Curious cures for medieval maladies

James Freeman discusses a new project that’s investigating medieval medicinal recipes to uncover how people coped with illness and ailments

Published: January 16, 2023 at 5:01 PM

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If you feel unwell today you can pick up a prescription or head to a medical centre, but how did ill people treat their ailments in the Middle Ages? A major new project at Cambridge University Library aims to find out, by digitising, cataloguing and conserving over 180 medieval manuscripts, containing well over 8,000 medical recipes. Dr James Freeman speaks to Emily Briffett about what these weird and wonderful recipes – using ingredients like puppy stomachs and eel grease – can tell us.

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Authors

Emily BriffettSenior content producer (podcasts)

Emily Briffett is senior content producer (podcasts) at HistoryExtra

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