Mrs Corlyon, 'A Booke of divers Medecines' (1606)

Pictured above is the cover of a recipe/receipt book manuscript dated 1606 that is held and has been digitised by the Wellcome Library's Archive and Manuscripts department. This is where my research predominantly lies at the moment - exploring the themes of maleficium and beneficium in women's receipt collections, and I am currently in the early stages of trying to find a sensible approach to transcribing (or transcribbling!) some of this large, and very fascinating collection as part of gathering my contextual, non-regional primary source material.

This manuscript as a whole, is fantastically accessible; the work is clearly organised into chapters of health remedies relating to each part of the body, there is an index at the back in the authors own hand and the paleography is uncharacteristically legible from what I can tell of similarly dated works. I wanted to make the most of the clarity of this work in order to make a start in practicing my transcription skills, and so decided to share a few of the extracts from the chapter 3 on 'Eares'. I chose these extracts mostly because they made me chuckle a little, but also because they seemed to say a lot, in just a few examples, about seventeenth-century common practices and processes in both making and administering health remedies (i.e. lots of heat and steam), about the interchangibility of food products into medicines (e.g. fruit, bread and spices) and possibly even more about the way in which these women (and no doubt men too) approached the task of writing down these receipts in a particular format. In the examples of the three recipes below for 'the singinge in the eares' , the structure of the work is able to imply a sense of efficacy to the reader too, who seems to be given the one with the most authority first ('it hath been approved'), to an additional 'very good' medecine, to just 'an other medicine' for the same ailments.

I'll include an image of the page I've taken these examples from below - apologies for the size - it was my intention that it would allow errors in transcription and interpretation to be corrected where noticed, but that seems unlikely seeing the outcome. Anyway, I do hope you enjoy these as much as I did!


"A Booke of diuers Medecines, Broothes, Salues, Waters, Syroppes and Oyntementes of which many or the most part haue been experienced and tryed by the speciall practize of Mrs Corlyon. Anno Domini 1606."

A Medecine to drawe and Earwigge out of the Eare.

Take a sweete Aple and rost it in the fyer untill it bee halfe rosted, then take of the softest of it, and spreade it very thick uppon a Lynnen clothe, and lay it to your eare as hott as you can suffer it, and lye upon the same syde, and when you do feele it stirr, you must lye very still untill it be come to the Aple, and then you must very sodainely pluck it away least the Earewigge retorne into your heade againe. And if you thincke there be any more laye a newe one to your eare.

A Medecine for the singinge in the eares.

Take Barlye flower and bake a loofe of it and when you drawe it our of the Oven devide it in the midste, and strowe uppon it the powder of Nuttmegges, and as hott as you may suffer it, holde it to your Eares, and do so often and you shall fynde ease. It hath been approved.

An other very good medecine for the same.

Take a quart of Sacke, and putt thereto an handfull of grounde Juye(?), as much of Pennyroyall, and lett them boile well together and as hott as you can suffer it lett the steeme thereof goe into your eares by a tunnell that will close cover(?) the pott. Use it in the morning and when you goe to Bedd, and keepe yourselfe warme.

An other Medicine for the same.

Take a greate Onyon and cutt of a rounde peece of the crowne, make an hollowe place within it, and putt into it a little Mythridate, a little olde Sallett Oyle and a spoonefull of Aquavite(?), and cloose it withe the peece that you cutt of the crowne and wrappe it in a paper and roste it in the embers and when it is very softe, that it it out of the fyer and bruse it altogether and laye it in a clothe and as hott as you may suffer it, holde it to your eare.