Läkare och läkande : läkekonstens professionalisering i Sverige under medeltid och renässans
(2013) In Lund Studies in Historical Archaeology 16.- Abstract
- This doctoral thesis examines the arts of healing in the area of present-day Sweden dur¬ing the Middle Ages and the Renaissance (ca. 1100–1600 AD). It focuses on secular arts of healing for the body, rather than magical and religious healing or the cure of the soul. It is done by studying material culture in the form of archaeological finds from Southern Sweden and contemporary written sources from the Nordic region. The ques¬tions asked can be grouped in three main themes: Perceptions of disease, affliction and injury, Practitioners of the arts of healing and Arts of healing. I examine the underlying understandings or perceptions of disease as well as attitudes towards disease as such and towards the afflicted individuals. Old Norse names... (More)
- This doctoral thesis examines the arts of healing in the area of present-day Sweden dur¬ing the Middle Ages and the Renaissance (ca. 1100–1600 AD). It focuses on secular arts of healing for the body, rather than magical and religious healing or the cure of the soul. It is done by studying material culture in the form of archaeological finds from Southern Sweden and contemporary written sources from the Nordic region. The ques¬tions asked can be grouped in three main themes: Perceptions of disease, affliction and injury, Practitioners of the arts of healing and Arts of healing. I examine the underlying understandings or perceptions of disease as well as attitudes towards disease as such and towards the afflicted individuals. Old Norse names and designations in the first half of the Middle Ages seem to reflect what I call a cause- and consequence-oriented understand¬ing of disease. Latin and to some extent Old Norse names and designations from the second half of the Middle Ages can rather be characterized as reflecting a symptom- and sign-oriented understanding. I interpret this as a change, with a new understanding of disease spreading during this time. The medieval and Renaissance arts of healing in the Swedish region were to a large extent a craft: a knowledge of the hand and the senses. Within this craft an incipient professionalization is discernible already in the first half of the Middle Ages, but it seems to have been interrupted by the Black Death and partly inhibited by a series of recurring epidemics in the fifteenth century. At the same time a new wave of professionalization started, which eventually led towards a segmentation of the occupation of læknir into barber surgeons, apothecaries and doctors and the for¬malization of the new occupations in the course of the sixteenth century, with the for¬mation of new occupational ethoses. This is reflected in the more specialized material culture of instruments and vessels. The picture emerging of the treatments provided is that of a heterogeneous phenomenon, varying between milieus and over time. There were several different arts of healing or medical cultures. The easiest to discern are the secular as opposed to the monastic arts of healing, but to draw sharp lines between the two might give an impression of two homogeneous phenomena, which they were not. The secular art of healing seems to have been empirical to a high degree and remarkably unaffected by the monastic art of healing, whose medical material culture hardly spread extra claustrum. Phlebotomy, for example, seems to have had different motivations in the two sociocultural contexts. It seems as if the Black Death and the epidemics that followed had devastating consequences in the form of lost knowledge within the occu¬pation of the læknir and for the ongoing process of professionalization. This necessitated a reorientation and a compensation for lost skills with new ideas. This was sought in the medical literature and the tradition or medical culture it reflected, which up until then had not played any great role. (Less)
- Abstract (Swedish)
- Popular Abstract in Swedish
Läkekonst är uttryck för våra försök att bemöta och betvinga det svåra som livet ställer oss inför i form av fysiskt och mentalt lidande. Läkekonst formas dock inte bara av våra kunskaper och tekniska framsteg, utan även av grundläggande kulturella värderingar och traditioner. Genom att studera medeltidens och renässansens läkekonst kan vi därför komma en liten bit närmre de människor som levde då och få en glimt av deras sätt att tänka. Med hjälp av arkeologiska fynd och skriftliga källor från Sverige och Norden undersöker arkeologen Johanna Bergqvist hur man resonerade kring sjukdomar och skador, vad man trodde orsakade dem, hur man behandlade och vårdade de drabbade och vilka som arbetade med... (More) - Popular Abstract in Swedish
Läkekonst är uttryck för våra försök att bemöta och betvinga det svåra som livet ställer oss inför i form av fysiskt och mentalt lidande. Läkekonst formas dock inte bara av våra kunskaper och tekniska framsteg, utan även av grundläggande kulturella värderingar och traditioner. Genom att studera medeltidens och renässansens läkekonst kan vi därför komma en liten bit närmre de människor som levde då och få en glimt av deras sätt att tänka. Med hjälp av arkeologiska fynd och skriftliga källor från Sverige och Norden undersöker arkeologen Johanna Bergqvist hur man resonerade kring sjukdomar och skador, vad man trodde orsakade dem, hur man behandlade och vårdade de drabbade och vilka som arbetade med detta.
