Book #88: Markham’s Master Piece : containing all knowledge belonging to the Smith, Farrier, or Horse-Leach, touching the curing all diseases in horses … to which is added … The Compleat jockey, by Gervase Markham (1703).
Gervase Markham (1568? – 1637) was a well-known late 16th and early 17th century writer and arguably one of the first, best-known writer of English works on farriery and equine care. He was the son of Robert Markham, a well-connected and wealthy member of the English country gentry who served as a Member of Parliament and Sheriff from Notinghamshire.
By the early 1590s, Markham settled in London and began publishing a variety of works including his first on equine care titled A Discource of Horsmanshippe. He would go on to publish a wide variety of poetry and drama alongside his works on farriery, handling horses, husbandry and military training.
For more biographical information on Gervase Markham, see his entry in the Dictionary of National Biography:
Matthew Steggle. “Markham, Gervase”. In Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. 23 September 2004.
The following piece was written by University of Guelph experiential learning student Emma Scott about Markham’s Master-Piece:
Markham’s Masterpiece, first published in 1610,was one of Markham’s most popular texts. This book was designed to be a comprehensive text containing all of the knowledge a farrier needed to care for horses. Markham included treatments for diseases and afflictions, as well experimental surgical practices in Markham’s Masterpiece.
The particular text housed in the Ontario Veterinary College’s original collection is the sixteenth edition of Markham’s Masterpiece. Gervase Markham was notorious for changing the title of his texts and re-publishing them.[1] In fact, Markham’s Masterpiece went through twenty-one editions as Markham added new chapters and republished the text.[2] Eventually, he was forced to sign a memorandum in 1617 saying that he promised not to write and republish any more texts on cattle, horses, and other similar creatures.[3] Markham’s constant adding to and republishing of his text reveals that this was very much a money marking scheme for him. By repeatedly adding new content to the text, Markham was seemingly able to compete in the medical marketplace among other physicians and their treatments.[4]
[1] Richard Nash, “Joy and Pity: Reading Animal Bodies in Late Eighteenth-Century Culture,” The Eighteenth Century 52, no. 1 (2011): 47-67, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41468126.
[2] Robert H. Dunlop and David J. Williams, Veterinary Medicine: An Illustrated History, 266.
[3] Richard Nash, “Joy and Pity: Reading Animal Bodies in Late Eighteenth-Century Culture,” 47-67.
[4] Louise Hill Curth, “The Care of the Brute Beast: Animals and the Seventeenth‐century Medical Market‐place,” 376.
The following piece was written by University of Guelph experiential learning student Devon Sherwood about Markham’s Master-Piece:
“Unlike [John] Bartlet and [William] Taplin, who merely reference the humours and powers of the body, Markham dedicates a significant portion of his text to the understanding of influences on the body. The author’s discussion in Book I of the publication on the four elements and their relation to the body is particularly interesting, as is his description of the ailments caused by the imbalance of wet, dry, hot and cold humours.[1] His unique descriptions also extend to animal spirits, which differ by type of horse, and which are precursors to different kinds of disease.[2]
Other aspects, such as “evil corruption” and “evil influence of the Planets” had bearing on which diseases an animal might be infected with.[3] Unlike other documents analysed in this series, Markham’s text displays a strong belief in the use of treatments such as hot ironing and medications including ingredients such as old urine and goat’s dung.[4]
Book II offers a discussion of various surgical methods, and includes an anatomical description of the horse, as well as varied diagrams depicting surgeries. Such descriptions dictate the correct aftercare for procedures and offer varied medications to prevent relapse into disease. Much like in Taplin’s publications, tricks of the trade are considered, and buyers are warned against methods of disguising horse defects, such as “starring” and de-aging.[5] Finally, under a section called “Other Animals,” Markham discusses disease in relation to animals such as sheep, cows and hogs. Interestingly, more cure-alls are suggested, and different ailments seem to affect the different species.[6]
[1] Gervase Markham, Markham’s Master Piece: Containing All Knowledge Belonging to the Smith, Farrier, or Horse-Leach, Touching the Curing of All Diseases in Horses… To which is Added… the Compleat Jockey (London: M. Wotton and G. Conyers, 1703), 1, 4.
[2] Markham, Markham’s Master Piece, 10-14.
[3] Markham, Markham’s Master Piece, 30.
[4] Markham, Markham’s Master Piece, 34, 111, 272.
[5] Markham, Markham’s Master Piece, 290, 296.
[6] Markham, Markham’s Master Piece, 12.