'Medieval Murder (Part 2) - How to Protect Yourself from Poison' by Karen Maitland

This maybe be cupid, but
 that's a bottle of poison he's holding

Last month I looked ten popular poisons of the Middle Ages. With so many ways to kill a victim it was little wonder people were constantly on their guard. People often fell ill from poor food hygiene, but with the symptoms of stomach bugs - severe cramp, dizziness and vomiting - resembling many other kinds of poisoning, it is little wonder that some people convinced themselves that an enemy had deliberately tried to kill them, especially if they had recently quarrelled.

So if you were a guest at someone else’s table in the Middle Ages, how could you be sure your host hadn’t poisoned your flagon of wine or the roast quail you were eating? Wary guests and travellers always took their own antidotes whenever they were invited to dine, and apothecaries and others made a fortune by selling them. Here are ten favourite medieval antidotes to poison  -

1. Toadstones – Toad secretions were one of the poisons medieval people feared, but toads also supplied the antidote to many poisons. Toadstones were thought to be found in the heads of fat and aged toads. The toad was said to vomit the stone out, if it was placed on a scarlet cloth. This was kinder than the alternative method of beating a living toad and putting it into an anthill, where the ants would strip it, leaving only the bones and the toadstone.

Stealing the toadstone from the toad.

Toadstones grew hot or changed colour and sweated when near poison, so were often incorporated into rings, so that the wearer could feel and see any changes if he picked up a poisoned chalice. Mary Queen of Scots always carried a toadstone in silver bottle. Pressed to venomous sting, the toadstone would also draw out the poison.

 To test if you had a real toadstone, you held it up in front of toad and it would leap towards the stone if it was genuine.

2. Confection of Cleopatra – This was an antidote to various poisons including arsenic, laurel, aconite, mandrake, sea-hare, leopard’s gall, cat’s brains and menstrual blood – all consider highly dangerous. Confection of Cleopatra was made by mixing strong sweet wine with mashed scorpions, musk and birthwort (aristolochia), a hallucinogenic plant used in childbirth and as an antidote to snake bites.

 

Cyclamen. Photographer: Meneerke bloem

3. Cyclamen (Cyclamen hederifolium) – This pretty little plant, known as Sowbread because it was uprooted and eaten by foraging pigs, was used as antidote to poison, as well as a love-charm and an aphrodisiac. If a man was going bald he could also stuff the herb up his nose which was thought to stop any more hair from falling out.

 4. Agate, serpentine and topaz were all stones thought to guard the wearer against poison, so were often incorporated in jewellery, rings or small amulets to be hung round the neck. These were popular with poorer knights and merchants most of whom could not afford our next antidote.

 

Narwhal that provided 'unicorn' horn.

5. Unicorn horns – The examples of 'unicorn' horns that have survived have proved to be the spiral tusks of narwhals (an arctic whale). The horns were fashioned into drinking cups and goblets as they were thought to offer powerful protection against poison, especially arsenic, and promoted general good health, although not, of course, for the narwhal. 'Unicorn' horn was worth ten times more than gold. A 'unicorn’s' horn presented to the French king in 1553 was valued at £20,000 when the king received it.



Mistletoe

6. Mistletoe (Viscum album) – This plant was known as All-heal because it cured many illnesses, protected the house from lightning, and from witches, demons, and evil spirits. The Elizabethans used mistletoe as cure for epilepsy and the juice was used as ear-drops. Mistletoe also calmed quarrels and brought fertility, in addition to being an antidote to poison – a very useful plant to have around during a medieval family Christmas with the in-laws.

 7. Bezoar – The name of this stone comes from the Persian pad-zahr, meaning an expeller of poisons. Bezoars were imported from the Persia or India. The bezoar is a calculus, that is, a lump of minerals and salts found in the intestines of wild goats, cows or some species of pigs. They range in size from an egg to a small nut, and are usually yellowish brown, though can darken with use and age.  These were known as Oriental bezoar. Another kind of bezoar is called the Occidental and comes from the Swiss chamois, a goat antelope, but they were never as highly prized.


Bezoar in the Treasury of the Teutonic Order, Vienna
Photographer: Wolfgang Sauber

The bezoar were usually placed in a pierced cases of silver or gold which hung from a chain, allowing the bezoar to be dunked in liquid to neutralize any poison before drinking. Charles IX of France, keen to test one of these stones, offered a condemned thief the chance to walk free if he drank some lethal poison and then swallowed a few grains of the stone to see if it would counteract it. Unfortunately the stone didn’t work and the thief writhed in agony for seven hours before dying.

