Medieval medicine was CRAZY!

Medieval medicine was so CRAZY that you can really see what inspired the fantasy witch.
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#medievalmisconceptions

[@KarmasAB123]

Here to see how realistic the alchemy crafting in Elder Scrolls is.

[@sizanogreen9900]

Me too, I feel like its pretty legit but it pays to be carefull. I'm sure it will be fine and I can start munching myself through anything that looks vaguely edible for profit in no time:)

[@BenSuzuki]

@@sizanogreen9900 Even the Giant's Toe?

[@willgames416]

@@sizanogreen9900 What about the Vampire Dust?

[@taylorfusher2997]

To Tarille: How do the people in Elden ring eat? Also if you are going to have a large population of people in a civilization, you still need crop fields, and agriculture crop fields, and also you need cattle, pigs and other grazing animals to feed that civilization. I don’t understand it. Did I miss something. Remember I am not a expert, I am just guessing. I don’t truly know anything. So it does not matter what I say anyways or what I did.

[@sizanogreen9900]

@@willgames416 @Breaden Stewart I gotta say after watching the video I am starting to have my doubts...

[@krystofdayne]

It's important to remember that people back then weren't stupid. If a treatment had an obvious and immediate bad effect, they wouldn't use it. But medicine is complicated. Infections, especially back then, would happen "spontaneously" all the time. And if a treatment has an immediate positive effect, like lessening some symptoms, but there'd be a high chance of infection afterwards, it's hard to see the clear causation there, especially if you don't even really understand what an infection even is. Edit: and of course, things like confirmation/survivorship bias, the placebo effect, etc. also had a big effect.

[@Lavastaramus]

Many modern medicines also have side effects. I believe it's usually question of whether the side effect is worse than the symptom being treated.

[@Pyriphlegeton]

But many people today are stupid. There's a massive interest in useless and harmful pseudomedicine. Why would that be different back then?

[@ThZuao]

In the 19th century, Robert Liston revolutionized english medicine by cleaning his instruments and apron after surgeries. Dirty tools and apron, especially freshly dirtied ones, were seen as the mark of a good, busy surgeon...

[@Serahpin]

A lot of medicine they used back then, we still use now. But we don't think about it because it's so orthodox.

[@Pyriphlegeton]

@@krystofdayne Oh no, I know many very educated people who fall for pseudomedicine. Homeopathy would be a good example. It's very popular amongst certain rather educated groups.

[@leewolf6434]

Love how much of a good time Shad is having whilst forcing his staff to watch Velma for Knights Watch 🤣🤣🤣 master genius 👌👌

[@oagardo]

That's hilarious 😆

[@andregon4366]

It's good to be the boss.

[@taylorfusher2997]

To Tarille: How do the people in Elden ring eat? Also if you are going to have a large population of people in a civilization, you still need crop fields, and agriculture crop fields, and also you need cattle, pigs and other grazing animals to feed that civilization. I don’t understand it. Did I miss something. Remember I am not a expert, I am just guessing. I don’t truly know anything. So it does not matter what I say anyways or what I did.

[@leewolf6434]

@@taylorfusher2997 It’s a game 🤷‍♂️

[@knightjack]

Lol

[@dracone4370]

A little side note, European nobles were actually sold Narwhal tusks under the guise of being unicorn horns, they had these things turned into special drinking goblets and cups after they bought them, but the things hardly ever protected against poison. You were more likely to notice if your drink had been poisoned if you were drinking from a silver goblet or at least your cup/goblet had its inside lined with silver. A while back, I read that because of its unique antibacterial properties, silver can actually be a good way to indicate if you have toxins in your drink because the way it reacts can either visually change the silver itself or shift the coloration of the drink in response to the silver's reaction. From what I've managed to gather, this method was more well-known in Asiatic nations, and not really known all that well to European nation-states. So, You could have a character particularly cautious about being poisoned, dipping their silver coins in drinks for a few seconds, then pulling them out to observe their reactions, with other characters looking at them with confusion or reacting like they aren't quite right in the head.

[@taylorfusher2997]

To Tarille: How do the people in Elden ring eat? Also if you are going to have a large population of people in a civilization, you still need crop fields, and agriculture crop fields, and also you need cattle, pigs and other grazing animals to feed that civilization. I don’t understand it. Did I miss something. Remember I am not a expert, I am just guessing. I don’t truly know anything. So it does not matter what I say anyways or what I did.

[@Amy_the_Lizard]

@@taylorfusher2997If you're so curious about Elden Rings, maybe you should head to the comments section of a video about it instead?

[@BayWa4eva]

silver, like platin, is a catalyst. many poisons are rather reactive (as their reaction with the body is what makes them poisonous), so that should work on some toxins (especially if the drink is warm/hot) but not all. however, never put an egg in that goblet because the reaction creating the foul egg smell certainly does use silver as catalyst.

[@Lttlemoi]

@@Amy_the_Lizard I think Taylor is a bot, but accidentally used the wrong account to post these. No sane person would spam such a comment in so many replies.

