What’s Your Sign?
I know that I’ve been quiet lately, but it’s because my last set of essays was due in early June and since then I’ve been working intently on my dissertation. I’m studying the Gildbook of the Barber-Surgeons of York, held at the British Library, and have been reading about medieval medicine and the types of books consulted by medieval practitioners.
Medicine during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Era was practiced by a wide variety of people. Most illnesses were treated at home by the women of the household or by members of the community with herbal and folk knowledge. Barbers and surgeons were skilled laborers who undertook more complex treatments, notably cutting for cataract, surgically removing anal fistulas and cancers, repairing broken bones and disjointed limbs, trepanation for head injuries, treatment of venereal diseases, and leechcraft (bleeding). At the highest level of medical care was the physicus, usually university-educated and Latinate, urban, and less likely to preform surgical procedures, which were considered undignified manual work. Though these seem like hard and fast categories, dividing lines were actually blurry and many similarities are found between the groups. Sources shows that educated physicians used folk knowledge and herbal remedies, and ‘uneducated’ barbers often owned and consulted books in Latin and other languages. As skilled tradesmen, barbers and surgeons often formed guilds to regulate their trade and to promote education through apprenticeship. The York guild was one of the most prominent outside of London and has left us excellent records of its activity.
Some of the most important books used by medical practitioners were those containing charts to assist in treatment. Late medieval medicine was based on theories inherited from the ancient world that were filtered through classical thinkers such as Galen, preserved and annotated by Islamic scholars, and reintroduced to Europe in the thirteenth century. Astrology was the most important of these, and while it influenced many aspects of medieval life it was most strongly tied to medicine. It was a system in which humans were intimately tied to the movements of the cosmos, and an individual’s horoscope determined the ratio of humours that created his or her personality and body type. Movements in the heavens (in addition to an individual’s age, sex, and behavior) could lead to humoral imbalances, and potential treatments had to be scrutinized to assure that the stars were aligned favorably. A good example is bleeding: it was clear that the Moon affected tides, and was also believed to affect the ebb and flow of humours in the body. If the Moon was located in the sign that corresponded to a specific body part then that member should not be bled, or the patient might die from the loss of humours. Practicing astrology, though, was incredibly complex, so doctors developed helpful charts to assist in diagnosis and treatment. The popular ‘Zodiac Man’ illustrated the signs that governed different parts of the body, while charts called volvelles used movable discs to determine favorable conditions for treatment.
The Gildbook of the Barber-Surgeons of York, which includes a variety of common medical charts, was begun in the 1480s and added to until the end of the eighteenth century. Primarily a ceremonial text rather than one consulted on a daily basis, it is mostly in English and contains the gild’s ordinances and oath, portraits of monarchs, a liturgical calendar, and medical illustrations and texts. (Click for bigger images.)
Page from the liturgical calendar for September. The entries in red are feast days in honor of saints, which is where the term ‘red letter day’ originated. Many of the red days celebrate saints associated with northern England or medicine.
The head of Christ and personifications of the four humours, clockwise from top left: melancholy man, sanguine man, phlegmatic man, and choleric man.
Vein Man: explanation of bleeding points, most of which are located on the arms and face. These delicate illustrations are influenced by Flemish artwork of the period, possibly transmitted via trade links of the city of York, which was an important mercantile center.
Zodiac Man. Pretty self-explanatory. I’m enamoured of the lovely goat illustration for capricorn. And amused by scorpio, which I’ve noticed is usually drawn as a multi-legged dragonish sort of creature.
The Volvelle. The pointer determines the sun sign, and the piece that would determine the moon sign is missing. The figures at the top are Saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist, and below are Saints Cosmas and Damian, all traditional patron saints for medieval barbers and surgeons. Cosmas is holding the ubiquitous symbol of medieval medicine, the urine flask, and Damian prepares medicine.
In addition to the Gildbook I’m looking at a variety of other medieval medical texts. Some of my favorites are small handbooks called vade mecum, which means ‘bring me along.’ These were small pieces of parchment folded and sewn together at the bottom and attached to the belt or slipped into a pocket for quick reference. They contained calenders and medical charts like the ones above, only in miniature. I spent a delightful afternoon with six vade mecum in the British Library last week, and was pleased to see and feel the wear indicative of frequent use, not unlike my own notebook. Sadly, there aren’t many digital versions of these texts, probably because they’re a bitch to unfold and photograph. Below is an image from British Library MS Egerton 2724. This image is part of a faded calendar showing activities for different months. This specific text is unusual compared to the others I’ve looked at, being square rather than rectangular and using a different folding system. I wish there were some others online I could show you, because I’ve seen some very beautiful examples.
Next week I’ll take a look at a few more interesting medical manuscripts, but now it’s time for bed. I have to get up early tomorrow because I’m leaving for York to do research in the city archives. Looking forward to exploring the city walls and cathedral, and I’ll be sure to twitter all sorts of useless things during my trip.
13 Responses to “What’s Your Sign?”
Leave a Reply
Nice post, thanks. What’s the actual title of your diss. if I may ask?
Hang on, isn’t ‘gild’ something one does to a lily? ;- )
So it’s *that* kind of dissertation. I see.
Those pictures are just wonderful. I’m now very jealous that I chose to do a dissertation on poorly printed quarto newsbooks rather than lavishly illustrated manuscripts!
Also very impressed that you are finding the time to post in detail about it rather than stressing about the dissertation itself (as I am – weekend in Senate House beckons…)
Hrm, no title yet. I usually can’t come up with anything sufficiently clever until a few hours before a paper is due.
