Since physicians were reluctant to put their lives on the line with their noble patients, a jar of autumn crocus was not the first thing they reached for to treat gout. History might have been a tad less bloody if a few kings had gotten the remedy. On the other hand, a few more royal doctors would have gotten their necks stretched on the scaffold if the gout cure killed the patient. Even today, a patient is at risk for unpleasant or even severe side effects, but, in medieval times, the correct dosage would have been difficult. Obviously, autumn crocus could be used successfully or the Greeks and others wouldn’t have written so enthusiastically about it.
I have always presented Sister Anne as observant, analytical, and well-educated, thanks to her father who had access to medical treatises not always available to most western physicians. With her education, use of a conservative dose and careful observation, all possible with a resident sub-prioress, Sister Anne could have successfully used the remedy, but even she would not have used autumn crocus on a regular basis or with a transient patient.
Many of us may assume that only men suffer gout since afflicted women are rarely mentioned. It is true that men get the disease more often and earlier in life. My father did. So imagine my surprise when I awoke one morning to a very red and increasingly painful toe joint. Post-menopausal women with a family history can and often do suffer from gout. I was not pleased by the paternal gift.
Fortunately, I am a writer so found distraction from the flare-up in researching the background of that wonderful, little purple pill. Once I discovered what a fascinating history it had, I knew the treatment must show up in a book. I also wanted company in my misery and decided that Eleanor’s sub-prioress was the perfect person to benefit from my experience. After what Sister Ruth’s brother tried to do to Prioress Eleanor and Brother Thomas in Satan’s Lullaby, I also hope that brother shares the family medical tendency to painful little uric acid crystals.
Sneezing was problematic in the medieval period. One belief, of the many prevalent theories, was that a sneeze expelled the soul from the body. Another was the fear that demonic creatures filled the void in the body left by the sneeze. In order to call the soul back, or to keep Satan at bay, the words “God bless you” were uttered. The expression is still used.
As a final note, the term English Channel was not used in the thirteenth century. The most common name for that body of water separating the British Isles from the continent was British Ocean (Oceanus Britannicus) or British Sea (Mare Anglicanum). The first known reference to the English Channel (Canalites Anglie) was on an Italian map of 1450 within a translation of Claudius Ptolemy’s second century Geographia.
Bibliography
In the course of researching any new book, I always find useful and entertaining sources that I love to share with readers. Here the joy of fiction and the excitement of academic discovery can join in a common, harmonious purpose. The following titles are a few of the latest which I hope you will enjoy as much as I have.
Bishops, Clerks, and Diocesan Governance in Thirteenth-Century England, by Michael Burger, Cambridge University Press, 2012.
Episcopal Visitation of Monasteries in the Thirteenth Century, (second, revised edition), by C. R. Cheney, Manchester University Press, 1983.
The Holy Bureaucrat: Eudes Rigaud and Religious Reform in Thirteenth-Century Normandy, by Adam J. Davis, Cornell University Press, 2006.
The Register of Eudes of Rouen, translated by Sydney M. Brown and edited by Jeremiah F. O’Sullivan, Columbia University Press, 1964.
Religious Life for Women c.1100-c.1350 (Fontevraud in England), By Berenice Kerr, Oxford University Press, 1999.
Oxford Dictionary of Popes, by J.N.D. Kelly, Oxford University Press, 1986.
Medieval Travellers: the Rich and Restless, by Margaret Wade Labarge, Orion Books, 1982.
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