[@RohanSpartin]

That reminds me of the first Sherlock Holmes movie where one of the victims was killed in his bathtub via a paralytic mixed in with his bath salts that activated on contact with copper, which his bathtub was made of.

[@UngodlyFreak]

The unicorn horn scam is actually pretty ingenious: If nobody ever poisons the client's drinks they will be none the wiser and think the unicorn horn is working just great. On the other hand, if they do get poisoned, they won't be demanding their money back because they're dead.

[@aengusdedanann181]

And if youre the only doctor for a good distance....

[@AfricanTransplant39]

Thank you for interviewing this very knowledgable woman! What a treat! I really enjoy all the weapon and combat videos, but these are real treats.

[@stapelchips6559]

knowledgable women? She is a witch!

[@theworldofcronis]

@@stapelchips6559 And a pretty damn good one it seams. :)

[@hanzquejano7112]

@@stapelchips6559 Or both. Would be awesome

[@martiddy]

@Stapel Chips Most women that were considered as "witches" during 17th and 18th centuries were actually women that tried to make remedies for the sick people. When some of their remedies worked better than the old traditional medicine, they were accused of using witchcraft. Because in those times, male doctors refused to accept that some women were better doctors than men.

[@7armedman]

I amlost puked...fat, old, he needs to bring in hot women. He literally saying this wok shit sucks and what does he do? Prob a lesbo.

[@Reason4234]

The alicorn is brilliant, if you don't get poisoned, point for the horn, and if people know you carry one, they won't try to poison you, because they know you would just neutralise the poison, thus making people who openly used the alicorn the least likely to die of poisoning.

[@Enyavar1]

If anyone else was also curious which physician was doing experiments on unicorn stuff (as our friendly neighborhood witch told), all indications I've found point towards Ambroise Paré, who lived in the 16th century, which is renaissance era already, not quite medieval. Paré tested a LOT of fake medicins to weed out good from bad stuff, and he was actually a professional surgeon.

[@TC-14-]

Wow those are some crazy ingredients and procedures! The eye needle to remove the lense made me cringe so hard. I can't believe it helped in some cases. So fascinating!

[@lincolndunford6693]

Reminds me of the lobotomy procedures that we used to perform not that long ago.

[@Great_Olaf5]

I took a class where we had a unit on early modern medicine, so a bit later than this, and one of the things that we read about was a potion provided by a priest to someone suffering... Headaches I think? Anyway, the potion was a small bottle of wine that the priest had said the Lord's Prayer over, and written a Bible verse on a piece of parchment and rolled it up inside the bottle.

[@lincolndunford6693]

@ Great_OLAF5 It worked right?

[@Great_Olaf5]

@@lincolndunford6693 Dunno, I don't recall if the book elaborated on that, and it wasn't one of the assigned textbooks, it was just a chapter of the book the professor provided us with a PDF of, so I don't have it anymore.

[@kellysouter4381]

The ancient Romans operated on cataracts too.

[@dd11111]

Speaking of Asprin, trials are going on right now into use of a compound extracted from willow bark, as it has the same effects as asprin, but without thinning the blood. Willow for use as a painkiller, especially chewed for toothache. Is mentioned in MANY herbal almanacs and medical tomes.

[@SingingSealRiana]

also to combat fewer

[@littlekong7685]

Native Americans also made a type of lozenge from willow bark and pine needles (high in vitamin c). The colonial leaders brushed it off as native barbarism, but it worked for energy, recovery from pains, fevers, scurvy, and all the benefits of aspirin and vitamin c bring. How quickly they forgot their own histories.

[@basedeltazero714]

Aspirin *is* extracted from willow bark. It's possible (certain) that people are trying to find admixture that gets the pain-relieving effects without the side effects, though.

[@ARKavli]

From what I've read, the efficacy of witchcraft was controversial in the church. In the 11th century, Pope Gregory VII forbade Harald III of Denmark from executing witches. Inquisitor Heinrich Kramer was expelled from Innsbruck in 1484 by the bishop of Brixen. He later appealed to Rome and Rome supported him. The locals still refused to support him. When Kramer published the Malleus Malleficarum, the University of Köln theologians and the bishop rejected it. Interesting stuff.

[@LB-ou8wt]

Generally the rise of witch-hunts correlate with protestantism. The Catholic church's stance was either we're gonna ignore them, or they don't exist

[@berilsevvalbekret772]

Basically. Kramer had a...very disturbed opinion about women like ancient Athenian bad. And the book gained validity because of fearmongering of some priests and truly vile SOB's that didn't like women having even a little say in especially economical or education matters. Basically few bad appels caused some 40.000 woman and some 10.000 men's horrific deaths.

[@masonwheeler6536]

20:47: "What's a paternoster?" From the Latin for "our father," it's a ritual recitation of the Lord's Prayer.

[@bomberbob1238]

Sounds quite like what we call it in German paternoster= Vater unser=our father

[@ilari90]

"Puss was what healed the wound, so they would want to enhance the amount of puss in the wound, putting strips of bacon on it." "So it got infection and created more puss..." Festus the Leechlord: "Yeeeessss..!"

