As I have mentioned before, we live in the woods in Appalachia.  The property is loaded with all sorts of animals, including white-tailed deer, opossums, raccoons, gray squirrels, a variety of mice and other small rodents.  We also have many types of songbirds, ravens, barred-owls, and red-shouldered hawks.  American Black Ducks sometimes nest in the field as well and Canadian Geese have raised their young in the stream on the property.  In addition to that, the property has a feral cat colony that we TNR and support as we can (you can follow the feline adventures HERE).
 

The creek itself has small fish such as minnows.  It also is a state-stocked stream for trout from February through May.  We also have crawdads, loads of them, and occasionally they are large enough to get claw meat out of!
 
This summer when family was here fishing for crawdads, I had an idea that I would try to assemble a primitive trap and catch some myself.  I finally had time to do it this weekend to test this out.
 
First though, crayfish are period for my persona.  Not this species (apparently American ones are invasive in England and they practically beg people to catch and eat them, article HERE), but they were a viable food source.  The Medieval Histories blog has a nice article that lead me to an early 16th century painting of crawfish catching in Austria as well as a stellar image of a clay trap that I hope to replicate this winter.

In the painting, which comes from the Fishing Book of Maximilian I, you can see a trap in one area of it, it is similar in shape to commercial traps you can buy today and I believe it works similarly to the style I opted to construct, even if it looks far more refined than mine.
 

​A fifteenth century painting from Lombardy possibly shows people dining on crayfish.  Unfortunately, the article that discusses this painting, “The Cultural History of Crayfish”, is not one I have been yet able to access by any means.  I do, however, wonder if these are actually meant to be lobsters?
 
And most importantly, it is detailed in Tacuinum Sanitatis, a commonplace book from Italy that was based on an 11th century Arabic medical work.  The book was reproduced in Latin from the 13th century onward and first printed in the 16th century.  This text notes that the nature of the crayfish is warm and dry in the second degree, with the optimal ones being fresh and yellow colored.  For uses?  They increase coitus (lol)! Danger in them is sleeping, but this can be neutralized by sprinkling them with almonds and olive oil.

​Typical of myself, I had another great reference for crayfish in the Middle Ages, but I was plowing through books at the time and not really taking notes.  When I find that again, I will amend this entry with the information.
 
Enough background, I decided to make a trap.  I did not really plan anything or research beyond anything mentioned above, and decided to go with a primitive trap style that I had vaguely seen on TV during one of the thousand episodes of reality survival shows that are a huge hit with my partner.  I understood the basic concept of using a cone within a cone that allows them to easily swim in to find the bait, but it makes it difficult for them to get back out.  I gave myself the parameter of using all foraged material, with the exception of some nettle yarn that I had in my stash.  Nettle is a bast fibre (along with things like linen and hemp) and these are very strong when wet.  This yarn is one that I had purchased some time ago for weaving but it is too coarse for most of the weaving I do, something which made it a great candidate for this (and it helps bust-the-stash). 

The uprights for both the inner and outer basket were harvested when I felled a dying lilac tree in the yard.  There were new shoots coming up that were delightfully straight and still pliable so I made use of those.  These were all cut out with modern loppers during the process of yardwork.

​For the woven pieces, I started foraging with just a knife (a modern survival type knife as I do not yet have a larger period one), but I have issues with my hands that forced me to resort to modern tools after about an hour of cutting branches.  I used the loppers (cannot find my pruners yet again) and scissors to finish the task.
 
I started by fashioning four hoops to fix the uprights too (two for each cone).  I used long, thin lilac shoots for these.  I tied heavier lilac shoots to those to form the base of the structure. 

I started weaving in the rest of the small lilac shoots in and out of the uprights until the whole basket was filled in.  I quickly ran out of lilac and tried several other types of plants on the property.  There is some type of young honeysuckle branches that worked fabulously as long as I harvested the newer ones (the older were too ‘woody’ and broke easily). Autumn Olive/Silverberry also worked well, provided, again, that I used only the younger branches.  Some things did not work at all, and those being the stems from Staghorn Sumac.  They were straight and pliable, but bend sharply with very little pressure.

