Aphrodisiacs, Fertility and Medicine in Early Modern England

It was common knowledge in early modern England that sexual desire was malleable, and could be increased or decreased by a range of foods - including artichokes, oysters and parsnips. This book argues that these aphrodisiacs wereused not simply for sexual pleasure, but, more importantly, to enhance fertility and reproductive success; and that at that time sexual desire and pleasure were felt to be far more intimately connected to conception and fertilitythan is the case today. It draws on a range of sources to show how, from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, aphrodisiacs were recommended for the treatment of infertility, and how men and women utilised them to regulate their fertility. Via themes such as gender, witchcraft and domestic medical practice, it shows that aphrodisiacs were more than just sexual curiosities - they were medicines which operated in a number of different ways unfamiliar now, and their use illuminates popular understandings of sex and reproduction in this period.

Dr Jennifer Evans is a Lecturer in Early Modern History at the University of Hertfordshire.

Author: Jennifer Evans
Publisher: Royal Historical Society
Published: 05/17/2019
Pages: 225
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.71lbs
Size: 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.48d
ISBN: 9780861933501

About the Author
Evans, Jennifer: - Jennifer Evans is a senior lecturer in History at the University of Hertfordshire. Her academic research is focused on the body, medicine and gender and covers the period 1550-1750\. To date her research has examined the understanding of infertility and its treatments in early modern England.