Under medeltidens första hälft verkar det ha varit relativt gott om både män och kvinnor som var läkare till yrket. De använde läkemedel från framför allt växtriket, behandlade allvarliga skador och utförde viss kirurgi. De lärde sig sitt yrke på samma sätt som de flesta andra yrken lärdes, genom att man gick i lära hos en äldre och mer kunnig person, ofta en äldre släkting. Läkarna var en erkänd yrkesgrupp i samhället och man kan säga att en del av dem var i viss mening professionella. Eftersom det svenska och nordiska samhället under denna tid var mycket låglitterat, skrevs inte deras kunskaper ned i böcker, utan traderades muntligen och lärdes genom praktiska erfarenheter. När digerdöden och en lång rad efterföljande epidemier drabbade befolkningen från mitten av 1300-talet och nära ett och ett halvt sekel framöver, blev det därför ett dråpslag för läkekonsten. Mycket av de genom generationer traderade kunskaperna gick, bokstavligt talat, i graven.
När läkekonsten under renässansen väl började återhämta sig, kom den att ta en delvis ny riktning. Den präglades då i högre grad av den kunskap och de idéer som fanns nedtecknade i lärda böcker från mer litterata delar av Europa. Denna läkekonst var sprungen ur andra kulturella rötter, med andra grundidéer om kroppen och andra behandlingsmetoder. Dessa läror hade tidigare i Sverige framför allt varit kända i klostren. Den nya inriktningen kom att få stor betydelse för läkekonstens utveckling i flera hundra år framöver. Under renässansen kom professionaliseringen av läkaryrket igång på nytt. Det verkar då ha medfört att det blev mer sällsynt med kvinnliga läkare. Läkaryrket delades dessutom upp i flera specialiserade yrkesgrupper. Förutom läkare fanns bardskärer, apotekare och åderlåtare. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/3626254
- author
- Bergqvist, Johanna LU
- supervisor
- opponent
-
- Fil dr Regner, Elisabet, Historiska museet, Stockholm
- organization
- alternative title
- Leeches and leechcraft. The professionalization of the art and craft of healing in Sweden during the Middle Ages and Renaissance.
- publishing date
- 2013
- type
- Thesis
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Leech, barber-surgeon, leechcraft, art of healing, perception of disease, professionalization, Middle Ages, Renaissance, history of medicine, archaeology of medicine, medical cultures, occupational ethos, communication of knowledge, craft knowledge, tacit knowledge, läkare, bardskär, laga läkare, läkekonst, sjukdomsförståelse, professionalisering, medeltid, renässans, medicinhistoria, medicinsk arkeologi, medicinska kulturer, yrkesethos, kunskapskommunikation, förtrogenhetskunskap, tyst kunskap, Sverige, Skandinavien, Norden
- in
- Lund Studies in Historical Archaeology
- volume
- 16
- pages
- 478 pages
- publisher
- Lund University
- defense location
- Sal 206, Universitetshuset, Paradisgatan 2, Lund
- defense date
- 2013-04-26 10:15:00
- ISSN
- 1653-1183
- ISBN
- 978-91-89578-52-4
- 978-91-89213-99-9
- DOI
- 10.37852/oblu.114
- language
- Swedish
- LU publication?