Eventually I had raided all the viable honeysuckle and I had to quest a bit further and found a bit of vine from wild grapes.  Only a little of this was still pliable enough to work, but the moonseed vines were amazing, and the small inner basket was almost entirely comprised of that plant.
 
The inner basket fit well into the outer one but I was worried that smaller critters could slip out, so I stuffed in twists of invasive stiltgrass to fill in the gap between the two.

After baiting it with cat food (I had planned to use dinner leftovers but there were none), I took the trap to the creek last night and chose a somewhat deep (if you can call it that at this time of year) area and laid down the trap, using stones to hold the tail end down and a stick wedged under a log to keep it submerged. 
 
This morning, I dashed down to check my work, and I was delighted to find I had 5 decent sized (for this area) crawdads in the trap!  I initially thought it was four, but saw the fifth hiding in the bottom of it as I was getting ready to release the little guys back to the stream.
 

I am absolutely going to call this trap a success!  I doubt I will make another, it was very, very hard on my hands winding in all of those vines and branches, and construction took about 10 hours.  But I am drying this trap to test out again in the future.

Also, check out this weirdo crawfish (lobster?) from the Medieval Sketches of Villard de Honnecourt, from 13th Century France found on the Medievalist.net. 
​

(Oils)

Of Oils in General

Essential oils can be used for many purposes. For oils are made sometimes from flowers, sometimes from seeds, sometimes from fruits, sometimes from trees, sometimes from roots, and sometimes from other things, as will be shown below.

(Flowers)

Oil is made from the flowers in this way: one pound of flowers is taken, three pounds of olive oil are taken. Grind the flowers a little, then mix well with the oil. And then the flowers float together in a glass vase and put it on the rim in the hot sun. And so they were exposed to the sun for nine days. And this may be done a second time or a third time if you wish. Then the strain is reserved for use.

It can also be done in another way: take one pound of flowers, three pounds of oil. Let it boil for a long time in a double boiler, then strain through a cloth. And with the thrown flowers, add others if you wish, and do as before.

(Fruit)

Oil is made from the fruits as follows: grind them and let them be ground for several days. Then add the water, kneaded with your hands, and the oil. And let it boil for a very long time in a double vessel. And strain through a cloth. When it has cooled, collect what has been left behind.

(Seeds)

Oil is made from the seeds in this way: take a mustard seed or something else and put it in a yellow vessel and put a cloth over it and dig it in the moist earth and leave it there for nine days. Then grind it vigorously and put it in the chapel and strain it through a sieve and collect what comes out and reserve it.

But oil is made in a different way from the seeds and berries: reduce it to powder and make it boil in wine and strain. And after straining, add one pound of oil. And let it boil for the consumption of the wine and reserve it.

(Herbs)

Likewise, oil can be made from herbs and roots in this way: let common oil be heated and the herbs and roots are left there for at least a week. And let the grass and the roots be moved every day. Then bring the whole thing to a boil in a double boiler. And strain and reserve for use.

(Woods)

In general, oils are made from wood, so the wood is divided into very small pieces and placed in a pot with a hole in the bottom. And a covering of reborn earth, that is, clay, is placed on top of it, and it is sealed with paste so that the smoke does not escape. And let there be a trench in the ground, in which another unperforated pot is placed. And let a fire be made around the sides of the upper pot, and what will burn from the wood will fall into the lower pot, and it will be reserved for use.

(Roots & Herbs)

Oils can be made from roots and herbs: they are boiled in water and wine with a little shaking, and after it is seen that their virtue is a liquid, it is worshiped (prescribed?). And the oil is added to the filter. And so the whole boils until it is consumed, and the oil is reserved for use. Or boil the oil with the juice of roots or herbs until the juice is consumed. Then it is cultivated and reserved for use.

