William Morris’ medieval insight and the Middle Ages.
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Of course, I know there are many, maybe most, Marxists – especially those arriving from Left groups and parties, who read very little apart from Marx and Engels, and never look into any research or knowledge realised after and since Marx’s death.
“Although of of course the world of medicine wasn’t as sophisticated as today, the idea that doctors had no idea what they were doing and all Roman and classical knowledge having been lost is also incorrect.
There were clean and well managed hospitals and skeletons show examples of complicated medical procedures that were successful.
Progress in medicine didn’t come to a stop when the Roman Empire collapsed, of some Greek and Roman knowledge was lost but quite a few advancements in surgery, medical chemistry, dissection, and practical medicine were made in the Medieval era.
Theodoric of Lucca wrote in the 13th century;
” Every day we see new instruments and new methods [to extract arrows] being invented by clever and ingenious surgeons.”
Everyone of course knows de famous female physicians Hildegard of Bingen (if you don’t, shame on you), who wrote about how the hospitals worked, the training people got, etc.
Domestic pharmacy properly began during the Middle Ages and this of course had a huge effect on the future of medicine.
Did you know that Medieval cities had more hospital beds than most modern cities today?
In some cities they realised that sexually transmitted diseases were infectious and prostitutes were regularly checked for this reason.
And yes, they had anesthetics (made from mandrake root, opium, gall of boar and hemlock), they did external surgery on such things as facial ulcers and eye cataracts, they did internal surgery as well, to remove bladder stones for example and they learned how to use wine as an antiseptic.
Medieval surgeons removed arrows, dog bites, amputations, eye surgery and even brain surgery.
Another interesting quote;
“When you get up in the morning, stretch your limbs, so that the natural heat is stimulated. Then comb your hair because this removes dirt and comforts the brain. Wash your face with cold water to give your skin a good colour and to stimulate the natural heat.Clear your nose and your chest by coughing, and clean your teeth and gums with the bark of some scented tree.Exercise in moderation, because it is good to be tired; it stimulates the natural heat.”
Taddeo Alderotti, ‘On the Preservation of Health’, 13th century.One could argue that our Medieval ancestors actually, in a way invented the hospital, pharmacies, eyeglasses, the concept of quarantine and more.
Sources;
British Library
Top 10 Medical Advances from the Middle Ages
Wikipedia
Theodoric of Lucca
Medievalist
Chirurgia by Roger Frugardi of Salerno (14th century) “(Medieval Myths Bingo)
Calling someone smelly is common among enemies.
The Latin Christians’ name for the Byzantine Greeks was les griffons – the Griffins. In the Provencal poem Flamenca a dirty hairy villain is called a Greek because of his B.O. and unkemptness.
Terry Jones:-
“The Renaissance was a backward-looking movement that hailed the distant past – ancient Greece and ancient Rome – as the only source of enlightenment. Petrarch, a Renaissance writer, wanted to put the clock back and to return to writing in Latin. And not just the Latin that was then current. He wanted to return to classical Latin. The Latin that was then current and still being spoken in the churches and monasteries was condemned as deficient. Rather than reviving Latin, the Renaissance killed it stone dead as a spoken language.
Chaucer, Boccaccio and Dante (although writing at the same time as Petrarch) wrote in the vernacular. They also celebrated the vitality, exuberance and individuality of ordinary men and women. They were the modernists and in that way they were truly medieval. Petrarch was the backwards-looking conservative. The proud despiser of the common people. The willing servant of a tyrant such as Bernabo Visconti. Petrarch provides a prototype for the Renaissance and for much of what follows.
In order to sell their package of conservative intellectual authoritarianism, the writers of the Renaissance had to make out that the intervening centuries were a time of darkness and ignorance into which they would now shine the light of ancient knowledge.”
Furthermore, Christianity did not come from “the Dark Age hordes” the Romans despised. It was the Romans who were Christians and who set out to convert the “hordes.”
Furthermore, Christianity did not come from “the Dark Age hordes” the Romans despised. It was the Romans who were Christians and who set out to convert the “hordes.”
That was Gibbon’s point, it was the adoption of Christianity by the empire that helped destroy Rome from within. So do you agree or deny that contact with Muslim culture stimulated European Medieval development courtesy of their preservation of the knowledge of ancient Greece and Rome?
Of course, I know there are many, maybe most, Marxists – especially those arriving from Left groups and parties, who read very little apart from Marx and Engels, and never look into any research or knowledge realised after and since Marx’s death.
I would not consider such strange individuals as Marxists.
Arab influence greatly enriched medieval European culture and knowledge. Agree totally.
This enrichment had begun before the Crusades, via Spain and the policies of tolerance and openness (and anti-ecclesiastic) of the European south. It was welcomed by the ruling class even during the Crusades, which recognised Islamic nobles as equals. Unlike the Romans, medieval people were not racists.
A medieval father of the modern novel, Wolfram Von Eschenbach, features romance between Christian and Muslim in both his novels Parzival and Willehalm, the hero in the first fighting on the Muslim side against a Christian army.
Which also brings us to the status of women – more liberated in the early 12th century than later – and certainly more than under the repressive Renaissance.
Reading Henry of Huntingdon’s History of the English People gives the lie to patriots’ mythology down the centuries about “Anglo-Saxon England.” 50% of the time between 600 and 1066 the Anglo-Saxons were plundering and ravaging the Anglo-Saxons. (Still are!)
Men of both Danish and English armies in 1016 provide a lesson to stupid patriotic workers of today: they made the two kings fight one another in single combat, instead of wasting their own lives. “The quarrel is theirs. Why risk our lives?”
Revisionist: one who revises his views in accord with new knowledge and discoveries, as opposed to a dogmatist who never grows.
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