[@Vandelberger]

Nurgle priest confirmed.

[@rhettorical]

Pus has one s. Two is a cat.

[@TheWickedWizardOfOz1]

@@rhettorical Puss can heal wounds as well. Place it on the wound and power it up, make sure the motor is running, and the patient will feel much better.

[@jaegercat6702]

@@rhettorical or…the other thing

[@kellysouter4381]

Eeewwww!

[@ianswinford5570]

The “balancing the humors” thing was around up until the 18th century. In fact, first US President George Washington’s doctors used the “balancing humors” logic to treat him when he was on his death bed. They blistered his throat, bled him, and had him drink substances that made him vomit and have diharrea.

[@DSzaks]

My favorite witch trial was the guy in Salem who was crushed to death and refused to provided testimony cuz he said the whole trial was a sham and every time they asked if he would like to confess he would tell them that their puny rocks didn't weigh enough. What a Chad.

[@olivegrove-gl3tw]

he got crushed to death? o.O

[@DSzaks]

@@olivegrove-gl3tw yes he was but he never gave in to them and maintained his pride throughout the entire thing.

[@berilsevvalbekret772]

Gigachad.

[@samuelmellars7855]

​@@olivegrove-gl3tw he refused to enter a plea of innocent or guilty. They tortured him to get him to enter a plea, by putting a board on him and putting stones on top. He would only say "more weight", until he was crushed to death. If he had pled guilty, his lands may have been forfeit as part of his punishment. If he had pled innocence and been found guilty by the (massively corrupt) court, his lands could have been forfeit as part of the punishment. By not entering a plea, his lands passed to his children (daughters I believe) when he died.

[@Nostripe361]

Talking about Radium. It was super popular through the early 1900s. Really only stopped once a man drank so much of it that his jaw completely fell off. The over use of X-ray's on pregnant women led to a massive increase in child leukemia the rather recent fight over whether sugar or fat is the culprit to a terrible diet. Most modern doctors believe that sugar is worse but in the 50s they pushed fat and that lead to a massive increase in sugar to foods to compensate for the lost of fat as an ingredient.

[@pubcle]

The last is always fairly odd to me because fat is something we've always eaten and it's use in cooking goes back to prehistoric civilizations, outsized sugar consumption is a very recent change. The oldest recipes in history have rendered fat as explicit ingredients.

[@taylorfusher2997]

To Tarille: How do the people in Elden ring eat? Also if you are going to have a large population of people in a civilization, you still need crop fields, and agriculture crop fields, and also you need cattle, pigs and other grazing animals to feed that civilization. I don’t understand it. Did I miss something. Remember I am not a expert, I am just guessing. I don’t truly know anything. So it does not matter what I say anyways or what I did.

[@Nostripe361]

@@pubcle I actually saw a video talking about historical mistakes and its pretty much because of one man. Eisenhower, while he was president, had a massive heart attack and some decided it had to be his diet and not the cartons of cigarettes he smoked per day. Because of this one specific doctor argued that high fat in your diet was dangerous and sugar wasn't that bad. He was also known to be extremely combative and would argue with anyone who disagreed with his opinion loudly and publicly. And with some funding by sugar manufacturers we get where we are today where pretty much everything in the US diet has massive amounts of addictive sugar added.

[@littlekong7685]

@@Nostripe361 He was funded by coca cola, they specifically hired him because he was a marketing specialist who happened to do science on the side. They spent 5 years of marketing budget to basically push sugar=good, fat=bad on a global scale because their drink had lots of sugar and kids were having heart attacks and they worried government regulation might come in and shut them down (or at least out them from massive market sectors). So they pushed legislators to worry about fat, and scared the public about fat so much that they couldn't put resources into testing sugar. That was when coca-cola released their (Very) flawed biased research as "proof" that sugar was good, any argument basically had to go through this research and was stalled. Any counter research was actively sabotaged, legislated against, or pre-discredited to protect them from real government oversight. The worst part is his own research showed: Sugar is addictive (So they actually upped the sugar contents). Children are an easily addicted market (So they pushed child friendly ads and forced schools to add vending machines to better sell to kids). Caffeine is harmful to kids (But also highly addictive, especially to kids, so they upped that too). Sugar causes many harmful effects and fat in normal amounts is healthy, large amounts can be dangerous (About 1/10 as dangerous as high sugar can be). They knew this, and they fudged their results to hide this even though they KNEW from his own research.

[@robo5013]

X-rays were also used to remove hair and wrinkles in the U.S. Beauty salons would do x-ray hair removal or wrinkle removal services. It was banned in 1946 but some people went to back alley salons to continue the treatments. A study done in 1970's concluded that 35% of radiation based cancers in women were caused by x-ray hair removal treatments.

[@ogreman2229]

She seems like such a nice woman and absolutely a wealth of information. This video is a change from the usual content is such a refreshing way. Would love to see more like this!

[@taylorfusher2997]

To Tarille: How do the people in Elden ring eat? Also if you are going to have a large population of people in a civilization, you still need crop fields, and agriculture crop fields, and also you need cattle, pigs and other grazing animals to feed that civilization. I don’t understand it. Did I miss something. Remember I am not a expert, I am just guessing. I don’t truly know anything. So it does not matter what I say anyways or what I did.