 8. Rue (Ruta graveolens) – This was known as Herb of Grace, but only if it was gathered before noon, after that it became rue again and was poisonous. But in its Herb of Grace form it was particularly effective against poisons that had been swallowed, and against the bites of serpents and all other venomous animals. Apparently every animal knew this, so if a weasel was going to attack a snake it would eat rue first to protect itself.

Rue or Herb of Grace

9. Charms – To charm originally meant to chant or sing and the famous Nine Herbs Charm against poison which was recorded in a 10th century Anglo-Saxon herbal would have been sung. The herbal was written during the Christian period, but invokes both Christ and the ancient god Woden. Part of the chant reads –

These nine attack against nine venoms.
A serpent came crawling and tore a man asunder.
Then Woden took nine twigs of power and struck the serpent ...

 The nine healing or protective twigs described in the charm are thought to be mugwort, lamb’s cress, plantain, mayweed or chamomile, nettle, crab-apple, thyme, fennel and Attorlaöe which might either be cockspur grass or betony. The herbs would have been ground up and placed in the mouth of the victim and on the site of the wound or sting, while the full charm was sung probably 3 times 3 in total, over the affected areas.

Wild Parsley

10. Parsley (Petroselium crispum) – Finally, have you ever wondered why sprigs of parsley are so often used in England as garnish instead of any other herb? Since this familiar herb was considered an antidote to poison, in medieval times it was placed on the dishes served up to guests as a sign and pledge by the host that he was not going to poison them and to reassure them that dish was safe to eat. It's a custom we still carry on today without realising it. When food is served at buffets or at meals when guests are present, many people still garnish the plates with a sprig of parsley. Just a thought to to cheer you at the next office party, but I'm afraid parsley doesn't protect against the knife in the back!

'Medieval Murder -Ten Handy Ways to Poison Your Spouse' by Karen Maitland

Throughout the Middle Ages people were terrified of being poisoned and with good reason. Writing in 1470, Peter of Abano, identified 70 different substances that were deadly poisons, and this did not include the venomous animals or their body parts. Wealthy men employed tasters who would try every dish before their master ate it, even pressing their masters’ napkins to their lips before they were used, in case the cloth had been soaked in poison. With so many interesting lethal substances to choose from, who can blame them for being nervous. Here are ten poisons that they most feared -

Monkshood growing wild in Devon. Photographer: Tom Jolliffe

1. Monkshood or Aconite (Aconitum napellus) – This plant was originally called Odin’s helm or Tyr’s helm after the northern gods. It was also known as wolf’s bane. It was dedicated to Hecate, the moon goddess of the witches and together with deadly nightshade was one of the ingredients in the flying ointment, a powerful hallucinogen. It was such a lethal poison that growing it in Roman times was punishable by death. The juice was frequently used in warfare to poison the wells and the sources of drinking water of the enemy. It was favored by the lower classes as a means of dispatching troublesome spouses, or other family members. But the nobility preferred hemlock.



Hemlock

2. Hemlock (Conium maculatum) – known as devil’s blossom, bad man’s oatmeal, scabby hands or kex, it is in fact a member of the carrot family. It causes extreme dizziness, numbness then death. In Greek and Roman times one of the methods of execution was to force the condemned to drink hemlock and this is how Socrates died in prison. It is so much associated with witchcraft and the devil that the plant symbolizes death by poisoning.

3. Cantharides also known as Spanish Fly – is made from an emerald green blister beetle, Lytta vesicatoria. It was an early and powerful Viagra for both men and women, and often used to spike drinks, causing the victim to become highly sexual aroused. But too much could be fatal. The Marquis de Sade was tried for accidently killing prostitutes at an orgy, by feeding them aniseed-flavored Spanish fly pastels.

The favorite poison of the Medicis was Aqua toffana, a mixture of arsenic and Spanish fly and as little as four drops in water or wine could prove fatal. Aqua toffana had the convenience of being both undetectable in food and taking several hours to kill, giving the poisoner ample time to escape.

If death from Spanish fly was suspected, the victim’s organs were ground up in oil and smeared on the shaved skin of a rabbit. If the victim had died from Spanish Fly poisoning, the rabbit’s skin would blister.



