What we can learn from scientific analysis of Renaissance recipes
Source: Ars Technica
“A key change in how people constructed knowledge”
Multispectral imaging, proteomics, and historical texts yield new insights into 16th‑century medical manuals.
Credit: The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester
Forget “eye of newt” and “toe of frog / wool of bat / tongue of dog.”
People in the 16th century were more akin to DIY scientists than Macbeth’s three witches when it came to concocting home remedies for everything from hair loss and toothache to kidney stones and fungal infections.
Medical manuals aimed at laypeople were hugely popular at the time, according to Stefan Hanss, an early‑modern historian at the University of Manchester. “Reader‑practitioners” would tinker with the various recipes, tweaking them as needed and making personalized notes in the margins—leaving telltale protein traces behind.
Hanss is part of an interdisciplinary team of archaeologists, chemists, historians, conservators, and materials scientists who have analyzed trace proteins from the fingerprints of Renaissance people rifling through the pages of medical manuals. Their findings were reported in a paper published in The American Historical Review[^1]—the first time proteomics has been used to study Renaissance recipes, complemented by in‑depth archival research to place the scientific results in proper historical context.
“We have so many recipes of that time—cosmetic, medical, and culinary—as well as handwritten recipes passed down for generations,” Hanss told Ars. “It’s really a key element of Renaissance culture, and the manuscripts are all covered with scribbled marginalia of past users. Experimentation was everywhere. It’s not only about book‑learned knowledge but hands‑on practical knowledge. It’s a key change in the way people constructed knowledge at that time.”
Context: Scientific Techniques for Historical Objects
Analytical techniques developed over the past few decades now allow researchers to create molecular records of the cultures that produced artworks and manuscripts.
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Microbial analysis: Studying the microbes that colonise artworks can inform conservation strategies. For example, scientists examined the microbiomes of seven of Leonardo da Vinci’s drawings using Nanopore sequencing, revealing that each drawing hosts a unique microbial community[^2][^3].
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Mass‑spectrometry‑based proteomics: This relatively new method provides a thorough, detailed characterisation of all protein residues in a sample, even when only tiny amounts are available. Unlike targeted approaches (e.g., GC‑MS), it captures the full protein complement of complex mixtures. In 2023, proteomics showed that beer by‑products were popular canvas primers for artists of the Danish Golden Age[^4]. Hanss et al. are now extending this methodology to Renaissance medical manuals.
References
- Hanss, S. et al. “Proteomic analysis of marginalia in Renaissance medical manuals.” The American Historical Review (2024). DOI: 10.1093/ahr/rhaf405/8327958
- “Beer byproducts were popular canvas primers for Danish Golden Age artists.” Ars Technica, June 2023.
- “Leonardo da Vinci’s drawings have unique microbiomes.” Ars Technica, December 2020.
- “Beer by‑products as canvas primers.” Science Advances (2023). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.ade7686
A thriving DIY medical marketplace
This latest study has its roots in an event Hans S organized a few years ago called “Microscopic Records,” which brought together experts in various scientific fields and early‑modern historians. One of the master classes on offer focused on proteomics. Hans S was intrigued when he learned that researchers had extracted proteins from the lower‑right and left corners (i.e., where contact occurs when one turns a page) of archived manuscripts in Milan.
“I thought, we must have a conversation about doing this for Renaissance recipes. We know there was experimentation, but we couldn’t really trace it. This is really the first time that we’ve sampled and identified and contextualized biochemical traces of materials.” – Hans S
Hans S et al. focused on two 1531 German medical manuals published by 16th‑century physician Bartholomäus Vogtherr:
- How to Cure and Expel All Afflictions and Illnesses of the Human Body
- A Useful and Essential Little Book of Medicine for the Common Man
The two tomes are bound together into a single volume and are part of the collection of the John Rylands Research Institute and Library at Manchester. The recipes include domestic remedies for brain disease, infertility, skin disorders, hair loss, wounds, and various other severe illnesses, written in the vernacular and targeted at the common populace.
It was a relatively new genre at the time, per the authors—a kind of everyday DIY science, since the manuals encouraged at‑home hands‑on experimentation. In 16th‑century Augsburg (a printing hub), “experimentation was everywhere,” and the city boasted a thriving medical marketplace. It’s clear that people used the Rylands copies of Vogtherr’s manuals for their own experiments because the margins are filled with scribbled notes and comments dating back to that period.
Methodology
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Imaging – High‑resolution photographs were taken and the pages run through multispectral imaging (including infrared and UV wavelengths). This recovered the most faded, previously illegible handwriting, such as on the inside cover. One scribbled note turned out to be instructions to use a mixture of viola and scorpion oil as a treatment for ulcers.
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Sampling – Various pages were sampled for proteomics analysis, focusing on areas where Renaissance users would be most likely to rest their writing hand or leave fingerprints. The bindings were avoided because they are far more likely to be handled by modern‑day conservators.
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Proteomic dating – While proteomics cannot establish exact dates for specific samples, the team distinguished between contemporary and old peptides based on degree of degradation (e.g., oxidation) and peptide quantity. One sample was excluded from the final paper because it yielded a significantly higher number of peptide results (2,258) than expected, compared with the other samples (40–210 peptides).
“They were in use for more than a hundred years and we know the [users’] names. We could make an informed interpretation based on other recipes at the time, and letters exchanged between [Renaissance] medical practitioners.” – Hans S
Marginalia
The handwritten marginalia provide a fascinating window into how people experimented with and tweaked various Renaissance domestic remedies. For example:
- A “reader‑practitioner” commented that during painful urinary‑stone flare‑ups, “parsley powdered or soaked in wine” could be effective.
- References to the benefits of broadleaf plantain juice (administered anally) and eating scarlet hawthorn leaves also appear.
Proteomics results
The analysis confirmed the presence of many popular ingredients used in the recipes, such as:
- Beech, watercress, rosemary (found next to hair‑loss remedies)
- Cabbage, radish oil, chicory, lizards, and—surprisingly—human feces
The manuscripts also include recipes for blonde hair dyes. The analysis revealed traces of plants with striking yellow flowers on those pages.
“That is a common theme in cosmetic and medical discourse at the time. The idea was to look for resemblances between the remedies and what you wish to achieve in terms of the treatment.” – Hans S
One of the most remarkable results was the recovery of collagen peptides from hippopotamus teeth or bone, pointing to the global circulation of exotic ingredients in the 16th century. Hippo teeth were said to cure kidney stones, “take away toothache,” and were even used to make dentures.
Bioactive proteins
Several of the identified proteins have antimicrobial functions, such as dermcidin (derived from human sweat glands), which kills E. coli and yeast infections like thrush. The samples also yielded insight into how Renaissance bodies responded to the remedies: traces of immunoglobulin, lipocalin, and lysozyme indicate an active immune response.
Future directions
Hans S is so pleased with these initial results that he hopes to launch a large‑scale project to extend this interdisciplinary approach to other collections of medical manuals. He also aims to further improve the dating methodology.
“The ingredients for success are there. It’s not only that we found new answers to old questions, but we are now in a position to ask completely new questions.” – Hans S
The American Historical Review, 2025. DOI: 10.1093/ahr/rhaf405
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Senior writer at *Ars Technica* focusing on where science meets culture—covering everything from physics and interdisciplinary topics to her favorite films and TV series. Jennifer lives in Baltimore with her spouse, physicist Sean M. Carroll, and their two cats, Ariel and Caliban.
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