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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 March 2016
The Benedictines played an important part in the development of medicine in England between 1066 and 1215. In pre-conquest England, the care of the sick had been based upon little more than the practices of Anglo-Saxon leeches which were largely founded upon superstition. Botany had become a drug list and medicine had deteriorated into little more than a collection of formulae. After the Norman conquest, chiefly through the influence of Benedictine scholars from the continent, medical learning in England began to be based upon the writings of the ancient world. These included not only the works of Galen and Hippocrates but also anonymous medical treatises in Latin such as the De Modo Medendi.
1 For a general history of medieval medicine see Bonser, [W.], [The Medical Background of Anglo-Saxon England] (London 1963)Google Scholar; Garrison, F. H., An introduction to the History of Medicine (4 ed London and Philadelphia 1929)Google Scholar; Singer, [C], [A short History of] Medicine (Oxford 1928)Google Scholar; MacKinney, L. C., Early Medieval Medicine (Baltimore 1937)Google Scholar and Payne, J. F., English Medicine in Anglo-Saxon Times (Oxford 1904)Google Scholar. The most recent work is Piltz, A., The World of Medieval Learning trans Jones, D. (Oxford 1981) pp 44–8 Google Scholar and 150-8. For the best surveys of monastic medicine see Knowles, MO pp 516-8 and Barlow, F., The English Church 1066-1154 (London 1979) pp 260–64 Google Scholar. Short biographies of many of the monks mentioned in this paper can be found in [Talbot, C. H. and Hammond, E. A., The] Medical Practitioners [of Medieval England - A Biographical Register] (London 1965)Google Scholar and [Wickcrsheimer, E.,] Dictionnaire Biographique [des Médecins en France au Moyen Age] 2 vols (Paris 1936)Google Scholar. For a study of Salerno sec Rashdell, H., cd, The Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages 3 vols (2 ed rev Powieke, F. M. and Emden, A. B. Oxford 1936)Google Scholar and Singer, C. and D., ‘The School of Salerno’, History 10 (1925) pp 242–6 Google Scholar. On canon law and medicine sec Amundsen, [D. W.], ‘Medieval Canon Law [on Medical and Surgical Practice by the Clergy’, Bulletin of the History of Medicine 52] (Baltimore 1978) pp 22–44 Google Scholar. For the influence of Arabic Medicine in England sec [Dunlop, D. M.] ‘Arabic Medicine[in England’, Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences 11] (New York 1956) pp 166–82 Google Scholar. Finally on monastic hospitals see Clay, R. M., The Medieval Hospitals of England, (London 1909)Google Scholar and MRHEW pp 251-324.
2 Singer, Medicine p 62.
3 Cambridge, T[rinity] C[ollege] MS 904; BL MS Harley 5228.
4 Sancti Benedicti Regula Monachorum ed Schmitz, P (Gembloux 1946) cap 36, p 57.Google Scholar
5 A member of a noble Roman family he served Theoderic before founding and entering the monastery of Vivarium in 540.
6 Cassiodorus, , Institutiones cd Mynors, R. A. B. (Oxford 1937) p 79 Google Scholar; PL 70, col 1146. Bonser, p 171 suggests, however, that even in the monastic thought of Cassiodorus medical care was subordinate to the care of souls.
7 ibid.
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11 Bede, , The Ecclesiastical History of the English People, ed Colgravc, B. and Mynors, R. A. B. (Oxford 1969) p 418 Google Scholar.
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19 HRH p 102.
20 ibid p 32.
21 Medical Practitioners p 19; Bonser, p 6.
22 Memorials, 1, p 56.
23 Wickersheimer, E., Les Manuscrits Latins de Médecine du Haut Moyen Age dans les Bibliothèques de France (Paris 1966) pp 17–21 Google Scholar, 100-112 and 26 respectively.
24 BL MS Cotton Vitellius C III; Ker, [N. R.], [Catalogue of Manuscripts containing] Anglo-Saxon (Oxford 1957) pp 284–5 Google Scholar. Printed in Cockayne, O., Leechdoms. Wortcunnings and Star Craft in Early England 2 vols RS (1864) 1, pp 1–373 Google Scholar. This is discussed together with other manuscripts of the Herbal of Pseudo-Apuleus in Voigt, L., ‘A New Look at a Manuscript containing the Old English Translation of the Herbarium Apulei’, Manuscripta 20 (Hannibal, Missouri 1976)Google Scholar.
