I. Hildegard of Bingen, Causes and Cures
(aka Holistic Healing)
The youngest of 10 children, Hildegard was a lifelong nun and later
abbess
in the central Rhineland in Germany (1098-1179), and perhaps the most
famous
woman of letters and science of the twelfth century, if not the entire
Middle
Ages. She was also a theologian, mystic, visionary, composer,
playwright,
natural scientist (botany), foundress of abbeys, letter-writer, friend
of
popes (her work describing her visions, the
Scivias, was
examined
and approved by the pope himself), and preacher. That description does
not
begin to exhaust everything she accomplished -- she was a woman of
letters
in every respect, and her works remain widely read and celebrated to
this
day. They also continue to be studied and written about by
medical
experts and practitioners of all kinds.
Among her better known works to modern audiences was her treatise on
medicine,
natural science, and astronomy known as the
Causes and Cures.
Written
in the late 1150s, it was not a systematic work, but closer to a
collection
of observations both unique to her and borrowed from classical texts
(including
Galen) on the nature of illness, human temperament, and physiology,
among
other things. (We might well compare her understanding of the workings
of
the human mind to Guibert's psychology.)
We're reading just a snippet; the breadth of her work is astonishing
and
she was very influential both within the church and beyond her abbey
walls. If you're curious about medieval beast lore, check out
The Medieval Bestiary online.
II. Lorraine Daston and Katherine Park, Wonders
and the Order of Nature (pp. 21-39)
This work by modern scholars surveys the medieval understanding of
'marvels'
-- which in the medieval learned mind were quite distinct from
miracles.
Medieval travel writing (think Marco Polo), which often took note of
marvels,
was an exceptionally popular genre and took off in the twelfth century,
along
with travel beyond the Latin European sphere. Medieval writers,
following
classical writers, expressed awe and enthusiasm for the fantastical
people,
creatures, cultural practices, and geographies of the 'East', which
routinely
included Jerusalem, the goal of the First Crusade in 1095.
III. The Trotula (twelfth century)
The
Trotula is a compendium
of three separate texts that were assembled in the mid-twelfth century
in Salerno (Italy), one of which was authored by a woman named Trota.
Over time, these texts were held to all have been written by a single
woman, Trotula, by which the work was then identified. The text(s)
circulated widely in Europe, and cover issues relating to women's
health, gynecology, childbirth, and cosmetics, among many other topics.
Hundreds of copies in both Latin and European vernacular languages
survive, making it the most popular collection on women's health of the
later Middle Agess. The compendium is notable for its infusion of
Arabic medical information and lore and for its incorporation of Muslim
women informants.
Questions
(1) What is the difference, from a medieval point of view, between the
operation
of (a) wonders/marvels, (b) miracles, and (c) medicine? How would you
describe
the logic that informs Hildegard's understanding of medical practice
and
healing? The
Trotula's? What
kinds of knowledge are at the foundations of medical knowledge --
theoretical, experiential, textual, etc.? Is it possible to
distinguish between the transmission of textual authority and
application of practice/observation as you read
the descriptions?
(2) Explain the logic that informs the medieval perception of the
difference
among the same phenomena, using examples from Guibert of Nogent
(Monodies
and On the Relics of Saints), Hildegard of Bingen (Causes and Cures),
and
Park and Daston (Wonders and the Order of Nature). What is the
relationship
of miracles to nature? to marvels?