Arsenic was the most popular form of poison during the middle ages, being easily accessible and lacking colour, odor, and taste made it very hard to detect, and easily inserted into food or drink.

Other popular poisons include Deadly Nightshade which was legendarily used by Macbeth, King of the Scots, and Hemlock which was famous for being used to execute the philosopher Socrates.

Relatedly both Nighshade and Hemlock appear as major plot points in several works of William Shakespeare.