10 Bizarre Medieval Medical Practices. Creepy Medicine is one of the cornerstones of modern civilization—so much so that we take it for granted. It wasn’t always the case that you could just waltz into a doctor’s office to have them cure what ailed you. In medieval times, for example, things were a lot more dangerous, and a lot stranger. 10 Boar Bile Enemas Enemas in medieval times were performed by devices called clysters. A clyster was a long metal tube with a cup on the end. Even kings were high up on the clyster. 9 Urine Was Used As An Antiseptic Though it may not have been common, there is evidence to suggest that urine was occasionally used as an antiseptic in the Medieval Era. This isn’t quite as insane as it seems: urine is sterile when it leaves the body and may have been a healthier alternative than most water—which came with no such guarantee of cleanliness. 8 Eye Surgery (With A Needle) During the Middle Ages, cataract surgery was performed with a thick needle. 7 Hot Iron For Hemorrhoids 6 Deadly Surgery 4 Trepanning.
10 Completely Uncanny Superstitions From The Middle Ages. Weird Stuff In the pre-scientific Middle Ages, the world was at the same time both fascinating and frightening. In the absence of proper knowledge, people had no choice but to fall back on their own imaginations to make sense of the myriad natural phenomena around them. The result was a world where everything seemed magical, a place teeming with angels and demons, fairies and goblins, elves, gnomes, and witches.
This list takes us inside the medieval mind and the fears and superstitions through which it tried to explain the world. 10 The Sea In The Sky For this story, we are indebted to English chronicler Gervase of Tilbury and his work Otia Imperiala. Writing around 1212 for his patron, the Holy Roman Emperor Otto IV, he declared his belief that “the sea is higher than the land,” that it was “above our habitation . . . either in or on the air.”
For proof, Gervase offers an episode that took place in an English village. 9 Omens Of Charlemagne’s Death 8 Magonia 7 Changelings 6 The Royal Touch. Viking Age Music. Dear Viking Answer Lady: I've attended many a song-fire and bardic circle, and I love to sing and I play a number of medieval instruments -- but all the pieces I know are either medieval songs, or else post-medieval folk music. The problem is, I have a Viking persona, and I'd like to be able to develop pieces for performance much more in line with my persona. What kind of music and instruments did the Vikings have? Where can I get sheet music or recordings of Viking Age music and songs?
(signed) Skald with Nothing to Sing Gentle Reader: It has been asserted with some justice that music and song are two of the characteristics that are found among every human culture. Literary Mentions of Early Germanic Music Music in the Germanic World Before the advent of the Viking Age, the Germanic peoples were known to sing songs of their gods and heroes. Fuisse apud eos et Herculem memorant, primumque omnium virorum fortium ituri in proelia canunt. Verba Dei legantur in sacerdotali convivio.
Edda Music. Food And Drink in Anglo-Saxon England. Fruit and Vegetables When we visit the shops in England today, we are presented with a wealth of fruit and vegetables from all corners of the planet from which to choose. For people in this country in the tenth and eleventh century this could not happen. They had only such foods as could be cultivated seasonally or found wild. Exotic foods such as potatoes, tomatoes, bananas, pineapples - fruits and vegetables of the New World, were unknown here. Mediterranean fruits, such as lemons and oranges were, as far as we know, not imported, although we have documentary proof for the importation of such things as figs and grapes (Viking Age England, Julian Richards, p94).
We know that they grew wheat, rye, oats and barley. Wheat for bread, barley for brewing and oats for animal fodder and porridge. It is known that they had carrots, but these were not the large, orange coloured vegetables that we are used to today. Fish How were fish caught? Master: How do you catch the Fish? Meat Cooking. Angelcynn - Clothing and Appearance of the Pagan Anglo-Saxons. We have very little direct evidence of the clothing of the early 'Anglo-Saxons', as the surviving textiles are only fragmentary (usually in a mineralised form on metal artefacts) and there is little or no pictorial or literary evidence from this country. Fortunately we do have records of the continental Germanic peoples, both from surviving garments and late Roman pictorial and literary representations. The link between the early 'Anglo-Saxons' and their continental relatives can easily be shown from the high degree of similarity between burials, pottery, jewellery, etc..Men's ClothingContinental evidence indicates that a short cloak or cape, made of skin or fur (usually sheepskin), was an important feature of Germanic men's costume.
Open topped sandals of the type found in Danish and Germam peat bogs and early Germanic graves. This type of footwear would also have been worn by some of the early Anglo-Saxons (Click on image for a closer look)
Animal Farm. Restoration. Romantics. Renaissance. Medieval. Anglo-Saxons.