Medicine

The vast majority of those writing recipe books in early-modern England would not have been taught medicine at school or educated with the intent of becoming a physician or medical practitioner. This meant that most of the medical recipes included in early-modern recipe books came from alternate sources.

One of the key sources for medical recipes that recipe book authors consulted often was medical books and journals that had been written by doctors and physicians. Many women who wrote recipe books would study the works of famous physicians in their spare time, learning recipes that they could use within their homes. For example, Sarah Wigges, a woman who published her own recipe book c. 1616, took many of the medical recipes in her book from famous medicinal and alchemical treatises. Two such examples of these are John Gerard's Herball and Andreas Libavius' Alchymia (Archer 205). This demonstrates that women would read and use medical recipes published by physicians, and that it was not necessary to have implicit medicinal knowledge in order to use and understand these kinds of recipes. As for Baker, there are several literary sources that can be traced within her work. One such source is Leonard Phioravant, as Baker copied a section from his book An Exact Collection of the Choicest and most Rare Experiments and Secrets in Physick and Chyrurgery (1659) (https://emroc.hypotheses.org/ongoing-projects/the-baker-project). In this section, the author describes witnessing the dissection of hundreds of animals (Baker 19r). As well as Phioravant, there are at least 3 other identifiable Literary sources of medical recipes in Bakers book, including an Italian physician named Matthew Lucatalla to whom she attributes several recipes (Baker fols. 1v, 2v, 76r, 115v). Baker was clearly well read, and this allowed her to collect recipes from a variety of different texts for use in her own book.

Of course, studying books and manuscripts was not the only way in which the individuals responsible for publishing these recipe books learned the medical recipes included within them. Word of mouth also played a huge role in the spread of medical recipes during the early-modern period. A lot of the medical recipes found within early-modern recipe books were probably given to the author of the book by a local physician or nurse, someone with previous medical knowledge who could provide a large variety of different medical recipes. However, medical professionals were not the only human source of medical recipes that one looking to write a recipe book could utilise. Recipe books represented a large section of society, and as such the recipes within them were often sourced from many different individuals. For example, Anne Brumwich's medicine for the stone was originally owned by 'old Doctor Ridgley', who then gave it to 'a particular friend of his, who then passed it to 'Mrs Highey'. Highey then sent the recipe to Lady Cavendish, who finally recommended the recipe to Anne Brumwich (Newton 16). This demonstrates that early-modern recipes often had complex tales of origin, and word of mouth was a key device by which women of the household learned medical recipes.

The recipes that appear to be sourced via word of mouth are more easily identifiable within Baker's book than her literary sources, mainly because many of them are credited on the pages in which their recipes are used. Beginning on folio 56 verso of Baker's book is a list of numbered medical recipes which stretches for over 20 pages and includes over 100 recipes, all except the last 2 listed being medicinal recipes. When examining the page on which this list starts, one notices a small signature in the corner, with the name "Mrs Weeks" inscribed (Baker 56 v). Inspection of the peerage yielded no results for a Mrs Weeks that was living at the same time and was located in the same area as Margaret Baker. Whoever this mysterious character is, the appearance of their name at the beginning of this list suggests that they were the credited source for these medical recipes, and that they clearly had a vast knowledge of medicine.

Weeks is not the only individual credited for medical recipes in the book. At the very beginning of the book, the first recipe is for a drink designed to treat scurvy. Once again, written in the top right hand corner is a name, this time being "Robartt Laine" (Baker 1 r). As Laine seems to be credited only for one or two recipes, it was likely he was just a friend of the Baker's. There are some sources in the book that are more easily traceable due to their connection to the aristocracy. Baker mentions her cousin Lettice Corbett as the source for several recipes. Corbett appears to be Baker's first cousin, and a woman who married the nobleman Sir John Corbett of Stoke (https://web.warwick.ac.uk/english/perdita/html/pw_BAKE01.htm). The aristocratic sources within Baker's book are the only word of mouth sources that are easily traceable. There are many other named sources within the book, several being named as cousins, such as Fanne Morris, Elizabeth Bury and Richard Redman, but simply not being traceable to the extent of Lettice Corbett due to not being nobility. However, whilst it is very difficult to trace the exact people that contributed recipes to Baker's book, what her accreditation's do show is that there are a large number of medical recipes within her book that come from family, friends and perhaps people within the local area.