(Spices)

Similarly, we can boil any pulverized species in wine or water and after boiling it is cultivated. And the filter is boiled with added oil until it is consumed, filtered and reserved for use.

(Powders)

Likewise, we boil the powders mixed together with wine and oil, and when the wine is boiled and consumed, we strain it, and what comes out through the straining will be oil.

​

This is part three and four of the Preparation of Compound Medicines.  For more background and to see Part 1 - Syrups, please check out the post HERE or part 2 on electuaries HERE, part 3 - Pills can be found HERE. This is my (rudimentary) translation from Latin the Pills section of John Mirfield's Breviarium Bartholomei, part 13, as found in Popular Medicine in the Thirteenth-Century England, by Tony Hunt.

​As with the previous translation of Syrups, headers that are in parentheses are notes from Tony Hunt, while parentheses contained within the copy usually contain my own notes, whether it is clarification of a term or uncertainty of the translation.

(Powders)

Of Powders in General

First of all, it must be understood that any medicine that is prepared in the manner of an electuary or in pills can be given as a powder, but if necessary, scammony (‘scamonia’, the plant scammony which is a purgative - need better translation for this as it comes up several times) is added in the proper portion. Some, however, are so disgusted with ready-made medicines that they do not want to take them in any way, to whom we give a powder that is strong for this purpose and perhaps a laxative, and we offer them unwary at the beginning of the meal in some food or drink. And when they have received the laxative powder, they must abstain from food, lest the power of the medicine be suffocated by an excessive quantity of it. And note that medicine given in powder is more effective against the vices of parts removed from the stomach than pills or suppositories. For dust penetrates deeply by its subtlety. Especially diuretics and the like need a fine powdering, so that they penetrate more quickly to the members. Therefore, whatever medicine has reference to the remote parts must be finely powdered; but, as some say, laxative medicine quickly loses its power when powdered. Wherefore it is better that they be made with honey or sugar, or at least with a juice of their own competence, to be bound together and formed into pieces. And when you wish to use them, they should be diluted with some liquid of sufficient strength and taken by mouth. But the laxative powder should be given to those who have a fever with water, not to those who have a fever with wine. For dust quickly loses its power because of its fineness. Therefore, at least the laxative powder should not be used for a fortnight or a month longer unless it is prepared as aforesaid. Moreover, when a bird or other animal is to be pulverized, they are first placed in a crude pot with a lid and lined with clay in a boiling oven - not to burn them, but to dry them so that they can be pulverized.

(Waters)

Of Waters in General

Against different diseases, they find different medicinal waters, some from leaves, some from flowers, some from roots, and from many other things in different ways, as will be evident from the inside, about some for example. And you must know that all herbal waters have the same virtues as the herb from which they are extracted.

(Preparation)

But when you want to draw water from flowers or leaves or the like, they are collected in the morning and thrown away with sticks, cut a little and are broken a little in a mortar. And from there the lower vessel of the distiller is filled up to the middle and covered with another part of the distiller. And then those vessels are bound well round the lip with clay, and then they are placed on an earthen furnace which has a narrow opening. And then the coals are placed without smoke, and the water drips through the mouth of the dropper, which is received in a glass vial, and reserved for use.

​
​

One thing that I am attempting to ascertain is what medical knowledge would be accessible to my persona in the 14th century.  Reading up on the history of medicine in England, has given me a rapidly growing list of works or authors to track down to read and to start compiling data for use with the herbs I am collecting and those which I also plan to grow.

One such author is John Mirfield, who authored the Breviarium Bartholomei, in the late 14th century.  The most readily available translation of his work is the volume on surgery, which would be a bit removed from my primary interest in building out an apothecary.  Fortunately, Part 13 of his work covers compound drugs and describes the processes for making varies things such as syrups, electuaries, pills, powders, waters, oils, ointments and plasters.  This is key information that I need for my planned projects.  (Yes, I understand how to many many of these with modern methods and ideas, but to be able to view them as someone did in the 1300s?  That is the very goal of all of this!)

