Youth in Sussex

2 Youth in Sussex These bells are like the powers of my soul; Their clappers to the passions of my mind: 0 Lord ! If thy poor child might have his will, And might his meaning freely to him tell; He never of his musick has his fill, There's nothing like thy ding dong bell. John Bunyan, 1628-1688. The youthful years of Nicholas Culpeper's life were filled with the sound of church bells, and services with long hours in the pew of his grandfather William Attersoll's church, St Margaret's, in Isfield, Sussex. The vicarage of Isfield belonged to the thaneship of the Shurley family who lived in the nearby Tudor house, Isfield Place. They had been given the right of presentation some time before 1527.1,2 This meant the right of the benefactor to appoint priests and receive tithes. The income was used to pay for the vicar, to maintain the church and to support in hospitality to the poor. In 1599, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, William Attersoll had been appointed/ector of the parish of St. Margaret's, Isfield by the local squire and landowner Sir John Shurley. When Attersoll was selected, he had the reputation of a scholar, with two degrees from Cambridge. This obviously impressed John Shurley, who wanted a learned man in his pulpit, a preacher who could bring some culture to his parish. John Shurley might have liked the image of being a sponsor of science, something which would be valued and perhaps envied by his peers of the local gentry. Moreover, he wanted a learned teacher for his nine children. Attersoll was a serious man, more interested in books and the writing of theological treatises than in the edification of his parishoners. He wrote many theological books and was considered an important scholar of his time. Attersoll 5 O. Thulesius, Nicholas Culpeper © Olav Thulesius 1992 6 Nicholas Culpeper was not popular with his parishoners, because he did not socialise with them, and was not an eloquent and captivating preacher like his predecessor, the reverend William Bishoppe. Attersoll had higher aspirations for his living and his surroundings; he always thought that he deserved a better place. He complained about the 'poor living and poor cottage'.I In Isfield he had no intellectual intercourse with learned col leagues, as in Cambridge where he lived before. There were diffi culties in getting the latest books from London, a much too small vicarage for his large family and now his daughter was back with his grandson! Attersoll was aloof and demanding in his way of life. He had six children from his first wife, Anne, who died in 1624. Five months later he married Mary Parris, the widow of his parish clerk.3 As mistress of the house, Anne Attersoll had a difficult and arduous task looking after the big household, to feed, clean, nurse and plan for the future. She did not have much help from her husband, who after his duties as a priest and teacher always retired to his study and his books. Her daughter, Mary, was of course a good help. The vicarage, now called Rocks Farm, was a building of stone with a tiled roof, on a slight mound not far from the church, overlooking the meadows down to the river Ouse. On the bottom floor, on the left side of the entrance was the vicar's office and study with the parlour to the right, and the kitchen, buttery, still room and larder in the back. Around the walls were large open fire places with ornamental, locally cast-iron firebacks to protect the brickwork where the fire was hottest. In front of these were placed pairs of andirons, fire forks and spit irons. In the kitchen the andirons supported roasting-spits and on the side-boards were pewter vessels and plates, brass-pots and pans. The stone floor was covered with fresh rush-mats. Upstairs, in the bedrooms, there were beds of wood with a headpiece and canopy. These huge beds had comfortable feather-beddings with blankets and a head-sheet. Side curtains could be drawn at night. In addition to the big beds, there were a number of small, low truckle-beds which could be pushed out of the way in the day-time. Next to the vicarage were two outhouses where the brewing, churning and slaughtering was done. In these low houses most of the servants also had their quarters. There was also a bam and stable combined in one building where horses, cows and Youth in Sussex 7 pigs were kept. The house was sourrounded by a large herb and fruit garden. The cultivation of herbs and flowers had received great impetus since Queen Elizabeth's day. This revival was due in part to the publication of Gerard's Herbal in 1596, the text used by the educated and well-to-do. But in addition there were also herbals for the common men like William Turner's Herball of 1568 or William Langham's Garden of Health which appeared in 1597. It was a special privilege for the parson Attersoll to have a dovecot with a large number of pigeons always flying around the house. The pigeons were good company and a welcome source of fresh meat in the winter months when other meat and fish was salted.4,5 The outhouses of the vicarage were not very big because the glebe, or the portion of land assigned to the clergyman in Isfield, was rather limited. Attersoll depended for many of his needs on supplies from the big tithe-farm of the Shurley's manor house. That suited Attersol fine, because manual labour and earthly enterprises did not interest him; he was a very learned man utterly devoted to his books, the word of God and theological teachings. His study was a sacred place in the vicarage. Nobody was allowed to just run in and out. One had to knock and wait one's time. When the oaken door was opened one entered a different world: a smell of burning rush candles mixed with the undescribable fumes from old parchment and gall-nut ink. Along the walls were rows of books of all sizes stacked up to the ceiling. The big oaken table was covered with papers and books bound in vellum. Above the mantle piece glittered a silver cross. This room also contained an unusual adornment: a precious persian carpet near the chest, a gift from Sir Antony Sherley of Wiston, Sussex, a relative of Sir John Shurley. Sir Antony had been in Arabia and Persia and was a friend of Shah Abbas from whom he had received tents and carpets.6 Through instruction from his grandmother, and contemporary herbals such as Gerard's, Nicholas learned to recognise medicinal plants and how they were prepared and used. Already as a boy young Nicholas was interested in herbs and medicines and realised early the healing power of local plants. He loved the smells of gilliflower, Frankford roses and basil. From Culpeper's Herbal we know that young Nicholas was familiar with the native names of plants and flowers as they were used in Sussex. About Heart's-Ease he says: 'In Sussex we call them pansies' and the gooseberry bush in Sussex is called: 'Dew-berry bush'? Knowledge about recipes and home-cures was usually inherited 8 Nicholas Culpeper from mother to daughter and kept as a valuable 'secret'. For the educated classes books such as the anonymous Closet for ladies and Gentlewomen, printed in 1608, were available. This included 'divers soveraigne medicines and salves for sundry diseases'. Then there was of course also Gervase Markham's famous Countrey Contentments which had appeared in 1615. The second part of this work was The English House Wife with chapters on 'Physicke, Cookery, banqueting-stuff, distillations, etc'.s,9 Women in the house were particularly well skilled in the art of 'simpling' and preparing medicines, a simple being a medicinal herb or medicine obtained from one herb. It was so called because each plant was supposed to possess its particular virtue, and there fore to constitute a simple remedy. Nicholas often followed his mother and grandmother to the garden and fields to pick herbs for the concoction and distillation of medicines, syrups and other 'secrets'. He was interested in these remedies since in 'The London Dispensatory' he mentions purslain: 'I remember since I was a child that it is admirable for one that hath his teeth on edge by eating sour apples.' What he means by this he explains in his Herbal that 'It is good for mouth and gums that are swoln and to fasten loose teeth.' In another place he says: 'Flowers are but seldom preserved; I never saw any that I remember, save cowslip flowers and that was great fashion in Sussex when I was a boy. '10 In those days outside the cathedral cities hardly any licensed physicians were to be found, so people had to rely either on itin erant practitioners, and cunning folk such as 'smiths, weavers, and women'. The nearest medical authority to be found was probably the town apothecary-cum-surgeon in Lewes. Often clerics or their wives were consulted for medical help. This applied to mistress Anne Attersoll who probably was an experienced healer, and from comments in Culpeper's translation of the London Dispensatory, we hear that young Nicholas was familiar with the names of diseases as used in Sussex. Of the plaster of Melilot he says: 'It is special good for those swellings vulgarly in London called felons, in Sussex andicoms.

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