Some Aspects of Herbai Medical Treatment on the Example of Medieval Reval
Mihkel Tommet
Discussions about medieval medicine were usually held on the basis of manuscripts written by well known and authorized scholars. lndeed we have to accept that the ve basis of the above-named profession based on the theoretical Iiterature gathered in the universities. Unfortunately, the role of academic science has a secondary e ect if we are dealing with the physician’s everyday practice. Town physicians who were treating patients on the one hand sele ted their academic knowledge stressing the most valuable information needed in their working environment but on the other hand they were probably adapting that information to the local conditions. The role of popular science and native methods of healing were also im ortant lt is, however, a hard task to recognize how important the local in uence in medieval medicine was.
lf we are aiming to nd out the connections between medical science and the local practices we have to be very care l with the sources we use. It is quite obvious that the information in this case can be obtained from written sources and in some cases from archaeological excavations. These sources must be very speci c by their nature. It means that they have to be strictly concemed with the process of healing. This kind of information can be gathered from a!l sort ofhandbooks, recipe books and inventories (containing lists of drugs).
Usually the above-named writings contain antidotes which means that the treatment w�s based rnainly on drugs. Drugs were usually mixed from di erent herbs because they were thought to contain important healing powers. On the basis of the recipe books of Reval,1 medieval drugs contain about 98% herbs.
By ana!ysing different plants used for medicaments in medieval Reval we can decide whether these plants were gathered in the local region or i ported. Usually the most commonly known plant names are a result of their local cultivation as herbs. They are mainly
1 Tallinna Linnaarhiiv (Tallinn City Archives; abbr. TLA). CM 18: includes also „Re:eprbuch 16. Jahrhundert.'“ TLA. A.f. 15: “ huldbuch des Gorke von Telehren 1-181-15 ‚ includcs also „‚Rezeprbuch 15. Jnhrlwnder{‚: J. W. Dehio. „“Berichtigungen und Nachtrage zu den Mittheilungen über die McdictnahcrMltnisse Alt-Revals.“· In: Beurage zur Kunde ;·r-. Ltv- und .urlnnds. Bd. 4. Reval, 1887. p. 4�8.
111
of German origin and in some cases there are doubts as to whether they are Middle Low German plant names adapted to Estonian.2
Probably one of the earliest medico-botanical manuscripts in Estonia was the so called Herbarius-C’odex. lt belonged to St. Catherine’s Dominican monastery. Unfortunately, we know very little about this manuscript as it disappeared at the beginning of this century om the Tallinn City Archives. Only brief references to it have been made by the Baltic German historians Friedrich Koehler and Friedrich Amelung.3 It was dated to the beginning of the thirteenth century and was probably a copy of the well-known Dioscurides manusc pts.4 It was a Latin scienti c manuscript where besides the botanical descriptions of plants it was shown how to use them against various diseases. We can assume that it was mainly used by monks inside the monaste for educational purpos .
lt is somewhat doubtful if these extensive manuscripts were used by town physicians because they were not easily portable in everyday practice. Seif-made handbooks were much more use l. Handbocks were a kind ofshortcut to all the knowledge obtained by a physician during his practice. Unfo unately very few ofthem have survived through the centuries.
A Manuscripl medicinischen Inhalts,5 as it was called in the Library of the Estonian Literary Society, became the property of the Estonian Museum of History a er the Second World War. This Manuscript has leather covers with prescriptions for priests in Latin. These prescriptions can be dated to the beginning ofthe thirteenth century. lt was quite common that some of the early writings on parchment were used as a binding material. The manuscript itself contains ve fragments from di erent periods bound in one. It includes also a drawing which represents a human gure with marked places to bleed. This human gure on parchment can be dated to somewhat between the end of the thirteenth century and the beginning of the fourteenth century.
The first part ofthis manuscript is especially interesting. Twenty pages contain speci c inst ctions on how to use di erent plants for various medical purposes. The manuscript is written in Middle High German. It is a hard task to identi the real age of this fragment but judging by the watermarks it is quite possible that it dates back to between the end of the fourteenth century and the beginning of the fteenth century. These dates are ve close to a similar book written by Konrad Megenberg in 1 3 5 0 6 Megenberg’s „Book of Nature“ („Buch der Natur“) is thought to be the oldest so called „Krauterbuch“ (Book ofHerbs) written in the German language lt means that in the case of the ‚Reval Krälllerbuch“ we are dealing with one ofthe oldest manuscripts ofthis kind in the natural sciences ofthe German speaking world (Fig. I). The above named fragment contains only 36 plant names. Most of these plants are common in Estonian nature or can be cultivated in our climate:
2 Fr. Amelung. „Der Herbanus-C ex des Revaler Stadt-Archivs und ein Blick auf die ehs ä.ndischen flostergänen im Millelaller.“ In: Bellr ge :ur Kunde st-. Uv- undKurlands. Bd. 5. Reval. 1900. p. 7 1 .
