medieval manuscript book binding in ireland

MEDIEVAL MANUSCRIPT BOOK BINDING IN IRELAND FULL

A History of Islam: The Second Largest Religion in Today’s World Began With a Divine Revelationĭuring that time, Gaelic learning and literature was being revived by powerful aristocratic patrons.

The First Caliphs of Islam: Power, Corruption, War, and Treachery in the Rashidun Caliphate.

Traditional African Medicine and its Role in Healing in a Modern World.In the 15th century, there was a class of hereditary Irish physicians whose skills were very respected and it seemed that this was in part because of their learning in Muslim medicine. Irish doctors often went abroad to train and the work by the Persian author was probably brought back from the continent. Prof Ó Macháin states that almost one in four works written in Gaelic at the time were on medical subjects. Most likely the page was from an encyclopedia that was used to train doctors in Ireland. It shows that medicine from the Muslim world was dominant in European societies at the time. The discovery of a translated page credited to Ibn Sīna’s work in an Irish book is a testament to the immense prestige of Islamic learning in 15th century Europe. His ideas on medicine and his insistence on an evidence-based approach to healthcare have been enormously influential to this day. Ibn Sīna wrote many major works on philosophy, logic, theology, astronomy, and science, which decisively influenced, not only the Muslim world but also Europe, as it slowly emerged from the Dark Ages. He was a self-educated genius from Central Asia who flourished in the Islamic Golden Age, a period when Muslims studied the works of Classical Greeks and others and made enormous cultural and intellectual advances. This immense medical work was written by the famous Persian polymath Ibn Sīna (980-1053 AD), who is known as Avicenna in the West. This work was the “standard medical text in the Islamic world and across Europe, and for more than six centuries the most respected medical textbook in medieval Europe ,” reports The Guardian. The Canon of Medicine is in five volumes and provides a complete overview of Islamic medical scholarship and even several hundred medicines. According to the About Islam website, it is a “fragment of a translation into Irish of the ‘Canon of Medicine’ medical encyclopedia.” The page has entries on the nature of the jaws, back, and how the nose functions.

The piece of manuscript in the binding was written in Medieval Gaelic and is a translation of Islamic medical work. Willies, Ghillies and Horny Highlanders: Scottish Gaelic Writing has a Filthy Past.Five things the ancient Greeks can teach us about medicine today.Religion Isn’t The Enemy of Science: It’s Been Inspiring Scientists for Centuries.After reading the sheet, the professor was stunned as it provides evidence for cultural links between Ireland, one of the remotest parts of Medieval Europe, and the Islamic Golden Age. In the interest of learning, the owners of the book allowed the page to be removed and it was digitized so that it could be studied. Sections of old manuscripts were often stuffed into the spines of new books at that time, so the professor was not surprised to find a page from an old volume in the binding. ( Independent) A Sheet of Islamic Medicine in the Bookbinding The fragment of text translated from Persian polymath Ibn Sīna’s work, flattened out so it can be read.

MEDIEVAL MANUSCRIPT BOOK BINDING IN IRELAND FULL

The Professor examined the book and found, according to the Irish Independent, “a sheet, full of text in Irish, cut from a 15th-century Irish vellum manuscript. There were many cultural and trade connections between Medieval Cornwall and Ireland. It was in the possession of a family from Cornwall, England who have owned it for generations. Professor Pádraig Ó Macháin, a University College Cork’s expert in Gaelic, an ancient Celtic language still spoken today, became aware of the existence of a rare book produced in Medieval Ireland. This find is helping experts to have a better understanding of Ireland in the Middle Ages and the importance of Islamic works on the intellectual development of Europeans. A fragment from a book dating from the 1400s has revealed the influence of a Muslim Persian polymath on Irish doctors. A recent discovery is demonstrating the influence of Islamic medicine on European physicians.

Medieval manuscript book binding in ireland