Book contents
- The Cambridge History of Medieval Monasticism in the Latin WEST
- The New Cambridge History of Medieval Monasticism in the Latin West
- The Cambridge History of Medieval Monasticism in the Latin WEST
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- 1 General Introduction
- Part I The Origins of Christian Monasticism to the Eighth Century
- Part II The Carolingians to the Eleventh Century
- Part III The Long Twelfth Century
- 34 Historiographical Approaches to Monasticism in the Long Twelfth Century
- 35 Sources for Monasticism in the Long Twelfth Century
- 36 Hermitism in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries
- 37 Monastic Theologies, c. 1050–1200
- 38 Monastic Preaching and the Sermon in Medieval Latin Christendom to the Twelfth Century
- 39 The Mass in Monastic Practice: Nuns and Ordained Monks, c. 400–1200
- 40 Reclusion in the Middle Ages
- 41 Similarities and Differences between Monks and Regular Canons in the Twelfth Century
- 42 The Institutionalization of Religious Orders (Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries)
- 43 Gender and Monastic Liturgy in the Latin West (High and Late Middle Ages)
- 44 Monastic Landscapes
- 45 Later Monastic Economies
- 46 Nobility and Monastic Patronage: The View from Outside the Monastery
- 47 The Medical Role of Monasteries in the Latin West, c. 1050–1300
- 48 East-Central European Monasticism: Between East and West?
- 49 Monasticism, Colonization, and Ethnic Tension in Late Medieval Ireland
- Part IV Forms of Monasticism in the Late Middle Ages
- Index
- References
47 - The Medical Role of Monasteries in the Latin West, c. 1050–1300
from Part III - The Long Twelfth Century
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 January 2020
By
Book contents
- The Cambridge History of Medieval Monasticism in the Latin WEST
- The New Cambridge History of Medieval Monasticism in the Latin West
- The Cambridge History of Medieval Monasticism in the Latin WEST
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- 1 General Introduction
- Part I The Origins of Christian Monasticism to the Eighth Century
- Part II The Carolingians to the Eleventh Century
- Part III The Long Twelfth Century
- 34 Historiographical Approaches to Monasticism in the Long Twelfth Century
- 35 Sources for Monasticism in the Long Twelfth Century
- 36 Hermitism in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries
- 37 Monastic Theologies, c. 1050–1200
- 38 Monastic Preaching and the Sermon in Medieval Latin Christendom to the Twelfth Century
- 39 The Mass in Monastic Practice: Nuns and Ordained Monks, c. 400–1200
- 40 Reclusion in the Middle Ages
- 41 Similarities and Differences between Monks and Regular Canons in the Twelfth Century
- 42 The Institutionalization of Religious Orders (Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries)
- 43 Gender and Monastic Liturgy in the Latin West (High and Late Middle Ages)
- 44 Monastic Landscapes
- 45 Later Monastic Economies
- 46 Nobility and Monastic Patronage: The View from Outside the Monastery
- 47 The Medical Role of Monasteries in the Latin West, c. 1050–1300
- 48 East-Central European Monasticism: Between East and West?
