The Healing Practices of the Knights Templar and Hospitaller

by Jon G. Hughes

• ISBN13: 9781644113301
• ISBN10: 1644113309
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2022-03-08
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Summary

A detailed exploration of the remedies and methods used by the healers who journeyed along with the Crusading knights

• Presents a traditional “cure-all” or leechbook of the ailments the Crusaders would have encountered and the remedies their mediciners would have employed, including recipes for many cures and instructions

• Includes a comprehensive herbal, listing all the medicinal plants and materials needed to make the remedies, potions, elixirs, and unctions of the cure-all

• Details the author’s travels in the steps of the Crusader physicians where he met with healers still employing the mediciners’ practices

During the Crusades, chivalric knightly orders, such as the Knights Templar and the Knights Hospitaller, brought along monastic mediciners to treat the sick and wounded. These mediciners not only employed the leading cures of medieval Europe but also learned new methods from the local folk-healers and Arabic healing traditions they encountered on their journeys.

Presenting a traditional “cure-all” or leechbook of the Crusader physicians, Jon Hughes shares a comprehensive encyclopedia of the ailments the Crusaders would have encountered and the remedies their mediciners would have employed. He details recipes for many cures and a range of magico-medical applications such as charms, spells, enchantments, and amulets used to address the new illnesses of strange and foreign lands. He includes a detailed and comprehensive herbal, listing all the plants and materials needed to make and administer the remedies of the cure-all. He also details his travels in the steps of the Crusader physicians throughout Poland, the Czech Republic, Malta, Morocco, and the island of Rhodes where he met with healers still following this healing path who shared their practices with him.

Revealing how the healers of the Crusades helped elevate Western medical knowledge through the integration of wisdom from their Middle Eastern counterparts, Hughes shows how their legacy continues through the many effective remedies and healing modalities still in use today.

Author Biography

Jon G. Hughes is part of a lineage of Druids that has been practicing for five generations in a remote area of Wales. He teaches the tradition in Ireland and gives workshops and seminars throughout Europe. He is the director of the Irish Centre for Druidic Practices and the author of A Druid’s Handbook to the Spiritual Power of Plants and The Druidic Art of Divination. He lives in Killarney, County Kerry, Ireland.

Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction

PART I
In the Footsteps of the Knights Templar
One
Morocco and Marrakech
Two
The Greek Island of Rhodes
Three
The Island of Malta
Four
The Knights Return Home

PART II
The Crusader Mediciners
Five
Medieval Medicine before the Crusades
Six
The Mediciners and the Crusading Knights
Seven
The Leechcrafter’s Ethical Code
Eight
The Leechcrafter’s Tumbrel

PART III
The Leechbook of the Knights Templar and the Knights Hospitaller of St. John of Jerusalem

Introductory Notes by the Author

Nine
The Cure-All
Many Ailments and Their Remedies

Ten
The Pharmacopeia
Botanicals, Animals, Minerals, and Other Curative Materia Medica Conclusion Index