Hypocras: The Medieval Wine Doctors Prescribed as Medicine

juliamartins99Posts

What if I told you one of the most popular medicines in medieval Europe was also the trendiest party drink? Hypocras (or ‘hypocras’ if you stick to the French pronunciation) was a spiced and sweetened wine so prestigious that kings gifted it to each other; it was believed to be so medically effective that doctors prescribed it, and so delicious …

Satirical cover of O Mosquito, celebrating the identification of the mosquito as the vector of yellow fever, mocking earlier theories and cures. (Image source: Hemeroteca Digital Brasileira)

How Latin America Shaped Germ Theory (But History Overlooked It)

juliamartins99Posts

Imagine this: It’s 1910, and you’re strolling through an international medical conference in Europe. The legacies of Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch are being celebrated for discovering that tiny microbes—not “bad air”—cause diseases. Revolutionary! Groundbreaking! The audience applauds these European geniuses who saved humanity! And then, from the back of the room, a Brazilian doctor stands up: “Excuse me, but …

A physician examining urine while consulting with a patient, illustrating the direct relationship between practitioner and patient in medieval medicine.

How Urine Revealed Fertility in Renaissance Medicine

juliamartins99Posts

If a couple can’t have children and you want to know whose ‘fault’ it is, what do you do? Well, if we’re talking about Renaissance Italy, you might give this experiment a try. This recipe is from a 1529 book called Dificio di ricette, or ‘House of Recipes’ and I came across it recently when I was preparing a talk. …

The Medici-Tornabuoni Birth Tray.

Birth Trays in Renaissance Italy and Motherhood

juliamartins99Posts

What if a seemingly ordinary wooden tray could tell the story of a society’s rebirth after one of the deadliest epidemics in history? “In the year of our Lord 1348, there happened at Florence, the finest city in all Italy, a most terrible plague…” So starts Boccaccio’s Decameron, one of the most celebrated texts in medieval literature. The Decameron tells us much about the …

Lucy in her vampire form from Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), directed by Francis Ford Coppola, showing her dramatic transformation.

Dracula: Blood Transfusions and Control Over Women

juliamartins99Posts

Content Warning: Blood, animal cruelty, sexual assault. ‘She wants blood, and blood she must have or die’ – this is one of my favourite passages from Bram Stoker’s 1897 masterpiece, Dracula. (And there are several!) So, let’s set the scene. After a series of sleepwalking episodes, Lucy, one of the main characters in the novel, is left mysteriously exsanguinated: she’s …

The Regimen sanitatis Salernitanum (1480) (Wikimedia Commons)

What were the “Non-Naturals”?

juliamartins99Key Concepts

When I was growing up, my grandmother told me to avoid cold showers if I was having my period. I was also not supposed to leave the house with my hair wet unless it was summer. When we travelled to the mountains, my other grandmother would ‘fill her lungs with forest air’. She claimed to feel instantly healthier. I’m sure …

Renaissance women engaging in alchemical practices, showcasing their involvement in scientific endeavors.

Alchemy in the Renaissance: The Mysterious Isabella Cortese

juliamartins99Posts

How do you become an alchemist? This is what a 16th-century book suggests: This advice is said to come from a woman; it’s from The Secrets of the Lady Isabella Cortese, published in Venice in 1561. But what does this book, and the mysterious writer to whom it is attributed, tell us about women, science, alchemy, authorship, authority and expertise …

A historical eaglestone pendant.

Eaglestones: Historical Amulets for Childbirth

juliamartins99Posts

Content warning: Miscarriage/Abortion Part 1 – What are Eaglestones? Childbirth can be scary, especially if you’ve never given birth before and don’t know what to expect. Just like we might do today, throughout history, women have talked to each other about it, developed their rituals surrounding it, they have asked midwives and doctors questions, and they have prayed for protection. …

Portrait of Caterina Sforza, attributed to Lorenzo di Credi.

Caterina Sforza: The Alchemy and Power of a Renaissance Icon

juliamartins99Posts

Imagine you are the ruler of an Italian city in the Renaissance; your husband has been murdered and your children were taken hostage by your political enemies, who hope to take control of your fortress. Yet the people inside are still loyal to you and are not surrendering. So, leaving your children with your enemies, you go inside the castle, …