Miracle Tales as Privileged Sources for a Historical Investigation of the Diseases in the Middle Age: Canonization Processes and Libri miraculorum

Abstract

In the varied spectrum of healers to whom the sick people could turn to in Middle Ages, including physicians, surgeons and different kind of empirical practitioners, the saint was often the first to whom they would refer. Miracle tales, therefore, represent an essential source for a historical investigation into diseases and sick people. Without claiming to be exhaustive, this article aims to briefly outline this topic through several examples taken from miracles accounts in some canonization processes and Libri miraculorum, compiled between the thirteenth and the fifteenth centuries. It will be highlighted how these sources, when properly interpretated, are of fundamental importance for understanding the relationship between the sick and his/her community of reference, as well as the work of some empirical healers who approached the sick person’s bedside. Furthermore, these sources are unique lexicographical treasures related to the vocabulary of disease – an aspect still largely overlooked.