Printed Page 311-0(cont.)

A History of Western Society: Printed Page 311

Chapter Chronology

PRIMARY SOURCE 10.3

Healthy Living

In this illustration from a very popular fourteenth-century Latin handbook on maintaining health and well-being, women with their sleeves rolled up prepare cloth for medical uses; the woman on the left is trimming small threads off with a one-bladed shear, and the woman on the right is boiling the cloth to bleach it. The men in the background eat a meal and drink wine. The text of this handbook was a translation of an Arabic medical treatise, made in the kingdom of Sicily, the site of much cultural borrowing.

image
(Austrian National Library, Vienna/The Bridgeman Art Library)

EVALUATE THE EVIDENCE

  1. Question

    Cleanliness and moderation were recommended as essential to healthy living in this handbook. How does the artist convey these values in this scene?

  2. Question

    Given what you have learned about medieval medical care, why might a handbook like this have been popular with literate urban residents?