Ross drug book

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The Ross Pharmacopoeia of Master Albrant is a hippiatrischer (= pferdeheilkundlicher) German-language text, which in the 13th century at the court of Frederick II. Was born. It belongs to the technical prose and contains a list of recipes against 36 horse diseases. This work is one of the few texts in older German literature that had a strong impact well into modern times.

"When the worms bite a horse" (horse medicine book of Walter von Nitzschwitz in the Langenburg manuscript, end of the 16th century)

history

Various veterinary works of the genus Rossarzneibuch have come down to us.

author

The author of the original Ross medicine book dealt with here is Albrant, often Master Albrant, but sometimes also called Albracht, Alebrant, Hildebrant, Hilbrant, Abram or Albertin. He came from Germany, but worked in Italy: In the oldest manuscripts of his horse medicine book he is referred to as a blacksmith and stables of Emperor Frederick II in Naples, but his existence is not documented. The word marshal originally means groom (Old High German: marah = horse, schalc (h) = farmhand) and referred to the stable master or head of the stable. Its tasks included all areas of horse keeping including medical care. Friedrich II is considered a great promoter of equine medicine, as several hippologists were active in his area, including other Germans such as a certain Ackermann or Master Maurus.

According to the assumptions of the research, Albrant had an educated basic knowledge, it is ascribed to him a connection both to the university in Naples founded by Frederick II in 1224 and to the high school of Salerno. Nothing is testified about his further life. In the past, it was assumed that the horse doctor of Pope Clemens IV , of which a Ross medicine manuscript is contained in Codex 730 of the Abbey Library in Einsiedeln, was also Master Albrant, but more recent research approaches contradict this connection.

Emergence

Master Albrant's Rossarzneibuch was most likely written in Middle High German in the second quarter of the 13th century and thus falls at the beginning of the so-called 'Stallmeisterzeit' (in veterinary medicine the period between the 13th century and the establishment of the first veterinary training centers in the 2nd half of the 18th century). This was initiated in 1250 with the publication of the Handbook of the horse customer (as De Medicina equorum known) of Jordanus Ruffus, the Master of the Horse Frederick II. More at this time resulting works are the veterinary writings of Albertus Magnus or Marescalcia by Laurentius Rusius, the middle of the 14th century worked as a veterinarian in Rome.

Master Albrant's writing was apparently unaffected by these sources. Compared to his colleagues, he does not refer to ancient and Arabic models or magical processes, but rather shows empirical approaches and is based on his own observations and experiences. He also differs in the choice of language and target audience: his horse medicine book is the first German-language equine medicine and is not aimed at scholars, but at practitioners such as knights, warriors, clerics and pilgrims. These aspects are, among other things, reasons for the great popularity of the work, in addition to the practical, simple applicability and ultimately also the great importance of the horse for mobility in the Middle Ages. It played an important role in rural areas as a livestock as well as on the farm for hunting, warfare or communication, which is why equine medicine is understandably the largest component of early veterinary medicine.

Tradition and edition history

The popularity of Master Albrant's horse medicine book is shown in the extremely large number of traditions. There are currently 218 manuscripts, 8 incunabula and a large number of prints between the 16th and 18th centuries known. This wealth of tradition is particularly striking in comparison to the most popular German-language poetry of the Middle Ages, Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival , which has 86 manuscripts.

It is assumed that the manuscript came from Naples via Friuli to Bohemia and from there to Silesia, Lusatia, the Prussian Teutonic Order and Hungary to the Bulgarian border. Aftermath can be found as far as the Pyrenees, Italy, Eastern Europe and Scandinavia. The script has been translated into several languages, including a. into Latin, Czech, Polish, Russian and Low German. Although Albrant's influences can also be demonstrated in north-west German horse recipes from the second half of the 15th century, it had the greatest impact in the southern and eastern parts of the German-speaking cultural area. So the work stayed until the 18th and 19th centuries. Century the breviary of the Czech blacksmiths. The oldest known manuscript of the Ross drug book is preserved in the Prague University Library and dates from the second half of the 13th century.

