Pre-Medieval Poison

The use of poison—a toxic substance deliberately introduced to a living creature for the sake of incapacitating or killing it—is found as early as 4500 BCE. How do we know? Grooves in ancient weapons, such as arrows, have been found to contain evidence of toxic substances like tubocurarine, an alkaloid found in the bark of a South American climbing vine. It paralyzed the muscles of a mammal, but did not prohibit eating the flesh safely. Pliny claimed there were over 7000 different poisons.

King Mithridates of Anatolia (114 - 63 BCE) was so paranoid about being poisoned that he worked hard to discover cures. He would test cures (after applying poisons) to criminals. He also attempted to immunize himself by taking minuscule amounts of poison himself daily. He eventually created a "cure-all," a mixture of dozens of substances, which he named Mithridatium. His notes on plants and cures were taken to Rome after Mithridates' kingdom was defeated by Pompey the Great. 

The Roman Empire brought poisoning "into the mainstream," using it to eliminate enemies and political rivals, even right at the dinner table. Several emperors were eliminated by poison, if we believe Roman historians. A praegustator or "pre-eater" (food taster) was a slave used to try out one's food for safety. If you could bribe a food taster, however, you could get rid of your victim easily. Of course the food taster in many cases ate the food when it was ready for eating, immediately prior to the diner tucking in, so there was no warning. If the diner and the food taster died with the same symptoms, however, the survivors knew it was poison, and could react accordingly (either seeking revenge or enjoying their nefarious plan).

The European Middle Ages likewise embraced poison to solve political problems:

Henri of Flanders (d. 1216), the second Latin emperor of Constantinople, and Blanche II of Navarre (d. 1464) were both supposedly poisoned by members of their own families. This was also the case for Robert IV of Artois, count of Eu, and his wife Joanna of Durazzo, who paid a visit to Joanna’s sister Margherita, Queen of Naples, in 1387. Neither of them would leave the royal residence of Castel dell’Ovo alive, ...

Dmitriy Yurievich Shemyaka, twice Grand Prince of Moscow, however, irritated the Muscovites ... In 1453, the city’s inhabitants bribed the prince’s cook to poison his roast chicken dinner. Other poisonings of high-ranking individuals remain unsolved: the Irish peer James Butler, earl of Ormond and a cousin of Anne Boleyn, died in London in 1546 as the apparent victim of poisoning along with seventeen other members of his household. [link]

Medieval apothecaries provided many different substances and the knowledge of their uses. What did they supply? Tomorrow we will look at several of the known poisons available at the time.