By In keeping with the news of the birth of the new heir to the throne (or jumping on the bandwagon depending on how you view things) today’s post is just a very brief look at what the midwife Jane Sharp recommended for the post-post-partum care of new mothers. If you
Episcopal Emotions
Dr Katherine Harvey ‘Episcopal Emotions: Saint-Bishops and the Unruly Male Body’ In the late eleventh century, the Catholic Church did something which profoundly affected the lives of thousands of clergymen across Western Europe: it banned clerical marriage and insisted that, henceforth, all priests must be celibate. This ruling had a
Crime, Sex and the Spanish Fly
Spanish Fly, or Cantharides, are, as the name suggests, small emerald-green flies (above is a 13th century illustration of one). Crushed or powdered these flies were used throughout the early modern period as a medicinal substance. They were believed to be extremely irritating to the body causing heating and blistering, this
Baby in the Bathwater
In his 1615 medical treatise Mikrokosmographia Helkiah Crooke wrote about the alarming possibility that women might be able to conceive without engaging in sexual activity. He explained that some other authors claimed that the ejaculation of the male seed into the womb wasn’t always required for conception to occur. This was