- Medieval Apothecary Clothing
- Medieval Apothecary Garden
- Medieval Apothecary Mask
- Another Name For Apothecary
- Medieval Apothecary Minecraft
- Medieval Apothecary Jars
May 1, 2020 - Explore Ginger Bats's board 'Medieval Medicine & Apothecary', followed by 295 people on Pinterest. See more ideas about Medieval, Medieval life, Medieval art. Origins The word 'apothecary' is derived from apotheca, meaning a place where wine, spices and herbs were stored. During the thirteenth century it came into use in this country to describe a person who kept a stock of these commodities, which he sold from his shop or street stall. Alchemy in the Middle Ages was a mixture of science, philosophy, and mysticism.Far from operating within the modern definition of a scientific discipline, medieval alchemists approached their craft with a holistic attitude; they believed that purity of mind, body, and spirit was necessary to pursue the alchemical quest successfully. St Paul's Potion for epilepsy, catalepsy and stomach problems. Supposedly invented by St Paul, this.
Apothecary shop, 15th century fresco, Issogne Castle, Italy. Security finance in mobile alabama. Apothecary is a medical professional who formulates and dispenses materia medica to physicians, surgeons and patients. The modern pharmacist has taken over this role and in some languages and regions the word is still used to refer to a retail pharmacy or a pharmacist who owns one.
What's old is new, or so they say. That's fine when it comes to fashion trends and music, but what about medicine? Surley modern medicine is superior in every way to the medicine of old? Not so fast, in 2015, researchers at Nottingham University 'recreated a ninth-century Anglo-Saxon remedy using onion, garlic and part of a cow's stomach'. Shockingly, they found that it nearly irradicated the bacteria that causes MRSA. Is this an isolated example of the genius of Medieval medicine or are there other historical cures just waiting to be discovered? Well, let's take a little journey through the strange world of the Medieval apothecary and find out.
First of all, it is important to understand that in the Middle Ages, most medicine used for common ailments was harvested from the home garden. These medicines typically consisted of a single ingredient, such as parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme, yes, just like everyone's favorite Simon and Garfunkel song. You know you love it, I won't tell.
Early Italian Pharmacy. Artist: unknown. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
Other medicines contained multiple ingredients and required compounding or mixing. Producing these concoctions could be complicated and were often purchased from an apothecary. The apothecary was both the person who mixed the medicines and the physical building where they were purchased. Think of the Slug and Jiggers Apothecary from the Harry Potter series. It's probably not so far off from what an authentic Medieval shop may have looked like.
When entering the apothecary, you witness ingredients of all sorts, vegetable, animal and mineral, being mixed, using a complicated blend of magic, theology, dogma, and science. The ingredients range from the ordinary, extraordinary, to the downright disturbing. One of the more popular sources for procuring ingredients was dead people. Yup, you read that right, dead people equal medicine. Download a jibjab video.
To be fair, the idea of using dead people to cure what ails you can be traced to ancient times, so it wasn't uniquely Medieval. For example, the finest in ancient Egyptian medicine, as outlined in the Ebers Papyrus, recommends for diseases of the eye, an ointment made from the brains of a freshly dead corpse. 'Hey, I've got some fresh brains here. Great, let me put them in my eye'! No thank you.
Pollice Verso ('With a Turned Thumb'), an 1872 painting by Jean-Léon Gérôme. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
However, the ancient Egyptians weren't the only ones participating in some highly questionable behavior. Ancient Romans also thought that eating dead people held some value for their health. In Rome, the blood and liver from freshly dead gladiators was highly sought after as a curative for epilepsy and other, ahem, 'virility-based' issues. After a violent gladiatorial fight, fine Romans could be seen harvesting body parts and blood from the poor souls left to die in the sand. Here's hoping the poor guy was actually dead before the madness ensued.
But I digress, back to Medieval Europe. Here, human skull was ground into a powder, mixed with liquid, and ingested, with the hope of curing ailments of the head. Think headaches and the like. The underlying belief being that 'like cures like'. You have a headache? A little touch of someone else's head should do the trick. Get it? No? You're not alone. Today we call it homeopathy. You may be selling it, but I'm not buying.
The problem with corpse medicine, as if there is only one, is that before you can eat dead people you have to find one. A great place to start the hunt was with the friendly local executioner. Looking to score some human fat or body juice? He was your main man! Executioners processed the bodies of criminals and enemies of the state, much like a butcher would a cow. Flesh was flayed, bones ground, blood collected, and fat rendered. Soylent Green really is people! I think I'm going to be sick.