Unfortunately, I could not find a translation of this work readily available anywhere.  This section is however, contained in Popular Medicine in the Thirteenth-Century England, by Tony Hunt, in Latin.  The text was pulled from a Latin copy owned by John Dee.  More information on the manuscript can be found HERE.   There is one additional copy of this work in existence and it can be seen in full HERE. 

So what did I spend the entire day doing?  Translating the first of the items - Syrups.  I hope to finish the rest over the course of the next week.  Items in parentheses that are headers are part of T. Hunt's categories in his book.  Items in parentheses within the copy are my notes or additional information.

Of course, now that I have spent the time on this, I am sure I will find a better translation elsewhere ;-)
​
​

(Syrups)
 
Of Syrups in General and Drinks
 
There are many syrups, electuaries, and other confections in the Antidotario of Nicholai and elsewhere, sufficiently noted by many, which I know it would be a very long occupation, as well as tedious, to insert them all here, especially since many of them are seldom compounded by physicians, but are almost always found ready at the apothecaries and pigmenters.  Therefore, I will begin to say something briefly about the most important and two seemingly unknown ones, helping the master.
 
(General Principals)
 
Therefore, in the first place, there is much to be noted about the preparation of syrups
 
1 - One rule is that all syrup made with sugar must be boiled more than that made with honey.
2 - Another rule: every syrup must be made either with honey or with sugar.
3 - Also a rule: the less cooked all honey is, the more laxative it is, and the more cooked it is, the more nutritious it is, and the more constrictive it is.
4 - Also a rule: any syrup made with honey lasts longer than made with sugar.
5 - Likewise, the rule is that all laxatives should be boiled a little, but astringents should be boiled a lot.
6 - Another rule: no laxative should be added to the syrup except at the end of the decoction.
7 - Also, the rule: in every syrup, the decoction must be made until the consumption of half of the liquid or two parts, so that a third part remains - for otherwise it is of no use.
8 - Also: note that all the dust on the cloth must be boiled in the already clarified syrup. And in the oxymello, which is never clarified, it is placed tied in a cloth from the beginning of the decoction.  (Oxymello is vinegar and honey)
 
Moreover, keep in mind that if you put psyllium, or dragagantum (gum-tragacanth- natural gum from the sap several species of plant originating in the Middle East) , or anything of that kind, in the syrup, it must be boiled for a long time so that the syrup seems to burn. But if you pay attention to the sign of the complete boiling of the syrup in these, it would not be valid, because at the beginning of the boiling it forms a thread due to its viscosity and also adheres to the caccia itself.

(Ingredients in Composition)

(Flowers)
If you want to make a syrup from the flowers, first boil clean water well. Then the water should be boiled and well filtered. Let it be thrown over the flowers in some vessel and the vessel be sealed. Then heat the same water again, and let it be similarly thrown over the same flowers a second time, and afterwards over others, if there are many flowers. And let this be done as long as that water has the color of flowers. Then heat this water and make a syrup from the flowers.

(Roots)
The syrup must be made from the roots as follows: The roots must first be crushed and then boiled in water or vinegar according to the requirement of the syrup. And the roots of this kind must then be boiled, and afterwards they must be removed from the fire and cooled a little, and afterwards well squeezed. And from that decoction make a syrup.

(Spices)
A syrup of aromatics [f.241rb] is made as follows: First, water and sugar are boiled. Then the powdered species should be placed in a bag with a thin line (?? ‘lineo’) and thus they should be placed in the syrup and boiled a little. And when the bag is removed, it must be well squeezed.

(Juices)
The syrup must be made from the juices in this way: The juice must be extracted and then it must be boiled in a moderate amount and then cooled. And then it is well cultivated and after it is boiled with honey or sugar until thick.

(Variety of above)
Sometimes a syrup is made from the flowers, roots, and seeds of diuretic and aromatic species. In this way, the roots must be slightly shaken and cooked well. Afterwards, the diuretic seeds should be cooked moderately. Next, they should be given flowers. And the aromatics are placed in the syrup as if it had already been made.

