Acts of Care, Recovering Women in Late Medieval Health, Recovering Women in Late Medieval Health

Author

Ritchey; Sara

Year

2021

Publisher

Cornell University Press

Language

English

Pages

ISBN

978-1-50175-353-4

Link

Last Update

11-Apr-2026

Keywords

History ; European Studies

Description

A young beguine named Ida, who later joined the Cistercian community of Roosendaal, routinely visited the poor and sick in her hometown of Leuven, providing them with food, clothing, and other bodily comforts.¹ The unnamed Cistercian monk who recorded her Life in the later thirteenth century reports that Ida was once called to a nearby home where she found a man in bed (aegrotus), nearly dead, and already having received the viaticum. She quickly inquired into the man’s illness, eliciting information about the exact site and symptoms he experienced. After inspecting his pestiferous swelling, Ida drained the puss, and oversaw...