I had the opportunity to teach again this year at the Wrightstown Renaissance Faire (The Village Renaissance Faire)

One of the classes I taught for the second year centered on essential oils. I spoke briefly on how herbs were distilled, how they were used, and then spent most of the time introducing students to the various scents that appear prominently in books by authors of the end of the 16th century: John Gerard, author of Gerard's Herball, Hugh Platt's Delights for Ladies and Gervase Markham's The English Housewife.

The booklet I used as part of the class is attached, giving modernized recipes as well as information on the traditional uses of many popular herbs. I hope you may find it useful.

Medieval Perfume Recipes (a PDF file)