Kidney and urinary therapeutics in early medieval monastic medicine
Почечная и урологическая терапия в раннесредневековой монастырской медицине
2004-03-01
SCID: 54.1/5s75pdvk
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diabetes treatmentdiureticsearly medieval monastic medicinekidney disordersurinary retention
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Abstract (AI)
This study will explore a few recipes in relation to what monastic medicine considered kidney disorders. Technical terms, such as strangury, cause us difficulties in interpreting early medieval monastic medicine. The action described can vary considerably. For example, he has action for urination problems that center in the verb: (in translation) "dries out", "quietens", "expels", "moves", "provoking", and treating "retention of urine". Sometimes the term "diuretic" is used. The Lorsch monastic book of medical recipes, written around 800, employed the words "deuritica" and "diureticon" but most of monastic accounts simply say something similar to that in Reichenau Monastery's recipe book, 9th or 10th century: "urinam movet/moves the urine"; "urinam provocat/stimulates urination"; "ad difficultate urine/difficulty in urination". In order to examine the relationship between diagnosis and therapy, let us turn to a disease that is difficult even for modern medicine, diabetes. An examination of several early medieval monastic accounts reveals that they could have effectively treated diabetes.
Key Findings
1
Comparing diagnostic terminology with therapeutic actions reveals how early medieval monastic medicine linked disease concepts to practical treatment recipes.
2
Early medieval monastic medical texts describe urinary disorders through varied action-based terminology, complicating interpretation of diagnoses such as strangury.
3
Recipes commonly characterize urinary therapies as moving, stimulating, expelling, drying, or otherwise relieving urine retention rather than using standardized diagnostic categories.
4
Several early medieval monastic accounts suggest that their therapies could have effectively treated diabetes, a disorder that remains difficult for modern medicine.
5
The Lorsch medical recipe book, written around 800, explicitly uses the terms “deuritica” and “diureticon,” while other monastic sources more often describe effects such as “moves the urine” or “stimulates urination.”
Research Object
early medieval monastic medical recipes and accounts concerning kidney and urinary disorders
Research Subject
the relationship between diagnostic terms and therapeutic actions, including treatments for urination problems, urinary retention, and diabetes
Publication Details
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2004-03-01
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