Desease, medicine, and techniques of healing: il Liber de miraculis sanctorum Savigniacensium
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.6092/1593-2214/406Keywords:
Abbey of Savigny, Medieval Diseases, morbus hispanicus, Saint Eloi, Saint LaurenceAbstract
In 1243 the bodies of five dead monks, considered to be saints, were translated to the new church of the powerful Norman monastery of Savigny. Numerous miracles were reported, the majority of which were miracles of healing. These were recorded in the Liber de miraculis sanctorum Savigniacensium, included in MS Paris, BnF, NAL 217. The text of the Liber was only in part transcribed in the Recueil des historiens des Gaules et de la France. The present study, based on an analysis of the manuscript, highlights the more original aspects of the document, as a contribution to the history of diseases and medicine. A particular interest is given to the medical lexicon which includes expressions such as: morbus hispanicus (a unicum in the Middle Ages), malum sancti Laurentii, morbus Sanctii Eligii. We have found the source of the last expression through the study of Saint Eloi’s thaumaturgical cult.
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