HERBARIE

Condemned as witches, the herbarie or female herbal magicians were an essential feature of popular medieval culture. They were free women and skilled sorceresses, but also talented healers; this fostered resentment among powerful male figures who accused them of using plants to heal, or to provide a painless death. Guilty of engaging in a world of secrets confided, of listening to problems, of contraceptives, births and abortions, their persecution resulted in the elimination of centuries of ancient know-how, inscribed in the body and memory of the earth.