Medieval Medicine: Astrology, Herbalism and Anatomy

Nov 21, 2010
Vivien Young

God Creates Trees and Plants - Visconti Hours, Thames and Hudson London 1972

Medieval medicine was a mixture of philosophy, astrology and guesswork. Whether you were killed or cured depended on luck more than skill.

In medieval times, it was probably easier to study the movements of the heavenly bodies than to study human ones. Information about the internal workings of the human body was scarce and often extrapolated from work carried out on the bodies of animals such as pigs and monkeys. Physicians tried to take a holistic approach to healing by drawing conclusions from the movements of celestial bodies and trying to relate these to individual human beings. Dissecting human bodies to look inside and work out the aetiology of disease from first principles did not become common until the Renaissance.

The first recorded human dissection took place in Bologna, Italy around about 1315. Before that time, dissections had been performed on pigs, but there were theological concerns about tampering with the human body and Pope Boniface VIII issued a (largely ineffective) papal ban in 1300 on the practice of boiling up the bodies of dead Crusaders, leaving the heart and bones to be returned to their native lands for burial.

Anatomical Studies, Dissection and the Influence of Galen

The Renaissance and the Fall of the Byzantine Empire (1453) led to a raised awareness of the works of Greek scholars throughout Europe. In the field of medicine, one of the most influential writers and thinkers was Galen of Pergamon. Galen had prided himself on his dissecting abilities (although Roman law forbade dissection of human subjects, so most of his work was carried out either on animals or in treating wounds and traumas in living patients)) and the study of his writings influenced the study of anatomy in Renaissance times.

Galen of Pergamon (a Roman of Greek origins who lived in the second century AD) was perhaps the most prolific writer on medicine in ancient times. He contributed significantly to the understanding of many scientific disciplines including anatomy, neurology, physiology and pathology. His anatomical reports, based on dissections of pigs and monkeys, remained uncontested until the middle of the sixteenth century.

Dissections in medieval times were usually performed on the corpses of executed criminals and were sometimes carried out in churches, usually in winter, as the cold delayed the putrefaction of the corpse.

In Spain, the first public dissection took place in 1391; in England and Germany, anatomy teaching using a human corpse did not become routine until the middle of the sixteenth century. The demand for bodies to dissect soon outstripped the supply available, and this state of affairs continued well into the nineteenth century. In 1832, in reponse to the notorious body snatching antics of Burke and Hare, the Anatomy Act was passed, awarding the medical profession the right to "unclaimed bodies" - that is, paupers without families who had died in workhouses or hospitals. It had taken nearly four hundred years for the study of the human body to become a regulated, scientific activity.

Astrology and Herbalism in Medieval Medicine

The best known anatomical illustration of medieval times is that of Astrological Man, a male figure marked with astrological signs and blood letting points. Medieval physicans believed that astronomy (and astrology) governed different parts of the body, so would try to calculate auspicious days for treating problems with the neck and throat (governed by Taurus), the feet (governed by Pisces) and so on throughout the body. The study of medicine in medieval times was based as much on philosophy,astronomy and astrology as on empirical research.

One tool commonly used by physicians in early medieval times was a diagnostic diagram known as a Sphere. Astrological sun signs, the months of the year, the solstices, the seasons of the year and the four humours were all incorporated in complicated calculations which tried to make comnnections between the internal and external realms of man and nature.

Plants and herbs were also used extensively, as medieval physicians tried to draw parallels between the physical characteristics of plants and herbs and their curative properties.

The Red Book of Hergest (Llyfr Coch Hergest, c.1382) and Nicholas Culpeper's Complete Herbal (1653) are only two of the ancient historical sources which have researched and recorded medicinal plants and herbal cures used in the past to attempt to cure a wide variety of ailments. The Red Book of Hergest documents the works of the Physicians of Myddfai (a Welsh dynasty of healers and physicians based near Llandovery in South West Wales), whilst Culpeper's book relies heavily on combining herbalism with astrology to provide curative remedies.

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