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The infirmarer
The infirmary at Kirkstall, like that of other
religious houses, was managed by the infirmarer (or server of the
sick), a monastic official (obedientiary)
of some prominence. Whilst the infirmarer at first slept in the
common dormitory with the rest of the community, later on he probably
had his own house within or near to the infirmary complex.(5)
The infirmarer acted first and foremost as an intermediary between
the infirmary and the cloister. Whenever a monk was received in
the infirmary it was the infirmarers responsibility to transfer
his utensils from the refectory and his bedding from the dormitory,
and obtain his allowance of food and drink from the cellarer each
day. The infirmarer also fetched the books that were needed for
services in the infirmary chapel from the abbey church and made
sure that they were returned safely. Whenever one of his charges
was ready to return to conventual life, the infirmarer sought authorisation
from the abbot for his return to the cloister. If one of the brethren
was about to die the infirmarer notified the community of this so
that they could all gather around the dying monk and observe the
required solemnities. The infirmarer also had numerous responsibilities
within the infirmary complex. He was to ensure that the fire was
lit, to light the candles for Matins, to clean the bowls that had
been used at bloodletting and dispose of the blood. On Saturdays
he washed the feet of those who resided in the infirmary
if they so wished and gave their clothing a good shake to
air it.
In 1448-9 a London physician, Henry
Wells, was summoned to Fountains
Abbey to tend Abbot John Greenwell, who, it was thought,
had been poisoned by William Downom, one of his monks. The
alleged reason for William’s actions was the sick abbot’s
refusal of the pottage William had prepared for him.
[Hammond and Talbot, A Biographical Register of the Medical
Practitioners in Medieval England, pp. 85-6] |
Although the twelfth-century customary of the Order (the Ecclesiastica
Officia) discusses the infirmarers managerial duties in
some detail, it says little of his medical knowledge. The infirmarer
and no doubt others in the abbey - would have been well-versed
in herbal remedies and used herbs from the abbeys herb garden,
but it is likely that lay medical practitioners were summoned to
tend the seriously ill.(6) Such
visits would have been expensive and were probably only used when
absolutely necessary.(7) That is
not to say that the infirmarers or others within the abbeys
had no medical knowledge and surviving manuscripts from Kirkstall,
and from other Cistercian abbeys, suggest that ancient and contemporary
medical authorities were known.(8)
A copy of the Medulla Philosophorum, a miscellany of tracts
that includes explanations of various herbs and plants and passages
on indigestion, digestion and blood survives in a thirteenth-century
manuscript from Kirkstall.(9) In
contrast, a rather exceptional entry in the Coucher Book of Kirkstall
is a recipe for the prevention of falling sickness which prescribes
that the charm, Dealbagneth, Debagneth, Degluthun should
be recited whilst making the sign of the Cross.
[Read
more about sickness and health]
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