Miniatures from a 12th-century Medical and Herbal Collection

Jan 26, 2017



Wonderful series of miniatures from a late 12th-century manuscript thought to hail from England or Northern France, once owned by the monastery at Ourscamps just north of Paris, and now in the collection at the British Library (BL Sloane 1975). As well as the delightfully abstract depictions of herbal plants (including Cannabis), a variety of medieval medical procedures are also shown, such as cauterization and the removal of haemorrhoids. The manuscript is home to more than two-hundred of these images, below is a selection of some of our favourites.