Versatile Plant

23 Medieval Uses for Rosemary

In the Middle Ages, Rosemary was considered a wonder plant, which could be used to treat many illnesses and keep you healthy. One 14th century writer found 23 uses for it, including keeping your hair beautiful and preventing nightmares! This beautiful plant with its blue flowers is native to the Mediterranean region and has a long history dating back to mythological stories. The Greek goddess Aphrodite was said to be wrapped in rosemary when she first emerged from the sea, while the name comes from a story that the Virgin Mary had once spread a blue cloak over a white-blossomed bush, which turned its flowers blue. Writers dating back to ancient times praised the plant for its medical uses, and medieval brides would wear a rosemary wreath.

A list of its uses can be found in the Zibaldone da Canal, an early fourteenth-century book by a Venetian merchant. Although he says that there 25 uses for rosemary, the text only includes 23, but they offer a fascinating look at what medieval people believed were the beneficial aspects of plant.

These are the virtues of rosemary, which is very good for all illnesses; rosemary has 25 powers, and all are good. 

1. The first, take the flower of the rosemary and bind it in a linen cloth, and boil it in water until only half as much water remains, and use it against all illnesses within the body, and drink this water.

2. Likewise, boil the leaf of the rosemary in good unadulterated white wine, and wash your face in it, and it will make your face white and beautiful, and the hair beautiful.

3. Likewise, take the flower of the rosemary and make a powder of it and bind on your arm, and it will be quick.

4. Likewise, take the flower of the rosemary and make a paste of it and moisten a green cloth, and brush your teeth, and it will kill worms, and protect you from all ills.

5. Likewise, take the root of the rosemary and put it on hot coals, and breathe the smoke through your nose, and it will cause all rheum to go away.

6. Likewise, take the root of the rosemary and boil it in strong vinegar and wash your feet in it, and it will make them firm and strong.

7. Likewise, take the flower of the rosemary in the morning and eat it with honey and rye bread, and no blisters will rise on you.

To be continued...