Medieval Wellness Tips

#1

Post by pepys » Mon, Sep 24, 2018, 8:38 PM UTC

Medieval Wellness Tips
laphamsquarterly.org

Re: Medieval Wellness Tips

#2

Post by suprfnk » Tue, Sep 25, 2018, 11:25 AM UTC

They don't seem to be able to handle the HN traffic. Here's an internet archive link:

https://web.archive.org/web/20180925110025/https://www.lapha...

Re: Medieval Wellness Tips

#3

Post by chrisjack » Tue, Sep 25, 2018, 12:19 PM UTC

>For a man who’s been painfully beaten

>Take cudweed and boil it in fine ale, and drink it first thing in the morning and last thing at night; and make the patient a bed in a pile of steaming horse dung, and lay him in it.

Sleeping in a pile of horse sh*t... I don't see any hygenic problem with that, let alone the smell...

Re: Medieval Wellness Tips

#4

Post by edmanet » Tue, Sep 25, 2018, 12:38 PM UTC

Seems to be a lot of horse dung involved.

Re: Medieval Wellness Tips

#5

Post by olau » Tue, Sep 25, 2018, 12:40 PM UTC

edmanet wrote: post #4

Seems to be a lot of horse dung involved.

Well, it's probably warm and soft?

Re: Medieval Wellness Tips

#6

Post by amelius » Tue, Sep 25, 2018, 12:41 PM UTC

chrisjack wrote: post #3

>For a man who’s been painfully beaten >Take cudweed and boil it in fine ale, and drink it first thing in the morning and last thing at night; and make the patient a bed in a pile of steaming horse dung, and lay him in it. Sleeping in a pile of horse sh*t... I don't see any hygenic problem with that, let alone the smell...

If you smell like sh*t, people will not come near you, and hence this keeps possible human infectious diseases away.

Re: Medieval Wellness Tips

#7

Post by NeedMoreTea » Tue, Sep 25, 2018, 12:49 PM UTC

chrisjack wrote: post #3

>For a man who’s been painfully beaten >Take cudweed and boil it in fine ale, and drink it first thing in the morning and last thing at night; and make the patient a bed in a pile of steaming horse dung, and lay him in it. Sleeping in a pile of horse sh*t... I don't see any hygenic problem with that, let alone the smell...

London, and other towns and cities, had a bit of a shit problem in the 1300s. Streets full of horse and human shit, households throwing their waste into the streets and/or river or if lucky selling it to a nearby cloth dyer, water dangerous to drink so best stick to beer or wine, the serious health risk from floors covered in rushes. OK, if you were posh enough there was a chute from the privvy straight into the moat or river. Oh and the river was where the leftovers from the slaughter houses went.

I think it's fair to say that smell and hygiene expectation was a little different in the middle ages. Cured, if wealthy enough, with a pomander - a ball full of nicely smelly herbs and oils that you carried as portable gas mask.

Re: Medieval Wellness Tips

#8

Post by dsfyu404ed » Tue, Sep 25, 2018, 12:50 PM UTC

olau wrote: post #5

edmanet wrote: post #4

Seems to be a lot of horse dung involved.

Well, it's probably warm and soft?

Unless you have a lot of horses crapping in the same place at the same time it's going to be cold.

Re: Medieval Wellness Tips

#9

Post by codingdave » Tue, Sep 25, 2018, 12:56 PM UTC

dsfyu404ed wrote: post #8

olau wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, it's probably warm and soft?

Unless you have a lot of horses crapping in the same place at the same time it's going to be cold.

You mean, like in a stable or a barn?

Re: Medieval Wellness Tips

#10

Post by tomcooks » Tue, Sep 25, 2018, 1:01 PM UTC

edmanet wrote: post #4

Seems to be a lot of horse dung involved.

It's free, and if your 'cure' doesn't work you can imply the person didn't try hard enough.

Same reason why most 'magic potions' include hard to achieve steps (steal church parchments, estract the liver of a dog, etc.).