Explore the history of medieval medicine in Agrigento, influenced by ancient texts and empirical practices. Discover how the doctors of Agrigento dealt with the diseases of the time.
Introduction to Medieval Medicine in Agrigento
Even in Agrigento, as elsewhere, the doctors of the medieval period were considered by many as deluded charlatans, in reality many drew on ancient sources, on the thought of the time and on empirical experience in their attempts to create a remedy to cure
Influences of Ancient Texts in Medical Practice
Medicine in the medieval era in Agrigento was strongly influenced by the authorities of the Hippocratic texts, the works of Galen and those of Pedanius Dioscorides which formed a nucleus of study for the doctors of Agrigento and provided a basis for diagnosis, anatomy, surgery and treatment.
The Limitations of the Church and the Study of Anatomy
The study of human anatomy in the medieval period was limited due to Church prohibitions on dissection of bodies and a person’s internal organs were studied only by reading the works of ancient authors, but for example Galen never appears to have dissected a human being and based his work on the study of monkeys, believing that the human body was exactly the same.
Galen considered air, diet, sleep, exercise, excretion, and emotion to be important. These were factors that could create both health and disease and therefore needed to be examined before creating a treatment for the patient.
Pedanius Dioscorides xi left a treatise, On medical herbs. It is a herbarium originally written in Greek, which had a certain influence on medieval medicine.
The most influential ancient medical theory was the Hippocratic theory of the four humors: blood, phlegm, black bile and yellow bile.
It was thought that the disorders could be explained by the levels of these substances being unbalanced in the body and so doctors tried to treat patients by removing the blood or giving medicines to induce vomiting in order to redistribute the humors.
Medical books were few and copied repeatedly by hand so as not to be lost forever.
Many works were found in monastery libraries and were the primary sources for large local medical schools, and many of the most skilled healers were found in monasteries.
Even in the monasteries of Agrigento there were special cells reserved and the sick were allowed to eat meat if this would help their recovery.
The Role of Monasteries in Medieval Medicine
Monasteries and religious houses grew much of their food, part of the garden was intended for medicinal plants, such as aromatic plants: rosemary and mint found a place both at the table and next to the bed of the sick.
There were containers for distilling medicines, drugs imported from the Mediterranean
If a patient needed to be bled, this task was entrusted to the barber and most of the surgical and dental work was performed by these barber-surgeons.
The First Medical Schools in Sicily
Subsequently Sicilian universities began to create their own medical schools where doctors could be trained.
In 1231, Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed that the physician must pass an examination to obtain a license to practice.
Doctors in Agrigento had to know the Ars Medicinae – The Art of Medicine – which was a textbook composed of ancient works on medical theory, diagnostics and how to examine everything from a patient’s urine to their wrist. Medical students trained on these texts and commentaries.
Medieval Medical Treatments and Practices
By the 14th century, doctors were finally allowed, but with many limitations, to conduct occasional dissections and so began to have detailed anatomical training that they could use for surgery. Some medical schools required studies in surgery.
Access to university-trained doctors was expensive, as was purchasing drugs. Fortunately, there were alternative sources of help.
Superstitions, spells, amulets
So many relied on a healer who practiced traditional medicine.
There was everything: garlic was used for constipation and dropsy (edema), but we also had spells. Amulets and talismans were a familiar part of medieval life.
Some amulets were stones with a hole to ward off witchcraft, some spells were written engraved on the body.
The idea that objects could offer security was natural in a world where saints’ relics and images were considered to have healing properties.
Finally, we had midwives who were called to help women during childbirth, which could also be guided by the elderly women of the family who had already gone through those hardships.
Illness even then caused desperation and people did their best even in Agrigento in the Middle Ages.