[@taylorfusher2997]

To Tarille: How do the people in Elden ring eat? Also if you are going to have a large population of people in a civilization, you still need crop fields, and agriculture crop fields, and also you need cattle, pigs and other grazing animals to feed that civilization. I don’t understand it. Did I miss something. Remember I am not a expert, I am just guessing. I don’t truly know anything. So it does not matter what I say anyways or what I did.

[@JohnMiller-zr8pl]

Does she has some kind of "manual" or book of the things she had learn?

[@MrJinxmaster1]

A point about all of these: Placebo works, the more ritual the better it works, this is well documented. So even though some of these would make things worse, the stuff that has no medical effect could well improve recovery to some extent via placebo.

[@littlekong7685]

Yes, just relieving the stress can do wonders for healing as your body frees up energy for recovery. As well community and familial support during healing also has a HUGE benefit (Familiar common ritual being a big part of the stress reducing factor). There have been a lot of studies that basically all say the best place to heal is at home (if not a polluted environment) surrounded by loved ones taking care of your physical and emotional needs and doing familiar ritual acts.

[@ramennight]

Yeah, seems he has a misunderstanding of the word placebo. Placebo effect is when something *shouldn't* have a positive effect, but does because the person believes it should. That's what makes it so confusing. It's not just false positives, like the false bites they used as an example, but would instead be if the concoction actually did help some people because they believed it should.

[@TheShieldery]

fun fact: Oin in "The Hobbit" became the doctor, because the writers had a good laugh at the idea that apOINtment was named after him.

[@clarabrown9743]

And also Ointment.

[@SwedishSinologyNerd]

Also, Shad, if you wanna add bits of historical medicine in your books, look up Hippocrates and Galen. Both of them, and especially Galen, as well as the Persian Avicenna, were hugely influential on medieval European medicine. I'm kinda surprised Shad didn't know about Pater Noster. I'm an ex-protestant that left the church in my teens and I know what a Pater Noster is. xD

[@Ptaaruonn]

Catholics know that one well too.

[@speciallasagna8521]

Hey Shad, Pater Noster is Latin for "Our Father". It's the Latin version of the Lord's Prayer from the New Testament. My family's parish in Ohio uses the Latin version at every Mass. It could certainly sound like a magic spell to someone unfamiliar with the language.

[@AW-uv3cb]

I remember a teacher telling us that "hocus pocus" came from a contraction and distortion of the "hic est corpus meus" (this is my body) that the priest would say during the transformation of bread and wine at the mass. People not knowing Latin would hear this mumbling and repeat it like a magic spell.

[@SepticFuddy]

Now imagine them hearing "Avinu shebashamayim..." ;)

[@PhilBagels]

I knew that, and I'm Jewish. "Pater Noster" is also the term for an old-fashioned type of elevator. They would come in pairs moving continuously up on one side, then they get to the top and move over to the other shaft and move down continuously until they got to the bottom, and slide over to the up side and so on. They were rather dangerous because they were open and always moving. They were called "paternosters" because you had to say a prayer not to get killed jumping on or off one. And speaking of being Jewish, one of the medieval doctors she mentioned, Moses Maimonides, is very well-known in Judaism. He is more known today for his writings on religion, philosophy, and ethics, more than on medicine. He was truly brilliant, but also a bit arrogant. He said, "From Moses to Moses, there was no one like Moses," comparing himself to Moses from the Bible.

[@basedeltazero714]

@@PhilBagels I thought the 'pasternoster' name for elevators was due to their resemblance to a rosary chain. They're definitely dangerous though... As to hocus pocus, that's one of several theories, and it's worth noting that origin was suggested by an archbishop of the Church of England _specifically_ as an argument against the Latin mass. Other suggestions are it's a latinized name of a possibly mythical Norse sorceror, or that it's an evolution of a different psuedo-latin rhyme 'hax pax max deus adimax' (something like 'this mighty salutation we offer before God the greatest', used to invoke spirits (as in, originally it was an *earnest* magic thing)). We know for a fact that the earliest recorded appearance of the phrase 'hocus pocus' is in 'Hocus Pocus Junior: An Anatomy of Legerdemain', a book on stage magic written in 1635, and that it may have been the stage name of a (stage) magician before that.

[@PhilBagels]

@@basedeltazero714 You may be right.

[@Reason4234]

I love that woman, she seems so nice!

[@benkayvfalsifier3817]

The story about the bits of poison creating resistance may be true. I remember watching a video here on yt about a guy who takes care of some of the world's most venomous snakes to make anti-venom. He said he's been bitten a few times and discovered that the effects seemed less effective after every bite so he started injecting himself with small amounts to build up immunity.

