Culpeper's Complete Herbal: Over 400 Herbs And Their Uses

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A gallant fine thing for Gentlemen that have nothing else to do with their money, and it will have a lovely look to plea[s]e their eyes. Culpeper's translations and approach to using herbals have had an extensive impact on medicine in early North American colonies, and even modern medications. Alienated and radicalised, he joined the London Trained bands in August 1643 under the command of Philip Skippon and fought at the First Battle of Newbury, [1] where he carried out battlefield surgery.

Ultimately his ambition was to reform the system of medicine by questioning traditional methods and knowledge and exploring new solutions for ill health. To add insult to injury, Culpeper’s text was rife with funny and insulting remarks directed towards the Royal College, highlighting the failings of the original text. During the early months of the English Civil War, Culpeper was accused of witchcraft and the Society of Apothecaries tried to rein in his practice. Publishing the works of Nicholas Culpeper, astrological herbalist and translator of Latin medical works in seventeenth-century London".

Culpeper came from a line of notabilities, including the courtier Thomas Culpeper, who was reputed to be a lover of Catherine Howard (also a distant relative), the fifth wife of Henry VIII. Urdang, Pharmacopoeia Londinensis cited in the The herbalist: Nicholas Culpeper and the fight for medical freedom, by Benjamin Woolley, London: HarperCollins, 2004, p. In his youth, Culpeper translated medical and herbal texts for his master, such as the London Pharmacopaeia from Latin. Combining remedial care with Galenic humoral philosophy and questionable astrology, he forged a strangely workable system of medicine; combined with his "Singles" forceful commentaries, Culpeper was a widely read source for medical treatment in his time. having published in print such a treatise of Herbs and Plants as my Country men may readily make use of, for their own preservation of health or cure of diseases […] that so by the help of my book they may cure themselves, and never beholding to such Physitians as the inquiry of these times affords.

Culpeper's emphasis on reason rather than tradition is reflected in the introduction to his Complete Herbal. During the political turmoil of the English civil war, the College of Physicians was unable to enforce its ban on the publication of medical texts, and Culpeper deliberately chose to publish his translations in vernacular English as self-help medical guides for use by the poor, who could not afford to consult physicians. Experience, and took a voyage to visit my mother Nature, by whose advice, together with the help of Dr.This meant he was able to study the text during his apprenticeship at an apothecary and note its many faults.