MILITARY MEDICINE IN THE MEDIEVAL EASTERN EUROPE

Abstract

The article considers some evidences about military medicine in the Eastern Europe, especially on the modern Ukrainian territory, in 11th–13th centuries. Analogies from the West-European history are represented. The information from contemporary chronicles illuminates medieval medical thoughts in the practice of Rus’ physicians. Some facts are leaded out the logical way. Connections between contemporary conditions and the next development of medicine in late-medieval Ukraine are followed. Research Methodology. As the main method, a logical analysis is used that allows supplementing missing information by comparison with analogous situations in other regions, investigating the text in order to find additional data, in some cases, to suggest the most likely option. A chronological method for supplying the material was also used. Results. It is concluded that military medicine in Kievan Rus’ of the 11th–13th centuries was not inferior to Western European analogues. Some differences are associated with the earlier and strong influence of Byzantine and local traditions. Military medicine at that time was not so clearly separated from the civilian. Some lagging behind Western Europe is noticeable in the theoretical part - in Russia medical schools have not been formed, unlike the universities of Italy, France, England and Spain. Some monks and priests collected Byzantine medical treatises, sometimes supplementing them with descriptions of local traditions, but no more. Secular doctors had good practice, as evidenced by the description of the anamnesis of illnesses and wounds in the annals, but their knowledge was passed only to their own children. This is one of the reasons that in the subsequent there was a backlog from Western Europe. Novelty. Separate articles of the Old Russian chronicles are presented as a source of not only political and cultural, but also medical information. For the first time, a fairly profound knowledge of the ancient Russian chroniclers in this field has been demonstrated. A similar theme is quite common in foreign historiography, but still remains little studied in the domestic. The practical significance. The material of the article can be used to prepare general works from the history of medicine or for further scientific work in this direction.