School of History, UCC

Dr Colmán Ó Clabaigh (OSB), Glenstal Abbey, County Limerick 

Thursday 10 December 2020, 16.00 (4 PM)

The event will take place through MS Teams. Please, contact Dr Jérôme aan de Wiel (School of History, UCC) to obtain a Teams link: j.aandewiel@ucc.ie

Although forbidden to do so by the Canon Law of the Church, many monks and clerics had a lucrative sideline as medieval medical practitioners. This paper examines the evidence from Late Medieval Ireland. Drawing on recent archaeological excavations, it explores the practice of medicine in Irish Cistercian and Augustinian monasteries, demonstrating that some members of these communities were accomplished herbalists. It also examines the medical notebook of an anonymous late-fifteenth-century priest attached to the Plunkett chantry at Killeen, Co. Meath, which reveals him as a man devoted to both the spiritual and physical wellbeing of his flock.