While the Luttrell Psalter
harbors many illustrations regarding the medieval daily life, it also brings to
light a certain type of healing that becomes the standard treatment for many
conditions. This healing technique illustrated is known as bloodletting or
bleeding. As
Backhouse mentions, this procedure was originally used as a way of ridding the
body of ‘corruptive humors’ and anyone could have been a patient to this procedure
whether they were ill or not.
Bloodletting was a small piece of the humoral theory established
by Hippocrates and the practice dates to the early Roman and Greek empires. It
was thought that by extracting small amounts of blood they would be able to correct
the balance of humors within the body. For this form of treatment, the method
used was venesection, which involved creating a small incision along the forearm-
typically the right- and draining the blood into a small bowl, as pictured in the
Luttrell Psalter. The instruments that were used for bloodletting were known as
lancets and fleams, both of which consisted of sharp blades that could be
easily and safely transported by the physician.
One
would think that only educated physicians were able to perform this procedure,
but that’s not the case. Common barbers would fill the role of surgeon when one
wasn’t available. These barbers in turn became known as “barber- surgeons” and
it was common for them to perform this procedure more often than actual
physicians. So the man illustrated in the Luttrell Psalter could easily have been
a barber instead of a physician.
Works Cited:
Newman, Paul. Daily Life in the Middle Ages. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2001
Backhouse, Janet. Medieval Rural Life in the Luttrell Psalter. Toronto: University of Toronto Press Inc., 2000
Cohen, Jennie. "A Brief History of Bloodletting." History, 29 August 2018, https://www.history.com/news/a-brief-history-of-bloodletting
Greenstone, Gerry. "The History of Bloodletting." BC Medical Journal, February, 2010, https://www.bcmj.org/premise/history-bloodletting
I love how barbers could do this. I guess that's why barbers say it's not brain surgery.I would trust my barber he has a steady hand.
ReplyDeleteBarbers literally were the slicers and dicers. I mean, they have the tools!
DeleteBloodletting was definitely a unique form of treatment. I also found that as late as the 1930s, medical textbooks were advocating bloodletting (https://www.rcpe.ac.uk/sites/default/files/thomas_0.pdf). Impressive how long this form of medical treatment survived-- considering how dangerous it was in reality.
ReplyDeleteNot only that but it is still used in some areas much in contrast to our western ideas
DeleteI like the point you made about the man in the psalter possibly being a barber! I wonder if barbers charged less than the physicians would? Either way, the thought of blood-letting makes me shudder. Interesting aspect to pick!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading about this topic. I'm a bio major and I always like to learn about the history and the way people preformed medicine. This is cool cause it also helps tie to the idea of vivisections, which is the idea of surgery or organ harvest on a living/awake person (painful). It just really shows that people back then had a lot of different views on how to perform medicine, they just didn't have the right tools yet.
ReplyDeleteI love this entry, and its responses from peers! We will be looking more at medieval medicine later. One thing is that it is not proven that it is dangerous--I do agree it was common. I would remind you that many of you get your blood "let" was visiting the labs, and you survive. I love a sixteenth century series of letters where the husband and wife discuss blood-letting as kind of a spa treatment. They went to a place to soak in the waters and receive their blood-letting. It might not have been like that for everyone; but on the other hand if it were really terrible or dangerous I don't think it would have stuck around until so late. I don't care what era you're in, we all have the powers of observation. :)
ReplyDeleteWow I did not know that barbers were able to perform bloodletting! It is crazy to think that we still use this probably thousands of times a day. I also love your title!
ReplyDeleteI love how this post brings to light the medical implementations of medieval times. Bloodletting was obviously an important aspect of health and everyday life, seeing as it was depicted in the Luttrell Psalter. Going off Dr. W's comment about bloodletting today in the form of drawing blood; it is crazy to think about how medicine today has come so far, yet still has such similar aspects to medieval medicine.
ReplyDelete