Physicians, patients and treatments in early medieval German (especially Bavarian) legislation

Résumé 0

This study analyses the provisions of some early medieval "German" legislation concerning medical issues, such as healing, diseases and injuries. After a brief introduction, the study discusses the sedes materiae and the issue of dating those German codes (Volksrechte) that constitute the basis of comparison here, namely Bavarian, Visigothic, Langobardic and Alemannian law. Within the context of medical treatment during the early Middle Ages, a brief description is given of early medieval medicine and the physician's legal status as set out in legal and non-legal sources. This is followed by the analysis of the regulation of diseases, miscarriage, bodily injury and other injuries in the lex Baiuvariorum, that is then compared with the provisions of the above mentioned German codes. The study thereafter examines the legal consequences of diseases that influenced the legal capacity and the capability to participate in legal proceedings as well as the position with regard to abortion, the involvement of the physician and the treatment applied by him within the context of the law and folk language terminology regarding bodily injury and injuries.