In the course of its spread, the specialist prose work was subject to some changes: recipes were edited, modernized, left out or added. Ross pharmacy books from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries had often grown into thick volumes, in which only a fraction belonged to the former core inventory, which is why it is often problematic to assign a Ross pharmacy book to the Albrant manuscripts. In some cases, the character of the text was changed and not only instructions for treating illnesses, but also advice for manipulating and correcting defects in the horse, such as coloring the coat to make a stolen animal unrecognizable. An example of such a heavily modified text is the Rossaventüre , a text that was created in the 14th century in the Lake Constance region and represents an interface between veterinary medicine and the Artes magicae ('magical arts'). This connection to the rascals promoted the dissemination, but lowered the reputation of the text.

content

The original version of the horse medicine book, reconstructed by Gerhard Eis , contains 36 horse diseases and healing suggestions:

1. Swelich ros ain Siechs havpt have 13. Swelich ros daz ayter from is prostrate 25. What rozz ain tzeprechen has ruchk
2. Swelich ros ros ainen neck have wanted 14. Swelich ros daz gurvay hat 26. What rozz the mauchken has
3. So you dy wuerm wellest expel from the stomach 15. Swelich ros dy has chel addiction 27. Welch rozz has vlozz Gallen
4. So that ros has the worm 16. Swelich ros roetzich is 28. What rozz is hearty
5. Swelch ros wazzerreh is 17. Swelich ros revdich is 29. What rozz the sczarczen has
6. Swelch ros mauchel deer is 18. Swelich ros is nailed up 30. What rozz pawch is strict
7. Swelich ros is wintreh 19. Swelich ros is schozzen 31. What rozz has the huefftwang
8. Swelich ros fueter reh is 20. Swelich ros hagenhuof is 32. When to throw the throat out of the rozz
9. Swelch ros the trit hab 21. Sver daz has twang 33. Welch ros wilt fleys hot in the wounds
10. Swelich has pink in ays 22. Swelich ros spetich is 34. What rozz the harenwind has
11. Swelich ros has a split fuez 23. Swelich ros dy has pain wax 35. What rozz is luscious
12. Which rozz is pelleted 24. You should wizzen, the worm haizzet dreyerlayge 36. C to the rozz eyes

The short descriptions of the diseases and the treatment instructions allow conclusions to be drawn about the type of disease. Recipe No. 2 probably relates to Druse , recipe No. 26 to Mauke or recipe No. 34 to cross crate .

Healing methods

Methods mentioned in the Ross drug book are ointments and poultices, peroral medicines, bloodletting and cauterization as well as mechanical interventions such as B. removing the horseshoes when nailing . The recommended remedies do not require any special ingredients, but were primarily part of the stable pharmacy, which may be another reason for the font's popularity. For example, envelopes with honey, bread or salt, rubbing with verdigris or mixtures with beer or wine for oral administration are recommended.

Sample recipe

"Which horse is nailed up" in Ms. 1609 of the University Library Graz (15th century)

Recipe No. 18 based on Eis's original version:

“Swelich ros is nailed up, so nim here, wol gestozzen, gesoten with hayzzem smerb. And pick up daz eysen and pint imz on the fuez overnight: this is how you do iz dez in the morning and ride wherever you want. "

Transfer into New High German:

“When a horse is nailed up, take well-ground millet and simmer it in hot fat. Then take off the iron and tie it to his hoof overnight. Then you can shoe it up in the morning and ride wherever you want. "

This representative recipe illustrates well the linguistic simplicity and conciseness of Master Albrant. Only millet and Schmer are listed as components of the healing ointment , so that the execution should have been easy for everyone.

Features of the Rossarzneitexts

A typical feature of the 'text type' Rossarzneischrift, which applies to Albrant's work as well as to all later writings, which he sometimes influenced, is the simple stringing together of prescriptions. Paratexts are only available in exceptional cases .

