This book is really interesting. I find it very useful to be able to look up specific plants when I need to. This is the perfect book for someone interested both in plants, and in the medieval period more generally.

A fascinating little book on plans and how they were used in the Medieval period. The use of some has not changed much at all- liquorice, honey and other things are still used for throat problems and colds. Other plants were used for personal health and grooming: no Medieval people didn’t stink all the time and they used plant-based substances to make themselves and their clothing smell good.
Other plants are barely known, or little used today- and their Medieval use was dubious to say that least. Usually when it involved medicine. The “don’t try this at home” warning was necessary a couple of times.

However, the book doesn’t just cover the weird and wonderful medical uses of plants, it also covers culinary uses with plants which were popular and can still be added to recipes. Ergo fruits have their own chapter: including medlars. These are wild apples (they look like crab apples) which are little used today but were a staple of the Medieval diet. That part was especially interesting as I recently heard a video on medlars, when they grow and how best to eat them.

The book is crammed full of illustrations and photos of the plants in question: which is actually very useful for people like me. Although I have lived in the country most of my life, I don’t recognize most plants on sight.
The author peppered the book with recipes from the period- but also a couple for medlar and fruit-based dishes which can be tried, as well as instructions on how to make ointments and medicinal syrups.

This part of the book is what made it stand out for me: its not just interesting from an academic perspective. Its not just another history book: you can make use of some of the things that it mentions. Finding the plants, cooking with them, or trying to make a whistle from a willow branch.

Thanks to Pen and Sword for approving for the PDF of this title via Netgalley. This did not influence my opinions which are freely given and my own.

this was a fascinating read for someone who has basically 0 knowledge of the subject and wouldn't normally consider it an interesting read. But it did capture my interest and the research that went into the book is just impeccable.

This book was really just a list that could have withstood some editing. Lots of typos and unclear sentence structure.

I studied Medieval history during my undergrad and graduate studies so I tend to pick up related titles to the field. This was an interesting look into an area of the time period I had not previously spent time. I enjoyed the content and the cover is stunning. However, my main complaint is the lack of citations. I love getting lost in a good footnote chase for other interesting information.

Thank you Netgalley!

I studied medieval history for part of my undergrad career, so I love checking out new books centered around the time period. The topic of plants definitely wasn’t something we got into very deeply at college, so this was a cool read! Very accessible and quick.

A well written history of plants and their uses.
I will be buying this for my sister - definitely recommend if you are interested in this type of thing.

An informative and easy to follow book about plants and how they were used in Middle Age.
Well researched and a fast read.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

I’m so glad I’ve chosen and read this book because it helped me immensely for one of my classes. I even recommended it to my lecturer. Great source of info.

Medieval Plants and their Uses is a concise and well written herbal history of plants by Michael Brown. Released 2nd Dec 2022 by Pen & Sword on their White Owl imprint, it's 184 pages and is available in hardcover and ebook formats.

This is a well presented and layman accessible monograph on the historical importance of plants and agriculture to medieval society. The author is engaged and very knowledgeable, and that enthusiasm (and expertise) comes through clearly in the text.

The book is arranged thematically: medieval vegetables, fruits & nuts, grains, plants & medicine, symbolism & superstition, magical & mysterious, love seduction & beauty, childbirth babies & nursemaids, clothing laundry & household tips, dyes inks & paints, animal health care, harvesting & preserving, fun things to do, and and plant lists with charts in alphabetical order showing botanical & common names for various types of plants including abbreviated uses and historical names in the literature from the medieval period.

The book is enhanced throughout with colour photographs of subject plants as well as diagrams and facsimiles of period illustrations.

