Back in knightly Europe , the solution to trouble conceiving was a concoction of land hog testicles sprinkled in wine . Failing that , you could then test some catnip - infused wine and drink it down on an empty tummy .
Dr Catherine Rider , a gothic historian at the University of Exeter in the UK , has recently been rummage through a series of medical and religious texts from the 12th-15th century that throw off brightness on a whole host of strange ( and wholly unscientific ) remedies for infertility . Many were written in Latin , the language of the elite , but some of the text edition were then read into English or French and modified for mass from a somewhat less educated screen background .
accord toThe Liber de Diversis Medicinis , a collection of aesculapian “ recipes ” from the 15th 100 , " If a man wishes that a woman will conceive a tiddler soon take Nepeta cataria [ catnip ] and boil it with vino until it is reduced to a third of its original mass , and give it to him to drink on an empty belly for three Day . "
Another text counsel to " Take a pig ’s testicles , dry and grind them , and give them to fuddle with wine for three day " . It is not clear whether the human beings or the fair sex was suppose to drink the potion .
One of the earlier texts is a twelfth - century treatise about " gynaecology " shout Trotula . The anonymous writer describes an off the wall possibility of how to tell if you or your married person is sterile . The purpose of the game is to both pee in a pot then leave it nine or 10 days . If dirt ball seem in the corporation , you were deemed to be infertile .
This text also states that “ concept is impeded as much by the fault of the man as by the fault of the women , " which is unexpected . After all , the Middle Ages were acknowledge for gender equation as much as they were for scientific prowess .
The record also showed that manlike sterility was recognized by gothic marriage law and could even be grounds to annul a marriage .
“ Although medical text tended to give most place to female infertility , manlike infertility was nonetheless on a regular basis discuss as a possible cause of childlessness in pedantic text and by educated knightly aesculapian practitioners , ” Dr Rider explained ina argument .
The field suggests that even back then mass recognized that male generative disorders were more than just dysfunction during sexuality .
" It is punishing to know whether men or women were more likely to seek treatment for infertility in practice , " Dr Rider sum . " Most of our evidence comes from doctors who talk about what ' might ' happen and how to treat these problems . "
