The Lasting Presence of Gerard's Herball

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In his dedication to “Sir William Cecil Knight, Baron of Burghley” (1636), Gerard indicates a desire that his efforts be available to all, that treasures kept to oneself are often neglected, forgotten, and therefore wasted: …because gardens are private, and many times finding an ignorant or a negligent successor, come soon to ruin, there be that have solicited me, first by my pen, and after by the Press to make my labors common, and to free them from the danger whereunto a garden is subject… He includes an appendix of plant names “gathered out of ancient written and printed copies, and from the mouths of plaine and simple country people” at the back of the book. Gerard’s comments and the index remind us that many people in both urban and rural regions of England at this time grew herbs and would appreciate a book describing their characteristics and virtues. Most people could not afford a physician. Those in the middle and lower classes who did seek outside medical advice used apothecaries. By the end of the 16 th century, most physicians preferred homegrown herbs to the drugs imported by the apothecaries (Hill, 1975). Thomas Johnson was perhaps acting as a medical professional earning a living, as well as a botanist, when he updated Gerard’s Herball. He was quite possibly responding to public demand for information. In his preface to the 1633 and 1636 editions, Johnson notes in closing that “…this knowledge [of the virtues of plants] amongst us in this city was almost lost, or at least too much neglected, especially by those to whom it did chiefly belong, and who ought to be ashamed of ignorance, especially in a thing so absolutely necessary to their profession.” He is speaking to “my loving friends and fellow Travellers…of the same profession”—apothecaries, barber surgeons, botanists, and the 12
like. Wright (1935) notes that in the late 16 th and early 17 th centuries, popular consciousness valued information for increasing knowledge, “however curious and heterogeneous” that information might be (p.562). For example, the works of Nicholas Culpeper in the mid 17 th century were intended to satisfy the public’s desire for information. Culpeper spent his life translating medical texts from Latin into English. He states that his Pharmacoepia Londinensis (1649) “’tends towards the furtherance of a Commonwealth and the pulling down a monopoly’” (Hill, 1975, p.164). Culpeper’s Herbal of 1652 was published in at least thirteen additional editions or translations; the last English edition was printed in 1820 (Rohde, 1971, p.215). His work is a manifestation of the belief that the works of scholars should be made available to all, especially as concerned their practical application. Wallace Notestein (1954) provides a description of English country people by consulting public records, the journals of local societies, letters, diaries, and other primary source material. Hard working, self-sufficient people populate his rural villages and the countryside. Women did most of the gardening (including raising herbs), and these women used medicinal herbs for members of the community as well as for themselves and their families. A doctor’s fee might be one-third the yearly wage for a laborer. Not only were doctors expensive; they had poor reputations. Many people believed that doctors knew little about disease and even less about remedies: …the less affluent in towns and the yeomen in the country would hesitate to spend so much unless in a great emergency. They were the more reluctant when they had been told by neighbors that the apothecary had a wonderful remedy. A knowing woman in the next village was reported to have been successful with an 13
Page 1 and 2: The Lasting Presence of Gerard’s
Page 3 and 4: years. I say “person to person”
Page 5 and 6: and botanist, to undertake the proj
Page 7 and 8: At the same time, Gerard’s Herbal
Page 9 and 10: additional information. Or perhaps
Page 11: The short answer is that we do not
Page 15 and 16: a great mixing of people and ideas
Page 17 and 18: inding the signatures. I looked for
Page 19 and 20: their own. People like John Jossely
Page 21: Ioice Norton, and Richard Whitakers

The Lasting Presence of Gerard's Herball

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