Medical Writing in Transition: Between Ars and Vulgus

Abstract

Abstract The form and content of vernacular medicine, particularly in translations from Latin writings, differ both from scholastic learning and from popular lore. As a Middle High German version of Bernard de Gordon's Lilium medicine shows, the translator aimed for broader intelligibility than teachers, by elucidating terms and simplifying theories. Nevertheless, he also evinced a bookish superiority to lay people by his concern with precision and disdain for illiteracy. At the same time, a greater closeness to a popular level was reflected in the admiration for masters and in the esthetic importance of emotions.