Thanks! Don’t worry, I’m already stressing a lot, and I’m sure it will get worse. It’s not due until the end of September, and I have until the middle of July to get my first chapter in. I’ve also found writing blog posts helpful in the past, as it seems to clarify my thought process. When is yours due?
Mine’s also due on 30 September. Part of what is stressing me is having a job that has suddenly got extremely busy (let’s just say my bosses are worried about whether or not they will win the next election, and are demanding new ideas accordingly…). The other thing is that my wife is expecting our first baby on 6 October – I’m glad it’s that way round rather than the other, but even so it means realistically I have to get it done by the start of September in case the little one decides to make an early appearance!
Anyway I’m sure I’ll be fine… I think you’re right about blogging as a way to finesse one’s thoughts, though.
That’s wonderful! I hope all goes well!
Hi, great article. I was wondering if you might have any more details on the vade mecum? I’m also interested in this type of book but I’m having alot of trouble working out how the pages were connected to the covers and how the covers worked. I’m interested in limp medieval binding and also the vade mecum and I’d like to make some exemplars to show people.
Good questions. Basically, the vade mecum is a collection of parchment sheets that are folded individually and then sewn together into a tab at the top. C.H. Talbot describes one in this way:
‘The manuscript consists of six small pieces of parchment, measuring approximately 14 X 6 inches, folded across the middle and then folded again into three sections, so that the outward appearance shows strips each measuring 7 x 2 inches.’
The text was written on the inside of the folded pages, oriented with the tab at the bottom so that one could consult it while attached to the belt. A title was usually written on the outside of each sheet so that the user could quickly find the section they were looking for. Most of the ones I looked at were simply a collection of folded sheets sewn together at the bottom without any kind of cover or binding. One did have a limp cover which was essentially just two pieces of soft leather over the back and front that were sewn into the tab and hung over the pages, like the loose covers of a modern spiral-bound notebook or legal pad.
Here are some sources for more info. The two journal articles can be obtained through JSTOR if you have access to it at a library.
Medieval Medicine in Illuminated Manuscripts by Peter Murray Jones (revised 1998 edition of Medieval Medical Miniatures, originally published in 1984)
‘What is the Folded Almanac? The Form and Function of a Key Manuscript Source for Astro-medical Practice in Later Medieval England’ by Hilary M. Carey, in Social History of Medicine vol. 16 no. 3 (2003). (This one has several pictures).
‘A Medieval Physician’s Vade Mecum’ by C.H. Talbot, in The Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences vol. 16 no. 3 (1961).
Hope that helps!
Hi!
I really like your article and I’ve found it pretty helpful. I’m writing a report about early medicine and wanted to quote what says in any of the bleeding points on the vein man, but I can hardly see what it says. So, I was wondering if you can help me. I know you must be deadly busy finishing your dissertation, but if you can help me on that it’ll be awesome!
Thank you.
Sure! The bleeding points are a bit difficult even for me to read, since they use a lot of medical terminology that’s no longer current. So to make sure I get one right, I’m using a quote from this piece on the Guildbook: ‘A Zodiacal Lunary for Medical Professionals’ by Irma Taavitsainen, chapter 10 of Popular and Practical Science in Medieval England, edited by Lister M. Matheson (East Lansing, MI: Colleagues Press, 1994), 283-298 (p. 286).
The highest bleeding point on the man’s right arm states: ‘Open þe hed vayne þat es called cyphalica and ligges hyest in þe arme for clensying of þe hede and of þe brayne.’
My translation: Open the head vein that is called cyphalica and lies highest in the arm for cleansing of the head and of the brain. The þ symbol is thorn, an Anglo-Saxon letter that basically stands for ‘th’. Hope that helps – good luck with your paper!
Here are some vade mecum links:
http://images.wellcome.ac.uk/
type “folding almanac” in search box
shows pics of binding and all pages
http://dpg.lib.berkeley.edu/webdb/dsheh/heh_brf?CallNumber=HM+47641
http://www.roe.ac.uk/roe/library/crawford/index.html (scroll down)
http://www.schoyencollection.com/calendars.htm#2913 (see MS 1581 and MS 2913)
http://bodley30.bodley.ox.ac.uk:8180/luna/servlet/view/all/what/MS.+Rawl.+D.+939
http://bodley30.bodley.ox.ac.uk:8180/luna/servlet/view/search?q=Shelfmark=ashmole%208%20LIMIT:ODLodl~1~1&sort=Shelfmark,Folio_Page,Roll_#,Frame_#
http://bodley30.bodley.ox.ac.uk:8180/luna/servlet/view/search?q=Shelfmark=Canon.%20Liturg.%20237%20LIMIT:ODLodl~1~1&sort=Shelfmark,Folio_Page,Roll_
http://bodley30.bodley.ox.ac.uk:8180/luna/servlet/view/search?q=Shelfmark=rawl%20D%20928%20LIMIT:ODLodl~1~1&sort=Shelfmark,Folio_Page,Roll_
http://digital2.library.ucla.edu/viewItem.do;jsessionid=149818EAA158823D6A18514924B0A7AB.node1?ark=21198/zz0000ztdp
Enjoy!
Thank you so much! You have been of great help!
@Margie – thanks for those links, the first two helped me back up a couple of guesstimates on construction and I found a fantastic ledger binding to make an exemplar from!! Thanks so much.
@Laura – thanks for the info on the leather covers, I had a feeling that might be a style used, I’d made an example like that, nice to know it was a good guess. Also, there is another article by Hilary Carey that is worth looking at:
Carey, Hilary. “Astrological Medicine and the Medieval English Folded Manuscript.” Social History of Medicine 17, no. 3 (2004): 345-63.