Malaria impairs human reproduction, augments excess mortality, and lowers productivity. It can exercise a debilitating effect so profound that it defines regions. The disease is an essential element ...in histories of places and periods in which it was endemic. Although many European regions are thought to have had a long association with malaria, evidence for the disease, the parasites that cause it, and the mosquitoes that transmit it, is thin before 1900. Malaria's early medieval history is opaque. This paper clears up contours of malaria's occurrence in Frankish Europe. It surveys sources relevant to its study and establishes guidelines for retrospectively diagnosing the disease. It argues that malaria was plentiful north of the Alps before 1000 and that it influenced demographic trends where it was endemic.
Technical literature of the Arab medieval sources indicates a slow but continuous progression of cotton from the Iranian region towards the West, with significant regional variations. Most of the ...terms used to describe the plant and its products are borrowed from Pahlavi and integrated very early in the Arabic language, which indicates the long history of the adoption of the fibre. From the 10th century onwards, botanical and agronomic works record the spread of the product towards the West and the singularisation of the professions linked to cotton, whether for the treatment of the fibre or the sale of the product.
This work, which forms an important bridge between medieval and Counter-Reformation sanctity and canonization, provides a richly contextualized analysis of the ways in which the last five candidates ...for sainthood before the Reformation came to be canonized.
Medieval European Jews often reacted violently to the cross or crucifix as an idolatrous object and an "abomination." The cross was presented to Jews in various material forms, whether displayed in ...the church, or used in procession, or depicted on the clothing of crusaders and religious officials. It was not only a religious symbol, it was also a symbol of Christian power, and its virtual omnipresence in medieval Europe would have been a constant reminder of the political weakness of Jews. At times, the impotence they felt and threats of violence against them may have provoked physical attacks on the cross in response. The danger that such attacks would result in martyrdom has led some scholars to question whether Christian accounts of such attacks on the cross are reliable, or whether they constitute a "cross desecration libel" fabricated about the same time as the blood libel in medieval Europe. Here, Resnick surveys sources treating medieval Jewish responses to the cross and show that following the First Crusade, Jewish views of martyrdom may have encouraged abuse of the cross as a defiant sign of Jewish identity.
Propolis (bee glue) has been known for centuries. The ancient Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians were aware of the healing properties of propolis and made extensive use of it as a medicine. In the middle ...ages propolis was not a very popular topic and its use in mainstream medicine disappeared. However, the knowledge of medicinal properties of propolis survived in traditional folk medicine. The interest in propolis returned in Europe together with the renaissance theory of ad fontes. It has only been in the last century that scientists have been able to prove that propolis is as active and important as our forefathers thought. Research on chemical composition of propolis started at the beginning of the twentieth century and was continued after WW II. Advances in chromatographic analytical methods enabled separation and extraction of several components from propolis. At least 180 different compounds have been identified so far. Its antibacterial, antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, antifungal, anesthetic, and healing properties have been confirmed. Propolis has been effectively used in treatment of dermatological, laryngological, and gynecological problems, neurodegenerative diseases, in wound healing, and in treatment of burns and ulcers. However, it requires further research that may lead to new discoveries of its composition and possible applications.
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