Adelle of the Saracens

Adelle of the Saracens (active 12th century), was an Italian physician. She belonged to the Saracinensa family and was a lay teacher at the medical faculty of Salerno. Her medical practice stemmed from roots in the Salerno Medical School and she practiced Medieval and Early Italian Renaissance Ideals in her medicine including Humanism.

Background

Saracens is a term that has multiple cultural meanings throughout history. While it started out being a description to the people of around the Arabia Petraea who lived in the desert areas, it later became known to illustrate the people who were a part of the tribes of Arabia. In particular, the term Saracens is used to recognize the significance of Sarah, Abraham's wife. Overall, it depicted groups of people as being Muslim.

Salerno Medical School

Salerno encompassed an important medical school founded during the Medieval times. It based its curriculum and lifestyle off of many different influences such as Greek, Arabic, Latin, and Hebrew. As one of the first medical schools that was founded around the 9th century in Italy, it greatly influenced the medical works and thought process of the Medieval Times. In addition, women also had the ability to contribute their ideals at this school. This was particularly significant because during this time period, a woman's medical opinion was still narrowly considered as substantial, or even correct. Cultural shifts like these with women in the medical field gave physicians newer ways of thinking. This includes their contributions like backing the idea of the requirement of physicians to have certifications to practice and adding a different viewpoint to some anatomy textbooks which were pertinent in the development of modern-day medicine.[1]

Humanism

Going into the Italian Renaissance, many medical professionals and physicians pursued their careers with a humanist way of thinking. Humanism refers to the sole focus on humans as a physical being rather than seeing them as being influenced by any supernatural forces. It was a more rational thought process and strictly emphasized the focus on human needs. These influences were particularly seen in translation efforts of Greek manuscripts.[2]

See also
This displays an old manuscript that came from Salerno's Medical School. Its language choice illustrates how culturally diverse Salerno is.

References
  1. Ferraris, Z. A.; Ferraris, V. A. (December 1997). "The women of Salerno: contribution to the origins of surgery from medieval Italy". The Annals of Thoracic Surgery. 64 (6): 1855–1857. doi:10.1016/s0003-4975(97)01079-5. ISSN 0003-4975. PMID 9436596.
  2. Kyle, Sarah R. (2016-08-12). Medicine and Humanism in Late Medieval Italy: The Carrara Herbal in Padua. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781351997799.
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