(Preparation)
Therefore, the instruction for making syrups should be as follows: Boil flowers or seeds or the like together with a little bit in water up to a third part. Then filter, and filter and add sugar in such a measure that to one ounce of flowers or root or powder is added one pound of sugar. And in whatever liquid you wish to make the syrup, put just enough of that liquid to cover the sugar.

(Judging the Consistency)
A sign of boiling syrup is when it is taken with a spatula and it drips continuously like oil.

Another sign is when it sticks to the spatula.

Likewise, it is another sign if a drop of boiling syrup is placed on a fingernail or a marble or a knife, if it then adheres to the finger and does not drip here or there, the syrup is cooked.
The general dose of syrup is one ounce, or so: the syrup is either much cooked or not. If, however, it is cooked a lot, two parts of water and a third of syrup must be mixed; but if it is not much cooked, half of water and half of syrup should be added. And so it should be presented. And note that all syrups must be given far from food, and with hot water in winter ('yeme' clarified as 'winter' in the Middle English Dictionary) and with cold in summer.

(Selection of ingredients)
Also, the general rule is that when any medicine is given, it must be given with a decoction of some herbs or medicines that are effective for this purpose and strengthen the patient's member. And note that if you want to make a syrup against some disease, consider in the antidote the medicine against that disease, and, with the same species crushed and boiled in water, make a syrup. Consider, however, which species should bubble a lot and which should not. For which it is necessary to know that aromatics need little cooking. Indeed, if they were boiled a lot, they would lose all their power, and for this reason such aromatics must be powdered and put in a bag. And when the syrup is clarified, then they are added.

(Clarification)
1. Furthermore, when you make a syrup from the juices and want to have a very clear one, first separate the juice and allow the bubble to settle a little. And that which seems to be starchy or has gone to the bottom, carefully remove it. And in the residue that is as clear as water make a syrup. And so it will be brighter, but not so effectively. And yet you will not be able to do this with the juice of certain cold herbs, unless it has first had an astringent power.

2. Or when this kind of juice has been boiled by itself and afterwards settles, then that which is starchy will settle at the bottom, but that which is clear will float to the top. Then strain gently through a cloth, but do not squeeze so as not to disturb the juice. And from that filtration, which appears to be like water, with the addition of sugar, a clear syrup is made.

3. If you wish to make it more clear when it has been removed from the fire, allow it to cool a little, then take five or six whites of eggs and beat them well and put them in the syrup. And then again [put] it on the fire and let it boil a little. For the albumen (protein in egg whites), by reason of its viscosity, draws with it all the impurities of the honey or of the sugar and of the herbs, and carries it by floating to the surface of the syrup. Carefully remove and deposit any impurities with a pen or the like, and if this is not sufficiently clarified, it is well cultivated again. And let the albumen be laid down as before.

4. Likewise, the clarified syrup and strained through a cloth where there are crocus and licorice powder will be more clarified and purified. And it must be known that the syrup is clarified so that it is less repulsive. And although it is clarified, it is not more effective because of this, but less. And note that it will never happen that a clear syrup is made from vinegar and sugar unless it is the purest vinegar and white sugar.

Furthermore, it should be noted that syrups, if competently prepared, can be kept for three or four years. And this should be a general rule that every time you give a syrup for digestion or division, it must always be given with warm {water}, whether it is a diuretic or not.

(Comparative virtues of sugar and honey)
Likewise, if sugar syrups are bought from apothecaries, it is to be feared that they are made from red sugar. Therefore, it is better for the doctor and the doctor to make them and buy them from the apothecaries. For red sugar is hotter than honey, and therefore honey is better than it.

