Florian Steger and Kay Peter Jankrift (eds), Gesundheit – Krankheit. Kulturtransfer medizinischen Wissens von der Spätantike bis in die Frühe Neuzeit, Cologne, Böhlau Verlag, 2004, pp. vi, 270, €34.90 (hardback 3-412-13803-7).

Abstract

The scope of this volume is ambitious, spanning a millennium, covering both western Europe and the east, and including topics as diverse as surgery in the Frankish states and “paleness” as an illness in early modern poetry. Three papers are in English (Peregrine Horden, John Henderson, Piers Mitchell), with German summaries, but unfortunately English summaries are not given for the German contributions, something which would have broadened the appeal of this volume for those with a phobia for German. Nevertheless, it is worth venturing in, as there is much of interest here. The volume is organized chronologically, and divides into three sections: late antique, medieval, and early modern. Mischa Meier's paper centres around the intriguing hypothesis that the writing of history altered in response to the experience of plague in the late antique world. She focuses principally on eastern authors but concludes with Pope Gregory the Great and Gregory of Tours in the west. Gernot Kirchner picks up where Meier ends, discussing Gregory of Tours' concept of healing, the literary models he draws on, and his attitudes towards doctors. As with Meier's paper, the principal emphasis is on the literary representation of illness and healing rather than medical practice. Peregrine Horden, in contrast, starts with the development in late antiquity in the east of the physical space designated as a “hospital”, but argues that it was brought into existence—and gained its symbolic force—as part of the theological and political power struggle between groupings within Christianity (“Arian” and “Catholic”). There is then a slightly uncomfortable jump in chronology from late antiquity to the Crusades, perhaps inevitable in a single volume attempting such a large chronological sweep. However, with three papers on late antiquity, one could have covered at least part of the seventh to tenth centuries, perhaps focusing on the manuscript transmission and use of medical texts from antiquity to the middle ages. What is good in this volume, however, is the balance between east and west, and this is exemplified by Johannes Pahlitzsch's fascinating exploration of the mobility of Christian, Jewish and Samaritan doctors in the east across political and religious borders. Jewish doctors, this time in the west, are also the focus of Peter Kay Jankrift's contribution. The mobility of these doctors in the west, however, means that evidence about their activities is sparse and Jankrift persuasively argues that historians should respond to this by taking a broad comparative approach between regions. Piers Mitchell also grapples with a lack of direct evidence for types of elective surgery performed in the Frankish states and instead he mines court records, chronicles and Arab sources to infer the types of elective surgical procedures (such as cauterization, treatment of haemorrhoids and possibly also cutting of gums for scurvy) that patients expected surgeons to perform successfully. The early modern section of the volume opens with John Henderson's paper on early modern hospitals. In a welcome departure from the overwhelmingly literary source base of the volume as a whole, he draws on iconographic as well as textual evidence in order to attempt to reconstruct a patient's experience from entry to discharge (or death) in Renaissance hospitals in Florence. This is followed by a timely look by Renate Wittern at the contemporary reception of Andreas Vesalius' famous anatomical work De fabrica, not least by Vesalius' own former teacher, Jacobus Sylvius. Florian Steger focuses on a perhaps less universally famous, but nevertheless important, figure of the medical Renaissance, Georgius Agricola, and specifically his 1528 dialogue ‘Bermannus sive de re metallica’. Steger argues that Agricola's dialogue should be viewed as part of the ongoing contemporary debate on what constituted “true” or “right” anatomy or medicine. Daniel Schafer's paper is the most closely focused in the collection on the concrete transmission of medical texts from antiquity to the Renaissance. Sensibly, rather than attempting a complete survey, he focuses on a single theme which is now receiving increasing attention from historians, namely texts relating to ageing and prolonging life. Sandra Pott, in contrast, considers poetry about the plague and “paleness”. She argues that not only did a “medicalization” of poetry take place in the early modern period, but that in turn medical discourse was influenced by poetry. Overall, this collection has some strong contributions and although few contributors discuss it explicitly, they collectively deal with the concept of “transmission” in a creative way, considering the transmission not just of medical texts but also of medical personnel, medical knowledge and language across linguistic, chronological, political and religious boundaries.