Tag Archives: medicine

Abbasid Scientists

Posted on May 24, 2022 by Ruth

During Caliph al-Muqtadir’s reign, there were significant scientific advances. Here’s a round-up of the major names. Ishaq ibn Hunayn, from a family of translators, translated Euclid’s Elements and Ptolemy’s Almagest into Arabic. This turned out to matter tremendously when Greek … Continue reading →

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Normal medieval sickness

Posted on July 12, 2013 by Ruth

We tend to imagine that plague was constantly ravaging medieval Europe, perhaps due to clever parodies like “Bring out your dead!” in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. But most of the time, sickness followed predictable patterns and wasn’t out … Continue reading →

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Medieval balanced diet

Posted on April 28, 2013 by Ruth

Forget the food groups or pyramid. Balanced diet, in those times, meant using food to balance the body’s proportion of hot, cold, wet and dry. The stomach was viewed as a cooking pot. In order to process what’s put into … Continue reading →

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Care for the dying

Posted on March 16, 2013 by Ruth

When medieval people lived to old age, most of them had families who cared for them. Some lived in monastic communities, which were well-equipped to care for the aging. A wing of the monastery was always devoted to nursing care; … Continue reading →

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Life-death of a leper

Posted on March 12, 2013 by Ruth

Having mapped out the most common modes of adult life in medieval Europe, I turn to a unique life cycle that serves as a bridge to talking about death: the life of a leper. Lepers were legally dead while still … Continue reading →

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Life of a university graduate

Posted on February 16, 2013 by Ruth

Life of a medieval university graduate meant, probably, continuing as a scholar in the same place. Doctoral degrees could be in theology, law or medicine. The degree cost a large sum to purchase, so many students never graduated. (They went … Continue reading →

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