Bodily and Spiritual Hygiene in Medieval and Early Modern Literature: Explorations of Textual Presentations of Filth and Water

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Bodily and Spiritual Hygiene in Medieval and Early Modern Literature

Explorations of Textual Presentations of Filth and Water

Edited by: Albrecht Classen

Language: English

Published/Copyright: 2017

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This book is in the series

Volume 19 | Fundamentals of Medieval and Early Modern Culture

About this book

While most people today take hygiene and medicine for granted, they both have had their own history. We can gain deep insights into the pre-modern world by studying its health-care system, its approaches to medicine, and concept of hygiene. Already the early Middle Ages witnessed great interest in bathing (hot and cold), swimming, and good personal hygiene. Medical activities grew over time, but even early medieval monks were already great experts in treating the sick. The contributions examine literary, medical, historical texts and images and probe the information we can glean from them. The interdisciplinary approach of this volume makes it possible to view this large field in a complex and diversified manner, taking into account both early medieval and early modern treatises on medicine, water, bathing, and health. Such a cultural-historical perspective creates a most valuable bridge connecting literary and scientific documents under the umbrella of the history of mentality and history of everyday life. The volume does not aim at idealizing the past, but it definitely intends to deconstruct modern myths about the 'dirty' and 'unhealthy' Middle Ages and early modern age.

Author / Editor information

Albrecht Classen, University of Arizona, USA.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Table of Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	V
Introduction: Bathing, Health Care, Medicine, and Water in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Age Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	1
Treating the Condition of ‘Evil’ in the Anglo- Saxon Herbals Warren Tormey Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	88
Bald’s Leechbook and the Construction of Male Health in Anglo-Saxon England Daniel F. Pigg Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	114
The Necessitas Naturae and Monastic Hygiene Belle S. Tuten Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	129
Caring for the Body and Soul with Water: Guerric of Igny’s Fourth Sermon on the Epiphany, Godfrey of Saint-Victor’s Fons Philosophiae, and Peter of Celle’s Letters James L. Smith Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	148
Affected yet Untouched: Spatial Barriers and the Neurobehavioral Impact on Lepers Living with Limited Interpersonal Touch in the Middle Ages Erin S. Lynch Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	171
Elemental Well-Being: Water and Its Attributes in Selected Writings of Hildegard of Bingen and Georgius Agricola Debra L. Stoudt Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	193
Potiones ad sanandum: Text as Remedy in a Medieval Latin Bestiary Cynthia White Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	221
Troubled Waters: Bathing and Illicit Relations in Marie de France’s “Equitan” and in Flamenca Rosa A. Perez Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	275
The Liquids in Gottfried’s Tristan und Isolde: Focus of Nature and Locus of Illness and Healing Christopher R. Clason Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	293
The Ambiguous Effects of Water and Oil in Middle English Romance: Acknowledged and Ignored Jean E. Jost Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	331
Lodestone and Litmus Test: Aqueous Presentations of Emotional Experience in Medieval and Renaissance Literature Anne Scott Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	357
The Sonnet about Women who Marry in Old Age: Filth, Misogyny, and Depravity Fabian Alfie Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	389
Si Odore Solo Locus Pestilentiosus Fiat: Private Property, Public Health and Environmental Hygiene – Advantages of the English Common Law of Nuisance over the Corpus Juris Civilis Scott L. Taylor Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	407
Mens Sana in Corpore Sanus: Water, Wellness, and Cleanliness in Five Fifteenth- Century Medical Manuals Sarah Gordon Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	424
Water, Environment, and Dietetic Rules in Bohemian Sources of the Early Modern Times David Tomíček Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	441
The ‘Dirty Middle Ages’: Bathing and Cleanliness in the Middle Ages. With an Emphasis on Medieval German Courtly Romances, Early Modern Novels, and Art History: Another Myth-Buster Albrecht Classen Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	458
The Field Surgery Manual Which Became a Medical Commonplace Book: Hans von Gersdorff’s Feldtbuch der Wundarzney (1517) Translated into Low German Chiara Benati Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	501
The Role of Therapeutic Bathing in the Sixteenth Century and Its Contemporary Scientific Explanations Thomas G. Benedek Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	528
Testing the Waters: Early Modern Studies Thomas Willard Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	568
List of Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	599
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	605

Publishing information

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

eBook published on:

March 20, 2017

eBook ISBN:

9783110523799

Hardcover published on:

March 20, 2017

Hardcover ISBN:

9783110523294

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

Front matter:

7

Main content:

615

Illustrations:

4

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110523799

eBook ISBN: 9783110523799

Hardcover ISBN: 9783110523294

Keywords for this book

History of Medicine; History of Hygiene and Baths; Pre-modern Health Care

Audience(s) for this book

Medievalists, Early Modernists, Scholars in the field of Medicine, Everyday Culture, Mentality, Private Life, Literature

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Manufacturer information:
Walter de Gruyter GmbH
Genthiner Straße 13
10785 Berlin
productsafety@degruyterbrill.com

Bodily and Spiritual Hygiene in Medieval and Early Modern Literature

Overview

About this book

Author / Editor information

Topics

Table of contents

Bibliographic data