Antall József szerk.: Orvostörténeti közlemények 54. (Budapest, 1970)

TANULMÁNYOK - Kubinyi András: The Social and Economic Standing of Persons Concerned with Health Treatment in Buda at the Turn of the 15th and 16th Centuries (angol nyelvű közlemény)

THE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC STANDING OF PERSONS CONCERNED WITH HEALTH TREATMENT IN BUDA AT THE TURN OF THE 15th AND 16th CENTURIES by ANDRÁS KUBINYI TJTungarian historiography has not neglected the medical historical relics of -*• Buda of the decades preceeding the Battle of Mohács, and has collected the data relevant to the physicians practising in the medieval Hungarian capital [1], Of course, medical historical literature proper, too, has dealt with this subject, and has accumulated data on the other sanitary occupations as well : on surgeons, bath managers, barbers, apothecarians [2]. We may say that our predecessors have unearthed very rich material indeed in medical and sanitary history, to an extent which one looks for in vain in the other fields of the history of the capital. Consequently the impression would be that there is not much else to be done then to add some insignificant details, to correct one or two mistakes. After that one might accept the picture which at present would be undoubtedly formed after reading the relevant literature : in the period under discussion the medical culture of the country was on a ligh level, the sanitary conditions of the towns did not fall behind the West, there were many and good doctors practising in Hungary [3]. But we feel that this picture—at least as far as the supply of doctors with a university degree is concerned—needs revision. It seems to be that Hungarian historians and medical historians were equally deluded by the great number of data left behind on the private physicians of the sovereign and of the feudal barons. As a matter of fact the kings, and very often the queens as well, kept several doctors simultaneously. Both in the court of King Matthias Corvinus and any of the two Jagelló Kings, one can find four or five physicians simultaneously, not to mention the surgeons [4]. There is evidence of private physicians even in the service of several prelates and greater noblemen. For instance in 1489 Hippolit of Este, Archbishop of Esztergom, gave his Italian private physician an annual salary of 200 florins — an enormous sum [5]. The son of King Matthias, Prince János Corvinus, alsó kept a private physician in the person of János Jakab de Angelis (Angellis), Doctor of the liberal arts and of medical science [0]. (The identity of the latter with a royal physician having the same Christian name cannot be verified [7].) Even a relatively less opulent feudal lord like Zsigmond Lossonczy, provost of Buda, could hire a private physician, Miklós Monti, and bestowed on him the tenure of Bezdéd for the duration of his service—undoubtedly by way of a salary. The doctor (most probably of Italian origin) even assumed the surname „Bezdédi" [8],