Skill - Herbalist

(Medicinal plants were widely accepted and used in the Middle Ages to cure various ailments (1, 2, 3). It is reasonable to assume that Adelheid would have known about these remedies, and so it is built into her persona. My own Swiss grandmother thought everything could be cured with Kamille-tee, or chamomile tea. The following list of Adelheid's remedies are conjecture. This is an idea of what Adelheid could have done, based on the long history of using medicinal plants in the Middle Ages and the alpine plants that grow in Switzerland. This is presented for educational entertainment only, and should not be taken as medical advice. Any teas and/or tinctures listed below should not be used without first consulting a medical professional.)

Monasteries played a crucial role in studying, preserving and propagating herbal medicines, including cultivating gardens of medicinal plants. However many laypeople, especially women, were responsible for the health of their families. They would learn how to use herbs to treat common illnesses, and then pass their knowledge to their daughters and granddaughters. (4). There were many books on the topic, however it would be reasonable to assume that Adelheid did not have access to these written records and as suggested in the passage below, would have been part of this oral tradition of "folk medicine".

“Hildegard of Bingen, a 12th-century Benedictine nun, is one of the most famous women in the herbal tradition. She wrote a medical text called Causae et Curae, during this time, herbalism was mainly practiced by women, particularly among Germanic tribes. Folk medicine in the home and village continued uninterrupted, supporting numerous wandering and settled herbalists. These included “wise-women” and “wise men” who prescribed herbal remedies along with spells, enchantments, divination and advice.” (4)

Adelheid visits her brother and his family in the Alps every summer, when the alpine work is happening. During this time, she collects various alpine plants. The knowledge of what plants and flowers were good for particular ailments would have been something passed down by her mother, grandmother, and other people in the area. Living in the remote mountain regions of Switzerland, the villagers (and frequent warriors) would have had to be relatively self-sufficient to care for their families and each other.

The flowers are plucked, made into small bundles, hung upside down and air dried in the mountain huts. The dried flowers would be stored in linen/fabric (5, 14). She takes these home and turns them mostly into teas and less frequently into tinctures or topical remedies. She originally used these to minister a kind of rural first aid to her family, but she became known for her folk medicine among her neighbours in the city. She is careful to not make any exaggerated claims or use the flower teas in ways that the church wouldn’t approve of, so that her remedies are not considered witchcraft. She sticks to very common ailments, such as bruises, digestive issues, insect stings, and mild mood disorders. However, her teas and tinctures only treat symptoms, so they often come with some pragmatic life advice to help heal the root cause of the ailments. This is a nice, modest side business for Adelheid.

A quick note on tinctures

Tinctures are made by infusing alcohol or vinegar with the plants. The active ingredients are pulled into the liquid after soaking the plants. Although her brother makes alcohol (will need to demonstrate how alcohol was distilled in the medieval period), I think she would be more likely to use vinegar or wine, and save any schnapps for more “serious” conditions (6).

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Arnica Montana

Topical concentrate:

used for bumps, bruises, sprains, muscle aches, inflammation and swelling (such as insect bites or broken bones) (8)
Not to be taken orally
She would boil the dried flowers into a kind of concentrated “tea” (for topical use only), 1 spoonful of dried leaves with ½ cup water (9)
The liquid would then be applied to a soft cloth and placed on the affected area

Camomile

Tea, inhalant, gargle, tincture and poultice (10):

Used to treat chest cold, sore throat, anxiety, sleep issues and skin irritations
Tea - 2 to 3 teaspoons to one cup water, steep for 10 to 15 minutes. When cooled, the tea can be used as a gargle for sore throat
Can breathe the steam of the tea to calm cough
Tincture - 1 part plant to 5 parts alcohol/vinegar, taken in hot water
Poultice - mash dried flower with enough water to make a paste, apply to inflamed skin

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Yarrow

Tea:

Used to aid in digestion and for menstrual issues, also as a kind of mild sedative for anxiety (7)
Good for females at “that time of the month” (11)
Tea is made from the dried plant, 1-2 tsp dried yarrow to 1 cup water, steep for minimum 10 minutes, over 15 for stronger effects (12, 13)
Can flavour with honey.

St. John's Wort

Tea and tincture (7, 15):

Used to aid in “mood disorder” i.e. mild depression, seasonal affective disorder
Tea can be made from dried “all above ground” parts of the plant. 1 tsp to approx 150 ml hot water, steeped for 5 minutes.
A tincture can be made of 1 part plant, 2 parts alcohol or vinegar, soaked for approx 4 weeks. The resulting tincture can be taken in small doses (6)
I would imagine Adelheid would make a strong tincture for her and her family from her brother’s schnapps, to ease the winter months.

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Herbalism as reproductive control

Herbalism was used to relieve blocked menses, amenorrhea, to clear the body of embryos, and to cause abortion. As surprising as this may be to modern readers, these uses were recorded as far back as the first century. In De Materia Medica by the Greek physician Dioscorides, he listed a number of items used for those purposes. Hildegard of Bingen made note of several menstruation stimulators and abortifacients in her medical texts, Physica and Causae et Curae, which were written around 1150. Recipes regularly appeared in medieval medical books which suggests that abortion was considered a routine medical procedure.

"Much of the knowledge would also have been passed down orally from woman to woman, across generations. “[T]he presence of folkloric knowledge regarding the female body as well as the need to control the body’s reproductive purpose are difficult to ignore, particularly in light of many sources which seek to ‘move the menses’ or evacuate the womb,” writes Lydia Harris, a historian specializing in abortion and contraception in medieval Europe. It’s believed that Hildegard learned what she knew about the medicinal properties of botanicals, tinctures, stones, and animal parts not only from her superiors at the monastery, but from nearby folk healers and herbalists. That’s because her texts mix the Latin of traditional medicine with a healthy dose of German terms and folkloric wisdom." (Campbell, O. 2021. Retrieved from https://daily.jstor.org/abortion-remedies-medieval-catholic-nun/)

Opinions on abortion were as varied in Adelheid's time as they are now. It was prohibited by the Church to end a pregnancy, and by the late middle ages, secular law codes prohibited this as well. The length of the pregnancy and whether or not the mother's life was in danger appeared to be a factor in how severe the repercussions were. Undoubtedly, women would have borne the greatest brunt of any punishments, and therefore Adelheid would have tread very lightly, if at all, in using her knowledge of herbalism for this purpose.

Websites used for this section:

1 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3573364/

2 https://www.mostly-medieval.com/explore/plants.htm

3 https://historymedieval.com/herbal-medicine-in-the-middle-ages/

4 https://historymedieval.com/herbal-medicine-in-the-middle-ages/

5 https://theherbexchange.com/your-essential-guide-to-harvesting-medicinal-flowers/

6 https://www.healthline.com/health/what-is-a-tincture

7 https://alpshiking.swisshikingvacations.com/medicinal-plants-in-the-alps/

8 https://www.mountsinai.org/health-library/herb/arnica

9 https://foodsofnations.com/products/arnica-flower

10 https://www.mountsinai.org/health-library/herb/german-chamomile

11 https://www.mountsinai.org/health-library/herb/yarrow