[I started this post in May, but events, pandemic and otherwise, pushed it to the back burner until now...]
Starting off this post with a pair of quotations:
- *Author Charles Godfrey Leland: "...witchcraft, like the truffle, grows best and has its raci[e]st flavour when most deeply hidden."
- What a great way to conjure up an image through comparison.
- Lactantius (an early Christian author who became an advisor to the first Christian Roman emperor, Constantine I): “Devils so work that things which are not, appear to men as if they were real.”
- What a great way description from back in the early beginning of the Christian religion.
New Story: What with all the news of the current pandemic, all the daily updates of confirmed infected, the dead, and the treated, why not a new story about a plague? Or even an old story made new? Sure, why not. If I can write it fast enough maybe it will be a popular distraction during this time of social distancing. [EDIT: Yeah, the story is not being written fast enough! It was actually forgotten until I looked at this draft]
Imagine... The pathways of the city at night, like the day, were empty, abandoned. By law and lust for life, no sane person was on the streets. But there, in a dark alley, one of the shadows moved. A figure, short and lumpy, slinked along.
Imagine... The pathways of the city at night, like the day, were empty, abandoned. By law and lust for life, no sane person was on the streets. But there, in a dark alley, one of the shadows moved. A figure, short and lumpy, slinked along.
At a clank, the figure froze, and returned to a careful circuit, treading a methodical path through and among the deadliness enveloping the city toward an unknown objective. The figure stopped at a darkened threshold littered with an unmoving body. The short figure reached down, rifled through the garments. Gloved hands reached into pockets, withdrew items and stashed them away. A silver necklace joined other items lifted. The thief rolled the body over, when suddenly the presumed corpse doubled over and coughed!
The thief jumped back, whipped her arm in front of their face, inhaled the aroma clinging to her sleeve and prayed for protection.
The cough echoed down the street. Footsteps in the distance announced the approach of the city guard. She tried to hide, to get away, but to no avail. All the surrounding doors and windows were locked and barred.
She was caught and brought before the magistrate. During the trial, she confessed to other robberies.
The thief jumped back, whipped her arm in front of their face, inhaled the aroma clinging to her sleeve and prayed for protection.
The cough echoed down the street. Footsteps in the distance announced the approach of the city guard. She tried to hide, to get away, but to no avail. All the surrounding doors and windows were locked and barred.
She was caught and brought before the magistrate. During the trial, she confessed to other robberies.
[Need to think of some reason for the trial to talk about/focus on her other crimes. Maybe they need to go rescue her child? The abandoned child draws more attention to her case.]
During the trial the magistrate comments on her situation. "How, by the Grace of God, were you not stricken ill from handling the dead and the dying?"
During the trial the magistrate comments on her situation. "How, by the Grace of God, were you not stricken ill from handling the dead and the dying?"
Her answer? "Thieves' Oil, your Honor."
One of the police involved in the capture remembered the smell about her, acrid, and stinging a bit to the eyes.
The magistrate inquired, and the thief's effects were brought forth. Inside a satchel, with a leather thong to secure it to the wrist, was an aromatic mixture of herbs. A small tonic bottle was also found, containing herbs soaking in a strong-smelling liquid bath.
"The aromatic vinegar preserved me from the influence of contagion."
The magistrate gave the thief a choice. "Tell us the secret of your concoction and I will grant some leniency."
The magistrate inquired, and the thief's effects were brought forth. Inside a satchel, with a leather thong to secure it to the wrist, was an aromatic mixture of herbs. A small tonic bottle was also found, containing herbs soaking in a strong-smelling liquid bath.
"The aromatic vinegar preserved me from the influence of contagion."
The magistrate gave the thief a choice. "Tell us the secret of your concoction and I will grant some leniency."
Thieves Oil: (also known as Marseilles Vinegar, Vinegar of the Four Thieves, Seven Thieves' Oil, etc...)
Rumoured to be worn by a group of French thieves (numbers vary, but usually four) as protection from illness while they were stealing from the sick and dying victims of the Bubonic Plague, the Black Death.
Evil vapours were thought to cause some illnesses and the thinking was that the evil vapours could be stopped by other vapours, such as this liquid concoction. There were different recipes (listed later in this post for those interested).
"The aromatic vinegar preserves us from the influence of contagion."
When they were caught, the magistrate gave the thieves a choice: divulge what the concoction was that protected them in order to receive a lighter sentence than death, which I assume is anything short of death.
FORMULAS
For those interested, here are some of the formulas given for the Thieves' Oil:
- Clove, rosemary, vinegar, and other botanicals
- Formula of Vinaigre des quatre voleurs (vinegar of four thieves): Fresh tops of common wormwood, Roman wormwood, rosemary, sage, mint and rue each ¾ ounce, lavender flowers 1 ounce, garlic, calamus aromaticus, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg each 1 drachm, camphor ½ ounce, alcohol or brandy 1 ounce, strong vinegar 4 pints.
