Antall József szerk.: Orvostörténeti közlemények 73-74. (Budapest, 1975)
TANULMÁNYOK - Schultheisz Emil—Tardy Lajos: Egy reneszánsz-korbeli orvosdiplomata (angol nyelven)
At the beginning of the 16th century there stood nothing in the way of any Central- or East European ruler to select his own physician from among the graduates of Padova, Bologna, Montpellier, or any other well-known medical faculty. This is especially true for the Polish court, whose Italian contacts were admittedly very strong. How is it then possible that doctor Isaac, whose knowledge derived from an entirely different source, could become a court physician in Poland? In answering this question first we must make it clear that Isaac was not the archiater of the King of Poland, he was only one of the court physicians. Besides his personal qualities his prestige must have owed much to the fact that he used to be the archiater, confident and "roving ambassador" of one of the most powerful eastern sovereigns, Uzun Hasan, who was reknown all over Europe. But his acceptance by the Polish court also meant the recognition of the medical school of which he was a representative. True, here are no direct data available on the medical activities of Isaac Beg, or at least they have not come to light. But it cannot be a mere accident, that nearly all of the numerous documents dealing with his diplomatic activities stress that he was a physician, and add the epithet "doctor" to his name. The explanation lies in the highly important and widely recognized role the wandering Jewish physicans fulfilled as the interpreters of classical Greek and especially Arab medicine. The Arab traditions were preserved and the early medieval Arab medicine was propagated by the physicians who peregrinated, or often emigrated under the pressure of necessity, from Spain both to the West and to the East. It is enough to refer in this respect to the Toledo school of medicine, which spread over France, first of all to Montpellier and to Italy (mainly to Salerno). This process started in the 12th century and reached its climax at the turn of the 14th —15th centuries, when the Spanish-Jewish doctors played an outstandig role in spreading the teachings of Avicenna and Averroes in Europe, which had a decisive effect upon the development of medicine. Later this school found its way back to Asia —Minor and Central Asia —in a more developed and refined form, after the Arab school was improved and adapted in the medical schools of Montpellier and Salerno. Though we have no direct, written evidence of Isaac's role in this process, we may suppose, that he was an active participant of this trend. The very age itself and the conspicuously frequent emphasis on his medical profession and his function as court physician make this thesis feasible. Medical history knows several other cases which resemble his. Isaac Israeli (Isaac Judaeus) was the court physician of the Khalifa of NorthAfrica in the 10th century. His work "Liber de urinis", together with the commentaries of the better known Constantinus Africanus was taught at the University of Vienna even in the 10th century. 10 Today only the name of the mediator Constantinus Africanus is remembered, although it was due to the "Liber de urinis" of Isaac Israeli that the teachings of Avicenna penetrated into the literature of Europe. Several other works by him were commented upon by 40 Aschbach, J.: Geschichte der Wiener Universität im ersten Jahrhundert ihres Bestehens. Wien, 1865. 321 p.
