The Recipes of Alessio Pietmontese: A Sixteenth-Century Book of Secrets

Agaynst the biting of all venomous beastes 
As soone as the person feeleth hymselfe bytten, with any venomous beaste (or at the leaste as soone as is possible) take greene leaves of a fyg tree, and presse the milke of them, three or foure tymes into the wound. And for this serveth also mustard seede mingled with vineiger.

The above medicinal recipe is just one of hundreds from Girolamo Ruscelli’s I Secreti del Reverendo Donno Alessio Piemontese, first published in Italian in 1555. Ruscelli (1518-1566), who published this collection of medicinal recipes under the pseudonym of Alessio Piemontese, was a sixteenth-century Italian mathematician and cartographer. Ruscelli’s book delves into a myriad of subjects ranging from alchemy and natural philosophy to practical tips for everyday life. The book reflects the spirit of inquiry and experimentation that characterized the early modern period, as well as the desire to unlock the mysteries of the natural world.

Portrait of Girolamo Ruscelli, Niccolò Nelli, 1566.
Wikimedia Commons

Burns Library houses a copy of the English translation of the book, published in London in 1559, entitled The Secrets of the Reverende Mayster Alexis of Piemount. In an age before modern medicine, people relied heavily on folk remedies and herbal concoctions to treat illness and alleviate suffering. The fact that this book of secrets was published in multiple editions, as well as in multiple languages, highlights the popularity of these types of recipe books. Ruscelli’s book contains a wealth of folk remedies. Some of these remedies may seem outlandish to modern readers, but they reflect the medical knowledge and beliefs of the time, as well as the search for relief from disease and daily discomforts.

Many medicines during this time period were created in processes of distillation. Distillation, the process of purifying liquids through heating and condensation, was widely used to produce medicinal beverages such as aqua vitae (water of life) and other such elixirs. People believed that these concoctions possessed curative properties and used them to treat a wide range of ailments, including digestive disorders, fevers, and lethargy.

Medical practitioners, including physicians, apothecaries, and alchemists, relied on distilled remedies as key components of their pharmacopeias, prescribing them to patients as tonics, analgesics, and stimulants. The distilling process can be seen in many of Ruscelli’s recipes, especially those which involve the extraction of medicines from plants both native and foreign to Europe.

Title page, The secretes of the Reverende Mayster Alexis of Piemount…, RS87 .R913 1559 RARE, John J. Burns Library, Boston College

Books of secrets during the early modern period in Europe did not solely consist of medicinal recipes. Other recipes include those for making cosmetics, soaps, inks, and face washes, amongst many others. For instance,  Book Two of Piemontese’s Secrets includes instructions for permanently marking the body with ink (i.e. an early modern tattoo).

For to write letters upon a mans body or face that shall never be rubbed out

You muste go into the hote hote houses in whiche be very hote, and when you are in a sweate write upon your bodie with what inke you will, then cut the skin with a sharpe rasour [razor], and fill the cuttes with carth of what colour you will, and leave them so and incontinent by reason of the greate heate the skin will close & shut by togither and the letters or figures that you have made upon your fleshe will remaine for ever.

While instructions for permanently marking the body may be surprising for a sixteenth century text, this is one example of the breadth of secrets included in this genre of literature. Plus, in my opinion, makes for a very interesting read! If you have questions or wish to use any of these resources at Burns Library, please Contact us!

– Alaurea Holder, 2nd Year PhD Student in History, Burns Library Reading Room Assistant

Works Cited:

• Eamon, William. “The Secrets of Nature in Popular Culture.” In Science and the Secrets of Nature: Books of Secrets in Medieval and Early Modern Culture. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994. 
• Gulizia, Stefano. “Ruscelli’s Book of Secrets in Context: A Sixteenth-Century Venetian ‘Museum in Motion’”.  Societate si Politica 8, no. 2 (2014): 8-22.