Five stars. A valuable and interesting read. It would make a good choice for public or school library acquisition, home use, smallholding, allotment garden library, historical re-enactors, and similar.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Medical remedies and magical powers

Curious what plants were well-known by the 17th-century Massachusetts Bay colonists, I delved into Michael Brown’s new book, Medieval Plants and Their Uses. Planting and harvesting were essential to the survival of communities. Besides food and medicinal purposes, though, could plants have been involved in the Salem witch trials? After all, one widely debunked hypothesis claimed ergot poisoning could have caused the witch hunt.

According to Brown, during wet weather a parasite caused fungus to grow on rye (it can affect barley and wheat as well). Since grains were processed at the local mill, ergot poisoning could spread far and wide. Not every local household or family member displayed symptoms—which would happen if they shared bread—so it’s unlikely that ergot poisoning was a cause of the witch-hunt.

Also known as St. Anthony’s Fire, ergot poisoning could cause “hallucinations, convulsions, erratic behavior, or gangrene; death was common.” While some of these symptoms were apparent in the Salem courthouse in 1692, their underlying causes could be many different health issues.

Planting the colony
From the start of the Great Migration, ships came from England with plant cuttings and seeds to grow crops and herbs for food, flavorings, and medicines. Recipes were passed down and shared, like making tansy tea for worms; using vinegar, salt, and honey for cleaning and sterilizing a wound; and eating dandelions to encourage urine flow.

Living on Will’s Hill, the tightknit Wilkins clan may not have been privy to the diuretic dandelion remedy. Patriarch Bray Wilkins reported “my water was sodainly stopt, & I had no benefit of nature, but was like a man on a rack” and accused his grandson-in-law John Willard—an outsider—of causing his bladder issue and his grandson Daniel Wilkins’ death. When a “skillful” woman’s remedies didn’t work, she asked Bray if any “evil persons” did him damage. He said he was “sore afraid they had.” Afflicted accuser Mercy Lewis even said she saw John Willard on his grandfather Bray’s belly. Bray later claimed it was not him “but the testimony of the afflicted persons and the jury … that would take away [John Willard’s] life if any thing did, & within about 1/4 hour after this I was taken in the sorest distress & misery my water being turned into real blood, or of a bloody colour & the old pain returned excessively as before which continued for about 24 hours together” (RSWH 528). It’s clear Bray’s urine retention was a real illness, such as an enlarged prostate, and not a witch’s curse. Yet John Willard was executed for witchcraft on 19 August 1692.

Brown also covers plants with religious associations and magical powers. For instance, Rev. John Hale could have put calendula under his pillow to reveal in dreams that Dorcas Hoar was stealing from him. Saint John’s wort could have expelled the demons from Rev. Samuel Parris’ home while mugwort could have kept ghosts and evil spirits away.

Besides offering insight into historic diets and medical remedies, this book covers common, everyday usage of plants for housekeeping, laundry, animal health care, beauty treatments, and even aphrodisiacs. Well illustrated with photos, Medieval Plants and Their Uses concludes with a few original medieval recipes, a list of plants (their medical and/or practical uses, name variants), and suggested reading.

Brown provides an accessible and fascinating insight into the uses of medieval plants.

Prerelease book provided by NetGalley and Pen & Sword Books Ltd. for review consideration.

This book is a very good introduction to the world of medieval plants and their uses in kitchen, medicine and daily life. If you're new to the topic, Michael Brown will offer you a broad insight. Especially interesting are the recipes, which show how different our tastes are today.

Highly recommended as an introduction. Unfortunately there is no vast bibliography for further reading in the back.

I accessed a digital review copy of this book from the publisher.
This book covers various plants that were commonly utilized during the medieval age. The book divides them by types and how they were used, from medicinal to culinary to the various superstitions. There are also recipes included that are from the medieval era, not all are meant to be used. The plants were focused on the British Isles and their history. There was some information included for European, Arabic, and African scholars.
One issue I had with this book was the organization. There were many plants included with a lot of information about each plant. The problem is that the various plants and information were clumped together without much separation or between different plants. I think this would have been better served if the information was presented in a list format based on the plants.
This is a great book for anyone interested in herblore or the medieval era.

