but dried is fine) into a mug of water, and heat this mixture as rapidly as possible. In the 17th century, this would have been done using a mulling iron that had been heated over a fire and then plunged into the cup of water, bringing it to a nearly instant boil. Today, use of a microwave is generally suitable for your needs. 

This infusion may be taken internally as an antiseptic to help combat fever or may be used to soak a cool compress for wounds. 

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A Word on Distilled Waters

I have mentioned distilled water before, in my post on the virtues of lavender. Such water can be made from almost any herb, and is generally regarded today as a byproduct of extracting essential oil. In the 17th century, however, a distilled water, like an infusion, is considered its own class of medicine--the weakest, in fact. 

A simple method for making such a water today is to take a cup of the desired herb, and add it to a cup of distilled water in a glass container. Adding 1/8 cup of ingestible alcohol–such as vodka–will help preserve the mixture. Seal it, shake well, and leave it to sit for several days. Refrigerate.

But, Culpeper, in his Complete Herbal has different definitions and advice to give--so don’t simply take it from me.  

From Nicholas Culpeper himself:

“1. Waters are distilled of herbs, of flowers, of fruits, and of roots.

2. We speak not of strong waters, but of cold, as being to act Galen’s part, and not Paracelsus’s.

3. The herbs ought to be distilled when they are in the greatest vigour, and so ought the flowers also.

4. The vulgar way of distillations which people use because they know no better, is in a pewter still; and although distilled waters are the weakest of artificial medicines, and good for little but mixtures of other medicines, yet they are weaker by many degrees than they would be were they distilled in sand. If I thought it not impossible to teach you the way of distilling in sand, I would attempt it.

5. When you have distilled your water, put it into a glass covered over with a paper pricked full of holes, so that the excrementitious and fiery vapours may exhale, which cause that settling in distilled waters called the mother, which corrupt them, then cover it close and keep it for your use.

6. Stopping distilled waters with a cork makes them musty, and so does paper if it but touch the water; it is best to stop them with a bladder, being first put in water, and bound over the top of the glass. 

Such cold waters as are distilled in a pewter still (if well-kept) will endure a year; such as are distilled in sand, as they are twice as strong, so they endure twice as long.”  

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Lavender (Lavinder, Lavynder)

Lavender is beneficial for aches of the head as well as a lost voice. It can also be used to calm and relax one’s body and general disposition. For a lost voice, an infusion or “distilled water” can be made and drunk. Primary administration for headache is through inhalation of the flowers or leaves (often with a sweet bag), but an infusion made can also be of use. As for relaxing your mind and body, any of these methods are acceptable, in addition to applying the oil of the plant to your temples or tip of your nose. 

HOW TO MAKE DISTILLED LAVENDER WATER

The “distilled water” Culpeper references in his herbal is simply known as lavender water today, and is a by-product of the process used to extract essential oil from the flowers of the plant. If you seek a simpler method, however, one may take a cup of lavender flowers and add to them a cup of distilled water in a glass container. Adding 1/8 cup of ingestible alcohol--such as vodka--will help preserve the mixture. Seal it, shake well, and leave it to sit for several days. Refrigerate.  

HOW TO MAKE AN INFUSION OF LAVENDER

Traditionally, place a healthy pinch of flowers (preferably fresh, but dried also works well) into a mug of water, and heat this mixture as rapidly as possible. In the 17th century, this would have been done using a mulling iron that had been heated over a fire and then plunged into the cup of water, bringing it to a nearly instant boil. Today, use of a microwave is generally suitable for your needs. The leaves of the plant may also be used to make an infusion, but most sources will suggest lavender flowers instead. 

WHAT IS A SWEET BAG?

A sweet bag is a little linen satchel (nowadays, sachets of cotton or polyester are more readily available) in which herbs can be placed and then worn about the neck. This makes it much easier to inhale the scent of herbs without shoving your face directly into the plant or grabbing a fist-full of leaves and wasting them. Herbs placed fresh in a sweet bag will dry and can be used a long time thereafter.

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Keeping Thine Herbs Fore Wynter

The seasons are changing! That means your herb garden will soon fall dormant for the winter (unless, of course, you live in a tropical area or do your growing in a greenhouse). For anyone in temperate zones, winter brings the problem of how to make sure you can keep enough herbs through the season for use in meals and medicine. 

Our ancestors shared this problem, of course, and did not have a grocery store that gets fresh shipments from greenhouses as we do today. In the 17th century, the main method for herb preservation and storage was drying. Vegetables were also dried, and frequently pickled. 

DRYING YOUR HERBS

Tie a bundle of herbs–not too many at once, or they might get moldy instead of drying properly. (If there is any interest, I’ll provide a short video with one good technique for wrapping a bundle of herbs in order to hang them). Once you’ve tied your bundle of herbs, it’s best to hang them upside-down in a dry room. Wait until the bundle is dry, and either leave it hanging, or transfer the usable parts of the herb (whether it be the leaves or blossoms or both) to a jar. 

Bonus: Now your herbs are in a ready state for poultices!

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Mint (Mynte, Mynt, Minte)

Mint of any kind is beneficial for aches of the stomach and head. Primary administration of mint as a medication is through inhalation; simply breathe the scent of the mint, deeply, for several seconds to ease nausea or headache (often using a sweet bag). If this method does not produce the desired results, an infusion may be made from the leaves of the plant and then drunk. 

Mint is also, of course, a good pot herb--which is to say, very good to put into food for flavor. Sweets, teas, and even savory dishes of meat can be improved with a touch of mint. 

Varieties of mint include peppermint, spearmint, lemon balm, apple mint, catmint (or catnip), and bee balm. 

WHAT IS A SWEET BAG? 

A sweet bag is a little linen satchel (nowadays, sachets of cotton or polyester are more readily available) in which herbs can be placed and then worn about the neck. This makes it much easier to inhale the scent of herbs without shoving your face directly into the plant or grabbing a fist-full of leaves and wasting them. Herbs placed fresh in a sweet bag will dry and can be used a long time thereafter. 

HOW TO MAKE AN INFUSION OF MINT

Place several leaves (preferably fresh, but dried also works well) into a mug of water, and heat this mixture as rapidly as possible. In the 17th century, this would have been done using a mulling iron that had been heated over a fire and then plunged into the cup of water, bringing it to a nearly instant boil. Today, use of a microwave is generally suitable for your needs. 

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About Gardenne Phisick

A resourse of helpfull hynts regardeing herbs and their benefyts as well as manetayneing the home.

(Or, simply, a blog about the home and health in the 1600s–mainly Europe and European colonies. I will include things that can still be used today as well as things that our ancestors didn’t have quite right, explained accordingly.)

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Most of my herbal information comes from these primary sources–the herbals of Culpeper and Gerard–or others like them, combined with my personal experience. I plan to give the 17th century answers to food and ailments, while providing you with an idea of what holds up nowadays, what doesn’t, and what might fall in-between.