The Trotula, a twelfth century compilation of medical texts, became one of the most famous guides to women’s bodies in medieval Europe. It covered menstruation, conception, childbirth, contraception, infertility, cosmetics, and more. Part of it was likely connected to Trota of Salerno, a woman medical practitioner.
I checked to see what modern conservative men would think of bringing back the Trotula’s methods. The results are mixed.
To begin we look at methods to prevent conception.
“If a woman does not wish to conceive, let her carry against her nude flesh the womb of a goat which has never had offspring.”
Interestingly enough, women today are advised to stay away from animals that are giving birth since infectious organisms may be present in the birth fluid, particularity in sheep, cattle and goats. Also, the Indigenous women of Turkana County in Kenya still use goat oil as a birth control. Scientists’ guess as to how they find any success with the oil is that possibly bacteria grows on the oil causing it to destroy the fallopian tubes when ingested. Perhaps bacteria did the same with the goat wombs and… weasel testicles.
“In another fashion, take a male weasel and let its testicles be removed and let it be released alive. Let the woman carry these testicles with her in her bosom and let her tie them in goose skin or in another skin, and she will not conceive.”
And have you had sex but for your safety you must pretend you are a virgin? A woman’s perceived virginity could shape whether she was considered marriageable, respectable, honest, or ruined. The loss of it, by her choice or not, could hinder her ability to survive.
One recipe aiding women to appear as if they were virgins was to “take the whites of eggs and mix them with water in which pennyroyal and hot herbs of this kind have been cooked” and “place it in the vagina two or three times a day.”
Alternatively, the night before she is married “let her place leeches in the vagina (but take care that they do not go in too far) so that blood comes out and is converted into a little clot. And thus the man will be deceived by the effusion of blood.”
Sometimes we want to become pregnant but can’t.
“If a woman wishes to become pregnant, take the testicles of an uncastrated male pig or a wild boar and dry them and let a powder be made, and let her drink this with wine after the purgation of the menses. Then let her cohabit with her husband and she will conceive.”
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