25 BL MS Royal 12 D xvii; Ker, Anglo-Saxon pp 332-3.
26 BL MS Cotton Titus D 26 fols 16v-17r; Ker, Anglo-Saxon p 264.
27 BL MS Cotton Domitian 1 fol 55r; Ker, Anglo-Saxon pp 185-6.
28 Knowles, MO pp 516-7.
29 Lanfranc, The Monastic Constitutions ed Knowles, D., (London 1951) p 119.Google Scholar
30 G[esta] A[bbatum Monasterii Sancii Albani ed T. Riley 3 vols RS (1867)] 1 p 79.
31 There is evidence for the existence of a pre-Conquest monastic infirmary at Peterborough, ASC ‘E‘ 1070. It is probable that most other pre-Conquest abbeys in England also had some form of infirmary buildings although we possess no surviving evidence of their form.
32 [Stevenson, J. cd] Chronicon [Monasterii] de Abingdon 2 vols RS (1858) 2 p 154.Google Scholar
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37 GA p 150.
38 Saunders, H. W., The First Register of Norwich Cathedral Priory (Norfolk Record Society 11, 1939) p 83.Google Scholar
39 The surviving buildings of the infirmary complex at Canterbury were probably in existence by the time of the drawing of the plan of the monastic buildings in about 1147. This plan is to be found in Cambridge, Trinity College MS R.17.1 fol 285. The remains of the infirmary buildings at Ely resemble very closely the work of Bishop Geoffrey Ridel (1174-89) at the west end of the church.
40 GA l p 77.
41 Ibid p 76.
42 Ibid pp 209–10. This benefaction was withdrawn by Abbot John de Hertford in 1252.
43 Ibid p 211.
44 VCH Yorkshires p 112.
45 Chronicon de Abingdon 2 p 154.
46 Thorne, St Augustine’s, Canterbury p 69.
47 The Coucher Book of Selby Abbey ed Fowler, J. T. 2 vols (Yorkshire Archaeological and Topographical Society 10 and 13, Durham 1890–93) 2 p 233.Google Scholar
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50 Ibid cols 1108–9.
51 The Letters of Lanfranc Archbishop of Canterbury ed Clover, H. and Gibson, M. (Oxford 1979) pp 140–41.Google Scholar
52 Ralph had previously been Abbot of Seez and also Bishop of Rochester between 1108 and 1114. le Neve 2 pp 3&75.
53 Ibid p 55 Herbert was responsible for the transfer of the see from Thetford to Norwich in 1094―5.
54 HRH p 38.
55 Hugh the Chantor, , The History of the Church of York ed? Johnson, C. (London 1961)p 50.Google Scholar
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58 Ibid p 44.
59 Ibid pp 55, 97 and 96 respectively.
60 William of Malmesbury, Gesta Pontificum Anglorum ed N. E. S. A. Hamilton RS (1870) p 438.
61 HRH p 67.
62 Abbot John did however perform a uroscopy on himself shortly before his death. GA 1 p 246.
63 Ibid pp 201–2.
64 VCH Suffolk 2 p 134.
65 HRH p 32
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67 HRH p 36 Monk of Rochester and Abbot of St Augustine’s, Canterbury from 1126–51.
68 Thorpe, Registrum Roffense p 83.
69 Thome, St Augustine’s, Canterbury p 85.
70 Hospitals dependent upon Benedictine abbeys which catered for the sick were as follows: St Peter’s and St Pctronilla’s, Bury; St Bartholomew’s, Chatham; St Mary Magdalene, Ely; St Margaret’s, Gloucester; St Stephen’s, Norwich; St Leonard’s and St Thomas’s, Peterborough; St Thomas’, Poulton, Cheshire; St Katherine’s, Rochester; St Mary du Pré, St Albans; St Giles’, Stamford; St James’, Thannington, Kent and St Mary Magdalene, Witton Gilbert, County Durham. Those dependent hospitals which were purely almshouses have not been included in this list but can be found in MRHEW pp 251–324.
