Bernard of Gordon was a French physician and academic of the late 13th and early 14th centuries. Born into a noble family on the French Riviera, just north of Cannes, he studied and then lectured at the University of Montpellier.

Bernard’s best known written work, Lilium Medicinae, was one of the most trusted medical encyclopaedias of its age, describing scores of diseases and their causes, symptoms and suggested treatments. It even explored less well known areas of practice, such as speech therapy and psychological problems.

One chapter of the Lilium even offered a treatment for male depression caused by unrequited love or ‘lovesickness’. According to Bernard, the treating physician should deal with this problem by locating:

“…an old woman with a hideous appearance, big teeth, a beard and ugly disgusting clothing.”

The old woman should appear before the patient, telling him that the woman he loves is promiscuous, alcoholic, unclean, lazy, mentally deranged and wets the bed. If this does not work, the old woman must:

“…take out an old cloth soaked with menstrual blood and show it before him, lifting it before his face. Then shout before him: ‘Look, your beloved is just like this cloth!”

Source: Bernard of Gordon, Lilium Medicinae, c.1305. Content on this page is © Alpha History 2019-23. Content may not be republished without our express permission. For more information please refer to our Terms of Use or contact Alpha History.