Early Italian Pharmacy. Artist: unknown. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
Other medicines contained multiple ingredients and required compounding or mixing. Producing these concoctions could be complicated and were often purchased from an apothecary. The apothecary was both the person who mixed the medicines and the physical building where they were purchased. Think of the Slug and Jiggers Apothecary from the Harry Potter series. It's probably not so far off from what an authentic Medieval shop may have looked like.
When entering the apothecary, you witness ingredients of all sorts, vegetable, animal and mineral, being mixed, using a complicated blend of magic, theology, dogma, and science. The ingredients range from the ordinary, extraordinary, to the downright disturbing. One of the more popular sources for procuring ingredients was dead people. Yup, you read that right, dead people equal medicine. Download a jibjab video.
To be fair, the idea of using dead people to cure what ails you can be traced to ancient times, so it wasn't uniquely Medieval. For example, the finest in ancient Egyptian medicine, as outlined in the Ebers Papyrus, recommends for diseases of the eye, an ointment made from the brains of a freshly dead corpse. 'Hey, I've got some fresh brains here. Great, let me put them in my eye'! No thank you.
Pollice Verso ('With a Turned Thumb'), an 1872 painting by Jean-Léon Gérôme. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
However, the ancient Egyptians weren't the only ones participating in some highly questionable behavior. Ancient Romans also thought that eating dead people held some value for their health. In Rome, the blood and liver from freshly dead gladiators was highly sought after as a curative for epilepsy and other, ahem, 'virility-based' issues. After a violent gladiatorial fight, fine Romans could be seen harvesting body parts and blood from the poor souls left to die in the sand. Here's hoping the poor guy was actually dead before the madness ensued.
But I digress, back to Medieval Europe. Here, human skull was ground into a powder, mixed with liquid, and ingested, with the hope of curing ailments of the head. Think headaches and the like. The underlying belief being that 'like cures like'. You have a headache? A little touch of someone else's head should do the trick. Get it? No? You're not alone. Today we call it homeopathy. You may be selling it, but I'm not buying.
The problem with corpse medicine, as if there is only one, is that before you can eat dead people you have to find one. A great place to start the hunt was with the friendly local executioner. Looking to score some human fat or body juice? He was your main man! Executioners processed the bodies of criminals and enemies of the state, much like a butcher would a cow. Flesh was flayed, bones ground, blood collected, and fat rendered. Soylent Green really is people! I think I'm going to be sick.
Usnea australis. Author: Eric Guinther. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
In turn, apothecaries purchased these 'ingredients', compounded them, and sold them to the general public. You should thank your lucky stars for the FDA! However, before being sold, ingredients from the dead were typically mixed with mosses called usnea. These mosses could be found growing in the local graveyard. Modern herbalists prescribe this same moss to boost the immune system. At least part of it was 'good medicine'.
One such concoction, called Axung Hominis was made with human fat, mixed with moss. It was applied to open wounds or rubbed on arthritic joints. Now, as unsanitary as that sounds, there is some evidence that it may have helped to prevent infections in wounded limbs, possibly preventing the need for amputation. That would be a tough call, rub human fat on my open wound or lose an arm. I'll have to get back with you on that one.
Corpse medicine is only one slightly disturbing, but highly interesting, aspect of the apothecary. Check back soon to discover the many uses of human urine and the 'benefits' of feces to the health of the Medieval man! And Also be sure to come an check out our new special Exhibition Knights!
Medieval Apothecary Clothing
Following are images of the apothecary -- a sort of pharmacist or druggist -- and the apothecary's shop. Click here (or scroll down this page) to see extant examples of apothecary jars and containers, as well as other assorted depictions of them.
Medieval Apothecary Garden
See also the apothecary museums at Heidelberg, Brixen, Krakow, and Troyes.
