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| Photo and Article ⓒ Debs Cook |
Shortly after Culpeper’s death Alice Culpeper remarried the astrologer John Heyden who Culpeper knew when they were both members of the Society of Astrologers, and according to Benjamin Woolley in his book
'The Herbalist', Heyden was actually living in Culpeper’s house prior to Culpeper’s demise. Woolley seems to think that Alice and Nicholas became estranged, and uses the odd entry on Wormwood found in older editions of the ‘English Physician’ to present a man bitter towards his wife, and the wife accusing Culpeper of abuse. What the truth is one can only speculate, however after Culpeper died, Alice seems to have done her best to cash in on her late husband’s previous works and reputation, and claimed that he had left behind over 70 books or manuscripts that he had left for her to publish.
Alice joined forces with Heyden and a Dr. Freeman to sell an alchemical potion called ‘Aurum Potabile’ a remedy in the 17th century that was believed to be a universal remedy for all diseases, the remedy was made from a herbal suspension in which trace amounts of gold were added. In a hand bill that was circulated around London, it was claimed by camp Alice that Culpeper and Dr. Freeman had discovered the wonders of this remedy during his studies and she gave Culpeper the title of Dr. Culpeper, the first time he was known as Nicholas Culpeper M.D. he never referred to himself as such, one feels he would have been turning in his grave being labelled as part of the establishment he fought against all his life.
Keeping a monopoly of the Culpeper ‘brand’ was of the utmost importance and to do this, Alice teamed up with Culpeper’s publisher Peter Cole who had already begun printing books that he claimed were penned by Culpeper, including translations of seven European herbals from the 16th century written in Latin. Cole offered to help Alice promote her cure-all potion in exchange for her endorsement on the works he published in Culpeper’s name.
By 1655 just 1 year after Culpeper’s death, Alice’s monopoly began to waiver, another publisher of Culpeper’s work, a Nathaniel Brooke published a book called '
Culpeper’s Last Legacy', which he claimed had been written by Culpeper and left for his wife to publish. To add insult to injury, Brooke published a letter akin to an endorsement allegedly written by Alice which stated that “
the copy of what is here printed… was delivered to my trust among [Nicholas’s]
choicest secrets upon his death bed.” Alice vehemently denied that she had written the letter published and denied that the book was written by Culpeper. So much so several months after the Last Legacy was published, Alice published a pamphlet entitled ‘Mr Culpeper’s Treatise of Aurum Potabile’ which began with an assault on Brooke, accusing him of publishing “
a hodge-podge of ingested collections and observations.”
Her pamphlet echoed previous claims that Culpeper had left “seventy-nine books of ‘
his own making, or translating, in my hands” adding that there were also another 17 completed works that were ready to be published and would be published exclusively by herself and Culpeper’s “
much honoured friend”, referring to Peter Cole. The rest of the pamphlet was a travesty, Culpeper in his lifetime had poured scorn and ridicule on charlatan’s who promoted cure-alls like aurum potabile, so promoting such a cure made no sense at all. The pamphlet is not written in Culpeper’s style nor did it match his medical beliefs. What happened next is of little consequence to this article on the life of Culpeper, so I’ll move on.
Suffice to say, and remember I said earlier that the contents of the 1652 edition of ‘The English Physician’ were important? After Brooke published his work it became open season for a good selection of people to cash in on Culpeper’s name by publishing books that became known as '
Culpeper’s Complete Herbal', my 1698 edition is the same as the 1652 edition, nothing added and nothing taken away and still known as '
The English Physician'. It wasn’t until around 1789 that editions of the ‘
Complete Herbal’ began to appear with coloured plates when
Ebenezer Sibly published his version of Brooke’s and Culpeper’s works across 2 volumes, adding his own words and additional herbs and including the coloured plates, as well as Medical references and illustrations.
1814 saw the publication of "
Culpeper’s Complete Herbal, to which is now added, upwards of one hundred additional herbs, with a display of their Medicinal and Occult Qualities; physically applied to the cure of all disorders incident to mankind: to which are now first annexed, the English physician enlarged, and key to physic, with rules for compounding medicine according to the true system of nature. Forming a complete family dispensatory, and natural system of physic. To which is also added upwards of fifty choice receipts [recipes], selected from the author's last legacy to his wife. Embellished with engravings of upwards of four hundred different plants with other subjects to illustrate the work.” By Richard Evan’s of White Row, Spitalfields. Evans version was attributed to Culpeper, the only part of the book that is Culpeper’s is all that was in ‘The English Physician’, the rest is from Nathaniel Brooke’s 'Culpeper’s Last Legacy'.
The 1826 edition published by J. Gleave and Son of Deansgate in Manchester was different, the listing for herbs started with Agrimony an herb that doesn’t even feature in the original ‘English Physician’, after yarrow, yew and yucca were also included, and again neither featured in Culpeper’s original book. In 1835 Thomas Kelly publishers issued a reprint of the Complete Herbal which like the 1814 edition is Brooke’s work and not all Culpeper’s,
Kelly’s edition followed the Brooke’s edition using herbs from Amara Dulcis to Yarrow, the extra herbs were listed in the back albeit briefly.
Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries Brooke’s book has been republished and always attributed to Culpeper, all of them containing only his original book '
The English Physician', although I believe that Silby referenced Culpeper’s ‘A Directory for Midwives’ and Brooke’s dipped in to Culpeper’s translation of the
'Pharmacopoeia Londonesis' for the remedies he published. If the reader wants to see examples of cures and remedies that Culpeper recommended they would be best suited finding a copy of 'Pharmacopoeia Londonesis' rather than modern day versions of what Culpeper was supposed to have written!
I started out this three part article as I said earlier with a different view of Nicholas Culpeper than I have now, from considering him nothing more than a plagiarist to discovering he was not only plagiarised, but also had words and entire books attributed to him that he never wrote, as well as having things published that totally went against his beliefs so that others could benefit from his name. With more time a more rounded story could be told of this man, and I intend to revisit 'The English Physician' in the future as well as take a closer look at the remedies in 'Pharmacopoeia Londonesis' and what Culpeper had to say about the College of Physicians. For now I will bring this missive on Culpeper to a close gentle reader and trust that you have learnt something new, and maybe like me now see Culpeper in a new light?
Debs Cook is the IT Media Manager for the DHM, she is a self confessed herbaholic who loves to write about the way herbs were once used and about the herbalists that used them. You can find out more about Debs over on her Herbal haven blog.
