Exotic materials and treasured knowledge: the valuable legacy of noblewomen's remedies in early modern Germany

Abstract

Estate inventories taken after the death of sixteenth‐ and seventeenth‐ century German noblewomen occasionally contain itemizations of court apothecaries. These accounts not only portray the pharmacy as squarely under the guidance of the women in question, they also give us a sense of what specific materia medica noblewomen used in their practice. At the same time, this essay argues, inventories are inherently flawed historical documents, because they portray first and foremost what state bureaucrats found most valuable. Inventories of noblewomen's apothecaries thus tend to skew towards foreign and exotic drugs, beautiful containers, and unusual objects – a stark contrast to the more quotidian ingredients that take centre stage in most medicinal recipes. These material remnants of court apothecaries, moreover, tell only part of the story of noblewomen's medicine. In interactions during their lifetimes, noblewomen's children and heirs seemed far more interested in their medical knowledge than in their medical possessions. Some explicitly referred to family books of medicinal recipes as a treasure, or Schatz. Through an examination of these two different kinds of valuable legacies – material and immaterial – we can start to develop a broader picture of the perceived worth of noblewomen's healing.

Woodcuts as reading guides. How images shaped knowledge transmission in medical-astrological books in Dutch (1500-1550)

“…Literature: Hoogendoorn 2018, 169; Van Dixhoorn 2014, 116-117;Franssen 1990, 36 and 76;Jansen-Sieben 1989, 50;Vermeulen 1986, 121;Forbes 1948, 110-111;Post et al 1960, nr. 132. On the German editions: Taape 2021; Taape 2014;Rankin 2014;Habermann 2001, 487-501;Belkin 1986;Anderson 1977, chapter 15;Forbes 1948, 109-116;Sigerist 1946, 33-36;Klein 1911, IX-X;Choulant 1858, 75-85. Thuys der fortunen ende dat huys der doot Copies consulted: Thuys-1518-A12, Thuys-1522-B02, Thuys-1531-G03 109 , Thuys-1531-H04, Thuys-c1540-H04 Other copies: -In Thuys der fortunen, lavishly illustrated throughout in all editions, the first section is a book of fortune: a kind of interactive horoscope that could be played 106 Brunschwig, The vertuose boke of Distyllacyon (London: Laurence Andrewe, 1527), 2 o , https:// www.ustc.ac.uk/editions/501983, ESTC S106740. 107 Franssen 1990, 36 assumes that Jan van Doesborch has played a role in this transition.…”