#PLEASE PICTURE MR. DARCY WITH LEECHES ON HIS ARM | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

notbecauseofvictories · 6 years

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I can be extremely patient with people who believe the middle ages/medieval period really was “the dark ages” because of a supposed lack of education and scientific advancements, because I think it’s a good way of demonstrating how incredibly cool historiography is as a field, and the importance of interrogating who writes the story of civilizations.

but to the one person on that “medieval cathedrals didn’t always look like that” post, who said #uh definitely the dark ages they treated diseases with leeches---

I will break into your house and force you to watch a powerpoint presentation about the history of medicine in Europe and the use of medical leeches more specifically.

#the medieval world inherited it from those Learnéd Ancient Greeks via galen #both the europeans and the arabs practiced leeching widely!!!#it was considered integral to BOTH their understandings of medicine and the importance of blood to health!!!#AND THEN IT CONTINUED FOR LITERAL CENTURIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!#MR. DARCY WOULD BE EQUALLY LIKELY TO BE PROSCRIBED A BLOODLETTING AS SOME UNENLIGHTENED PEASANT IN THE 4TH CENTURY #THIS WOULD EITHER BE DONE BY ''CUPPING'' OR ''LEECHING''#AND CUPPING REALLY ONLY GREW IN POPULARITY BECAUSE THE TRADITIONAL MEDICINAL LEECH WAS GETTING SCARCE IN EUROPE!!!!#THEY WERE EXPENSIVE!!!!#PEOPLE GAVE THEM AS GIFTS!!!!#PLEASE PICTURE MR. DARCY WITH LEECHES ON HIS ARM #THAT IS THE STANDARD OF MEDICINE LONG PAST THE SUPPOSED ''DARK AGES''!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!#/end #..............wow it's been a long time since I felt compelled to write in caps on this website it's like 2006 again #the vexation and impertinence of pedants #le temps des cathedrales

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