4 Fr. Kochler. Eh.<tl ndtsche Klosrerlektare. ReYal. 1892. pp. 120-121.
H. Fischer. Afirrelalterliche P anzenkunde. München, 1949. S. 11 : H. Schippcrges. Der Garten der
esundheu. München. 1990. pp. 133. B . Schamardin. „Andmeid Vana-
Liivimaa meditsiinilise ki anduse ajal st fc aalsc killustatusc ajajärgul.“[Historical data on m ical literature ofOid li\onia during the feudal ri J. Jn: .\“oukogude r esti Tervish01d. 1 66. nr. . Lk. 67: Eesti Ajaloomuuseum (Estonian History Museum), f 2 . n I, s 207:
�fanuskript medicimschen Inhalts.
Arnold Pfister. „Die Pflanze und das Buch.“ T . l . In: Ltbrarium 6. 1963. P. 9.
112
Eberysth – Arlemisia abrotanum – abrotan
Absintheum – Artemisia absinlhum – wonnwood
Urtica – Urlica dio1ca – nettle
Allium – Allium sai/V/1111 – garlic
Plantagio – Pla/1/agio sp. ; Plan/agio major – plantain
Apium – Apium wdgare – celery
Porrum – Allium porrum – leek
Ruta – R 1a graveo/ens – rue
Bienemice – Melissa o icinalis – melis
Poley – Menlha pulegium – poley
Veniculum – Foeniculum vulgare – sanicle
Lactuca – Lacluca saliva – lettuce
Rosa – Rosa canina – dog-rose
Lilien – Lilium a/bum – lily
Violen – Viola sp. – violet
Satureia – Salureia hortensis – savory
Salvia – Sa!Fia o icinalis- sage
Enula – lnula helemum – elecampane
lsop – Hyssopus o ficinalis – hyssop
Lapacium – Rumex acetosa; Tussilagoja ar – co on sorrel; colts foot Nygella – Nige a saliva – nigel
Cycuta – Cicu/a virosa; Conium maculalum – cowbane, hemlock
Menta – Melllha piperita – peppermint
Synape – Sinap1s alba; Brassica nigra – white mustard; black mustard
Pastinaca – Paslinaca sativa – wild parsnip Serpillum – Thymus se1pillum – wild thyme Cerifolium – Chaerophyllum aromaticum – chervil Coriander – Coriandrum sativum – coriander Papaver – Papaver sp. – poppy
Swertele – Iris germanica – garden iris
Kamomilla – Chamomilla o cinalis – chamomile Kendula – Calendula off ina/is – garden marigold Levisticum – Levisticum o icina/is- lovage Struccon – Nasrurtsium aquaticum – water cress Nasturtsium – Lepidium sp.
The Iack of exotic plants in the Iist suggests that those plants were separated from the whole text, because they were the most common and sought-a er plants in this region. The idea that the above named plants were already cultivated in Reval is suppo ed by the eenth century book of recipes7 where some drugs require the use of fresh plants. The earliest evidences regarding the herb gardens in Reval is from 1452 when a garden was owned by the ehe ist Claus Schulte.8
78. A. A.f 15: Re:eplbuch 15. Jahrhunden E.Y.Noubeck.DasdrillaltesieErbebuchderS1ad1Re••al(1383-/-158). Rcval, 1892.p.62.
113
The results of archaeological excavations of medieval fecalpits from the end of the thirteenth and the beginning of the fi eenth centuries in Dorpat9 showed that the fecalpits were used mainly by the town elite.10 Nevertheless, the archaeobotanical analyses showed that exotic plant remnants were almost missing. However, this doesn’t mean that the exotic p!ants were unknown to the physicians. The manu ript also contains a glossary for medieval Latin and Middle Low German herb names and lists 356 di erent plant names also including plants not common to Europe and the nordic climate. This glossary is probably copied om a !arger medical manuscript, possibly from one which was quite similar to another Dominican anuscript „Compendium medicum“ 1 1 found in Tallinn City Archives. The above named copy was made especially for the „field work“.
