Written by Milan Dolenc, 1989
Abstract
There are several passages in Valvasor’s The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola which touch on the subject of folk medicine. The material devoted to this subject is not brought together in any one place, but scattered throughout a number of chapters in several books, above all in Books 3 and 4.
Valvasor wrote about many different diseases and quite extensively about medicinal plants, healing shrubs, thermal springs, mineral water, healing caves, fossilized “snakes tongues”, scorpions, snakes and witches. He also gave accounts of miraculous healings performed in the ancient pilgrimage church at Dobrova near Ljubljana. Furthermore, he made many references to the powers of satanism. Valvasor was the first author in Slovenia of that time to write on medicinal herbs and their healing qualities, with about 100 medicinal herbs mentioned in the book.