The Search for Wellbeing and Health Between the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period

The search for wellbeing and health between the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period compiles a series of works on cosmetics and health care, covering different geographical areas of Europe. The studies also focus on different cultures, with some chapters dedicated to the Hebrew sphere, others to the Muslim world, and a larger percentage dealing with Christian society. The contributions make use of some very important written sources: recipe books and treatises on medicine and cosmetics, especially those preserved from the Late Middle Ages (13th-15th centuries) onwards. These manuscripts reveal the raw materials used to make certain products, whose origin could be vegetable, animal or mineral. Many were used to combat various ailments, but also to take care of the body aesthetically. Thus, there are remedies to heal the eyes; to avoid problems with the teeth and to make them shine white; creams and soaps for the skin; hair dyes to avoid grey hair; lotions to combat baldness; and even diverse gastronomic recipes to obtain inner wellbeing. Other contributions take a more practical perspective. Studies are included in which some of the ingredients and products are explored through experimental archaeology (chemical analysis) and faunal remains obtained from archaeological campaigns are analysed in the laboratory, showing the Christian diet. Overall the book demonstrates the importance of healthcare and cosmetics in past societies that had very significant technical knowledge of a multitude of completely natural and sustainable products. Javier López Rider is Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of Cordoba, Spain, member of the Meridies Research Group (HUM 128) and Director of Research Project 1381195-R. Recetarios, Experimentación y Ciencia. Los cuidados del cuerpo en la Edad Media y su aplicación en el siglo XXI, of the European Regional Development Fund and Ministry of Economy and Knowledge of the Andalusian Regional Government. He has published two books and over 30 articles and studied as a visiting scholar in Oxford, Rome, Newcastle and Florence. Cover 1 Title Page 3 Copyright Page 4 Foreword 6 Cosmética, salud y belleza en la medicina hebrea medieval 9 Meritxell Blasco Orellana 9 Obras maestras de la farmacología andalusí 20 Ana María Cabo-González 20 Galen’s impact: wound treatment in De compositione medicamentorum per genera and beyond 30 Manuela Marai 30 Trading beauty. Commerce and cosmetic recipes in medieval and early modern ages 54 Rafael María Girón Pascual 54 Javier López Rider 54 El negocio del bienestar: una cuenta de farmacia del siglo XVI 72 Efrén de la Peña Barroso 72 Serving the Eye, Serving the Soul: Religion and Healing in Georg Bartisch’s Ophthalmodouleia (1583) 88 Wenrui Zhao 88 Manducare irrationabiliter: pica o apetito irracional en los textos médicos latinos medievales 106 Victoria Recio Muñoz 106 Mantenersi in salute nell’Alto Medioevo: Il ruolo terapeutico dell’esercizio fisico nel Manuale medico di Paolo di Nicea 118 Irene Calà 118 Restaurar la salud: Recetas para enfermos y remedios en los libros de cocina mexicanos de los siglos XVIII y XIX 129 Susana Phelts Ramos 129 The Health of Body and Soul in the Monastic Tradition 144 Gabriele Archetti 144 Ricettari per la bellezza e per la cura femminile 155 Simona Gavinelli 155 Immagini, ricette e salute nei Tacuina sanitatis 169 Francesca Stroppa 169 Dieta y alimentación desde el Medievo hasta la Modernidad: el caso del Castillo de Torreparedones (Baena, Córdoba) 182 Alejandro Beltrán Ruiz 182 José A. Riquelme Cantal 182 Juan Manuel Garrido Anguita 182 List of contributors 208 recipe books,experimental archaeology,cosmetics,body care,medicine,technical knowledge