Juices and Symbols
In the fight against diseases, the healers of the Middle Ages had at their disposal a repertoire of theories and therapies that is often underestimated today.
The "Dark Middle Ages" stands as a synonym for a time when all science came to a standstill. Medicine also spent the roughly 1000-year epoch between antiquity and the Renaissance in twilight sleep. The evidence seems to confirm this: Spectacular discoveries and outstanding doctors are missing. Instead, magic everywhere, persistent adherence to tradition and the unmistakable influence of the church on all science. Medicine was in the hands of monks, philosophers and charlatans.
The clichés described above still shape the picture today, although they are based on an ahistorical perspective: instead of thinking about that era, you look at it with the standards of your own time. The accusation that the Church has excessively controlled science is based on the characteristics of a secular society. For the Christian of the Middle Ages there was absolutely no alternative to his faith: Jews, heathens and heretics were simply despicable and destined to eternal damnation. Medieval medicine was practiced as an act of charity and was part of a religious worldview …
