Understand the Origins of Medieval Medicine and the Hippocratic Oath
The Lorsch Pharmacopoeia is a medical-pharmaceutical manuscript from the 8th century, conveying knowledge of the use of natural substances as medicine in the European Middle Ages.
Lorsch Pharmacopoeia, Baroque cover 2 (8th century (additions and corrections 9th and 10th centuries)) by Several scribes in the Benedictine Abbey of LorschUNESCO Memory of the World
Lorsch Pharmacopoeia
The Lorsch Pharmacopoeia medical-pharmaceutical manuscript, created circa 785, is the earliest, reliably datable compendium of classical remedies in the Greco-Roman tradition from the early Middle Ages in Europe. It is the only surviving text of its kind from this era.
Opened manuscript, fol. 18v and 19r (8th century (additions and corrections 9th and 10th centuries)) by Several scribes in the Benedictine Abbey of LorschUNESCO Memory of the World
Phytotherapy Textbook
The 8th century manuscript concentrates on the treatment of illnesses “from head to toe,” and is written as a fundamental textbook committed exclusively to phytotherapy, the use of extracts of natural origin as medicines.
Overview of chapters, fol. 17v (8th century (additions and corrections 9th and 10th centuries)) by Several scribes in the Benedictine Abbey of LorschUNESCO Memory of the World
Medical Substitution List
The manuscript provides a pharmaceutical substitution list. Namely, suggestions for swapping ingredients based on similar therapeutic effects that enabled the replacement of exotic, expensive substances with local, inexpensive ones.
List of plant names, fol. 16v (8th century (additions and corrections 9th and 10th centuries)) by Several scribes in the Benedictine Abbey of LorschUNESCO Memory of the World
Botanical Compendium
The book also includes astronomical aspects and with around 250 individually named pharmaceutical plants. It is an important botanical compendium.
Foreword, fol. 1r (8th century (additions and corrections 9th and 10th centuries)) by Several scribes in the Benedictine Abbey of LorschUNESCO Memory of the World
Classical Learning
The manuscript's foreword provides the first and most comprehensive discussion from the Carolingian age advocating for classical learning. It was fundamental in the reappraisal of medicine during the Carolingian educational reform in the late 8th century.
Overview of chapters, fol. 9r (8th century (additions and corrections 9th and 10th centuries)) by Several scribes in the Benedictine Abbey of LorschUNESCO Memory of the World
Hippocratic Oath
The codex is the earliest medieval document to reflect the professional ethics of physicians from antiquity and to pass on the Hippocratic Oath.
Catalogue of imperial library, fol. 42v (8th century (additions and corrections 9th and 10th centuries)) by Several scribes in the Benedictine Abbey of LorschUNESCO Memory of the World
Arabic Medicine's Scientific Principles
The book upholds the same scientific principles as Arabic medicine, which developed simultaneously, thereby linking medieval monastic medicine with classical theory and connecting the medicine of the Arabic-Muslim tradition with related phenomena in South and East Asia.
Opened manuscript, fol. 18v and 19r (8th century (additions and corrections 9th and 10th centuries)) by Several scribes in the Benedictine Abbey of LorschUNESCO Memory of the World
Lorsch Pharmacopoeia Today
Today, the manuscript is one of the main sources for research on both Medieval monastic medicine and on the actual effective properties of plants.
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