All the plants used in medicine were supposed to contain a certain amount of healing power. At the end of the eleventh century Constantin African, inspired by the work of Galen „De natura remm simplicum“, classified in his tractate „De gradibus simplicium“ all the well known herbs by their nature according to the degrees of heat, dryness, cold and maisture they contain. 12 In the above mentioned piece, plants with a certain amount ofheat and dryness were preferred 19 plants out of 30 were hot and dry. There is also an explanation which presumes that the nature ofplants was always connected to the Iack ofnature in the human body. In that case the most common diseases at the time in which this manuscript was in use were caused by the superfluous amount of cold and maisture inside the body. Some kind of proof for this speculation can be found in the second part of the manuscript which encapsulates brief descriptions of human argans and their connection to the four elements and the nature associated with them. Prescriptions regarding the Iack of elements is mainly based on Constantin African’s work „Pantegni“. The text itself belongs to the same period as the previous one, and it is quite obvious that this panicular physician was accustomed to this method of healing and used it in his eve day practice. This manuscript suggests that these malfunctions can be connected with kidneys, glandular, auditory and respiratory organs. Even the prescriptions made by the Town Council of Reval c. 1454 for avoiding plague are followed by the same principles.1 3 The translation of a chronicle made by Eugen v. Nottbeck shows it plainly:
„You have to avoid the Southem wind which brings unhealthy warmth. Open the windows to North and avoid everything which stin and comes from the stab/e and kitchen… . •·
By the theo ofnature the southem wind has a hot nature and preconditions for pestilence.
The third and the founh part of this manuscript are written in Latin and contain seasonal and astrological prescriptions for physicians.
9 M. Tammet. „On results ofthe ca logical analysis ofthe medieval cesspits in Tanu.·• In: Sctent ic metho Estoman archneology. T linn. 1988 (Summary). p. 102.
A. esalu. ··un le Glasfunde aus Tanu.“ In: ENSI‘ TA Toimetised. C’h1skonnntendused. 1986. nr. 4. p. t�-402.
12 TLA. CM 15: Campendiran ,\/edic�m.
A oldr de Vrllanova. Regmten Samtalts Salermtnnum. Herausgegeben von J.F.Schulz: V N. Te ovsky.
R ·al. 1894. p. 45 1 . Cfr. A a. 10.
.
.
1�78. p. 47.
· E. ,._ Nonbeck. „Fragment einer Re-·aler Chronik.“ In· Bellrage zur Kunde Ehst-. Liv- und ur/ands Bd. 4.
1 14
At the end of the eenth century and at the beginning of the sixteenth century we can notice an increase in healing activities among burghers ofReval. They are explained by the fact that printed popular scientific writings became available for everyone who was rich enough to pay. In the sixteenth century inventories featured lists of popular books, and even books named „Kreuterhuch“ were listed. ln some cases burghers even had their home pharmacies. For example, in 1550 the burgher Caspar Engelen had about 400 di erent drugs at his house and several printed books about medical treatment. 14 These books included the famous
“Kreuterhuch“ by Hieronymus Bock printed in 1539 and the “ Kreu11erb11ch.. by Leonhard Fuchs printed in 1543 15 This means that the common burghers were not so far from
the authorized medical treatment. Even non-burghers like Zwedreus Bynynck were interested in recipes, and he found a preacher named Ba elomeus who initiated him into the secrets of healing and probably inspired him to write a recipe book at about 1470. 16
A recipe book dating from the beginning o f t h e sixteenth century h a s survived completely intact and gives us an even better picture ofwhen and how the plants were used. 17 lt contains 300 recipes used against di erent diseases. We can assume that this recipe book was the property of a burgher because the recipes were written in an extremely vulgar Middle Low German. However, about 120 different plants were used in recipes for di erent illnesses. The following piece extracted from this recipe book shows how numerous the quantity of herbs used in one recipe could be: 1 8
„. . .you have lo Iake 1 ha(f Oll!lce 1 9 muscadine flowers, 2 ha 0 nce ginger, 1 half ounce zedoar, 1 halfOll/lee nutmeg, 1 ha ounce cinnamon, 1 half011nce c/ary /eaves, 1 ha Ollnce me seeds. 1 ha o11nce parsley seedf, 1 ha ormce si/er. I ha ounce fennel seeds, 1 halformce ax seeds, I halformce Trigonella foenum graecum L. , 1 half ormce rhubarh, 1 drahm liq11orice, I half Ounce ga/ang, . . . . half ounce sugar, I
halfounce c/0\·er ( ) (Trifolium sp /eaves.
