Female intimate health in 17th Century England through the works of Hannah Woolley
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26512/emtempos.v24i46.56462Keywords:
Seventeenth century England, Intimate health, English womanAbstract
In 17th-century England, there was a tradition of writing household recipe books, which contained from culinary recipes to home-made medicines. This context includes the works of the English maid Hannah Woolley (1622-1675), a pioneer in women’s recipe publications in England, who stood out for her experience with the recipes she wrote and published. This was not what happened with the male
authorities who dominated the publishing market and based their discussions on theoretical knowledge about medicines aimed at domestic life and female intimate health. Based on this context, this article aims to understand aspects of women’s intimate health, such as menstruation, fertility, pregnancy and abortion. To this end, the perspective of Woolley will be used, as she was an English mais who practiced home and empirical medicine and spoke to an audience of which she was part, knowing their needs and demands. Thus, we will her works “A Supplement to The Queen-Like Close”t (1674) and “The Accomplished Lady’s Delight” (1675), in which Woolley provides recipes for women’s intimate health.
References
CHAMBERLAIN, Peter. Dr. Chamberlain’s Midwives Practice. London: Printed for Thomas Rook, 1665.
COOPER, William. A Compendium of Midwifery. Londes: [s.n.], 1766.
HELKIAH, Crooke. Mikrokosmographia: A Description of the Body of Man. London: William Jaggard, 1615.
CULPEPER, Nicholas. Directory for Midwives. London: Printed by Peter Cole, 1651.
DONAGHY, Paige. Miscarriage, False Conceptions, and Other Lumps: Women’s Pregnancy Loss in Seventeenth — and Eighteenth-Century England. In: Social History of Medicine, [S.I], vol. 34, nº 4, p. 1138-1160, nov. 2021.
DRAKE, James. Anthropologia Nova; or, A New System of Anatomy. London: Sam. Smith and Benj. Walford, 1707.
EVANS, Jennifer. Aphrodisiacs, Fertility and Medicine in Early Modern England. [S.I]: Royal Historical Society, 2019.
EVANS, Jennifer. ‘It bringeth them into dangerous perill’: management of and recovery after miscarriage in early modern England, c.1600–1750. In: Historical Research, [S.I], vol. 96, nº 271, p. 17-31, fev. 2023.
EVANS, Jennifer. ‘Gentle Purges corrected with hot Spices, whether they work or not, do vehemently provoke Venery’: Menstrual Provocation and Procreation in Early Modern England. In: Social History of Medicine, [S.I], vol. 25, nº 1, p.
-19, mar. 2011.
EVANS, Jennifer. “A Toste wett in Muskadine”: preventing miscarriage in early modern English recipe books c.1600–1780. In: Women’s Writing Journal, [S.I], vol. 27, nº 4, p. 514-532 , nov. 2022.
EZELL, Margaret J. M. Cooking the books, or, the three faces of Hannah Woolley. In: Reading and Writing Recipe Book (1500-1800). Manchester: Manchestre University Press, 2013, p. 159.
GALEOTTI, Giulia. História do Aborto. São Paulo: Edições 70, 2003.
GOWING, Laura. Common Bodies: Women, Touch and Power in Seventeenth-Century England. New Haven and London: Yale University
Press, 2003.
GREY, Elizabeth, Condessa de Kent. A choice manual, or, rare and select secrets in physick and chirurgery. Londres: Printed by G.D. and are to be sold by William Shears, 1653.
GUILLEMEAU, Jacques. Child-birth. London: Printed by A. Hatfield, 1612, p. 221.
HOME, Randle. The Academy of Armory; or, A Storehouse of Armory and Blazon Containing the Several Variety of Created Beings. Chester: [s.n.], 1688.
LEONG, Elaine. Collecting Knowledge for the Family: Recipes, Gender and Practical Knowledge in the Early Modern English Household. In: Journal of the European Society for the History of Science, [S.I], vol. 55, nº 2, p. 81-103, mai. 2013.
LINDEMANN, Mary. Medicine and society in Early Modern Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
NAGY, Doreen Evenden. Popular medicine in seventeenth-century England. Ohio: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1988.
READ, Sara. Menstruation and the Female Body in Early Modern England. [S.I.]: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.
RIDDLE, John M. Contraception and Abortion from the Ancient World to the Renaissance. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1994.
SADLER, John. The Sick Woman’s Private Looking-Glasse. London: Printed by Anne Griffin, 1636.
SCOTT, Caitilin. Birth Control and Conceptions of Pregnancy in Seventeenth Century England. In: Retrospectives: A Postgraduate History Journal, Coventry, vol. 2, nº 1, mai. 2013, p. 73-85.
SHARP, Jane. The Midwives Book. Londres: Printed for Simon Miller, at the
Star at the West End of St. Pauls, 1671.
SOARES, Marina Juliana de Oliveira. As receitas médicas de Hannah Woolley: prática cotidiana e autoridade feminina na Inglaterra do século XVII. In: História Ciência Saúde - Manguinhos, Manguinhos, vol. 30, nº 7, abr. 2023, p. 1-17.
TREMBLAY-COSGROVE, Petra A. Hannah Wooley: Martha Stewart of the 17th. [S.I]: [s.n], mai. 2013. WALLE, Etienne van de. Flowers and Fruits: Two Thousand Years of Menstrual Regulation. In: The Journal of Interdisciplinary History, Cambridge, vol.
, nº 2, p. 183-203, out 1997.
WHALEY, Leigh. Woman and the Practice of Medical Care in Early Modern Europe, 1400-1800. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011, p. 316.
WOOLLEY, Hannah. The Accomplished Lady’s Delight. London: Benjamin Harris, 1675.
WOOLLEY, Hannah. A Supplement to The Queen-Like Closet. London: Printed by T. R, 1674
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Em Tempo de Histórias
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Autores que publicam nesta revista concordam com os seguintes termos:
- Autores mantém os direitos autorais e concedem à revista o direito de primeira publicação, sendo o trabalho simultaneamente licenciado sob a Creative Commons Attribution License , licença que permite que outros remixem, adaptem e criem a partir do seu trabalho para fins não comerciais, e embora os novos trabalhos tenham de lhe atribuir o devido crédito e não possam ser usados para fins comerciais, os usuários não têm de licenciar esses trabalhos derivados sob os mesmos termos.
- Autores têm autorização para assumir contratos adicionais separadamente, para distribuição não-exclusiva da versão do trabalho publicada nesta revista (ex.: publicar em repositório institucional ou como capítulo de livro), com reconhecimento de autoria e publicação inicial nesta revista.
- Autores têm permissão e são estimulados a publicar e distribuir seu trabalho online (ex.: em repositórios institucionais ou na sua página pessoal) a qualquer ponto antes ou durante o processo editorial, já que isso pode gerar alterações produtivas, bem como aumentar o impacto e a citação do trabalho publicado (Veja O Efeito do Acesso Livre).
