LEECH

12th January 2024

Photo Credit: nechaev kon (Getty Images), CANVA

Yoke-fellows in arms, let us to France,

like horse-leeches, my boys, to suck,

to suck, the very blood to suck.

PISTOL: Henry V, Act 2, Scene 3

LEECH (Medicinal Leech: Hirudo medicinalis)

Leeches, the blood sucking physicians of the ancient, medieval and early modern world, are found in 3 of Shakespeare’s works, Henry V, the Two Noble Kinsmen and Timon of Athens. In Henry V the blood draining metaphor is being used by soldiers to describe the work they are about to do at the Battle of Agincourt. Leech could refer to the animal or also to a physician and Leechcraft or Horse-leechcraft referred to the practice of medicine. Horse-Leeches are another name for what we now call the Medicinal Leech.

Medicinal Leeches have a long history of use for a wide number of complaints. Leeches appear in literature and in herbals or medicinal guides including Homer’s Iliad, Virgil’s Aeneid, and Chaucer. Medicinal blood letting via Leeches was a central feature of Galen’s medicinal works. Galen was a Greek medical practitioner, philosopher and writer who rose to become personal physician to Roman emperors in the 2nd Century CE. His books continued to influence medicine up to and beyond Shakespeare’s time. Cockayne (1864) collected all the pre-Normal English texts relating to “Leechdoms, Wortcunning and Starcraft”.

Medicinal Leeches live in the freshwater shallow ponds. They can grow up to 20cm in length and have striking markings on their skin. They have a fascinating life cycle, and in the UK they are protected by law. They are considered Near Threatened in the UK and also at the Global Level. The charity Buglife is looking for participants to send in sightings of Medicinal Leeches as part of the Species on the Edge Campaign and the Freshwater Habitats Trust is coordinating the Medicinal Leech Recovery Project.

More Information

Buglife: Medicinal Leeches

Cockayne, T. 1864, Leechdoms, Wortcunning and Starcraft of early England (accessed via Archive.org)

Folger Shakespeare Library: Search Shakespeare’s Works

Freshwater Habitats Trust: Medicinal Leech Recovery Project

IUCN Global Red List: Medicinal Leech

McGowan, R. 2022: Museum of Healthcare at Kingston, “Leeches still a bloody good idea”.

Perseus Digital Library: Leech

Topsell, E., 1607 History of Four-footed Beasts and Serpents (accessed via Archive.org)

US National Library of Medicine (NIL): Medieval Manuscripts English Leechcraft and Physick