Although described in its title as a “history,” this work is a series of eight intelligent interlocking essays on traditional herbal remedies as used by non-professional healers in mainland Britain, rather than a history which tells a story starting in the past and progressing towards the present. The information which survives from earlier times is fragmentary and unsatisfactory, so Hatfield is wise to avoid a strictly historical approach. Much of her information is recent, and includes the results of her own fieldwork.
Herein lies a problem. Most of Hatfield’s collecting was done in East Anglia, particularly Norfolk, and one wonders how representative her findings there are of Britain as a whole. For example, yarrow, a plant of major importance in herbal remedies, gets only three rather insignificant mentions. On the other hand, it is interesting to learn that the field poppy, widely known as “headaches,” and said to cause headaches, was used in Norfolk as a cure for headaches.
Hatfield concentrates on the herbal remedies used in rural areas, which utilised easily available local or cultivated plants. She considers the remedies used in urban areas, where a variety of exotic plant materials were available, to be beyond her scope. Even in the most urban areas, there were many people who had moved in from rural homes, and there is much evidence that they frequently used remedies which they had learnt from their families, who collected country plants and despatched them to their urban relatives.
The whole of Hatfield’s study shows a great deal of common sense. She does not consider the users of her remedies to be noble savages with abundant instinctive wisdom, neither does she belittle the work of domestic healers. They were simply ordinary people, doing their best with what was available. Sometimes this common sense, and her examples, are repeated too frequently, so that the reader develops a sense of deja vu. However, despite this, it is worth persisting, and all readers will gain worthwhile insights from the work.
Herein lies a problem. Most of Hatfield’s collecting was done in East Anglia, particularly Norfolk, and one wonders how representative her findings there are of Britain as a whole. For example, yarrow, a plant of major importance in herbal remedies, gets only three rather insignificant mentions. On the other hand, it is interesting to learn that the field poppy, widely known as “headaches,” and said to cause headaches, was used in Norfolk as a cure for headaches.
Hatfield concentrates on the herbal remedies used in rural areas, which utilised easily available local or cultivated plants. She considers the remedies used in urban areas, where a variety of exotic plant materials were available, to be beyond her scope. Even in the most urban areas, there were many people who had moved in from rural homes, and there is much evidence that they frequently used remedies which they had learnt from their families, who collected country plants and despatched them to their urban relatives.
The whole of Hatfield’s study shows a great deal of common sense. She does not consider the users of her remedies to be noble savages with abundant instinctive wisdom, neither does she belittle the work of domestic healers. They were simply ordinary people, doing their best with what was available. Sometimes this common sense, and her examples, are repeated too frequently, so that the reader develops a sense of deja vu. However, despite this, it is worth persisting, and all readers will gain worthwhile insights from the work.
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