This guest article is written by Dr Kim Walker, biocultural historian and herbalist, whose work explores the relationship between people, plants, and traditional knowledge. Here, she reflects on the legacy of Nicholas Culpeper and the enduring relevance of herbal practice today.
Want to know more? Join Dr Kim Walker at Jekka's May Open Days - Tickets available online.
Nicholas Culpeper
England’s most famous herbalist, Nicholas Culpeper (1616-1654) was a healer, a maverick and known as the man who brought medicine to the people. During his time, high doctors’ fees meant that medical treatment was unaffordable to many. Medical information couldn’t just be looked up either. Even if you could read, medical texts were written in Latin, rendering them unreadable to most.
In 1649, Culpeper changed the status quo. He made an unauthorised translation of the Royal College of Physicians primary medical text, the Pharmacopœia Londinensis, which contained official medicinal recipes and remedies. Culpeper’s version, The London dispensatory was now available in English, printed at an affordable price. He opened with the words:
‘So far as I can see by the help of my Optick Nerves … the Liberty of the Common-Wealth is most infringed by three sorts of men, priests, lawyers and physicians.’
The Physicians were furious, but little could be done. Culpeper’s text meant regular people could now at least purchase remedies directly from an apothecary or make their own.
However, Culpeper wasn’t just a dry translator, he added commentary to the text with his own practical knowledge about how useful they were, often at the expense of the physicians. For example, under Tinctura Fragorum [Tincture of strawberries], he writes:
‘A gallant fine thing Gentlemen that have nothing else to do with their money and will have a lovely look to please their eyes’
In a later edition Culpeper became even more prickly:
‘I rest confident, the greatest part of the College had no more skill in Chymistry than I in building houses’
Culpeper didn’t just spend time baiting the College. His later work, the English Physitian, is a brilliant 17th-century sourcebook that offers further insight into his skills and contemporary herbal uses.
As we welcome spring, let's turn our attention to the section on an early-flowering herb he championed within as a 'sovereign balm': Rosemary. Culpeper recommends it to help digestion and ‘diseases of the head and brain’ in particular, it ‘helpeth a weak memory and quickens the senses’. Rosemary’s action on stimulating the brain is why it has long been valued as a symbolic flower of remembering.
It features in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, with line “There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance” and this is why it made an appearance too in the recent film Hamnet, as a nod to the work, its contemporary symobolism, and the memory of a son to his mother.
Want to know more? Read about Jekka's Herbs in Hamnet
The London Dispensatory offers a delightful rosemary concoction: Mel Anthosatum, a honey infused with rosemary flowers. The recipe is given below. As you gather the blossoms, take a moment to remember Culpeper, the herbalist who gave herbal knowledge back to the people.
Want to know more? Read Jekka's Guide to Rosemary
Mel Anthosatum, or honey of rosemary flowers.
[College recipe]: Take of fresh Rosemary flowers a pound, clarified honey three pounds, mix them in a glass with a narrow mouth, set them in the sun, keep them for use.
[Culpeper’s annotation]: It hath the same virtues with Rosemary flowers, to which I refer you, only by reason of the Honey it may be somewhat cleansing.
Steps:
- Pick the tiny purple flowers early, on a warm summer day when they are at their most fragrant.
- Loosely fill a clean glass jam jar.
- Pour on slightly warmed honey, and stir with a chopstick to remove bubbles.
- Leave in a sunny spot for a couple of days before straining and rebottling.
- Take a small teaspoon as needed, or use in baking.
Do not give honey to infants under 1 year old.
Further reading
- Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh. Cataloguing Handwritten Medical Recipes
- Kew Gardens Culpeper and his medicine
- Benjamin Wooley’s The Herbalist: Nicholas Culpeper and the Fight for Medical Freedom
- Graham Tobyn’s Culpeper's Medicine: A Practice of Western Holistic Medicine
Bio
Dr Kim Walker is a biocultural historian and author with a doctorate from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Royal Holloway, University of London. She recently worked with Jekka as the consultant herbalist on the film, Hamnet. She is also a Director and teacher at Betonica School of Herbal Medicine.
Want to know more?
Join Dr Kim Walker at Jekka's May Open Days - Tickets available online.
You can find more of Jekka's knowledge about herbs freely available online in Jekka’s blog, our past newsletters and videos as well as Jekka's latest book '100 Herbs to Grow' and Jekka's existing books, namely 'A Pocketful of Herbs' or Jekka's Complete Herb Book, and also by browsing Jekkapedia and exploring our herb based recipes.