Prescribe hind slippers and pigeons

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What would you do if you thought your children had become "rats and mice"? Or if you had the "French disease"? Or had problems with witches?

In the 16th century in England, you may have visited two famous "doctors", Simon Forman and Richard Napier.

After 10 years of research, Cambridge historians digitize some of their patient records and show how they prescribed magic to medicine.

Records also show that patients are asked to wear dead pigeons in slippers.

There are 80,000 distinct case notes, from the 1590s to the 1630s, in what is described as one of the largest historical medical collections of its kind.

"Rapier in the private parts"

But they have been notoriously difficult to decipher and a team of researchers at the University of Cambridge has been transcribing their content for years. 500 of them have been digitized, translated into English accessible and available online.

These give a glimpse of the physical and mental anxieties of Shakespearean England, whether it be "attacked with a rapier in its private parts" or suffering from "mopish" or "melancholy".

Teacher. Lauren Kassell, head of research, describes diseases and treatments as a "wormhole in the dirty and enigmatic world of 17th century medicine, magic, and occultism."

Witchcraft seemed to be a major source of worry – patients blamed a range of ailments and the notes referred to a number of witches who had been executed.

Angelic advice

Professor Kassell said that doctors and patients are evolving harmoniously between the physical world, astrology, magic and religion, all mixed up to offer remedies.

That wizards or evil spirits provoked an illness would have been "quite credible at the time", she said, with available counter-curses.

In one of the cases, evil spirits had seized a patient, so that he offended people by shouting: "Kisse ass myne."

Even by the standards of 17th century medicine, some of their approaches were considered eccentric.

According to Professor Kassell, Richard Napier would often need additional help by consulting angels.

But that was not always good news. An angel counselor gave a patient a rather bleak outlook: "He will die soon."

"Bag like crazy"

Simon Forman, astrologer and healer, sparked another kind of suspicion: he courted energy with famous patients arousing the mistrust of the "real" doctors.

According to Professor Kassell, the question of whether one of the remedies "worked" is a complex one.

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In the context of the time, it was people's efforts to overcome the problems, she said. If they followed the recommendation to use Beaconsfield leeches rather than Dorchester, did that make them feel better?

"People always want to do something against an illness," she says. Even if the "cures" seem unlikely, it is difficult to assess the benefits of going for help and talking about problems.

Mental health problems are often mentioned, that is people with depressive symptoms, called "melancholy" or other repeated references to "crazy".

There were often harsh treatments, people tied up and tied up, and a man who claimed to be falsely accused of madness was afraid of being "crazed like crazy".

Milk puppies

Venereal diseases also seemed to be widespread, many cases evoking what is called the "French disease".

A patient suffering from "pox, boils and itching" received a combination of roses, violets, boiled crabs and deer dung.

Prof. Kassell says that many cases might seem unlikely.

"But even strange things could be rooted in reality," she says.

In one case, a woman was described as a nursing puppy.

& # 39; The summit of the iceberg & # 39;

According to Professor Kassell, this would have been perceived as a general index of witchcraft – but it was also true that if women were having breastfeeding problems, it was common knowledge to use puppies to encourage the milk.

This may still not explain the healing of "pigeon slippers", which literally means opening the pigeons to the patient's feet.

According to Professor Kassell, the light of casbooks on 17th century society is both uplifting and disturbing.

"On the one hand, it is a really horrible sight, but on the other hand, there is this beautiful pastoral society," she says.

It also shows a very different worldview, living close to the natural environment and deeply imbued with religion and mystical beliefs.

According to Professor Kassell, there was no gap between the "spiritual and the natural" and people moved between the two kingdoms.

Until now, transcripts are the "tip of the iceberg," she adds. There are "thousands of pages of cryptic scribbles full of astral symbols" and the transcription of the entire collection would take another 20 years.