[@Amy_the_Lizard]

You can build up immunity to toxins that the body is actually capable of breaking down or ignoring by essentially training it to get better at breaking it down, or training it to function in spite of its presence (same as building a tolerance to alcohol or specific drugs) but if it's something that trashes cells and can't be broken down, there's not really anything you can do to become resistant. The downside is that prolonged exposure to the toxin could still be harmful. For instance, an alcoholic needs to consume more alcohol than a normal person for it to effect them, and in some cases may be able to survive drinking quantities of alcohol that would be lethal to a non-alcoholic because their neurons are used to having to work around the alcohol, but all that alcohol consumption is still slowly damaging their liver, and if they stop consuming it suddenly they'll go into withdrawal because they're body isn't used to functioning without it anymore. Taking small amounts of the same poison over a long period of time to gain resistance to it runs the risk of potentially having something similar occur

[@benkayvfalsifier3817]

@Amy I agree. I was responding to Shad's seeming disbelief in such a possibility.

[@feuerling]

Antivenom is created by immunizing animals like horses or cows to a venom and then extracting the antibodies from their blood. Same thing, but on a larger scale.

[@benkayvfalsifier3817]

@@feuerling I knew that venom from the source animal was needed to make antivenom, but not the actual process to make it. Thx for the info.

[@adambielen8996]

@@benkayvfalsifier3817 Yes, so basically a horse or cow needs way more venom to kill them. So by only injecting a little bit they will just make the antibodies and survive. In theory this can be done with humans but it is highly dangerous as only a very little venom will kill us.

[@oagardo]

It's so cool to see how this lady is so knowledgeable and passionate about this stuff. This was such a cozy video.

[@SwedishSinologyNerd]

Fun fact, earthworm, called Dilong or Earth Dragon are still commonly used as an heat-clearing herb in Chinese medicine. It tastes like actual crap but it works rather well. Cataract surgery is also one of the few surgeries that weren't discontinued in China (Hua Tuo of the late Han dynasty ca 200 AD was the last great Chinese surgeon and the practice pretty much died with him due to the Chinese taboo against 'mutilating' the body), the reason it survived was mainly because it was easy, relatively painless aand had a high success rate. A lot of historical medicine was very touch and go, the better doctors were usually the ones with lots of practical experience rather than medical theory (the promting of puss is a classical example of a logical conclusion drawn without observation, since anyone would see a runny wound would heal slower or cause more problems for a patient than a mostly clean wound).

[@taylorfusher2997]

To Tarille: How do the people in Elden ring eat? Also if you are going to have a large population of people in a civilization, you still need crop fields, and agriculture crop fields, and also you need cattle, pigs and other grazing animals to feed that civilization. I don’t understand it. Did I miss something. Remember I am not a expert, I am just guessing. I don’t truly know anything. So it does not matter what I say anyways or what I did.

[@littlekong7685]

I love this because we learn in Anthropology just how life sustaining practical experience mixed with traditions helped humanity grow. We knew what plants were poisonous because someone found out and told the rest (or they noticed patterns when eating specific foods of being in certain areas causing sickness), then we passed that knowledge down through tradition until it became folklore. Small things like healers washing hands because when they did, surgeries tended to go better than when they didn't. They made up lore as to why so as to more easily educate the next generation. The trouble came when "gentlemen" changed their attitudes and the lore failed to follow because they never asked WHY the old traditions said to wash, only that washing purified the body (but if they are already "pure" then it must not be for them).

[@robo5013]

Indians, Greeks and Romans all had cataract surgeries as well. One of the Roman methods was to insert a hollow needle, move it around to dislodge the film then suck it out through the other end of the needle. They would then use vinegar lotion, breast milk or copper oxide to help the eye heal.

[@SwedishSinologyNerd]

@@robo5013 afaik, the Chinese learnt it from Indians (they will likely deny this tho xD), I remember reading that India was also the first civilisation to invent, or at least record, cataract surgery, so it’s possible it spread to the west from there as well.

[@BayWa4eva]

@@SwedishSinologyNerd india still is the world's apothecary. sure they make the cheap stuff nowadays (and sometimes in poor quality) but the cheap stuff is the most important medicine. the more of a problem an illness is, the earlier it gets researched and the more the solution gets engineered, leading to really really cheap production cost and high success rates. so much that humans outside of india (and a few other countries) become too expensive to make that vital medicine. so at the beginning and the end it is india. at first because they are so great and at the end because they are so cheap. oh the irony.

[@seanmcguire1952]

My grandmother had a blood disorder called, polycythemia vera. The body produces an excess of blood. Leaches is one possible modern treatment method.

[@IuliaBlaga]

It's always a treat for me when Shad interviews such knowledgeable people.

[@tiredman99]

I'd really like to see more videos with this Medieval doctor. She's very well spoken and knowledgeable on what she's talking about. Great that she lets you do a video with her

[@lowtierwaifu3881]

Shad, you uploaded at the same time as the Knights Watch channel. C'mon man, you can't try to split us like that lol

[@davidsigler9690]

"The Poison King: The Life And Legend Of Mithradates-Rome's Deadliest Enemy." By. Adrienne Mayor; good book.

[@Serahpin]

19:00 "The difference between a medicine and poison is dosage" is standard medical knowledge, not just some random aphorism.