- yes
- additional info
- The dissertation is illustrated with 250 colour printed pictures. 165 of these are part of the catalouge. Hard cover. English summary.
- id
- 8db223f3-35b7-473f-867c-e41a149b5837 (old id 3626254)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-04 09:19:02
- date last changed
- 2023-08-28 09:13:03
@phdthesis{8db223f3-35b7-473f-867c-e41a149b5837,
abstract = {{This doctoral thesis examines the arts of healing in the area of present-day Sweden dur¬ing the Middle Ages and the Renaissance (ca. 1100–1600 AD). It focuses on secular arts of healing for the body, rather than magical and religious healing or the cure of the soul. It is done by studying material culture in the form of archaeological finds from Southern Sweden and contemporary written sources from the Nordic region. The ques¬tions asked can be grouped in three main themes: Perceptions of disease, affliction and injury, Practitioners of the arts of healing and Arts of healing. I examine the underlying understandings or perceptions of disease as well as attitudes towards disease as such and towards the afflicted individuals. Old Norse names and designations in the first half of the Middle Ages seem to reflect what I call a cause- and consequence-oriented understand¬ing of disease. Latin and to some extent Old Norse names and designations from the second half of the Middle Ages can rather be characterized as reflecting a symptom- and sign-oriented understanding. I interpret this as a change, with a new understanding of disease spreading during this time. The medieval and Renaissance arts of healing in the Swedish region were to a large extent a craft: a knowledge of the hand and the senses. Within this craft an incipient professionalization is discernible already in the first half of the Middle Ages, but it seems to have been interrupted by the Black Death and partly inhibited by a series of recurring epidemics in the fifteenth century. At the same time a new wave of professionalization started, which eventually led towards a segmentation of the occupation of læknir into barber surgeons, apothecaries and doctors and the for¬malization of the new occupations in the course of the sixteenth century, with the for¬mation of new occupational ethoses. This is reflected in the more specialized material culture of instruments and vessels. The picture emerging of the treatments provided is that of a heterogeneous phenomenon, varying between milieus and over time. There were several different arts of healing or medical cultures. The easiest to discern are the secular as opposed to the monastic arts of healing, but to draw sharp lines between the two might give an impression of two homogeneous phenomena, which they were not. The secular art of healing seems to have been empirical to a high degree and remarkably unaffected by the monastic art of healing, whose medical material culture hardly spread extra claustrum. Phlebotomy, for example, seems to have had different motivations in the two sociocultural contexts. It seems as if the Black Death and the epidemics that followed had devastating consequences in the form of lost knowledge within the occu¬pation of the læknir and for the ongoing process of professionalization. This necessitated a reorientation and a compensation for lost skills with new ideas. This was sought in the medical literature and the tradition or medical culture it reflected, which up until then had not played any great role.}},
author = {{Bergqvist, Johanna}},
isbn = {{978-91-89578-52-4}},
issn = {{1653-1183}},
keywords = {{Leech; barber-surgeon; leechcraft; art of healing; perception of disease; professionalization; Middle Ages; Renaissance; history of medicine; archaeology of medicine; medical cultures; occupational ethos; communication of knowledge; craft knowledge; tacit knowledge; läkare; bardskär; laga läkare; läkekonst; sjukdomsförståelse; professionalisering; medeltid; renässans; medicinhistoria; medicinsk arkeologi; medicinska kulturer; yrkesethos; kunskapskommunikation; förtrogenhetskunskap; tyst kunskap; Sverige; Skandinavien; Norden}},
language = {{swe}},
publisher = {{Lund University}},
school = {{Lund University}},
series = {{Lund Studies in Historical Archaeology}},
title = {{Läkare och läkande : läkekonstens professionalisering i Sverige under medeltid och renässans}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.37852/oblu.114}},
doi = {{10.37852/oblu.114}},
volume = {{16}},
year = {{2013}},
}