LECTURE No. 4. Medicine in the ancient Russian state. Kievan Rus IX-XIV centuries

1. Historical characteristics of the period under review

Восточные славяне основали свое государство в начале IX в. Благодаря летописям до нас дошли сведения об этом событии, а государство стало известно как Киевская Русь.

На Руси были значительные продвижения в социально-экономическом плане: стали разделяться земледелие и ремесло, общины постепенно мельчали, формировались слои населения, различавшиеся доходами, а потому получили развитие раннефеодальные отношения. Крупнейшими центрами торговцев и ремесленников были Киев, Новгород, Полоцк, Чернигов, Псков, в которых росло народонаселение, а следовательно, и спрос на товары общего пользования. Наиважнейшей исторической вехой был великий путь из варяг в греки, который соединил Русь с Византией и Скандинавией. Объединение этих земель было проведено первым киевским князем Олегом (882-912). Это объединение то и завершило формирование Киевской Руси.

Все земли восточных славян были объединены и приняты в состав Киевской Руси окончательно при Владимире Красное Солнышко (978-1015). Им же для формирования единой народности было принято решение о переходе Киевской Руси к единой религии - христианству в византийском его варианте.

Some reasons for adopting Christianity:

1) the social inequality of people required justification and explanation;

2) a single state demanded a single religion;

3) isolation of Russia from Christian European countries.

Принятие единой религии стало хорошим политическим ходом для налаживания контактов с византийской культурой, да и с самой Византией. Выбор религии был не случаен, так как еще со времен правления князя Игоря (912-945) многие его приближенные, а также и жена его, княгиня Ольга, правившая Русью после смерти Игоря и приходившаяся Владимиру родной бабкой, были христианами.

В Киеве уже была церковь св. Ильи, однако распространение, принятие и утверждение единой религии всем славянским народам было процессом затяжным и болезненным и длилось более века.

В середине IX в. на Руси была создана славянская азбука - кириллица. Несмотря на то что до крещения на Руси были предпосылки письменного объяснения, начало славянской письменности относят именно к этому периоду. Заслугу эту стоит отнести на счет Константина (в монашестве Кирилла (827-869)) и брата его Мефодия, которые и придумали кириллицу, состоявшую изначально из 38 букв, для того, чтобы доступно можно было проповедовать христианскую религию людям, не владеющим иными языками, кроме славянского.

Так как в проповедничестве христианства более всего на тот момент нуждалась Моравия (посол к Кириллу и Мефодию с просьбой о создании азбуки был отправлен именно оттуда), она первая приняла кириллицу, и в болгарском государстве был учрежден День славянской письменности, который с течением времени приобрел всенародные масштабы и празднуется в странах со славянской культурой и письменностью 24 мая.

На развитие Руси в политическом плане оказало влияние не только принятие христианства, но и династические браки потомков князя Владимира. Его сын - Ярослав Мудрый - заключил брак со шведской принцессой Ингигерд. У них было трое дочерей: Анастасия, вышедшая замуж за венгерского короля Андрея, Анна - за короля Франции Генриха I и Елизавета, дважды замужняя - сначала за Харальдом, королем Норвегии, а потом после его смерти за королем Дании - Свейном. В свою очередь, сын Ярослава, Всеволод, женился на дочери Константина Мономаха, византийского императора.

Цели, которые преследовались путем заключения этих браков, носили политический характер, так как укрепляли отношения с Англией и Францией, а это, в свою очередь, ослабляло завоевательные движения викингов и германцев у западных и северных границ Руси.

С той поры в Европе официально были утверждены три монарха высшего ранга - император священной Римской империи, цесарь Византии и великий князь Киевский. Это облегчало обмен политической и культурной информацией между странами, а также дало начало такому феномену, как русская средневековая культура.

Через Русь проходили античные рукописи, которые переводили монахи. Их труды, написанные на пергаменте, сохранились и до наших дней.

Важнейшим событием того времени была организация в Софийском соборе, построенном в честь победы над печенегами, первой библиотеки (1037 г.). Организовал ее Ярослав Мудрый, который вообще был очень заинтересован в распространении письменности и культуры на земле русской. Позже его внучка Янка Всеволодовна организовала первую женскую школу при Андреевском монастыре (1086 г.). Судя по археологическим раскопкам, грамотность на Руси получила очень широкое распространение, так как найденные при раскопках берестяные грамоты принадлежали перу не только князей, но и простых ремесленников.