- In the Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia there was contained a somewhat similar but weaker preparation, made with diluted acetic acid (distilled vinegar), in imitation of the celebrated Marseilles Vinegar, or Vinegar of the Four Thieves (Vinaigre des Quatre-Voleurs; Acetum quatuor Furum).
- Marseilles vinegar: a concoction of vinegar (either from red wine, white wine, cider, or distilled white) infused with herbs, spices or garlic believed to protect users from the plague.
- The 'original' recipe: Take three pints of strong white wine vinegar, add a handful of each of wormwood, meadowsweet, wild marjoram and sage, fifty cloves, two ounces of campanula roots, two ounces of angelic, rosemary and horehound and three large measures of camphor. Place the mixture in a container for fifteen days, strain and express, then bottle. Use by rubbing it on the hands, ears, and temples from time to time when approaching a plague victim.
- Another recipe called for dried rosemary, dried sage flowers, dried lavender flowers, fresh rue, camphor dissolved in spirit, sliced garlic, bruised cloves, and distilled wine vinegar.
- Modern-day versions of four thieves vinegar include various herbs, sage, lavender, thyme, and rosemary, along with garlic. Additional herbs sometimes include rue, mint, and wormwood (I believe you can find Four Thieves Vinegar or its equivalent in some European stores).
- It has become traditional to use four herbs in the recipe—one for each thief, though earlier recipes often have a dozen herbs or more. It is still sold in Provence.
History: This vinegar composition is supposed to have been used during the medieval period when the black death was raging to prevent catching this dreaded disease.
In Toulouse, during an epidemic of plague 1628-1631, four thieves were arrested when robbing infested people. The four thieves revealed their “secret potion” against the promise to stay alive if they divulged, but were hung anyway. It is on this account that the liquid is sometimes called ‘Le Vinaigre des quatre Voleurs.’
Other sources say the concoction was used before the plague of Marseilles, for it was the constant custom of Cardinal Wolsey to carry in his hand an orange, deprived of its contents and filled with a sponge soaked in vinegar impregnated with various spices, in order to preserve himself from infection, when passing through the crowds which his splendour of office attracted. The first plague raged in 1620's, whereas Wolsey died in 1531, so nearly a 100 years before. (paraphrased from a Paris Pharmacologia, 6th edition London, 1825).
In 1720, when Marseilles got hit by the plague, once again, thieves used the same preparation. They drunk the concoction and rubbed their bodies with it, before committing their crimes. It is believed, that the recipe was posted on a Marseilles’ wall during this episode.
In 1748, this elixir was recognized for its efficiency against diverse diagnoses and sold in pharmacies for the longest time as a natural antiseptic. Since then, 4 thieves’ vinegar has been used against different forms of contagions. It is still sold in stores today.
Plausible reasons for not contracting the plague was that the herbal concoction contained natural flea repellents, since the flea is the carrier for the plague. Wormwood has properties like cedar, as an insect repellent, as aromatics such as sage, cloves, camphor, rosemary, and campanula. Meadowsweet, although known to contain salicylic acid, is mainly used to mask odors like decomposing bodies.
In Toulouse, during an epidemic of plague 1628-1631, four thieves were arrested when robbing infested people. The four thieves revealed their “secret potion” against the promise to stay alive if they divulged, but were hung anyway. It is on this account that the liquid is sometimes called ‘Le Vinaigre des quatre Voleurs.’
Other sources say the concoction was used before the plague of Marseilles, for it was the constant custom of Cardinal Wolsey to carry in his hand an orange, deprived of its contents and filled with a sponge soaked in vinegar impregnated with various spices, in order to preserve himself from infection, when passing through the crowds which his splendour of office attracted. The first plague raged in 1620's, whereas Wolsey died in 1531, so nearly a 100 years before. (paraphrased from a Paris Pharmacologia, 6th edition London, 1825).
In 1720, when Marseilles got hit by the plague, once again, thieves used the same preparation. They drunk the concoction and rubbed their bodies with it, before committing their crimes. It is believed, that the recipe was posted on a Marseilles’ wall during this episode.
In 1748, this elixir was recognized for its efficiency against diverse diagnoses and sold in pharmacies for the longest time as a natural antiseptic. Since then, 4 thieves’ vinegar has been used against different forms of contagions. It is still sold in stores today.
Plausible reasons for not contracting the plague was that the herbal concoction contained natural flea repellents, since the flea is the carrier for the plague. Wormwood has properties like cedar, as an insect repellent, as aromatics such as sage, cloves, camphor, rosemary, and campanula. Meadowsweet, although known to contain salicylic acid, is mainly used to mask odors like decomposing bodies.
Lastly, there is the idea that someone named Robert Forthaves came up with it, and his name was corrupted over the years. Forthaves ==> four thieves. So who knows.
No comments:
Post a Comment