Skip to main content

IMC 2019: Sessions

Session 550: Health in Medieval Urban Society

Tuesday 2 July 2019, 09.00-10.30

Moderator/Chair:Irina Metzler, Centre for Medieval & Early Modern Research (MEMO), Swansea University
Paper 550-aMaßnahmen zur Verbesserung der städtischen Hygiene im mittelalterlichen Leipzig
(Language: Deutsch)
Jill Rehfeldt, DFG-Graduiertenkolleg 1913 'Kulturelle und technische Werte historischer Bauten', Brandenburgische Technische Universität, Cottbus-Seftenberg
Index terms: Archaeology - Sites, Daily Life, Technology
Paper 550-bHealth Regulations in Late Medieval London
(Language: English)
Wendy J. Turner, Department of History, Anthropology & Philosophy, Augusta University, Georgia
Index terms: Daily Life, Law, Medicine, Social History
Paper 550-cAdvice and Recipes against Plague in 15th-Century Portugal
(Language: English)
Dulce Oliveira Amarante dos Santos, Faculdade de História, Universidade Federal de Goiás
Index terms: Medicine, Social History
Abstract

Paper -a:
Entgegen populärer Anschauungen waren die Ver- und Entsorgung von Wasser, die Beseitigung von Abfällen und Exkrementen sowie ein ansehnliches Stadtbild zentrale Themen der mittelalterlichen Kommunen. Als Messe- und Universitätsstadt am Kreuzungspunkt der via imperii und via regia gelegen war Leipzig schon im Mittelalter von einem hohen Bevölkerungsanstieg, einer starken Handelstätigkeit und Mobilität geprägt, was sich auf die hygienischen Verhältnisse auswirkte. Die Bemühungen des Rates, die Stadt mit ausreichend Wasser zu versorgen und der Verschmutzung beizukommen, lassen sich in den archäologischen und historischen Quellen ablesen. Der Fokus des Papers liegt daher in den städtebaulichen Maßnahmen, die diese Bemühungen nach sich zogen.

Paper -b:
This research examines the health regulations and laws passed both before and after the outbreak of the plague. London local regulations regarding the health and wellbeing of the citizens inside the walls and just outside the walls as well as similar royal legal changes altered the way commerce was practiced, who was permitted inside the walls at what times of the day and night, and how people looked at illness and health.

Paper -c:
In the realm of Portugal, after the Black Death (1348-1349) there are several outbreaks of plague during the 15th century. This fact then generated an interest on medical matters inside the royal court. The Portuguese prince and later king D. Duarte (1434-1438) included in his personal library some titles on medicine, such as Canon of Avicena, Book of Leper and so on. He used to talk with the court Jewish physician and astrologue Master Guedelha and others about medical practices. The king, worried on the kingdom's health, had compiled some advices and recipes (mezinhas in archaic Portuguese) against plague in his Book of Cartuxa or Book of Advices.