Article

The medical and surgical treatment of the pilgrims of the Jacobean Roads in medieval times: Part 1. The caminos and the role of St. Anthony's order in curing ergotism

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Abstract

The pilgrims of the Jacobean Roads to Santiago very often became extremely sick and died of ergotism (ignis sacer). A non-contagious epidemic had been emerging since 1090 throughout Europe, due to the consumption of rye bread contaminated by the fungus spore of ergot and causing great devastations like pestilence. In order to provide support and treatment, the order of St. Anthony founded about 200 monastic hospitals on the four roads to Santiago. In these hagiotherapeutic centres representing the first huge, highly specialized European medical welfare system, the friars separated the ill pilgrims after a careful diagnosis of “St. Anthony's fire”, gave them ergot-free nourishment, herbal wines (with vasodilating and analgesic herbals) and applied Antonites-balsam, the first transdermal therapeutic system (TTS) in the history of medicine. In a very practical manner of charity they were taking care for the mental and somatic restitution of the victims of ergotism. Unfortunately, their secret recipes were lost at the end of medieval times. Because the monks were not allowed to perform operations after 1130, barber surgeons were engaged in many cloisters for treating open sores, inflamed limbs and for amputation gangrenous legs. Due to the lack of references in medical history, it is unknown whether other complications such as septic deliriums, tetanus and toxic hallucinations causing by ergotismus convulsivus were also treated.

