Medieval Medicine

The hisostory of Medieval Medicine is not as one would think. Acutal effective treatments weren't developed until the later Middle Ages.
Western Medicine advanced very little in Europe during the Middle Ages. Scholarship fell into the religious sphere, and clerics were more interested in curing the soul than the body.  Many theologians considered disease and injury to be the result of supernatural intervention and insisted that cures were only possible through prayer. Christian concern for the ill and injured, as well as contact with the Arab world during the crusades, did, however, lead to the creation of many large hospitals built and run by monastic orders.  Although little was done to cure the patients, they were usually well fed and comforted by a religious nursing staff. 

<--St. Benedict

The first documents that we have in the genuine history of Medieval Medicine, after the references to the organizations of Christian hospitals at Rome and Asia Minor in the 4th and 5th centuries, are to be found in the directions provided in the rules of the religious orders for the care of the ailing. St. Benedict, the founder of the monks of the West, was particularly insistent on the thorough performance of this duty. One of the rules of St. Benedict required the Abbot to provide in the monastery an infirmary for the ailing, and to organize particular care of them as a special Christian duty. The wording of the rule in this regard is very emphatic. “ The care of the sick is to be placed above and before every other duty, as if, indeed, Christ were being directly served in waiting on them. It must be the peculiar care of the Abbot that they suffer from no negligence. The Infirmarian must be thoroughly reliable, known for his piety and diligence and solicitude for his charge.” The last words of the rule are characteristic of Benedict’s appreciation of cleanliness as a religious duty, though doubtless also the curative effect of water was in mind. “Let baths be provided for the sick as often as they need them.”

Cassiodorus, who had been the prime minister of the Ostrogoth Emperors, had his rule founded on that of the Benedictines. He promoted the herbal medicine, by recommending to learn the nature of herbs, and study diligently the way to combine their various species for human health; but he advised to not place your entire hope on herbs, nor seek to restore health only by human counsels. Since medicine has been created by God, and since it is He who gives back health and restores life, turn to Him.

(Sarah A. and Sarah D.)