Antall József szerk.: Orvostörténeti közlemények 109-112. (Budapest, 1985)

A TERMÉSZETTUDOMÁNYOK ÉS A MEDICINA A RENESZÁNSZ ÉS A REFORMÁCIÓ KORÁBAN - Lecturis salutem (magyar és angol nyelven)

LECTURIS SALUTEM The partly successive, partly parallel spiritual-religious precess of the Renaissance and the Reformation, a period of the utmost importance both for universal and Hungarian cultural history, could not fail to exert its influence on the development of sciences and medicine, respectively. Renaissance studies of the latest years as well as Reformation studies promted by the Luther anniversary called for a presentation, a survey of results in the frame of a scientific conference. Albeit the Middle Ages have lately acquired a reputation of being less dark than thought before, containing germs of later development and even maintaining continuity, we still mink that the unprecedented awaking of Europe, the revival through the revaluation of the spirit of the Antiquity, we owe to this period. It is almost beyond doubt that the path leading to the emergence of today's Europe with our modern civilisation and established national states, was laid at that time, in the spiritual turmoils and renewals of the Renaissance and Reformation. The Renaissance and humanism could find a flourishing state in the Carpathian basin, the Hungarian Kingdom of Matthias Corvinus (1458—1490) could become a centre of Renaissance culture and a significant political power of Central Europe. The development of the Renaissance in Hungary, however, received a severe blow with the events following the disastrous battle of Mohács (1526). Even the early 16th century showed the signs of decline, the expansion of the turkish Empire cast its shadow before, and the division into three parts of the country put an end to earlier development. The Reformation started during the declining Jagelló reign and developed in the partitioned country. We think that the papers published here give a rather good picture of the period of the 15—16th centuries. Important researchers in the history of science and medicine report on their results. The opportunity offered itself to combine the publication of the papers of the 1983 conference with those of the János Zsámboky (Sambucus) Memorial Session, closely related to the 16th century. Thus with the joint publication of the papers of these two conferences as well as some additional papers in the field, the Hungarian Society for the History of Medicine, the Semmelweis Institute- Museum, Library and Archives for the History of Medicine wished to contribute to a deeper understanding of this one and a half century, to the communication of recent results. József Antall