Medicina e “medicina spirituale”: alcuni casi (secoli XII-XV)

Abstract

In this essay I examine some instances of the relations between body and soul and between health and salvation in the development of the ‘medicine of the soul’, that is ‘spiritual medicine’ (12th–15th centuries). In particular, I examine texts by theologians and men of Church – Hugo de Fouilloy, Alanus de Insulis, Humbert de Romans, Nicola of Occam, Giovanni da S. Gimignano, Bartolomeo da Ferrara and Jean Gerson – in which aspects of secular medicine are used for ethical and spiritual aims. I also touch upon some physicians – Gilles de Corbeil, Arnaldo da Villanova, Galvano da Levanto, Michele Savonarola – who are, in their medical writings, very attentive to the health of the soul and its salvation.