Deadly Nightshade

 4. Deadly Nightshade (Atropa belladonna) which Chaucer called dwale, was a well-known sleeping draught. It is believed to have been the poison added to the water-wells during the Parthian Wars which killed Marcus Antonius’ troops. According to folklore, in the 11th century the Scots who had signed a truce with Sueno the Dane, were able to take advantage of the truce to add the juice of Deadly Nightshade to the Danish army’s provisions. It didn’t kill the Danes, but made them so drowsy that the Scots were able to attack and slaughter them. Most modern historians now argue that this battle never took place, but it lingers on in legend.

 5. The Composition of Death – This was a poison recipe found in a medieval book of spells, known as Grand Grimoire. Those who wanted to prepare it were told to use a new, glazed pot and add – red copper, nitric acid, verdigris, arsenic, oak bark, rose water and black soot. It took a long time to prepare as you had to boil the mixture for about an hour after each new ingredient was added.

 6. Fly agaric (amanita muscaria) – a fungi with a red top studded with white spots that looks like the classic pixie toadstool. It first produces a sensation of being drunk, then delirium, with death usually occurring in twenty-four hours. Deadly fungi were popular poisons in the Middle Ages because they were so easy to obtain without anyone knowing, and simple to slice up and add to stews and soups. Fly agaric, steeped in milk was used to kill flies, so it was often found in homes and kitchens. It was only one of twenty-five poisonous fungi and the symptoms generally produced by consuming any of these deadly mushrooms or toadstools included stomach cramps, vomiting, diarrhoea, delirium and convulsions. In the Middle Ages, these symptoms could easily be mistaken for fevers such as dysentery or from eating bad meat, so many poisoners must have escaped justice if they used this poison.

Fly Agaric. Photographer - H.Krisp

 7. Pig’s Blood and Salvia – Normally fresh pig’s blood was harmless and used to make blood puddings, but the medieval Italian poisoners, who were experts in the art, had perfected a poison made by allowing a pig carcass to decompose then mixing its blood and saliva with arsenic to create an exquisite poison combining both the mineral poison and those toxins produced from putrefaction.

 8. Toads – In the Middle Ages it was widely held but erroneous belief that the fluid excreted through the skin of a toad was poisonous. Indeed a rumour which circulated after his death suggested that King John had been murdered by a member of the Knights Templar or a friar who had squeezed a toad inside the king’s goblet. The fluid dried, creating an invisible coating inside the goblet, before the King unwitting added the wine to produce a lethal combination. In fact, King John probably died of dysentery, but such was the belief in poison conspiracies in those days, that the toad story was much more widely believed.

European Toad Bufo bufo. Photographer - Thomas Brown

 European toads do excrete two poisonous substances through the skin which have a numbing and mild hallucinogenic effect, though they are nowhere near as toxic as toads and frogs of South America.

 9. Bacterial poisoning – Although virus and bacteria were not understood in past centuries, they did recognise that decaying corpses gave off a ‘poison’ which could be lethal to the living, so throughout the centuries since ancient times, armies have frequently poisoned their enemy’s water supplies by dumping rotting corpses of animals or people into wells or rivers upstream of where the camped army was taking its drinking water. Caltrops, spiked metal balls designed to pierce the feet of horses and men, were often dipped in the fluids of rotting animal carcasses or festering wounds to poison the blood of any who stepped on them.


A ancient caltrop. Photographer: Gunnar Creutz

 10. Arsenic - No poisoner’s tool kit would be complete without arsenic. Although the symptoms of slow arsenic poisoning were not recognised until the 1700s, yellow arsenic trisulphide called orpiment was known as a medicine as early as 5th Century BCE and the alchemists believed it to be a key ingredient of the Philosopher’s Stone. Nero may have used yellow arsenic to murder his stepbrother, Britannicus, so as he could become Emperor of Rome. But it was in 8th Century that the Arabic alchemist, Jábir ibn Háyyan, became the first in Europe to produce white arsenic (arsenic trioxide) by roasting orpiment and inadvertently produced the poisoner’s dream, the first reliable and lethal poison that was odourless, tasteless and colourless and would work in powder, solution or gaseous form.

If all this talk of poisons is making you nervous, in my next blog I will let you into the secret of the favourite medieval antidotes.