From medieval times to the mid-19th century, disease was generally believed to be caused and spread through a corruption of the air or ‘miasma’. This belief likely arose due to the foul odors associated with the disease and the common poor hygiene at the time. When it came to preventing or treating such diseases, a lack of knowledge of modern science or medicine meant that people could only trust the beliefs and practices of their ancestors. While some of these mostly herbal remedies have since been shown to be effective (e.g. absinthe for stomach upsets and lung for respiratory problems), most were totally ineffective when the Black Death swept through Europe in the fourteenth century.
The most common form of black plague was the bubonic plague, characterized by the appearance of black buboes in the groin, neck and armpits, oozing pus and blood, along with fever, headaches, painful joint pain, nausea and vomiting. It was very contagious and generally fatal. The Black Death was universally feared: it spread fiercely fast and death could occur within a couple of hours after symptoms appeared. Between the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries, Europe suffered a series of attacks from the plague, and the consequences were enormous. Between 1348 and 1350 alone, the Black Death is estimated to have killed between one and two-thirds of Europe’s population.
The plague was associated with a characteristic stench: the large number of victims coupled with the rapid and high death rate associated with the plague would have resulted in an extraordinarily strong stench. This reinforced in most people’s minds the idea that the disease was carried in polluted air. Among the most obvious remedies that were proposed, therefore, were those based on aroma: the goal was to counteract bad air with aromatic agents, which were thought to have the power to overcome noxious odors. Herbs and spices were the most popular, although generally anything that smelled good was considered useful.
Those who could afford it burned a variety of aromatic herbs, such as rosemary, juniper, bay, pine, and beech, in their homes to help ward off odors and purify the air. Camphor and sulfur were also thought to be effective. Aromatic herbs, such as lavender, sage, thyme, meadowsweet, and winter savory, are dried and scattered on the ground, sewn into cloth bags, or carried as bouquets. Cloths infused with aromatic oils, such as camphor, rosemary, or bay leaf, used to cover the face when going out were a more expensive option. Vinegar was also thought to be an effective deterrent.
Even the wealthiest people could afford to buy pomanders. These consisted of perforated metal boxes containing resin or wax embedded with a multitude of expensive aromatic spices, such as nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves. Held up to the nose, the perforated housing allowed the odor to escape, thus offering (supposedly) protection to the owner against airborne stench. The attractions of the aromatic spices, nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves, are perhaps obvious, but ambergris, a waxy secretion from the sperm whale intestinal tract, was also used in pomanders. As unlikely as it may sound, ambergris has a sweet and pleasant fragrance and is still used by the perfume industry. Only the very wealthy could afford to wear ambergris pomanders, and these were considered to be more potent against the plague than other pomanders.
In Elizabethan times there are reports of many ‘cures’ for the plague – here are two of which are based on herbal remedies …
“Take yarrow, tansy, feverfew, from each handful, and grind them well together, then let the sick pour water on the herbs, then strain them and give the sick to drink.” (The belief that drinking your own urine is a panacea for all ills is relatively common even today.)
“Take a handful of sage, rue, heather, elder leaves, of each one, cut it and strain it with a liter of white wine, add a little ginger and a good spoonful of the best molasses, and drink it in the morning and at the morning. night.“
Although the remedies available at this time were totally ineffective in treating the people who developed the plague, there is a possibility that some, curiously, have been of some help in preventing the spread of the plague. Wormwood, rosemary, feverfew, and tansy in particular are today recognized for their flea-repelling properties (in fact, wormwood was used as a flea deterrent during the plague years), and is now believed to be fleas and the rats that carried them were responsible for carrying and spreading this devastating disease.
Sources
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miasma_theory_of_disease
- channel4.com/history/microsites/H/history/guide12/part06.html
- cosmos.ucdavis.edu/2005/Cluster%207/Ramya%20Kandasamy.pdf
- earthspirits-herbals.com/fyi/winter05.htm
- the-orb.net/textbooks/westciv/blackdeath.html
- gallowglass.org/jadwiga/herbs/scents.html
- historic.hsl.virginia.edu/plague/mckeithen2.cfm
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death
- prizedwriting.ucdavis.edu/past/2002-2003/rosa.htm
- ije.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/31/6/1280
- william-shakespeare.info/bubonic-black-plague-elizabethan-era.htm
- history.boisestate.edu/westciv/plague/10.shtml
- everything2.com/index.pl?node=Black%20Plague
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_medicine
- internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/SLT/society/plague.html
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_and_diet_in_Elizabethan_England