Go away from this talk and workshop with a new appreciation of our invaluable plant medicine heritage. This talk focuses further on the work of William Turner (c.1508–1568), known as the ‘Father of English Botany’. Northumbrian-born, Turner was a herbalist, physician, natural historian, theologian and reformer. This talk compares William to his son Peter, also a physician, natural historian and reforming theologian, and then looks at examples of herbals which followed, particularly those of John Gerard (1597) and, 100 years after William Turner, Nicholas Culpepper.
Herbals have been an integral part of European literature for over 2,000 years, several of them in Latin. These fascinating documents provide a window into the historical understanding of plants and their uses. Turner was the first person to write one in English which provided careful descriptions of plants and a record of their medical uses, in his tri-part herbal written between 1551 and1568. Following our session last autumn in which we looked at how Turner differed from his predecessors, in this workshop we learn more about him by comparing him to his son, which shows us what new developments were entering the fields of medicine and natural history, some of these being outside the scope of a herbal. Changes in the development of the herbal itself are found in the works by Gerard and Culpeper
In this 2 hour workshop, led by Marie Addyman, we will discuss extracts from Turner’s ground-breaking work and those of his son and succesors, and look at some of the herbals held in the herbology library.
This is for you if:
You’re curious about the history of plant medicine and how plants were used in the past.
You want to learn about William Turner, John Gerard and Nicholas Culpepper and their important work with plants and medicine.
You’re interested in discovering how old herbal books are different from modern ones.
This workshop is suitable for beginners as well as those further into plant medicine studies and discoveries.
Cost: £25 (£18 for students) – please email info@dilstonphysicgarden to book your place.
Parking: For workshop and events please use our top-up car park. Thank you! Written directions availablehere (Google Maps directions link, What Three Words: pigs.clipped.mills). Please get in touch if you have queries/concerns about disability access via info@dilstonphysicgarden.com.
Format: Interactive lecture with Q&A – There will be a break half way through and time for questions at the end.
Tutor: Marie Addyman, B.A., B.Phil, D.Phil. Marie is an expert plant historian with years of experience in researching, collecting, writing, and teaching about historical plants and herbals, and recognised internationally for her expertise on the medical and natural history writing of William Turner.
