Archaeology Magazine - September/October 1984 - 66

CAKE

ARTI

HANDSCREENED
SERIGRAPHS
OFPREHISTORIC
BY
PAINTINGS
INTERNATIONALLY
KNOWN
ARTIST
DOUGLAS
MAZONOWICZ

France.
18*24'
Cave
Painting.
of250.8colors.
Edition
$150.
50 IMAGES
FROMTHE
CAVESOF FRANCE,
SPAIN,
CENTRAL
SAHARA
&USA
ART
GALLERY
OFPREHISTORIC
10001
220 FifthAve.(Rm.711)N.Y.C.
Please send me your free booklet,
Name
Address

Authors...

LOOKRK

FORA

PUBLISHER?
Learn
how to have
book
your
published.
You are invitedto send for a free illustrated guidebook which explains how
your book can be published,promoted
and marketed.
Whether your
subject is fiction,non-fiction
or poetry, scientific,scholarly, specialized,
(even controversial) this
handsome 40page brochure
show you
how to arrange
^will
for promptpublication.
Unpublished authors, especially, will
find this booklet valuable and informative. For your free copy, write to:
VANTAGE
PRESS,Inc.
Dept.B-66
516 W. 34 St., New York, N.Y. 10001
66

ARCHAEOLOGY

SCIENCE
by Stuart
Health

SCOPE
Fleming
Care

Norman

As a period of English history, the first
half of the twelfth century a.D. hardly
craves immediate attention. The excitement of the brief but crucial Battle of
Hastings in 1066 was fast being forgotten by then, as was much of the effect
of the violent squabbles between the
descendants of Canute during the 30
years before that epic event. There were
years of famine, notably over the period
1124-26, when harvest failures sent the
price of corn soaring; and in the four
years following the bitterly cold winter
of 1149, when the Thames was so deeply
frozen it was able to support loaded wagons. But such hardships were scarcely a
new experience for the indigenous AngloSaxons or their Norman conquerors.
Everyone still remembered the "hungry
forties" of Edward the Confessor's reign
and their heavy toll on life.
What we now recognize as important
is that it was a period of exceptionally
effective fusion of people with widely
varying cultural backgrounds. Many
thousands of Normans had migrated to
England after the Conquest, and they
had been followed by large numbers of
Flemings and Bretons as well as a trickle
of Germans and Italians. The Norman
genius for administration and the continental flair for theoretical scholarship
were stimuli for change, but in many
areas native Saxon practices continued
to carry appreciable weight.
So it was with medicine. Most known
physicians had Norman names, but
medical manuscripts only thinly veil
their strong Saxon associations. The
melding of separate cultural traditions
created a vital awareness of the diversity of social conditions throughout the
land, most obviously in a radically new
approach to public health care.
Henry's reforms
The force behind these new attitudes
was undoubtedly Henry I. Although by
all accounts he was a short, ruddy man
whose tendency to fatness later in life
made him an unimposing figure, this
king was a dynamic leader. His legendary cruelty, too, has to be put in perspective. During his father's reign he had
been aware that, in Saxon society, the
notions of personal rank, delegated royal
authority and landlord's rights were all
Stuart Fleming is Scientific Director
of MASCA, Museum Applied Science
Center for Archaeology , University
Museum , University of Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia , PA.

England
confused. Rules of tenure and inheritance
varied widely, even village to village.
When Henry came to power in 1100,
he made government an intensely personal operation, and its staff, institutions
and scope of decision making were severely limited. Adherence to feudal loyalties was regarded as a sign of resistance
to his will. Although he often excised
that resistance by violent means, he also
recognized the need for diplomacy on
occasion. Thus he successfully enrolled
the help of the highly respected Anselm
of Canterbury to resolve (in his favor)
the question of allegiance of prelates at
the time of their consecration, and so
turned aside a potentially bloody conflict with the country's baronial faction.
He also learned early in his reign to defer
to the skills of his lifelong executive,
Bishop Roger of Salisbury, particularly
whenever troubles in his home duchy of
repeatedly called him back
* Normandy
across the Channel to reassert his rights.
Fortunately, Henry and his officials
lived in an era when religious enthusiasm inspired courtiers and clergymen
alike to extend themselves in concrete
works of charity. Although he acted for
his own advantage, this king was exceptionally responsive to concerns of public
welfare, and the range of his provisions
for commerce and education was unprecedented. Perhaps his exceptional interest in popular health care was fostered
by his two wives' many charities. His
first wife, Matilda, was certainly a power
in policy making too, but she was best
remembered after her death in 1118 for
her active fight against the spread of
leprosy (see "The Leper's Dilemma,"Science Scope, Archaeology,
January/
February 1983), and for her foundation
of the large leprosarium at Saint Gilesin-the-Fields in the outskirts of London.
His second wife, the exquisite Adetiza
of Louvain, when she became queen in
1121, founded hospitals of her own and
did much to encourage physicians to
broaden their skills.
The court physicians
Henry's own enthusiasm for physicians-his retinue always included several of them, albeit some who doubled as
clerks and advisors- is a little surprising, since lifelong experience of their
profession can hardly have inspired his
confidence. He was 18years old when, in
1087, a then very much overweight William the Conqueror (Henry's father) was
goaded by Philip I of France into rising
from his sickbed and attacking a rebel-

Archaeology Magazine - September/October 1984

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Archaeology Magazine - September/October 1984