[@Serahpin]

15:00 Silver tarnishes when exposed to sulfur poisons. It doesn't cure the poison, but it _does_ readily detect it.

[@DarkSoulSama]

Speaking of Mithridates VI Eupator, in Dragon's Dogma, "Mithridate" is a herb that cures poison.

[@geoshark12]

This is also proof that midevel people were not stupid,they sometimes didn’t have correct information as the base but they weren’t stupid Though some assumptions were very wrong

[@B.D.E.]

No one suggested they were stupid?

[@lonelystrategos]

@Fizzishin Lots of people think everyone in the medieval world was stupid. I've met several of them in my life.

[@TheSuperRatt]

@@lonelystrategos They weren't inherently less intelligent, they were just... challenged, and made odd assumptions. The idea that medieval (and earlier) people were stupid, stems from the fact that they made a lot of incorrect assumptions, about things that were (with the technology available) easily disprovable through observation.

[@geoshark12]

@@lonelystrategos we can thank the Victorian era for that

[@geoshark12]

@@TheSuperRatt I wouldn’t even say challenged, they had the same brains as we do now , the big difference is technology and what they can observe while testing , and people still make very odd assumptions like the earth being flat or vaxccines causing autism

[@PANCAKEMINEZZ]

This has been a lovely video to watch while I eat dinner. Thank you, Shad... From the bottom of my stomach.

[@kellysouter4381]

🥞🥘🥧🥤🤮

[@ARKavli]

Excellent! I incorporated theriacs and Mithridates in my historical Renaissance RPG, along with other not-particularly effective treatments. There were even competing theriacs from different masters. It's amazing the dichotomy between the things they knew that were highly effective and bezoar stones, casting star charts, and unicorn horns.

[@corvoadrian6970]

Nice chad thanks for bringing this topic of medicine from medieval times, maybe do one video about first aid in combat next, that's a very interesting knowledge, keep the amazing work my friend

[@Notsram77]

His name isn't 'chad', it's THAD

[@meria2082]

No, his name is obviously Rhad.

[@amaleeb6438]

I love this series chatting with people at festivals about their area of interest!

[@taylorfusher2997]

To Tarille: How do the people in Elden ring eat? Also if you are going to have a large population of people in a civilization, you still need crop fields, and agriculture crop fields, and also you need cattle, pigs and other grazing animals to feed that civilization. I don’t understand it. Did I miss something. Remember I am not a expert, I am just guessing. I don’t truly know anything. So it does not matter what I say anyways or what I did.

[@DeNihility]

I'm suddenly very thankful for, and appreciative of modern medicine and modern medical practices.

[@drago2210]

12:55 Yo Shad this is in Dragon's Dogma too! Mithridate - "A type of herb that grows throughout Gransys. Consume it to purge the body of poison." Now I wonder what other myths they secretly reference in there that I had no idea about.

[@derheadbanger9039]

I wish you could have her (and others) as guests on the show. Preferrably in person... Or to do lectures in your own castle, years from now.😉

[@taylorfusher2997]

To Tarille: How do the people in Elden ring eat? Also if you are going to have a large population of people in a civilization, you still need crop fields, and agriculture crop fields, and also you need cattle, pigs and other grazing animals to feed that civilization. I don’t understand it. Did I miss something. Remember I am not a expert, I am just guessing. I don’t truly know anything. So it does not matter what I say anyways or what I did.

[@Oikolukuhirvi]

Mithridatism is named after Mithridates VI Eupator (135-63 BC), King of Pontus in Northern Anatolia, modern Turkey. I first learned of this guy by playing Expeditons: Rome, a great game!

[@easyyo6784]

that was interesting. good interview :)

[@iDEATH]

Great video! Doesn't the "theriac" (sp?) sound like it could be the basis for "snake oil" cure-alls? And that thing about using short prayer or chants to time/count mixing was mind blowing for me, in no small part because it seems so obvious after hearing it; it's like counting Mississippis!

[@B.D.E.]

Yep, and other words for them from the time actually do translate to something similar to cure-all. Probably a lot more snake oil type salesmen in those days than there are now!

[@masonwheeler6536]

When Kodak introduced modern color photography film, (color film existed before Kodachrome, but it was of extremely poor quality,) the process was developed not by professional engineers, but by a pair of musicians who dabbled in amateur chemistry and photography. It was their musical talent that actually made it work: by singing passages they could time the chemical reactions more precisely than the laboratory instruments that were available in the 1920s, giving them a leg up on other researchers.

[@Amy_the_Lizard]

Actually, the term "snake-oil" being used to refer to fake medicines in the US derives from a literal snake oil (melted snake fat) that some Chinese immigrants that worked as laborers in the 1800s used for joint pain. Ironically, the fat from the type of water snake they were using actually does work due to specific compounds it contains, but people started making cheap knock-offs out of various other snakes native to the US, and those didn't do anything, which spawned the saying...

[@abcdef27669]

"Doctor, I have an ingrown nail...". "Ok, let's prepare the instruments for the trepanation...".

[@anodyne4670]

She's incredibly charming.

