Remedies for Headaches in A Closet for Ladies and Gentlewomen (1608)

Abstract

Seventeenth-century English closets were books containing a wide repertoire of household supplies targeted at female readers. Such volumes typically included medical recipes, as early modern women also used to be responsible for preserving and restoring the health of relatives and close neighbors. A Closet for Ladies and Gentlewomen (Sir Hugh Platt, 1608), in particular, incorporates 13 medicinal remedies devised for the therapeutic management of 3 different types of headaches: head-ache, migraine and pain in the head. This article historically contextualizes the text, offers a valid classification of headaches in 17th-century England, and describes the composition of the homemade pharmaceutical forms recommended to female care-givers, the guidelines for administration and its potential pain-relieving effects.