Therapies from 1000AD to 1600AD, info help please.

[MoO Mo0]

Does anyone have cited, provenable evidence of the use of complementary/holistic therapies from 1000AD to 1600AD or suitable links that I could have, please? Written or illustrated - so long as I can cite it. I'm finding it very difficult to find anything relating to this particular time period.

I attend alot of high-authenticity Medieval and Dark Ages events and want to give short complementary/holistic therapy sessions to MOPs and participants alike from an authentic tent as a trader. Decking out the tent isn't a problem as I have access to authentic props. MOPs especially love to ask questions and I want to be able to give concise, well informed answers and keep in context to the setting.

Hope you can help, thanks

 

[feefifofum]

Wow - what an interesting topic! It's going to be tough, though, as really, only the clergy were literate during those times, and most 'therapies' probably looked on as witchcraft so they may not have written much about it! Have you tried the British Library? (What is a MOP?)

 

[LiL Mrs. CrAnKy PaNtS]

The well read and clergy were indeed literate, and there are a few snippets around but I'm having trouble finding them.

Therapies such as massage were frowned upon by the new Christian faith as being more sinful [self-indulgence] rather than witchery, although there must have been cases where this would have occurred...again finding corraborating evidence...

MOP = Member Of Public

 

[bigrobdeezey]

What about the herbalists that were around at that time? They enjoyed polticing everything, or, donning leeches - perhaps it including massage too! I imagine that massage as we know it wouldn't have got much recognised press, other than between consenting adults, probably in brothels. I would imagine that during that period, hands on stuff would have been more likely in more 'civilised' places such as the middle east or asia.

 

[Camer]

Paracelsus comes to mind, he was the precursor of homeopathy , sure there will be a lot of links to him if you google.



tigress

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[Barrabas Mcdougal]

Here's a few:-

Hildegard von Bingen - see this link http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/med/hildegarde.html

The Leech Book of Bald for wort cunning.

Avicenna who was thought to be the discoverer of distillation, though much earlier stills have been found in India.

There was also quite a lot going on in TCM - acupuncture and moxibustion during the time frame.

Binah
x

 

[smemyudhijbituehu]

Bleeding? You might be short of volunteers though

 

[garlo7]

Just a thought, what about contacting one of the 'big' library research sections? Alternativly contact a library which houses a lot of medical historical research or even a medical museum. They may not know the answer but may point you in the right direction.

Good luck

Fudge

 

[Fuzzy Andrews]

The Welcome Trust have a library and museum on the history of medicine through the ages. They are based in London on the Euston Road.

Binah

 

[Peace Loving Hippy Chick]

The Arabs and the Moors in Spain had a long medical tradition, also the Cathars with herbal healing.

The 'wise woman' in the countryside using local herbs would have learned her craft from her mother most often and passed on through the family. The standard would have varied enormously though. Much of this knowlege was recorded slightly later in Gerard's Herbal.

The Chelsea Physic Garden may be a useful source of information too.

Best of luck with your search!

 

[R G]

I was going to mention this too, Binah. Have you been? I visited the museum for the first time a couple of weeks ago and thought it was fabulous. The cafe is great too!

 

[Dracomet]

Many thanks for your replies - lots to look at

Because I need provenenced evidence, I'm changing tack slightly and again am finding it hard to find such material (lots of ancient Egyptian/Chinese/Indian, but not the timeline I'm specifically after):

I now am looking for evidence of actual hands-on therapies - massage/hot stones/Reiki-type therapies and the like for whatever reason...rather than the wider complementary or holistic therapies.

Any more ideas?

 

[doktor smudge]

Are you still hoping to find documentation from Britain or Europe? Have you tried contacting the British Library?

 

[stormgale]

Hi Sunanda

Glad you enjoyed it Sunanda - the Welcome Trust Museum is on my list - I'm a bit of a museum freak anyhow just love them and this is the right combination as I love history and all matters to do with healing.

Love Binah
xXx