Получив высокое развитие, Древнерусское государство просуществовало до 1132 г., когда после смерти Мстислава Владимировича оно стало распадаться на феодальные владения, которые положили начало периоду феодальной раздробленности. Никакого положительного значения это на тот момент не имело, так как Русь потеряла политическую независимость и подвергалась нашествию монгольскому-татарского Хана Батыя (1208-1255 гг.).

However, in Russia, over time, the following prerequisites for unification took shape.

1. Political:

1) the general desire for liberation from the Horde yoke;

2) the unity of Russia in culture, religion, language.

2. Economic:

1) urban development;

2) settlement and land development in the northeast;

3) the expansion of feudal estates and the growth of the feudally dependent population;

4) transition to three-field and increase in productivity;

5) rise in trade.

The most important dates of the period under review

882 г. - поход князя Олега на Киев. После того как он убил Аскольда, он стал княжить в Киеве до 912 г.

988 - adoption of Christianity in Russia.

1072 г. - создание кодекса законов - "Русская Правда". Она была создана сыновьями Ярослава Мудрого.

Early XNUMXth century - Creation of "The Tale of Bygone Years".

1223 - Battle of the Kalka. The Mongol-Tatars defeated the Russian army.

1237-1240 гг. - нашествие Хана Батыя на Русь. Начало монгольского-татарского ига.

1240 г. - Невская битва. 5 апреля 1242 г. - Ледовое побоище, где Александр Невский одержал победу над немецкими рыцарями.

8 сентября 1380 гг. - Куликовская битва. Дмитрий Иванович Донской разгромил войско монголо-татарского.

1382 г. - нападение золотоордынского хана Тохтамыша на Москву, разорение Москвы.

2. Trends in medicine in the XNUMXth-XNUMXth centuries

In ancient Russia, there were three main forms of healing:

1) folk medicine. The people who practiced it were called sorcerers and healers;

2) monastic medicine (mainly became widespread after the adoption of Christianity in Russia);

3) secular (or it is also called secular) medicine, which appeared during the reign of Yaroslav the Wise. She also bore the name of a foreigner.

Doctors-artisans specialized in healing various diseases - skin, internal, there were also chiropractors, "kidney" masters (treatment of hemorrhoids).

Ethnoscience. Transfer of medical knowledge

Folk medicine is the oldest branch of medicine in the history of Russia. In fact, its roots were paganism, which was practiced by the Slavic tribes before the unification and creation of the state and before the adoption of Christianity. Thus, the moment of the birth of traditional medicine can be attributed to the time from which the historical description of the life of the Russian people begins, that is, to prehistoric times. With the adoption of Christianity, it has not been eradicated, it has survived more than a millennium of the already historical life of the people, and even in our time it continues to develop, is widely used in practice by those people who master this art, and sometimes come into dispute with scientific medicine.

In our time, a fair number of cases are known when scientific medicine turned out to be powerless in the face of some case of a disease, even though it has reached the highest theoretical and practical development and technical equipment. And there were cases when a person was literally "pulled out of the coffin" and restored to his health by people who knew the skills of traditional medicine. With the development and growth of the Russian state, traditional medicine until the second half of the XNUMXth century. remained the only way to treat diseases and maintain the health of ordinary people, since there was no more accessible medical care. The situation changed in the second half of the XNUMXth century, when the first zemstvo institutions and proper zemstvo medicine appeared.

No one can explain why, but the concern for the health of the entire Russian people was of little interest to the rulers of the Russian land for a very long time. existed until the end of the XNUMXth century. Only "sovereign doctors" who treated the sovereign, his family and those close to him. Peter I tried to change the situation, but did not achieve radical changes, making medicine accessible to the privileged segments of the population. I must say that at that time he did not even think that the help of a doctor is needed by all sectors of society.

Only Alexander II, who abolished serfdom in 1861 and carried out a large number of transformations in all spheres of Russian life, became the author of the first steps towards the availability of medical care, carried out the zemstvo reform and introduced zemstvo medicine.

Since its inception, healing has differed from other types of medicine in that it combines both knowledge of the healing properties of natural remedies and faith in miraculous powers.

Healers and soothsayers, witches, sorcerers, witches, enchantresses, magicians were engaged in healing in Russia, they were afraid of them, since they were elevated to the rank of intermediaries between the healing forces of nature and man.

