by Heather R. Darsie, J. D.

Illness of the human body is nothing new. Humans have contended with bacterial and viral infections, and injuries, since time immemorial. One thing which has fortunately changed since the 16^th century is medical treatment.

Before science provided modern society with antibiotics, medical doctors relied on sometimes ancient remedies to heal their patients. This was particularly true of the 16^th century, which relied on balancing a person’s four humors and investigating bodily fluids to determine what was making a person ill, and how to treat it. Even though there were the very best intentions to heal a patient, the illness frequently won out. This was true of one of the descendants of the House of Cleves, who was afflicted with smallpox,

“… it was becoming obvious that  [the smallpox] was a serious illness. Per the report, [he] emptied his bowels five times on Tuesday, and the contents did not look like that of a healthy young man. The matter did not have the substance, form, or any other attributes which one would expect from a healthy person’s bowels, to put it politely. More prescriptions were given …, including a broth made from figs, citrus, and other fruits. …

… Smallpox was a common illness in the 16^th and other centuries, and it was possible to survive it. As mentioned before, … Anna of Cleves []was known to have slight scarring on her face from her bought of smallpox when she was a child….

[The next day he] was prescribed more barley water boiled with cinnamon, but no wine. A broth made with citrus fruits was prepared. [He] was urged to try the various concoctions in hopes that a sense of hunger would return. If he were hungry enough to eat, then there was hope that [he] would regain his strength. 

…[He] was bled three times …. His hands became cold after the last bleeding. It was hoped that this treatment would prevent the bad, diseased blood from entering his lungs. It was believed that, by letting his blood, the fever would be drawn out of [his] arteries even if left in the veins.”

Sadly, the well-intentioned treatments were sometimes worse than the illness, making it difficult for a patient to recover.

You Might also Like: The False Anna of Cleves Anna of Cleves’ Early Life and Court Culture Henry VIII Orders Medicine for Anna of Cleves Death of Johann III of Cleves and Ascension of Wilhelm V: Anna of Cleves’ Future Changes

If this excerpt piqued your interest, consider reading Children of the House of Cleves: Anna and Her Siblings, set for release in the UK on 15 June 2023 and in the US/Internationally on 12 September 2023. Can’t wait until September? The US Kindle version is released on 15 June, too! You might also like to read Heather R. Darsie’s biography on Anna of Cleves, the first researched and written from the German perspective, Anna, Duchess of Cleves: The King’s Beloved Sister. Links below.

Sources & Suggested Reading

1. Darsie, Heather R. Children of the House of Cleves: Anna and Her Siblings. Stroud: Amberley (2023).

2. Darsie, Heather R. Anna, Duchess of Cleves: The King’s Beloved Sister. Stroud: Amberley (2019).