Medieval Apothecary Mask
- An apothecary in a southern French collection of medical treatises (SBB Lat. qu. 198), 1132
- Abû Zayd practices medicine, Maqâmât 47 (BNF Arabe 6094, fol. 174), 1222-1223
- Abû Zayd practices medicine (fol. 154v) and Abû Zaid requests payment (fol. 155v), Maqâmât 47 (BNF Arabe 5847), 1236-1237
- An apothecary's shop, Circa instans (British Library Sloane 1977, fol. 49v), c. 1300-1310
- Theriac, Tacuinum Sanitatis (BNF NAL 1673, fol. 87v), c. 1390-1400
- The apothecary, Liber de Moribus hominum (BNF Fr. 1165, fol. 42), end of the 14th or beginning of the 15th century
- Jorg Werrer, a surgeon, Mendel Hausbuch (Amb. 317.2, fol. 59r), 1436
- Theriac, Tacuinum Sanitatis (BNF Latin 9333, fol. 51v), 15th century
- The apothecary (fol. 251v) and an apothecary's shop (fol. 261), Schachzabelbuch des Konrad von Ammenhausen (WLB Cod. poet. 2, fol. 251v), 1467
- The apothecary, Schachzabelbuch (ÖNB 3049, fol. 132v), 1479
- The apothecary, Liber de Moribus hominum (BNF Fr. 2000, fol. 33), 1480-1485
- An apothecary's pharmacy, Livre des propriétés des choses (BNF Fr. 218, fol. 111), end of the 15th century
- An apothecary's shop, fresco at Issogne, late 15th-early 16th century
- A doctor in a pharmacy with a pupil from a book on surgery (GNM HB 26129), 1497
- The bazaar at Kûfa, Mahzan al-Asrâr (BNF supp. turc 978, fol. 41), first half of the 16th century
- Portrait of Pierre Quthe, apothecary by François Clouet, 1562
- Portrait of Cyriakus Schnauss by Mathis Zündt, 1565
- The apothecary, Das Ständebuch, 1568
- Christ as an apothecary, c. 1580
- Portrait of Andreas Heindel, 1597
- Adrian Poll, an apothecary's assistant, Landauer Hausbuch (Amb. 279.2, fol. 86r), 1614
To sende him drogges and his letuaries,
For ech of hem made oother for to wynne -
Hir frendshipe nas nat newe to bigynne.
The Canterbury Tales
General Prologue, description of the Physician
ll. 427-430
For more references to apothecaries in The Canterbury Tales, see the beginning of The Pardoner's Tale, or Pertelote's advice to Chanticleer in The Nun's Priest's Tale.
The illustrations above show the apothecary in front of shelves of containers of materia medica. Following are actual examples of those containers, as well as other assorted depictions of such containers.
A few of the containers are better known by their Italian names: the most common of these terms are the albarello (usually a cylindrical jar, often containing ointments) and the orciuolo (a large oval jar, often with two handles, for liquids).
Another Name For Apothecary
Mary Magdalene is often depicted with a small apothecary jar; according to Magdalene.org,
Medieval Apothecary Minecraft
This jar is meant to remind the viewer of Mary Magdalene's role as the woman who went to the tomb to anoint Jesus after the Sabbath, only to find him resurrected. To the extent that Mary Magdalene was believed to have been the woman who performed the anointing before the crucifixion, the jar was related to that scene as well.
Medieval Apothecary Jars
- Cleveland Museum of Art 1996.298, an alboraello jar with an aphorism made in Samarkand in the 10th century
- Met 57.61.12a, b, a covered jar made in Iran in the late 13th or early 14th century
- Louvre UCAD 4288, an albarello with fleur-de-lys decoration made in Syria in the first half of the 14th century
- Cleveland Museum of Art 1945.28, albarello with pseudo-Kufic letters, made in Paterna in the 14th century
- Cleveland Museum of Art 1943.276Albarello with two rabbits, made in Paterna in the 14th century
- Museum of London FER97[1074]<3926>, albarello in fritware with blue decoration, made in Syria in the 14th century
- Cleveland Museum of Art 1953.287, albarello with geometric ornament made in Manises c. 1400-1420
- The Louvre's collection of 15th century albarellos from Manises includes OA 1441, OA 5874, OA 7003, OA 7004, OA 7591, OA 7592, OA 7601, OA 8987, OA 8989, OA 8990, OA 8991, OA 8992, OA 8993, OA 8994, OA 8995, OA 8988, OA 10033