[@MrMysterio1302]

As a doctor this was so interesting! Nice work Shad, I’m big fan from Brazil

[@masonwheeler6536]

One noteworthy ingredient in Theriac was opium. So yeah, like the mandrake root, it would have had some level of "dimming your awareness" that could have beneficial medicinal effects, as long as you didn't take too much of it.

[@Tyka_F4FT]

Seeing your materials from medieval festivals brings one thing up in my mind. Get yourself a pair of historically accurate glasses, those would fit your clothes and you can make a hella interesting video of it.

[@als3022]

They take a little practice to wear, but I agree him getting a period correct pair would be great.

[@mikeparsons1746]

Very interesting. In the book/show Outlander, a nurse from the 1940s is transported back in time to the early 1700s. Her knowledge of medicine far outpaces that of the time, and she has to adapt what she knows to the herbal treatments of the day. This presentation reminds me of that.

[@DelayedSpaceOwl]

This is an early post. Very interesting topic, can't wait to watch the video in its entirety

[@NotAnAlchemist_Ed]

Once again, fantastic episode. I wouldn´t mind a series on every aspect of medieval daily life.

[@littletenzo3494]

shadaversity is one of my comfort channels. thank you shad

[@jmiki89]

20:48 "Pater Noster" (literally meaning "Our Father" in latin) are the first two words from the Lord's Prayer. As the prayer was chanted in latin which the average medieval people did not speak, therefore the whole prayer was just some meaningless mumbo-jumbo, the opening words became the name of the prayer, often in the form of "paternoster". Similar as Ave Maria aka Hail Mary, though to be honest I don't know if the Lord's Prayer is casually referred as "Our Father" by native english speakers these days (we do call it "Mi Atyánk" in Hungary, which - you guessed it - the hungarian translation).

[@Riwillion]

The practice of mithridatism (named after Mithridates) actually does work, but only for certain poisons. Basically, if your body can learn to metabolise the toxin faster than normal, then you can make yourself more resistant to it, even significantly so. There is at least one video on the topic on youtube in case anyone is interested.

[@ZeroSalvator]

I don't know if any of the bestiaries refer to unicorns as alicorns. However I do know the (horn) of a unicorn is referred to consistently as alicorn. A modern misnomer is alicorn being used to refer to a unicorn and pegasi (pegasus plural) hybrid.

[@Enyavar1]

If anyone else was also curious which physician was doing experiments on unicorn stuff (as our friendly neighborhood witch told), all indications I've found point towards Ambroise Paré, who lived in the 16th century, which is renaissance era already, not quite medieval. Paré tested a LOT of fake medicins to weed out good from bad stuff, and he was actually a professional surgeon.

[@christopherknorr2895]

Shad didn't know what Pater Nosters were. Metatron will be entering the chat soon.

[@tessareea]

I absolutely love this! Even if they don't understand how or why something works, if it works, it works!

[@charlesmartinez5869]

Neat. That note about reciting a phrase to keep track of time is really interesting.

[@janette2422]

Hey Shad; Roman Catholic here from USA. "Pah-tehr Not-ster' is the Our Father prayer in Latin

[@linwong1494]

Wow! I wish she had a youtube channel because this stuff is so so interesting! I'm a folk magick practitioner, so seeing this was so cool. A time when magick and medicine were not so far from one another.

[@grayrook8637]

Pretty crazy what work even today. Like maggots and leeches are both highly valued for their unobtrusive means of removing blood and necrotic tissue respectively. A leech jaw can make a cut more precise than and clumsy human tool just by natural design.

[@theworldofcronis]

Love your normal content (5/5), and this kind of deepdive is pure gold. giving Shadiversity an avg score 6 on scale 1 to 5.

[@dwarlord3716]

The thing I learned. Is that even with our modern medicine we still use a lot of medieva/ancientl medicine/remedies today. A lot of that I learned from the channel 'today I found out.' modern society has refined/improved the medicine and techniques, but the concepts are still there. Such as leeches. We Still use leeches today. (Albeit, as a last resort.) To reattach severed limbs and fingers. There are special enzymes in the leeches saliva that prevents blood clotting during the reattach process.

[@lasselen9448]

There is one thing this otherwise captivating interview needs: a big "DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME, KIDS" warning.

[@TheWickedWizardOfOz1]

I cured my sister's blind eye by following the tips in this video, I don't know what you're talking about

[@Likexner]

Or maybe just dont let kids and mentally deficient people watch it.

[@speed150mph]

What’s funny is how many of these remedies I know from working with livestock, we still use many of them. For example, some vets use silver nitrate as a cauterizing agent and to prevent infection. I know some farriers who use copper sulphate for thrush in hooves. When dealing with hoof abscesses we commonly use Epsom salts to draw out the infection. For muscle inflammation and swelling, I’ve used clay poultices on a few occasions with great success.

[@atpsynthase7990]

It's a little odd that you're so surprised that so much of it works. Galenic medicine was dominant for more than a thousand years and had a very strong, deep and broad theoretical basis in Neoplatonic philosophy, every bit the European equivalent of traditional Chinese medicine.