The structure of the prescriptions is similar in almost all Ross medicinal products and in most cases is tripartite: 

„Wenn ein Pferd die Krankheit x hat, dann behandele man es mit dem Mittel oder nach der Methode y, darauf geschieht z.“

Example recipe from an unknown fragment of Albrant's Rossarzneibuch (Cod.HB XI 15 of the Württemberg State Library in Stuttgart, Bl. 110r-111r; date of origin between 1479 and 1482):

"5. Item which is really bad, so nym ain viertail ains bechers with essich and resembled as vil salcz vnd with win and mix the zesamen, and pour into the neck: it is healthy. "

Transfer into New High German:

" Likewise, if a horse has a heavy heart [presumably steamy ], take a quarter of a cup of vinegar, as much salt and wine, and mix it up and pour it down its throat. It will be healthy. "

So the first, title-like part names the disease, the second, the prescription part, the treatment (sometimes with instructions for the preparation of the remedy to be used) and the third the expected effect. The latter usually only consists of a formulaic so Wirt iz Gesunt or is omitted. It is noticeable that the prescription section is often not kept very detailed, precise information on the mixing ratios of medicines is rarely given or an operation is described so precisely that an inexperienced person could perform it. In addition, it is obviously assumed that the recipients are able to diagnose an illness independently, since symptoms or causes of an illness are hardly mentioned. Thus, more practical knowledge is presented in an application-related form. Two different situations of use are to be assumed as probable: on the one hand the own memory aid for practicing stables and blacksmiths, on the other hand the transfer of knowledge to other experts or to people employed in the stable, whereby important background knowledge was probably also conveyed verbally. The imperative structures of the recipes, which are reminiscent of an oral instruction situation, fit both situations.

