Long before pharmacy apps and TikTok health hacks, people were rubbing crushed lizards on their heads and tying vulture feathers to their legs in hopes of healing. And as strange as it sounds, some of their methods actually worked.
New research out of Binghamton University reveals just how far early medieval Europeans went in the name of wellness. Through a massive project called the Corpus of Early Medieval Latin Medicine, researchers nearly doubled the known number of medical texts from before the 11th century.
Medieval Remedies Were Wild—But Some Actually Worked
According to historian Dr. Meg Leja, these weren’t just dusty superstition-filled notes. “People in the early Middle Ages were quite into science, into observation,” she told ScienceDaily, and often jotted remedies down in the margins of grammar and theology books.
They didn’t always get it right. But sometimes, they weirdly did.
Before modern medicine stepped in, this is what passed for healthcare, and surprisingly, not all of it was terrible.
1. Headache? Try peach pits and rose oil.
Instead of popping a pill, medieval sufferers smeared crushed peach pit mixed with rose oil across the forehead. Modern science says rose oil can reduce migraine pain. The peach pit part…not so much.
2. Hair thinning? Burn a lizard.
A 9th-century hair care regimen involved salt, vinegar, and a totally normal salve made from the ashes of a scorched green lizard. It was topped with oils to promote growth. You can find sea salt scalp scrubs at Sephora now, but charred reptile hasn’t made the shelves—yet.
3. About to give birth? Grab some vulture feathers.
To make childbirth easier, women were told to tie a vulture feather to their left thigh. Did it work? Absolutely not. But when your other option is being fully conscious while someone yanks a baby out of you with zero drugs, strapping on bird parts starts to sound reasonable.
4. Bad tooth? Try vinegar and peppermint.
Dental care was a mix of herbal rinses, twig toothpicks, and hope. Chewing rosemary or rubbing vinegar on teeth helped with breath, while barber-surgeons pulled teeth out with metal forceps. They also believed toothaches were caused by tiny worms.
5. Wound care? Bring honey and wine.
For everything from sword gashes to broken bones, they’d wash wounds with vinegar or wine and smear them with honey. As it turns out, honey has powerful antibacterial properties—and wine probably helped dull the pain, if they took a swig or five.
6. Joint pain? Henbane and a prayer.
Henbane, a poisonous plant in the nightshade family, was rubbed on sore joints, mint was used for stomach aches, and dandelions were the go-to for snakebite. Bonus points if your local wise-woman had horehound candy to soothe a cough.
7. Feeling off-balance? Time for bloodletting.
Barbers and surgeons swore by leeches and blades to remove “bad humors.” It made people dizzy and anemic, but it was seen as a universal cure-all—from fevers to the plague.
What this research reveals is that medieval wellness wasn’t just witchcraft and leeches. These were people deeply engaged in trial, error, and natural science. And sure, maybe your hair doesn’t need lizard ash, but honey and rose water? They were definitely onto something.
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