Antall József szerk.: Orvostörténeti közlemények 73-74. (Budapest, 1975)
TANULMÁNYOK - Schultheisz Emil—Tardy Lajos: Egy reneszánsz-korbeli orvosdiplomata (angol nyelven)
TANULMÁNYOK A PHYSICIAN-DIPLOMAT FROM THE TIME OF THE RENAISSANCE by EMIL SCHULTHEIS Z— L AJOS TARDY T he history of medicine knows several cases —both in Hungary and abroad —when the court physicians of medieval or Renaissance rulers accomplished important diplomatic missions. This chapter of medical history should not be neglected, as the position and esteem of the physicians was influenced not only by their medical activities but by such diplomatic roles as Iwell, while the general historical significance of their public actions is not without interest for the historian of medicine. In that age diplomatic service demanded the same special personal relationship that was manifested in the confidence existing between the court physician and his patient. Who was better suited to keep the secrets of the state than the one to whom both the bodily troubles and the spiritual anxieties of the head of state were revealed? From the 14th century onwards we know several cases when the court physicians of the Hungarian kings performed diplomatic tasks/ and conversely, quite a few of the emissaries of foreign sovereigns appearing in Hungary belonged to the medical profession. The use of the archiater in the field of diplomacy was especially common in Hungary during the reigns of King Sigismund, and later King Matthias Corvinus. There is a strong probability that the practice of giving the outstanding multilingual doctors some diplomatic commission originated in the Orient. Timotheos was not only the court physician of the Emperor Justin the Younger (5G5 —598), but played a considerably role in the diplomacy of Byzantium.' 2 Fritz Baer writes in the introductory chapter of his collection of documents 1 '' that from the early to the late Middle Ages there are a large number of Jews, who were well known as doctors and also played some important diplomatic role. 4 1 Schultheisz E.— Tardy L.: Olasz orvosok Magyarországon. (Italian physicians in Hungary.) Orvosi Hetilap (Medical Weekly), 1965, 659— 660 p.; 1966, 1757—1760 pp. - Bloch, L: Byzantinische Medizin. (Handbuch der Geschichte der Medizin), Berlin, 1901, Bd. 1.6 p, 3 Die Juden im christlichen Spanien. Bd. I. Aragonien und Navarra. 1929, S. 1 4 The epithet "alfaquim" (derived from the Arab "hakim") referred to their profession, but was later naturally supplanted by the term "medicus", "physicus", etc., which was never missing from the name of the diplomats who also practiced medicine.