Then have this a/1 boiled slightly, then /ter il lhrough a piece of hroadc/oth and /eave it to subside ‚ This powder is goodjor falling sick11ess and is also goodfor driving stones out andjor the stomach and breasl and is also good against red spots in eyes and relieves skin sick11esses. “
:� A, A.e. 2 BI. 315-353.
16 Werner Gaudc. D1e alle Apotheke. Leipzig. 1979. p. 49. 17 TLA. A. 15: Rezeprbuch 15. Jahrhundert.
. TLA. CM 18: Rezeplhuch /6. Jahrhunderl. J. W. Dchio, „Berichtigungen und Nachträge zu den Mittheilungen über die Medicinalverhältnissc Alt-Revals.“ In: Beitrage zur Kunde Ehst-, L1v- und Kurlands
��· 4. RcYal. 1887. p. 448.
. TLA. CM 18: Rezeptbuch 16. Jahrhundert. p.8: .
ilem ;j lotlit engefer. ilem i Jodr seddefer lirem 1 lodu mossal/e 1item i lodll kannellitem i lodu salfeygen bioder
. .item heyt iho schalm nemenj Jodtl mossauen blomen
irem i lvdrr w�vn rwden sad litem i lodrr fennekvl sadrr lilem i lodrr peuerselleygen sadrr , ilem 1 lodrr seyler mamana ilem i Jod// leyn sadll ·ilem 1 lodrr obdecondesenw fenwm ilem j lod rabarbara ·item j k ·eyn eyn lackrvsc:1itenrjJodrrgolle.�gan.ilem…Iod/hodu>1vcker·ilemilodrrdreygo/1 blader
irem dwd modrr al/escz klen gesthodrr seyn vnd dorch eyn Jen harren sefge.<evrhtreyl dwr pwlwer ;ssel ga·drr vor hemmeleychge kranchkeyr de eynnem menschen an hvn jsser ock gwdrr vor den sren dryfd wd1 der magen vnd der brosr vndjssel ock gwdr wor de rode placken jn den ogen vor iherrel de wedage der ledder 1. . .
19• J. D. Intelmann. .-irithmerischer Wegweiser oder nach Ehsr-und Lie tmdiseher Handlung gründlich eingerrchreres sres Revnlsches Rechenbuch. Magdeburg. 1736. p. 9: ounce = 29,86 g: half ounce = 14,93 g: drahm = 3.73 g.
115
In the thirteenth and fi eenth centuries, everyday medical practice was probably mainly based on natural philosophy and even the choice of herbs in di erent mixtures was rst made by estimating the Iack of some nature in the human body. The role of di erent mixtures in recipes was not as high as it became by the end of the fteenth and the beginning of the six1eenth century.
How accustomed was the Estonian peasantry to the medicaments and herbs used in di erent drugs? In this case, we can nd little help from written sources. Information can only be gained by the etymological analyses of the most common plant names. This work was already started by Friedrich Amelung at the end of nineteenth century when he placed the Estonian word for flower – Ii!/ – among the words borrowed from the Middle Low German 20 And the white lily (Uiium candidum) was indeed one of the most common garden flowers in the Middle Ages.
Estonian prelinnean plant names can be divided into two main groups: I) plant names translated from German names and 2) names with Middle Low German stems. There is a possibility that the translation of German plant names started after the Reformation in the sixteenth century when there were serious attempts to enlighten Estonian peasantry. Jn this case, words with Middle Low German stems can originale from a much earlier period, from the fourteenth and eenth century. It seems that even names with no direct connection to medicine or agriculture carry stems of Middle Low German origin. One of these plants is certainly fat hen Chenopodium a!bum – Estonian malts – Middle Low German melte 21 August Wilhelm Hupel points out in his „Topographische Nachrichten“ that many names of plants common to Estonian nature in the Estonian and Latvian language have been derived from Middle Low German, although these plants should have been weil known to the Livonian peasants in the medieval period 22 This Ieads to a conclusion that peasants could have lea ed about these plants primarily through the dispersion ofrecipes.
The di erence between the mentality ofan average German-speaking citizen and a non
German town inhabitant or a peasant from the near surroundings of the town may not have
been too great. The di sion could easily have been carried out by mendicants, who used to know the local language and whose direct aim was to interact with common people as much as possible.
2° Fr. Amelung, „Der Hcrbarius-Codex des Revaler Stadt-Archi\“S und ein Blick auf die ehstländischen �lostergäncn im Mittelalter.'“ p. 74.