But John of Saint Amando says that syrup made with honey is better than syrup made with sugar, and the reason is fourfold:
1 - First, because honey, being viscous, better preserves medicines placed in syrup than sugar, which is a rare composition.
2 - The second is because honey covers the awfulness of medicine better than sugar because honey is sweeter than anything else.
3 - The third is because honey is more purifying than sugar since honey is warm and thus common in the second step and sugar at the end.
4 - The fourth reason is that honey digests better than sugar.
But although syrup made with honey is better for digestion, yet syrup made with sugar is more effective for strengthening and cooling than with honey. But when a syrup is to be made with honey, it is necessary first to purify the new white honey very thoroughly, to which the same amount of water or of some other distilled liquid must be carefully mixed and strained, and the syrup is made. And it must boil less than a syrup made with sugar until it thickens a little.




​

Typically I fall in love with a material culture (usually clothing) and learn about the garments, build a wardrobe and then start to learn other information to more fulling try to build out a persona.  This approach rarely gets me very far into the persona building, but I have a great time with what I do craft and learn.

With my SCA Forestry/14th Century project I made an outfit just to get started, and dove right in on the herbs.  Before I go further I am really diving into reading to build a better framework from the ground up.  

To be fair, this is also much easier to research with an aim towards persona building than anything I have done before.  The materials are readily available and mostly in English.  This is entirely unheard of for me, and it is rather refreshing.  

You can view most of my library for this subject matter HERE, though I still do have a few more books to add. 

Below I am going to review two of the items that read this past month that immensely helped me set the stage for the work I plan to keep doing.
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I have three books I am tackling next.  Two are based on the works of the ancient physician Galen (129-216BCE), as this knowledge was still studied and in use in the Middle Ages.  The first is The Alphabet of Galen and the other is Galen: SelectedWorks.  The other book that is currently sitting next to me, just waiting to be picked up is Popular Medicine in the Thirteenth Century England by Tony Hunt.  I hope to review these as I read them as well.  

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Before you read the entry below, understand that I am NOT recommending any use of plants with out further research on your part.  I assume no responsibility for what ever dumb mistakes someone else might make.  I know that I can safely consume all items mentioned below because I have researched them (and compared to my own list of allergies, as well as drug allergies) and have safely consumed all items in the past.  Please read this entry on safety HERE.

In my entry here on Mullein, I noted that I wanted to test out Hildegard's cure for soar throats "with pain in the chest".  After harvesting mullein leaves over the last several days, I decided to go ahead and play around with this.

The problem here is that I am fairly certain now that the intention is to use fennel seeds and dried mullein leaves.  My leaves are not yet dry and I did not have seeds here but was able to procure fresh fennel so I figured "what the heck".  

It called for equal measure of the two plant items to be cooked in "good wine" and consumed often.  It does not, however give quantities for any of those items.  I also wondered, when I first read this, if measure for apothecaries in period was more commonly by weight or volume.  Eventually came across some recipes that called for spoonfuls of various things and that at least let me know that in some cases it was by volume.

I opted to make a single cup of wine with a tablespoon each of the two plants.  I chose these proportions based on modern recipes for mullein tea that make use of fresh, rather than dried, plants.  I simmered the chopped fennel and leaves for 15 minutes and let continue to steep as it cooled for another ten.  I strained it through a damp linen cloth into a cup.  In the photos I show it in a clear cup so that the color can be seen as well.

Regarding wine, when I first started looking into these things and noticed that so many recipes called for wine (yay!) I was wondering out loud on Facebook about what type of wine was available.  Some folks chimed in that old wine was used for medicinal concoctions, but I notice that many recipes specifically call for "good wine".  Further research also showed me that depending on the resources that someone in 14th century England had, there was a wide variety of wine available, both white and red, in many types.  English produced wine was white, imported could be either, and I saw that sweet wines were also imported from Greece and elsewhere.

The wine was still clear after the addition of the herbs and only had a slight herbal smell.  The taste was not unpleasant, and as you swallowed it you got a better sense of the herbs in it.  I think, lol, that my wine was starting to turn as it was more sour than it should be and that only increased with cooking.  The concoction was interesting, and I wish I had thought of making this two weeks ago when I did, in fact, have a sore throat.  

I will be procuring fennel seed soon and can repeat this experiment with the dried plant matter as I believe was intended in period.