Malmsey

Statema, B. C. P.

Food & Drink

Malmsey

Malvasia

Known today as: Malvasia wine, named from Monemvasia, a fortress port on the coast of Laconia that traded the wine of the eastern Peloponnese; Venice dealt in it so much that its wine-shops were called malvasie.
Kind: Food & Drink
Constituents: ethanol, sugars
In the Canale glossary: On the Manner of Discerning and Healing the Bewitched, Appendix A: Part Three, Chapter 5: Vomitory Medicines

Revised October 3, 2026: Checked against its sources, each read in full, in part, or in its abstract. Version 1, first published September 25, 2026.

Malmsey: what did Canale use it for?

To soak toast for the stomach after vomiting (ch. 5), and with spirit of wine in the oil for the bewitched.

Malmsey: what does modern science say?

Now chiefly a sweet Madeira.

Pharmacognosy & Toxicology

Constituents

ethanol ChEMBLin the fortified wines
sugars

Mechanism

A sweet strong wine; in Canale the toast soaked in it after the vomit, with an aromatic rose confection, was to comfort the stomach from within. By a rumour current soon after his death in 1478, Clarence was drowned in a butt of it.

Toxic dose

Alcohol; the same limits as any wine.

Standing

A wine of Madeira and of Crete.

Constituent names open the compound’s record at PubChem, and “ChEMBL” beside a name opens its record at ChEMBL, the European Bioinformatics Institute’s database of bioactive molecules. Where a mechanism line was checked against ChEMBL (ChEMBL 37, read 1 October 2026), the check is shown with the measured value and its source paper, or says plainly that nothing has been measured. Doses are as the references give them, for description only; this is not medical advice. Each source carries the result of its check against Crossref, PubMed, or the authority’s page: see Verification.

In Their Own Words

The 1911 Britannica calls malmsey a strong sweet wine first made at Monemvasia (Napoli di Malvasia) in the Morea, whose name, corrupted in medieval Latin into malmasia, gave the English word.

“MALMSEY, a strong sweet wine, originally made at Monemvasia (Gr. Μονεμβασία), Napoli di Malvasia, in the Morea, Greece. The name of the place was corrupted in Med. Lat. into malmasia, whence the English form of the word.”

Encyclopædia Britannica, eleventh edition: Malmsey, “Malmsey”, vol. 17, p. 494. The 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, as transcribed on Wikisource. The text, read in full

Each passage is quoted from the text named, which the press fetched and read, and was checked word for word against a fresh copy of it; the link opens that copy. Passages are given as printed, without the editors’ footnote numbers, and with words broken across lines joined.

Sources

“Malvasia” (Malmsey). Wikipedia (read 2 October 2026). Read in full · the text read
Canale, F. (1622). Del modo di conoscer et sanare i maleficiati. Brescia. Read in part · the text read

Verification

Checked

October 1, 2026, and October 3, 2026

Passes

Every sentence read against its sources, in the pass over the remaining 343 entries
The Standing line checked against the authority it names (EMA, WHO, FDA, CITES, Commission E)
Every dated or regulatory claim checked by category across the database
Every source read, in full, in part, or in its abstract, and every sentence checked against what was read (October 3, 2026)

Sources

2 cited: 1 read in full, 1 read in part.

Corrections

None were needed.

What was checked, how, and what was found is set out on the Verification page. A checked source is one whose record was found; it does not make the entry medical advice.

Cite This Entry

Version 1 · first published September 25, 2026 · last revised October 3, 2026

Chicago: “Malmsey.” In Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1. The Thinking Press, 2026–. Last modified October 3, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/malmsey.
MLA: “Malmsey.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 3 Oct. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/malmsey. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.
APA: Malmsey. (2026, October 3). In B. C. P. Statema (Ed.), Materia medica (Version 1). The Thinking Press. Retrieved October 8, 2026, from https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/malmsey

Download for Zotero, EndNote, or Mendeley: BibTeX · RIS

Club members keep entries on a shelf with private notes, print the plates as cards, and receive an entry by email each week. Create a free account before January 1, 2027 and all of it is yours for good. About the Club