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... En estos hospitales, también denominados "hôpitaux des démembrés", intentando parar la gangrena se recurría a la amputación de piernas y brazos en una operación que se denominaba serratura (OLLAQUINDIA, 1999;NEMES, 2002). Los hospitales de los Antonianos contaban con médicos y cirujanos preparados en Salerno, Padua o Montpellier (DIXON, 1984). ...
... (van DONGEN & de GROOT, 1995;DIXON, 2005). Los pacientes con ergotismo convulsivo sólo podían estar 9 días, por el contrario, los que tenían ergotismo gangrenoso no tenían límite de tiempo en su estancia (NEMES, 2002), incluso los antonianos cuidaban a los desahuciados hasta su muerte (DIXON, 2005). ...
... En territorio español y francés los hospitales estaban distribuidos a lo largo de todas las rutas del Camino de Santiago, tanto en puertos de montaña (Roncesvalles, Somport) como en cruces de caminos (Puente la Reina) (NEMES, 2002). ...
... La publicación facsímil de Goltz (1976) sobre la edición de Venecia de 1471, indica que el recetario de Nicolás contiene 142 monografías de medicamentos compuestos (4,23), dato que ha sido transmitido en la literatura sobre Historia de la Medicina (3). Otros autores al comentar la edición de Venecia citan 139 (6) y la mayoría dan la cifra de 140 fórmulas (15,24,25). Ausécache (2007) señala que la mayoría de los 17 manuscritos de la BnF poseen entre 113 y 163 recetas. ...
... Por todo ello (18). Independientemente del número de preparados asignados a la obra, llama la atención la circunstancia de que más de 50 preparados contienen drogas narcóticas y alucinógenas y al menos el 20 % contienen opio, el 30% beleño (Hyoscyamus niger L.) y el 9% mandrágora ( L.) (24,25). Entre las recetas contenidas en el antidotario se puede destacar a la triaca, un polifármaco utilizado como panacea universal donde predominaba la acción del opio Edad Moderna (26). ...
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Antidotarium Nicolai was considered to be a text of capital importance in medieval pharmacology to prepare prescriptions. The aim of this research paper is to offer an up-to-date synopsis about a work which was a key element in European pharmacopoeia. Our research is based on a combination of data and critical reviews from historical medical documents. The Antidotarium was written after Constantine with a very didactic proposal, which was of the main traits in the school of Salerno. It's worth noting formulae using opium, Hyoscyamus niger L., Mandragora officinarum L, theriac preparations and Unguentum populeum.
... The recovery that patients encountered after their pilgrimage to the monasteries of the Order of Hospitallers of Saint Anthony (order founded in 1095), was very likely due to the fact that in many cases the monasteries were far from the area affected by the outbreak, and so the pilgrims left the source of contaminated rye. At the monasteries pilgrims were fed with bread made from sound (ergot-free) rye harvested from the cautiously cultivated fields belonging to the cloister (Nemes, 2002), although they attributed their recovery to a miracle from the Saint, together with the lucky amulets and the medicinal herbal infusions they drank. The founding house of this order was in a Benedictine priory of ...
... The Antonite monks were well acquainted with the remedies and the efficiency of surgery, as limb amputation was the most efficient way to avoid gangrene. Amputations were performed often by surgeons and barbers hired by monastic hospitals (Nemes, 2002; Figure 2). Surgical operations and treatment with medicinal herbs were combined with a healthy diet that comprised good bread, wine, cheese, legumes, vegetables, fruit and pork, the latter only a few days a week, from the famous 'St. ...
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This paper presents a journey through the known and the presumed history of two important mycotoxicoses which played an important role in the history of mankind before aflatoxins were discovered: (1) ergotism, also known as St. Anthony's fire or Holy Fire, linked to the consumption of cereals (especially rye) contaminated by the hallucinogenic and vasoconstrictor alkaloids produced by the Claviceps purpurea ergot, whose presence in Europe during the Middle Ages was considered epidemic, and (2) the so-called alimentary toxic aleukia (also known by its English acronym ATA), caused by the trichothecenes produced by Fusarium sporotrichioides and Fusarium poae, which devastated a large part of Russia shortly before the characterisation of the toxins of Aspergillus flavus.
... One possibility is that the limb was amputated for medical reasons; perhaps the forelimb was broken due to an accidental fall or some other means, resulting in an unhealable fracture. The formation of bone necrosis might have lead to a surgical intervention to remove the dead tissue from the healthy part of the limb (Nemes, 2002). ...
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... En el grabado realizado por Johannes Wechtlin denominado "Fuego de San Antonio o ergotismo" para el tratado de cirugía "Feldbuch der Wundartzenei", se puede ver claramente a una víctima del ergotismo con la mano en llamas y sujetándose con muletas, implorando a San Antonio (MORÁN, 1996;DEQUEKER & al., 2001). En el mismo libro hay un grabado en el que se ve un hombre al que le están amputando una pierna posiblemente debido al ergotismo gangrenoso (NEMES, 2002). ...
... This is, in fact, the basis of 'awake' brain surgery, which is regularly used in hospitals worldwide (Whittle et al., 2005). In any case, it has been proposed that sleep could have been induced in people who would be trepanation subjects by making them ingest large amounts of wine (Keller, 1966;Nemes, 2002). Another aneesthetic method could have involved the use of extracts from plants, such as coca (Erythroxylum coca), which might have been used by ancient South American surgeons (Vogel, 1970). ...
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... Hospitals have been in existence for more than 1000 years [1]. They were initially charitable institutions caring mainly for the poor who had an illness. ...
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Resum: L'any 1909, durant la Setmana Tràgica, es va perdre el retaule de sant Antoni Abat de Jaume Huguet. En ell es figurava un cicle post mortem, el de la invenció del cos de sant Antoni, poc habitual en la retaulística antoniana i, que en tinguem constància, n'és l'únic cas en la catalana. La seva font textual és el relat conegut amb el mateix nom, un text que tingué "vida independent" i que s'inclou, únicament, en un dels exemplars catalans medievals de la Llegenda Àuria. L'objectiu d'aquestes pàgines és estudiar amb profunditat les tres escenes del cicle de la invenció del cos del sant i la seva relació amb el text. Abstract: The altarpiece of Saint Anthony the Great, painted by Jaume Huguet, was lost in 1909 during the Setmana Tràgica. Some scenes related to the invention of the saint's body were depicted on it. Their source is the text known as the Invention of Saint Anthony's Body, which was spread separately from other saints' lifes in Catalonia. It is only included in one of the Catalan Golden Legend manuscripts. The aim of this article is to study these scenes and their relation to the text.
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