- Getty 85.DE.56, a relief-blue jar with harpies and birds made in Florence (attributed to the workshop of Piero di Mazeo and Company) c. 1420-1440
- Cleveland Museum of Art 1943.54, a two-handled drug jar with male and female portraits, 1431
- Cleveland Museum of Art 1943.391, a two-handled pharmacy jar with fleur-de-lys, c. 1430-1450
- British Museum 1902,0424.1, an apothecary jar with a man with a tall hat, c. 1420-1450
- Getty 84.DE.97, relief-blue jar with rampant lions, c. 1425-1450
- Kimbell Art Museum AP 1979.06, apothecary jar with oak leaf and fish, c. 1425-1450
- Louvre OA 3982, a vase with a harpy, c. 1430
- Getty 84.DE.98, relief-blue jar with running boars, c. 1430
- Louvre OA 6304, a vase with the mark of the Santa Maria Nuova hospital and a bird, c. 1431
- Met 1975.1.1061, apothecary jar (orciuolo) with a crane, c. 1431
- Cleveland Museum of Art 1954.258, albarello made in Tuscany, c. 1450
- Getty 84.DE.100, a jar with foliate decoration made in Montelupo c. 1450
- Getty 84.DE.96, a jar with a Kufic pattern made in Montelupo in the mid-1400s
- St. Mary Magdalene from a predella by Gabriel Häring, c. 1452-1461
- Detail from St. Cosmas and St. Damian in the Andreasaltar at the church of St. Agidius in Bardejov, c. 1455-1465
- Cleveland Museum of Art 1943.52, a pair of pharmacy bottles decorated with greyhounds chasing hares made in Faenza c. 1460-80
- Detail of St. Damian from an altarpiece from Blühnbach, c. 1470-1500
- Met 1975.1.1059, apothecary jar (albarello) made in or near Florence c. 1470-1490
- St. Mary Magdalene from a Steiermark altarpiece, c. 1475-1485
- Getty 84.DE.104, a drug jar for syrup of lemon juice, probably Pesaro or Naples, c. 1480
- Met 1975.1.1058, apothecary jar (orciolo) made in or near Florence c. 1480-1520
- Detail from the Eggelsberg altarpiece, 1481
- St. Mary Magdalene from a Bad Goisern altarpiece, c. 1490-1500
- Detail from The Death of Mary by Friedrich Pacher, c. 1490-1500
- Four small glass bottles and three small glass bottles from Regensburg, 15th and 16th centuries
- Getty 84.DE.112.2, a jar with a woman and geese made in Faenza, c. 1500-1525
- Museum of London A4925, an albarello (inscribed 'VA T'EN QUITTE') made in Beauvais c. 1500-1536
- An imported medicine jar from Beauvais c. 1500-1550
- Albarello with nymph and satyr made in Deruta in 1507
- Getty 84.DE.112.1, a cylindrical drug jar with a lame peasant, made in Faenza c. 1510
- Albarello with grotesques and ornamental bands made in Siena c. 1510-1515
- Met 23.166, a pharmacy jar made in Siena in 1515
- Mary Magdalene by Ambrosius Benson, c. 1530
- Pottery, pewter, and wooden medicine containers (and what they contained), and wooden utensils, from the barber-surgeon's chest on the Mary Rose, 1545
- Albarello by Masséot Abaquesne c. 1545
- Louvre OA 5961, an albarello by Masséot Abaquesne, mid-16th century
- V&A C.242-1931, drug jar (albarello) made in Nîmes or Montpellier c. 1550
- Tall drug jar with two infants riding a griffin made at the workshop of Orazio Pompeii in Castelli in the mid-16th century
- Albarello with the bust of a woman made at the workshop of Orazio Pompeii in Castelli in the mid-16th century
- Tall drug jar with Cleopatra contemplating an asp made at the workshop of Orazio Pompeii in Castelli in the mid-16th century
- V&A C.88-1944, a drug jar (albarello) made at Antoine Syjalon's pottery factory in Nîmes c. 1550-1600
- V&A C.1-1935, a drug jar (albarello) made in Nîmes in the late 16th century
- V&A C.149-1951, a drug jar (albarello) made in Nîmes or Montpellier in the late 16th century
- V&A C.300-1938, a drug jar (albarello) made in Montpellier c. 1575-1625
- V&A C.303-1938, a wet drug jar (albarello) made in Montpellier or Brussels c. 1575-1625
- V&A C.150-1951, a wet drug jar (albarello) made at Antoine Syjalon's pottery factory in Nîmes c. 1580
- Albarellos with the Annunciation (Louvre OA 7814) and St. Frances of Rome and the angel (Louvre OA 7815), made at the workshop of Jean Estève in Montpelier at the end of the 16th century
