It turns out the Dark Ages weren’t all that dark. According to new research, medieval medicine was way more sophisticated than previously thought, and some of its remedies are trending today on TikTok.
A new international research project featuring faculty at Binghamton University, State University of New York reveals that people in the Middle Ages weren’t cooped up in castles, wallowing in superstition. They were developing health practices based on the best knowledge they had at the time—some of which mirror modern wellness trends.
“People were engaging with medicine on a much broader scale than had previously been thought,” said Meg Leja, an associate professor of history at Binghamton University who specializes in the political and cultural history of late antique and medieval Europe. "They were concerned about cures, they wanted to observe the natural world and jot down bits of information wherever they could in this period known as the “Dark Ages.'”
No personal disrespect to you OP, but gotta call a spade a spade: this article is dogwater clickbait and not a good fit for this comm.
They were developing health practices based on the best knowledge they had at the time
The key part of the phrase. They didn’t have a lot of knowledge, and couldn’t have until fundamental medical principles were discovered in the 20th century. The fact that they used things similar to modern day pseudoscientific “alternative” medicine, like detox, with little effect is not really surprising, that is where this kind of thing will always lead you.
The surprising thing is a historian of medicine treating it as some kind of mindblowing revelation.
Seems rather fitting to me, considering TikTok and its too many ‘Social Media’ siblings have ushered our societies into a new Dark Age.
“Smarter than you think” and “Similar to tiktok trends”…These are contradictory. Unless you thought our ancestors had undergone total lobotomies
The first thought comes in my mind after reading the title was “come on. this must be a satire”
Also similar to “alternative medicine”. Yeah, that shit was every bit as dumb as we think it was.
“Milady having fainting spells? Dispell her curse with nary a peach pit.”
That’s 18th century English. Try “Doth my leuedy fallen in swoughes? Let hire malis be yvoided with a meke stone of peche”
(Quite a fight with auto correct to get that in…) (Yes, I used ChatGPT)
