Changing Methods, Growing Knowledge: The 1530’s Shift in Herbal Creation as Seen in John Gerard’s The Herball, or Generall Historie of Plantes

Decorated title page in John Gerard's The Herball, or Generall Historie of Plantes

Exhibit by Iona Whatford

John Gerard’s The Herball, or, Generall Historie of Plantes was a commonly owned plant guide in the 17^th century. Reprinted as the second amended addition in 1633, it contains highly detailed and accurate woodcuts, approximately 1,800 in total. These woodcuts not only embellish the book and make it irresistible to flip through, they also reflect a shift that was occurring, starting in the mid 16^th century. This shift was radical throughout the medical community, but is only really noticed when looking deeper into details throughout the herbal. The woodcuts help historians understand that radical shift: physicians and herbalists began to question medieval plant knowledge, and go beyond the medieval information they had. New experiments led to new information, and with the quest for understanding the medicinal plants becoming a cross-continent endeavour, the need for new, detailed woodcuts became vital. The herbal’s purpose changed: no longer was it a compendium of ancient knowledge, but an active guide which aided its readers in identifying the plants for themselves. The printed book allowed for this shift to occur, and helped experts to improve upon a growing body of knowledge from around the world.

Nearly 20 years after the invention of the printing press and moveable type, printers were eager to supply the demands for medicinal plant texts throughout the major cities. Herbals were staples within middle class families, as many of them couldn’t access physicians. Printers and herbalists simply took ancient medicinal texts and medieval woodcuts and combined them, essentially re-printing old information. However, after the Reformation which shifted thought among a larger group of thinkers to question previous knowledge and systems, along with a humanist approach to finding new evidence and taking time to experiment with the knowledge and plants that were already known, a new group of botanists led the way for change in the form of new herbals.

Why were these herbals so different?

In The New Herbal of 1543 written by Leonhart Fuchs is a great example of the humanist approach to creating an herbal. Fuchs was known for his ambition to change the status quo; both in his career as a doctor and teacher, and in his writing. The New Herbal of 1543 was written by Fuchs, but he had many experts from across the continent working with him for many years before its publication. Fuchs painstakingly went in the field to do research and find new specimens of plants daily—this was seen as a job below Fuchs’s rank, however he understood that plants had to be observed by the experts. He also began drawing the botanical illustrations of the majority of his plants in the spring, when they began to grow; and he added to them throughout the summer and fall, watching their complete lifecycle before finishing his depiction. While he had experts working with him, he alone worked on the plant depictions; this was because he intently observed their blooming and fruiting periods. He then went on to experiment with the medicinal plants, testing their remedies and medicinal values. Focusing on each specimen, differentiating between cultivars within each species, hiring artists (and working himself) on creating accurate and highly detailed depictions of the plant life, and actually testing the medicinal value shifted the precedence for creating an herbal; no longer should an herbal be re-written ancient knowledge, but a collaborative research project resulting in a collection of tried and true information.

Conclusion

The ability to quickly print and disseminate herbals, combined with changing thought amongst experts brought on by the Reformation and Humanist movements, created an early modern group of herbalists. Through their focus on field research, experimentation, and more accurately written and visual information, herbalists set the back drop for the on-coming advances in the natural history and medical fields. This community brought knowledge into contact with other knowledge from experts that would likely not have met without the invention of movable type and printed books. Current medicinal plant texts and plant ID guides have remained largely similar in style and depiction as the herbals that came out of the 1530’s herbal shift. Today, as knowledge of the natural world becomes ever more important, experts should look to that community of herbalists who shifted thought, as an example of how to break the status quo and go beyond the given.  All in the quest for knowledge.