Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.21857/m16wjcnv09
The Mobility of Physicians in the Fourteenth Century in the Area of East Adriatic Coast. The Example of Split
Branka Grbavac
; Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Institute of Historical and Social Research, Department of Historical Research, Zagreb, Croatia
Željko Dugac
orcid.org/0000-0002-6678-419X
; Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Institute of History and Philosophy of Sciences, Department of Philosophy of Siences, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
Based on the published and hitherto unpublished sources kept in the State Archive of Zadar (the Državni arhiv u Zadru) and relevant published articles, a presence of physicians in Split in the fourteenth century and their possible role within the process of transferring knowledge and experience from the university centres of northern Italy to the Eastern Adriatic coast is presented in this article. According to the extant documentation and studies published so far, may be established that physicians in medieval Dalmatian communes mainly came from Italy. Some physicians worked in certain Dalmatian communes for some years, then changed their cities of employment for others in Dalmatia or returned to their homes. Available sources indicate that they were well-paid and respected members of society who often fitted well in the social life of the communes in which they worked. Particularly interesting is the information recorded in the minutes of the council of the city of Split of 1352, from which follows that the city authorities offered to Blaise, the current surgeon of the commune, to extend his service and contract under the condition that he also take the duty of teaching the youth. This is a significant information that can be seen in the light of the existence of a particular form of medical education in the fourteenth century in the commune of Split. Even though the documents and archival sources on medical activities in the medieval eastern Adriatic communes are quite limited to give a more complex picture of physicians as potential teachers and transmitters of knowledge, we can still assume that, through their mobility and communication, physicians who performed their services in the Dalmatian communes in the 14th century contributed to the transfer of new knowledge from Italian university centres to the Eastern Adriatic coast.
Keywords
history of medicine; the Middle Ages; physicians; history of education; Split; Dalmatia
Hrčak ID:
281676
URI
Publication date:
13.9.2022.
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