Antall József szerk.: Pictures from the Past of the Healing Arts / Orvostörténeti Közlemények – Supplementum 5. (Budapest, 1972)
Pictures from the Past of the Healing Arts (Guide for the Exhibition)
5- Medicine in Medieval Europe Beside Arabic medicine another great "trend" of medieval medicine was scholastic medicine lasting until the middle of the 16th century. The period between the 6th and 12th centuries is known as monastic medicine. At that time nursing and healing people were part of the mission of the monastic orders. The monks knew Latin and combined their knowledge obtained through observation with the elements of Classical medical and natural sciences. Monastic medicine came to an end in 1130 when the Council of Clermont forbade the clergy the practicing of surgery. From the 12th century onwards at most medical universities the basis of teaching was the study of the ancient classical works. Practice, especially surgery, fell into the background. Scholastic medicine is well characterized by the words of Arnoldųs de Villanova (1235-1312): "The physicians of Paris study only for the sake of the university and not in order to obtain knowledge and practical skill." The pictures here refer to the life of the universities. The book in the show-case is the work of Hieronymus Brunsçĥwig (1450-1533) entitled "Dis ist der Chirurgia" and published in 1597. It is one of the first German surgical works to have been printed. Next to it there are ribbed Gothic pharmaceutical mortars dating from the I4th-i 6th centuries (Plate III.). Our earliest pharmacy jar was produced in Faenza between 1520 and 1530 (the word faience derives from this name). It is an albarello called "alia porcelana" meaning "porcelainlike". The inscription in minuscles reads : "g.d.ocha". It was imported from Portogruaro, a Venetian province in Italy. The earscoop, a surgical instrument from the beginning of the 16th century, was unearthed during the excavations of the castle of Eger. The coat-of-arms granted to Mihály Dabi, the royal barbersurgeon, by King Sigismund in 1430 deserves attention both from the viewpoint of heraldry and medicohistory (Fig. 12.).