They were afraid of them because they believed that they could turn the mysteries of nature both for the good and for the harm of man. They were engaged in performing various magical love spells, lapels, medicine, divination, casting and removing damage, etc. They were so trusted that not only common people, but also princes and members of princely families turned to them for help.

Folk healers knew how to do bloodletting, trepanation of the skull, as well as treat injuries (apply splints), wounds with the help of various ointments, cauterization.

As time passed, healers acquired a new name - healers. They became the organizers of family schools, in which the knowledge of medicine passed from father to son.

Lechs widely used in their work not only herbal remedies (such as birch leaves, garlic, wormwood, horseradish, plantain, onion, hellebore, blueberries, etc.) and various magical conspiracies, but also products of animal and mineral origin, for example, chrysolite, ground into powder, was used for severe pain in the abdomen, and women were recommended to wear a ruby ​​to facilitate childbirth. The most famous healing remedy from the time of the healers, which has come down to our days, has become the so-called sour water or narzan. The name is originally Russian and in translation means "bogatyr-water".

The first mention of lechtsy was found in "Russian Truth" - the oldest code of laws. This code was compiled under Yaroslav the Wise in the 1113th century, and Vladimir Monomakh supplemented it with his "Charter" (1125-XNUMX). It was there that for the first time they found a law on the right to demand compensation for moral damage from a person who caused injury not only to the one who was injured, but also to the state treasury, as well as the right of a doctor (healer) to take remuneration for the assistance provided, the so-called bribe.

Folk healers compiled treatises on the use of the healing powers of nature - herbalists and healers. This became especially widespread after the adoption of Christianity and the appearance of writing. Unfortunately, we inherited only a small fraction of those sources, since most of them died or were stolen during the wars. It is interesting that in the books that have come down to us there are means that were used not only after the adoption of Christianity, but also long before it.

Monastery medicine

The emergence of monastic hospitals can be attributed to the time of the adoption of Christianity in Russia. The monks, who believed that God knows everything on earth, perceived illness as a punishment for human sins, and sometimes as the infusion of demons into the human soul and body. Therefore, healing from illness was seen as God's forgiveness and remission of sins.

Monastic hospitals were called "hospitals" and "hospice". The first mention of them dates back to the 1091th century. The most famous of them were the hospital in Pereslavl, founded in 1051 by Metropolitan Ephraim of Kyiv, and the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, founded in XNUMX by monks Anthony and Theodosius on the outskirts of Kyiv. She got her name from the word "pechery", that is, the caves in which the monks lived and did their noble work. Kiev-Pechersk Lavra left its traces in the development of medicine and culture in Russia. Many chronicles were written there: from Nestor, Nikon, Sylvester.

From there came the hagiographic literature. In the XIII century. there was created the "Kyiv-Pechersky Paterikon" - a collection of stories and stories about this famous monastery. Many famous architects and painters took part in creating the interior of the Lavra. About them, the life and activities of the monks, the ways and customs of Kyiv were told in the patericon. In 1661, it was first printed and published in the printing house of the same Kiev-Pechersk Lavra.

People who entered the history of Russia are buried in the caves of the monastery: the founder of the Lavra, Anthony, the chronicler Nestor, the healers Damian and Agapius, and even the founder of Moscow, Yuri Dolgoruky.

Oddly enough, in the Lavra they found ways to treat a wide variety of diseases - from infectious to mental. Within the walls of the monastery there was even something like isolation wards, where the seriously ill were placed, they were provided with individual care. People who no longer had hope of recovery were often healed by monks, after which they believed in God and prayers and were tonsured monks.

Among the most famous healers who practiced in the Lavra were such people as the Monk Alimpiy, who became famous for treating people with the most severe cases of leprosy. For the treatment of skin diseases, he used icon paints, which apparently contained various medicinal substances. Similarly, the holy and blessed Agapios was a monk of the Lavra. He is known for curing the grandson of Yaroslav the Wise, who later became the prince of Russia, and went down in history as Vladimir Monomakh.

The healers of the monastery treated for free, the patients were treated with tolerance, with love up to self-sacrifice. This attitude is the basics of medical ethics, which in our time, when studying at universities, is given great importance.

