Garden of medicinal plants
Photos Credit: Salagon Museum. Text : Marie Josèphe Moncorgé. Translator: Jean-Marc Bulit
The remedy-plants of the medieval pharmacopoeia originated from an intuitive and empirical knowledge mingled with the popular beliefs. The plants were to be used alone (Platearius' simple medicine) or combined with other plants, spices or even mineral products (composed medicine of the Nicolas antidote book). Medicinal herbs were prescribed by the doctor, the apothecary, the herbalist or the barber-surgeon. Many faith healers also knew how to use the plants with the power of healing.
Pierre Lieutaghi said: The remedies carry the signatures of the sickness or the part of the body for which they are meant. There were beliefs regarding the analogy between the distinctive features of a plant and the symptoms of a sickness: lungwort, a plant with leaves spotted white, would treat the lungs.