71 MA 6 part 2 p 773.
72 Durham Dean and Chapter MS Original Charter 2b Speciales.
73 Blomefield, F., History of Norfolk 11 vols (Norwich (1805-11) 4 p 167.Google Scholar
74 Cart Whit 2 p 515.
75 James, M. R., The Ancient Libraries of Canterbury and Dover (Cambridge 1903) pp 7–12 Google Scholar. This catalogue of the twelfth century monastic library at Christ Church, Canterbury lists only the classical works belonging to the house.
76 Chronicon de Abingdon p 289.
77 For Durham and Bury see the twelfth century catalogues printed in Catalogi [Veteres Manuscriptorum Ecclesiae Dunelmensis ed B. Botfield SS 7 (1838)] pp 1-10 and James, [M. R.] [The Abbey of St Edmund at] Bury (Cambridge Antiquarian Society-Octavo Series, Cambridge 1895) pp 23–32.Google Scholar
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79 O.B.L. MS Bodleian 130; Medical Illustrations p 160.
80 Arabic Medicine p 175. In the sphere of medicine, unlike astronomy, Arabic texts were never studied in the original in England.
81 James, Bury p 28.
82 BL Additional MS 22719; this manuscript later belonged to Battle’s dependence of St Nicholas at Exeter.
83 Catalogi p 6.
84 Edinburgh, N[ational] L[ibrary of] S[cotland] MS Adv[ocates] 18:6:8.
85 Catalogi p 6.
86 ibid p7.
87 Cambridge, TC MS 904 fols 109–64.
88 Catalogi p 6.
89 Edinburgh, NLS MS Adv 18:6:11; Catalogi p 6.
90 Catalogi p 8.
91 BL MS Royal 8 C iv tols 157–210.
92 Catalogi p 8, James, Bury p 23.
93 Mansi 21 col 1160.
94 James, [B. S.] [cd The] Letters [of St Bernard of Clairvaux (London 1953)] pp 458–9.Google Scholar
95 Conrad of Eberbach, Exordium Magnum Cistercium ed Griesser, B (Rome 1961)Google Scholar Dist III, cap xxi p 200. Bernard did not condemn the practice of medicine by monks if their intention was to relieve the sufferings of the poor, ibid Dist IV cap i. He did, however, strongly abhore the medical skill of a monk being used for wordly gain; in one of his letters he defends his acceptance of Benedict a monk of Flay into the community at Clairvaux on the grounds that he had been forced by his former abbot to attend robbers, tyrants and executioners for the sake of worldly gain; James, Letters p 96. I am grateful to Professor C. J. Holdsworth for these references.
96 Dictionnaire Biographique p 243.
97 Chronicon de Abingdon p 287.
98 A discussion of these canons is to be found in Amundsen, Medieval Canon Law especially pp 31-2.
99 Mansi 21 col 1160. The same canons were again repeated at Montpellier in 1195; Mansi 22 col 670.
100 The Register of the Abbey of St Benet’s Holme ed West, J. R. 2 vols (Norfolk Record Society 2 and 3, 1931-2) 1 pp 153-5.Google Scholar
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102 ibid p 217.
102 Mansi 21 col 528. This reiterated the canons of the Council of Clermont (1130) and Rheims(1131).
104 Memorials 1 p 223.
105 ibid p 312.
106 ibid p 297.
107 Chronicon Monasterii de Evesham ed W. D. Macray RS (1863) p 108.
108 Knowles, RO 2 p 236.
109 Amundsen, Medieval Canon Law p 40.
110 Durham, Cathedral Library MS Hunter 100 fols 119-20; Medical Illustrations p 120; Mynors, R. A. B., Durham Cathedral Manuscripts to the end of the Twelfth Century (Oxford 1939) pp 49–50 Google Scholar; Catalogi p 8.
111 Cambridge, TC MSS 904 fol 224v, and 1365 respectively.
112 Kitchen, G. W. ed The Compotus Rolls of the Obedientaries of St Swithun’s Priory, Winchester (Hampshire Record Society 1892) pp 14 and 18.Google Scholar
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115 Extracts from the Account Rolls of the Abbey of Durham ed Fowler, J. T. 3 vols (SS 99, 100, 103, 1898-1900) 2 p 390, 3 p 709.Google Scholar
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