The monastic hospitals were also centers of learning and enlightenment: the monks collected Byzantine and Greek manuscripts, translated from Latin and Greek, combined information into collections, supplemented their knowledge and knowledge of their ancestors, and taught medicine from these sources. Such writings as "Christian topography" by Kosma Indikoplova (circa 1549), "Shestodnev" by John the Exarch of Bulgaria, as well as the "Izbornik" translated from the Bulgarian original in 1073, which consisted of excerpts from the works of the greatest Byzantine theologians and preachers, were very famous. . In 1076 another Izbornik was compiled. It has become a kind of source of knowledge in all areas - from home life and the basics and norms of Christian morality to guidelines and advice on the treatment of various diseases, maintaining a healthy lifestyle, proper nutrition, etc.

secular medicine

Secular medicine appeared in Russia since the reign of Yaroslav the Wise. The representatives of this branch of medicine were doctors of free practice, who did not consider themselves either folk healers or monastic doctors. These were people, often of foreign origin (an Armenian doctor, whose name is unknown, who was very popular even at the princely court; the healer Peter, a Syrian who lived at the court of Nikolai Davydovich (prince of the XNUMXth century) in Chernigov) and they took money for helping the sick , without being embarrassed, which caused indignation among representatives of other branches of medicine. The monastic medicine, which was gaining momentum, especially struggled with secular and folk medicine.

She erected the actions of magicians and sorcerers, as well as foreigners, into the framework of demonic deeds. There was an active persecution of sages, sorcerers, etc., caught even burned at the stake. These actions were akin to the European Inquisition. However, despite the stubborn struggle, healing in Russia did not become a purely ecclesiastical privilege. This can be seen from sources dating back to the period of the classical Middle Ages, which continue to mention both folk healing and secular medicine. With the passage of time, these two branches of medicine have acquired more and more differences and become isolated from each other.

Sanitary business. Baths. Epidemics

Unlike Western Europe, sanitary business in Russia in the X-XIV centuries. was quite well developed. This is evidenced by the excavations of ancient Novgorod, on the territory of which about 50 estates were found, equipped with baths, water pipes and drains. Entire areas were covered with wooden pavements dating back to the XNUMXth-XNUMXth centuries, in contrast to Western Europe, in which the first pavements were built only in the XNUMXth century, and the water supply system - in the XNUMXth century. These "innovations" were found in Germany.

A special place in ancient Russia was occupied by a bath. Folk healers already then understood what benefits are brought to the body when harmful substances are removed from it along with sweat. A bathhouse in a house or estate was the cleanest place: they not only washed there, but also took birth, looked after newborns, and doctors and chiropractors were invited there. The first mention of the Russian bath refers to 1113 (chronicle from Nestor). A special misfortune of the Old Russian state was the epidemic of infectious diseases or "pestilence". Generalized diseases were written in chronicles, and only for the period from the 47th to the XNUMXth centuries. you can find information about XNUMX epidemics. They fell ill with plague, cholera, leprosy and other diseases. The centers of the emergence of epidemics were the border cities through which foreign caravans passed - Novgorod, Smolensk.

So, for example, in 1230 in Smolensk, an epidemic claimed tens of thousands of lives, which indicates the extreme contagiousness of the disease. People understood that the disease passes from person to person, so they delimited the infected places where the sick were. If the epidemic spread to the whole city, the inhabitants went into the forests, leaving their houses, belongings and sick relatives, and sat out until the pestilence passed. However, the moment when the last patient died and there seemed to be no one to get infected was taken as getting rid of the disease. Knowing nothing about pathogens, people returned to the cities, and the epidemic sometimes returned with them. Considering the place cursed, people went so far as to burn entire settlements. Their mistake was also the fact that before the XV century. people who died from epidemics were buried according to religious laws in church cemeteries.

This contributed to the renewal and spread of pestilence. Only in the XVI century. those who died from infectious diseases began to be buried outside the cemetery, outside the cities and villages. People did not understand that the cause of epidemics was not supernatural forces, but poverty and non-observance of hygiene rules, therefore, in some cases, it came to desperate acts: for example, in the XIV century. in Novgorod, during the plague epidemics, residents erected the church of St. Andrew Stratilates in 24 hours. She has survived to this day. During the period of the Mongol-Tatar invasion in Russia, there was the largest number of epidemics, most people died.

The Old Russian state existed for three centuries. In 1132, the son of Vladimir Monomakh, the last prince of Kyiv, Mstislav Vladimirovich, died. The state broke up into several principalities - this was a period of feudal fragmentation, which weakened the political and economic independence of Ancient Russia. The invasions of the Mongol-Tatar hordes of Batu Khan finally destroyed all the principles of government and life on Russian land.

Author: Bachilo E.V.

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