- 49 Monasticism, Colonization, and Ethnic Tension in Late Medieval Ireland
- Part IV Forms of Monasticism in the Late Middle Ages
- Index
- References
Summary
Monasteries were among the most important sites for the care of the sick and the dissemination of medical knowledge throughout the early and central Middle Ages, at least up to the thirteenth century. While the medical preoccupations of monastic communities reflect the fundamental Christian duty of visiting the sick, they also resulted from the self-contained character of these communities and their role as centers of learning. From the formulation of the Benedictine Rule (RB) in the sixth century, monasteries offered specially tailored facilities to sick monks and nuns, and such provision was sometimes extended to resident lay people, as well as to guests from outside the community. Key medical tenets about how to maintain and restore health were assimilated into the monastic way of life, shown particularly in the practice of bloodletting and the regulation of the diet, both of which were understood to prevent ill health by ensuring the proper humoral balance within a person’s body. Physical health, therefore, was an important consideration in monastic communities, indicating that, contrary to much historical thinking about medieval religious, monks and nuns did not repudiate their bodies.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge History of Medieval Monasticism in the Latin West , pp. 865 - 881Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020
References
Banham, Debby. “Medicine at Bury in the Time of Abbot Baldwin.” In Bury St Edmunds and the Norman Conquest, edited by Licence, Tom, 226–46. Woodbridge, 2014.Google Scholar
Bériou, Nicole, and Touati, François-Olivier, eds. Voluntate dei leprosus. Les lépreux entre conversion et exclusion aux XIIème et XIIIème siècles. Spoleto, 1991.Google Scholar
Biller, Peter, and Ziegler, Joseph, eds. Religion and Medicine in the Middle Ages. Woodbridge, 2001.Google Scholar
Brenner, Elma. “Medical Knowledge and Practice at Le Bec, c. 1050–c. 1300.” In A Companion to the Abbey of Le Bec in the Central Middle Ages (11th–13th Centuries), edited by Pohl, Benjamin and Gathagan, Laura L., 310–20. Leiden, 2018.Google Scholar
Brodman, James William. Charity and Religion in Medieval Europe. Washington, DC, 2009.Google Scholar
Brodman, James William. Charity and Welfare: Hospitals and the Poor in Medieval Catalonia. Philadelphia, PA, 1998.Google Scholar
Carlin, Martha. “Medieval English Hospitals.” In The Hospital in History, edited by Granshaw, Lindsay and Porter, Roy, 21–39. London, 1989.Google Scholar
Cristiani, Riccardo. “Integration and Marginalization: Dealing with the Sick in Eleventh-Century Cluny.” In From Dead of Night to End of Day: The Medieval Customs of Cluny, edited by Boynton, Susan and Cochelin, Isabelle, 287–95. Turnhout, 2005.Google Scholar
Gasper, Giles E. M. “‘A Doctor in the House’? The Context for Anselm of Canterbury’s Interest in Medicine with Reference to a Probable Case of Malaria.” JMH 30 (2004): 245–61.Google Scholar
Glaze, Florence Eliza. “Medical Writer: ‘Behold the Human Creature’.” In Voice of the Living Light: Hildegard of Bingen and Her World, edited by Newman, Barbara, 125–48. Berkeley, CA, 1998.Google Scholar
Green, Monica H. Making Women’s Medicine Masculine: The Rise of Male Authority in Pre-Modern Gynaecology. Oxford, 2008.Google Scholar
Harvey, Barbara. Living and Dying in England, 1100–1540: The Monastic Experience. Oxford, 1993.Google Scholar
Montford, Angela. Health, Sickness, Medicine and the Friars in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries. Aldershot, 2004.Google Scholar
O’Tool, Mark P. “The Povres Avugles of the Hôpital des Quinze-Vingts: Disability and Community in Medieval Paris,” in Difference and Identity in Francia and Medieval France, edited by Cohen, Meredith and Firnhaber-Baker, Justine, 157–74. Farnham, 2010.Google Scholar
Rawcliffe, Carole. “Communities of the Living and of the Dead: Hospital Confraternities in the Later Middle Ages.” In Hospitals and Communities, 1100–1960, edited by Bonfield, Christopher, Reinarz, Jonathan, and Huguet-Termes, Teresa, 125–54. Oxford, 2013.Google Scholar
Rawcliffe, Carole. Medicine for the Soul: The Life, Death, and Resurrection of an English Medieval Hospital. St Giles’s, Norwich, c. 1249–1550. Stroud, 1999.Google Scholar
Touati, François-Olivier. “‘Aime et fais ce que tu veux’: les chanoines réguliers et la révolution de la charité au Moyen Âge.” In Les chanoines réguliers. Émergence et expansion (XIe–XIIIe siècle). Actes du sixième colloque international du CERCOR, Le Puy en Velay, 29 juin–1er juillet 2006, edited by Parisse, Michel, 159–210. Saint-Étienne, 2009.Google Scholar
Rawcliffe, Carole. Yves de Chartes (1040–1115). Aux origines de la révolution hospitalière médiévale. Paris, 2017.Google Scholar
- 4
- Cited by