literature

  • Gerhard Eis : Master Albrants Roßarzneibuch: Directory of the manuscripts. Text of the oldest version. Bibliography. Constance: Terra 1960.
  • Gerhard Eis: Master Albrants Roßarzneibuch in the German East. With an epilogue to the new edition. Hildesheim [u. a.]: Olms 1985, ISBN 3-487-08141-5 .
  • Gerhard Eis: Medieval specialist literature. 2., through Edition Stuttgart: Metzler 1967 (= Metzler Collection. Realienbuch für Germanisten, Dept. D: History of Literature. M14.).
  • Angela von den Driesch : History of veterinary medicine. 5000 years of veterinary medicine. Munich: Callwey 1989, ISBN 3-7667-0934-8 .
  • Bernhard Dietrich Haage; Wolfgang Wegner: German specialist literature of the Artes in the Middle Ages and early modern times. Berlin: Erich Schmidt Verlag 2007 (= Basics of German Studies. 43.), ISBN 978-3-503-09801-9 .
  • Oliver Pfefferkorn: The text type Rossarzneibuch in early New High German manuscripts and prints. In: Early New High German - Tasks and Problems of its Linguistic Description. Edited by Anja Lobenstein-Reichmann and Oskar Reichmann. Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlag 2011, pp. 583–610 (German Linguistics 213–215), ISBN 978-3-487-14657-7 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Pia F. Cuneo: "The Langenburg Manuscript" in Hidden Treasure, Michael Sappol, ed. New York: Blast Books, 2012 (catalog commemorating the 175th anniversary of the National Library of Medicine), 20-24. ( academia.edu [accessed December 19, 2018]).
  2. ^ Volker Zimmermann: Hartmann von Stockheim. Author of a German horse drug book. In: Burghart Wachinger et al. (Hrsg.): The German literature of the Middle Ages. Author Lexicon . 2nd, completely revised edition, volume 3: Gert van der Schüren - Hildegard von Bingen. De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1981, ISBN 3-11-007264-5 , Sp. 527-528.
  3. ↑ Karl Maria Schober: The remedies originating from the plant kingdom and the therapeutic use of the most important among these drugs in Mang Seuter's Roßarzneibuch (1583). Veterinary medical dissertation Munich 1936. Leo Scholl: The remedies originating from the animal kingdom in Mang Seuter's Roßarzneibuch (1583) and their application. Veterinary medicine dissertation Munich 1939.
  4. ↑ Ross drug book of Ottmar Stab .
  5. ↑ Gottfried Kreuzer: An anonymous Roßarzneibuch from the middle of the 16th century. Veterinary-medical dissertation Munich 1972.
  6. ^ Uta Deinhardt: A 'Ross Artzney Büech' from 1598. Veterinary-medical dissertation Munich 1968.
  7. ↑ on Albrant see the article in the NDB Gerhard Eis:  Albrant. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 1, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1953, ISBN 3-428-00182-6 , p. 151 f. ( Digitized version ).
  8. ↑ Angela von den Driesch: History of veterinary medicine. 5000 years of veterinary medicine. Munich: Callwey 1989, p. 56.
  9. ^ Cf. Gerhard Eis: Medieval specialist literature. 2., through Stuttgart: Metzler 1967 (= Metzler Collection. Realienbücher für Germanisten, Dept. D: History of Literature. M14.), P. 31.
  10. ^ Cf. Gerhard Eis: Medieval specialist literature. 2., through Stuttgart: Metzler 1967 (= Metzler Collection. Realienbücher für Germanisten, Dept. D: History of Literature. M14.), P. 31.
  11. ↑ See Oliver Pfefferkorn: The text type Rossarzneibuch in early New High German manuscripts and prints. In: Early New High German - Tasks and Problems of its Linguistic Description. Edited by Anja Lobenstein-Reichmann and Oskar Reichmann. Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlag 2011 (German Linguistics 213–215), p. 583.
  12. ↑ See Bernhard Dietrich Haage; Wolfgang Wegner: German specialist literature of the Artes in the Middle Ages and early modern times. Berlin: Erich Schmidt Verlag 2007 (= Basics of German Studies. 43.), p. 173.
  13. ↑ See Driesch 1989, p. 57.
  14. ↑ Cf. Gerhard Eis: Meister Albrants Roßarzneibuch in the German East. With an epilogue to the new edition. Hildesheim [u. a.]: Olms 1985, p. 46.
  15. ↑ See. See Haage / Wegner 2007, p. 173.
  16. ↑ Cf. Gerhard Eis: Master Albrants Influence on the Middle Low German Horse Drugs Books. In: Research on professional prose. Selected contributions. Bern: A. Francke Verlag 1971, p. 130.
  17. ↑ Gerhard Eis: Master Albrants Influence on the Middle Low German Horse Drugs Books. In: Research on professional prose. Selected contributions. Bern: A. Francke Verlag 1971, p. 130.
  18. ↑ Cf. Gerhard Eis: Master Albrants Influence on the Middle Low German Horse Drugs Books. In: Research on professional prose. Selected contributions. Bern: A. Francke Verlag 1971, p. 139.
  19. ↑ See Gerhard Eis: Medical prose of the late Middle Ages and early modern times. Amsterdam: Editions Rodopi 1982 (= Amsterdam publications on language and literature. 48.), p. 159.
  20. ↑ Cf., Gerhard: Medical prose of the late Middle Ages and early modern times. Amsterdam: Editions Rodopi 1982 (= Amsterdam publications on language and literature. 48.), p. 158.
  21. ↑ Cf. Gerhard Eis: Meister Albrants Roßarzneibuch in the German East. With an epilogue to the new edition. Hildesheim [u. a.]: Olms 1985, pp. 93f.
  22. ↑ See Haage / Wegner 2007, p. 264.
  23. ↑ Cf. Gerhard Eis: Meister Albrants Roßarzneibuch: Directory of the manuscripts. Text of the oldest version. Bibliography. Constance: Terra 1960, pp. 14-21.
  24. ↑ Cf. Gerhard Eis: Meister Albrants Roßarzneibuch: Directory of the manuscripts. Text of the oldest version. Bibliography. Constance: Terra 1960, pp. 29, 40, 43.
  25. ↑ Cf. Gerhard Eis: Meister Albrants Roßarzneibuch: Directory of the manuscripts. Text of the oldest version. Bibliography. Constance: Terra 1960, p. 18.
  26. ↑ Pfefferkorn 2011, p. 590.
  27. ↑ Gerhard Eis: Research on specialized prose. Selected contributions. Bern: A. Francke Verlag 1971 p. 124.
  28. ↑ See Pfefferkorn 2011, p. 594f.
  29. ↑ See Pfefferkorn 2011, p. 596.