[@simpson6700]

always love the medieval festival videos

[@mkuttler01]

Fascinating. Thanks for doing these interviews and sharing with us. I love em.

[@UnreasonableOpinions]

I've done some work in compliance for the TGA - Australia's agency that approves new pharmaceuticals - and I can tell you that nothing has changed in terms of people coming up with half-baked theories about what will cure certain illnesses and unpleasant feelings. All we've really done in the last century is get better at delegating the role of checking which drugs actually work to more qualified people.

[@JayU10]

Dude, Shad is looking great!

[@hoo7797]

20:47 the Pater Noster is what's called the Lord's Prayer, but in Latin (the first line is "Our Father" which in Latin is "Pater Noster")

[@ScratchySpoon]

Another great one Shad! I'm loving these vids where you introduce someone from a medieval fair and have them share with us what they know and we get to see what's similar today and what's different, and what we didn't know about our ancestors.

[@TheSpeep]

On the radium medicine, I also remember wristwatches with a radioactive backplate were very common, i think especially for children, because that way you could read them in the dark. And what could possibly go wrong walking around with a slab of radioactive material all day?

[@SeantheBawse]

Loving these festival videos. They bring me back to my chuldhood. I know it's not related, but my quest makes no exceptions: Shad, review A Knight's Tale!

[@serindas]

I'm a collector of old books, and trust me, you will find several weird statements about medicine even in books of the 1920.

[@josephnebeker7976]

I love your interviews at these fairs. Keep them up!

[@matiasfalcone2821]

Regarding the aspirin, a lot of modern (and not so modern) compounds used in medicines started as destilled and proccesed forms of medicinal herbs used in the past. Nowadays we can identify the specific compound, extract it and concentrate it to be more effective, but the plain herb had some effect. The extraction of salicylic acid to produce acetylsalicylic acid is a rather common chemical lab experiment in some chemestry related university classes.

[@adorabell4253]

I love these videos. Just a wealth of knowledge and fantastic interviewing.

[@parva777]

This one is fantastic ! Thank you Shad !

[@alexshadowfax1119]

I figured you weren't uploading videos anymore as I haven't seen any in my subscription feed for a couple months, but lo and behold you've uploaded plenty and I just wasn't getting notified.

[@KingDeadMan]

Title: "She's a witch!" Me: *Slowly reaches for pitch fork* 🌚

[@elusiveflame7786]

Loving these festival interview videos!!! Keep it up Shad!!!

[@taylorfusher2997]

To Tarille: How do the people in Elden ring eat? Also if you are going to have a large population of people in a civilization, you still need crop fields, and agriculture crop fields, and also you need cattle, pigs and other grazing animals to feed that civilization. I don’t understand it. Did I miss something. Remember I am not a expert, I am just guessing. I don’t truly know anything. So it does not matter what I say anyways or what I did.

[@ApfelJohannisbeere]

Thanks for sharing this medieval knowledge with us!

[@tomdijkstra4196]

A lot more interesting informations than I thought! Great video ! I actually went to Guy de Chauliac Hospital (not a medieval one) in Montpellier, France, and now I know why its called that way !

[@haydenrobbie7368]

to quote sam o'nella "modern medicine, thank you for not being worse than no medicine"

[@juancholo7502]

Awesome video, thanks Shad!

[@dragonfireink139]

Awesome video! So much interesting information to get us started

[@brickgarden]

Fascinating stuff! I love these kinds of videos.

[@GarnachoEmpire712]

As someone who studies medicine through time in gcse this is great and even helps with revision

[@fluttzkrieg4392]

"Flame and bleeding ball" That sounds delightful. I'm glad we weren't born during that era.

[@frozenpants3274]

Love these types of videos Shad, some of your best content. I wonder if you could do some networking to meet more people like this and learn in person?

[@FVWLN]

Theriac was really a fascinating and VERY popular stuff. Especcially from Venice, they sold it all over europe. In almost all (wealthy) parts of Europe, the seals from Theriac bottles or boxes can be found (today these are populpar collector items)

[@JeremieBPCreation]

Great fascinating video! Love learning with Shad!

[@jeffrey778]

this lady was really cool. thanks for the content

[@korone609]

Wonderful to see this. I am ironically allergic to a lot of allergy medication so I have been using natural treatments for years for seasonal allergies.

[@ginnyjollykidd]

Kohl (not the store) is an eyeliner made from charred wood in the Middle East and in India from wood ashes. They were put around the eyes to protect them from infection. Especially a baby's eyes because they could easily get an infection as they were born. In the 1960's, in America, silver nitrate, a photography chemical, was used in a newborn's eyes. Today, an antibiotic-erythromycin-is used to prevent infection and blindness in newborns' eyes.

[@UnrelatedAntonym]

26:50 Mercury treatment for syphilis is a reason that the Lewis and Clarke expeditions' trail can be coroberated.

[@reaganjanaerichard5009]

I just love this stuff so much.

[@Tizjiz]

Master of Dogs is one of the most baller titles

[@frostdova]

This video showed up in my recommendeds, loved every bit of it