title: [Therapy or torture: a treatment of gout misunderstood by Gregory of Tours].
abstract: Historiarum libri decem, a work written by St. Gregory, the bishop of Tours, is an important contemporary source for the study of the Merovingian times. In Book V 42 Gregory reports the story of Maurilio, the bishop of Cahors in the Southern Gaul, who was strongly suffering from gout. Maurilio treated the illness himself applying a hot iron to his foot and shank. This therapy is already mentioned in the Corpus Hippocraticum. It seems, however, that cauterization was not known to St. Gregory of Tours as a medical treatment of this particular illness. He simply saw in it a sanctifying practice in the sense of penitential mortification. Indeed, for Gregory this interpretation is an important part of his literary aim, as Maurilio is for him a brilliant example of a minister of the Church. Although Maurilio is well-known for his piety, knowledge, and uprightness in diocesan dealings, he voluntarily, as Gregory thinks, submits to ascetic self-castigation.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Geschichte und Ethik der Medizin, Universität zu Köln. fmoog@uni-koeln.de
authors.forename: Ferdinand Peter
authors.initials: FP
authors.lastname: Moog
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002425:Cautery / Q000266:history*; D002835:Christianity / Q000266:history*; D005602:France; D006073:Gout / Q000266:history*; D049690:History, Ancient; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008374:Manuscripts, Medical as Topic / Q000266:history*; D012068:Religion and Medicine; D018597:Saints / Q000266:history*; D014104:Torture / Q000266:history*