22 Gustav Yilbastc. /\’omrnn l „e acula Plantarum Estoniae. Tallinn. 1993. p. 249.
A.W. Hu !. Topogmphtsche achrtchren von Ltef und stland. II Band Riga, 1777. pp. 486-525. 116
I
– <–·�, �:.· ···.
Fig. I : A page from the medical manuscript in the Estonian Museum of Histo ry
117
..
QUOTIDIANUM ESTONICUM
MEDIUM AEVUM QUOTIDIANUM
HERAUSGEGEBEN VON GERHARD JARITZ
SONDE AND V
QUOTIDIANUM ESTONICUM
ASPECTS OF DAILY LIFE IN MEDIEVAL ESTONIA
EDITEDBY
JÜRIKIVIMÄE
A
JUHANKREEM
KREMS 1996
GEDRUCKT MIT UNTERSTÜTZUNG DER KULTURABTEILUNG DES AMTES
DER NIEDERÖSTERREICHISCHEN LANDESREGIERUNG
Coverlllustralion:Compilationfromsketch inthemarginsofaccoum k s of the Town Magistrate of Rcval (TLA. Ad. 26 and 32)
– ISBN3901094083
© 1996 by Medium Ae\1Jm Quotidianum. Gesellschaft zur Erforschung der materiellen Kuhur des Millclallers, Körnennarkt 13, A – 3500 Krems. Austria – Printcd by Kopitu Ges.m.b.H.,
Wiedncr Hauptstraße 8-10. A-1050 Wien
Inhaltsverzeichnis able of Contents/Sommaire
Preface….. …………………………………………………. …………………………………………………….. 7
JüriKivimäe,Medieval Estonia. Introduction. …………………………………………………….. 8
Juhan Kreem, „ultima germonorum & christianomm prouintia“. Outlines ofthe Image ofLivonia onMaps from the Thirteenth to theMiddle of the Sixteenth Century … 14
Marek Tamm, Les miracles en Livonie et en Estonie a l’epoque de Ia christianisation
( n XIIeme- debur Xllleme siecles) …………… ……… . …………………………. 29
Erik Somelar. Van des keisserlichen L bischen Rechtes wegen. Circumstances of Criminality inMedieval Reval…………………………………………………………………….. 79
Tiina Kala, The Church Calendar and Yearly Cycle in the Life ofMedieval Reval. . . . . . . . . . 103 Mihkel Tammet, Some Aspects ofHerbalMedical Treatment on the Example
ofMedieval Reval…. ………………………………………. …………………………………… 111 Inna Pöltsam. Essen und Trinken in den livländischen Städten i m Spätmittelalter . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 KatrioKukke, Les lois somptuaires deReval………………………………………………………… 128
5
Preface
The idea to publish a special Estonian or Baltic issue of Medium Aevum Quotidianum has been discussed already for a couple of years with Gerhard Jaritz and Christian Krötzl. lnitially the idea was based on the first experience of studying medieval everyday life and mentalities in a small seminar-group at Tanu University. This optimistic curiosity of discovering a new history or actually a history forgotten long ago, has been carried on. The research topics of Katrin Kukke, lnna Poltsam and Erik Somelar originate from this seminar. However, all contributions of Quolidianum .womcum were written especially for this issue.
Besides that, this collection of articles needs some comments. First, it must be admitted that the selection of aspects of everyday life published here is casual and represents only marginally the modern Situation of historical research and history-writing in Estonia. The older Baltic German and Estonian national scholarship has occasionally referred to the aspects of everyday life. Yet the ideology of ‚histoire nouvelle‘ has won popularity among the younger generation of Estonian historians only in recent years. These ideas are uniting a srnall informal circle of historians and archivists around Tallinn City Archives, represented not only by the above mentioned authors but also by the contributions of Tiina Kala, Juhan Kreem, Marek Tamm and Mihkel Ta met Secondly, we must confess the disputable aspects of the title Quolldianum Eswmcum Medieval Europe knew Livonia but not Estonia and Latvia which territories it covered over 350 years There may be even reproaches tOwards the actual contents that it is too much centralised on Tallinn/Reval, but it can be explained with the rich late medieval collections available at Tallinn City Archives.
We wish above all to thank Eva Toulouse, Monique von Wistinghauscn, Hugo de Chassiron, Tarmo Kotilaine and Urmas Oolup for the editorial assistance. Our greatest debt of gratitude is to Gerhard Jaritz, without whose encouragement and suppon this issue could not
have been completed.
7
Jüri Kivimäe, Juhan Kreem, editors