Some Aspects of Herbai Medical Treatment on the Example of Medieval Reval

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 very basis of the
above-named profession based on the theoretical Iiterature gathered in the universities.
Unfortunately, the role of academic science has a secondary etfect if we are dealing with the
physician’s everyday practice. Town physicians who were treating patients on the one hand
seleC“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 influence in
medieval medicine was.
lf we are aiming to find out the connections between medical science and the local
practices we have to be very careful 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 specific 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 of handbooks, 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 different 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 irnported. 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: „Schuldbuch des Gorke von Telehren 1-181-1506″‚ includcs also „‚Rezeprbuch 15.
Jnhrlwnder{‚: J. W. Dehio. „“Berichtigungen und Nachtrage zu den Mittheilungen über die
McdictnahcrMltnisse Alt-Revals.“· In: Beurage zur Kunde t.“h;·r-. Ltv- und 1\.urlnnds. Bd. 4. Reval, 1887. p.
4􀈺8.
1 1 1
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 from
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 manuscripts. 4 It
was a Latin scientific 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 monastery for educational purposes.
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 useful. Handbocks were a kind of shortcut to all the knowledge obtained by a physician
during his practice. Unfortunately 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 after 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 five fragments from different periods bound in one. It includes also a drawing
which represents a human figure with marked places to bleed. This human figure 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 specific
instructions on how to use different plants for various medical purposes. The manuscript is
written in Middle High German. It is a hard task to identify 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 fifteenth century. These dates are very close to a
similar book written by Konrad Megenberg in 1350 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-Codex des Revaler Stadt-Archivs und ein Blick auf die ehstlä.ndischen flostergänen im Millelaller.“ In: Bellrtlge :ur Kunde Ehst-. Uv- und Kurlands. Bd. 5. Reval. 1900. p. 7 1 .
4
Fr. Kochler. Eh.�·eynrreyn
lackrvsc: 1itenr j Jodrr golle.􀇹gan . ilem … Iod/ hodu >1vcker ·ilem i lodrr dreygo/1 blader
irem dwdrr modrr al/escz klen gesthodrr seyn vnd dorch eyn Jen harren sef ge.