Medieval Plants and their uses by Michael Brown.

This book is all about plants and their uses during medieval times. It is broken down in to various chapters from magic and mystery to symbolism.
I was drawn to this book as I have a fascination with medieval times. Sadly though the book didn't hold my attention.
It is well written, just unfortunately I didn't enjoy it.

Thanks to Netgalley and Pen and Sword for the ARC Copy. This review is my own opinion.

While I didn't get the chance to read the whole book, i thought this was an interesting read and learned some stuff I didn't know from it

This is the kind of book that knits whimsy into its informative nature for the perfect recipe of a time. I quite appreciated the ways in which affinities for medieval. folklore, and herbs all come together in this narrative. I cannot recommend more!

The book definitely caught my eye based off the cover. I am an avid gardener and lover of folklore and the medicinal use of various herbs. I felt as though the content was a bit bland and dry. It was difficult to get through at times however I did think it was well written and had a lot of information. I loved the superstition behind some of these plants. It did include recipes. Overall I thought this was a great beginner read for someone interested in exploring the medicinal uses of medieval plants.

Thanks to Pen & Sword and Netgalley for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Honestly, this was a neat little book, but I was left constantly baffled by the tone. Was it meant to be a practical primer? A history? A record of folklore? It wove between all three, and while I think that that makes for a deeply compelling text, there was no rhyme or reason to some of the structuring. In some places, I wish there had been more history-- in others, more discussion of the practical. While it is a deeply /interesting/ book, it's one that could have used more structure, organization, and clarity of purpose.

(The star rating is closer to a 3.5)

Thanks for the ARC to review, NetGalley.

As an avid (although amateur) gardener, I loved this book! I am a student of history and constantly looking for connections between our past and our present. Many of these plants are herbs, flowers, and fruits that I recognized. The photos are beautiful. Each chapter covers a different area of use, and as the book progresses you find that the flowers and herbs we take for granted today had great medicinal, cultural, and symbolic uses for medieval Europeans. An excellent read, or an interesting flip through if you can't fully commit.

Medieval Plants & Their Uses by Michael Brown

Pros: lots of great information, good amount of coloured photographs

Cons: hard to source quotes

The book has 15 chapters including the introduction: Medieval Vegetables; Medieval Fruits & Nuts; Grains; Plants & Medicine; Symbolism and superstition; Magical & Mysterious; Love, Seduction & Beauty; Childbirth, Babies & Nursemaids; Clothing, Laundry & other Household Tips; Dyes, Inks & Paints; Animal Health Care; Harvesting & Preserving Plant Material; Fun things to do; Plant Lists. It would be impossible to give a full accounting of the uses of plants in the middle ages in such a short book. The author does an admirable job of giving a lot of information in such a condensed format. I was impressed with how many plants he dealt with in even the shorter chapters, with lots of tidbits of folklore added in. Medicine gets the longest chapter as it goes over specific ailments and what plants were used to treat them.

The book has a lot of half page and full page colour photographs of plants and some manuscript illuminations. These are used to good advantage when explaining how certain plants were used based on their looks (like a photo of henbane next to its use in curing toothache as the seed cases resemble teeth on a jawbone). The rose sepal photo really helps explain a poem used in the symbolism and superstition chapter.

There are a number of recipes included, though the author does advise against using some, especially in the medical section.

The chapter on fun things to do shows several ways to make flower crowns and a few simple reed instruments.

I loved learning about plants I’ve never heard of, including several vegetables that are no longer widely cultivated as the easier to grow and cook potatoes have taken their place. It was also interesting learning how medieval people may have dealt with things like chapped lips or dying hair. Another fun tip was to chew licorice for a clear voice, the way Roman orators did.

There’s a bibliography at the end of the book but no citations or notes in the text explaining what source specific information is from.

This is an easy to read guide on medieval plants including a lot of great information.