Today in 1546 Thomas Elyot died. Born around 1490, he was a diplomat and scholar, but is most known for his treatise on health, The Castel of Health, which he published in 1536. It was a popular health book written for laymen. It was ridiculed by the medical professors at universities, but it went through 17 editions, and was incredibly popular.
He tried to make Greek medicine available to laymen, and includes both ideas for maintaining good health, and goes through the most common illnesses, and how to treat them. He also suggests the best foods to eat, and the best ways to cook them. For example, in a section called “On Apples” he writes, “apples eaten soon after they be gathered, are cold, hard to digest, and doe make ill and corrupted bloud, but being well kept vntill the next winter, or the yeare following, eaten after meales, they are right holesome, & doe con•rme the stomacke, & make good digestion, speci∣ally if they bee rosted or baked.”
That’s your Tudor Minute for today. Remember you can dive deeper into life in 16th century England through the Renaissance English History Podcast at englandcast.com.
Suggested link:
Full text of The Castel of Health
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Heather Teysko is the creator, writer, and producer of The Renaissance English History Podcast, the original Tudor history podcast, started in 2009. She's been writing about history online for over 25 years, since her first site on Colonial American history became number one in history on Yahoo in 1998. In 2019 she created Tudorcon, which is now a yearly event, in addition to writing books, and running TudorFair.com - a whimsical Tudor Merch shop.
She has been passionate about Tudor England since she first read Alison Weir's The Six Wives of Henry VIII 30 years ago, and subsequently moved to London after college to spend her time immersed in Tudor history (how exciting when she got to interview Alison for the first time!). In addition to history, she is passionate about travel, and has lived in 3 countries and 4 states (not counting her perpetual state of confusion), and her family (who help her host her YouTube channel occasionally).
