25.3 Europe: a.d. 1001 to 1100  (Page 3/11)

The medical school at Salerno, originally founded by Benedictine monks of Monte Cassino, although it was remarkably free from Christian dogmatism, reached its peak as a traveler from the Near East and India, known as Constantine the African, arrived to transfer the great works of learning from Arabic into Latin. This included the works of Galen. At Salerno, they developed the "Regimen of Health" which was to be disseminated throughout Europe by returning crusaders who visited there for treatment of illnesses and wounds. This formed the basis of much of European medicine until almost the end of the 16th century. The basic premise of this regime was a balanced diet with a parity of the "four humours"- air, fire, water and earth - or the body counterparts - blood, bile, phlegm and black bile. As an example: the elderly and children always suffered from an excess of water/phlegm, so anything cold and most fruit was forbidden

Central europe

Before A.D. 1000 perhaps 4/5 of Europe north of the Alps and Pyrenees was covered by dense forest so that communications and trade was greatly impeded except along the rivers and over certain passes. By A.D. 1000 the population may have reached 30,000,000 and in the next 150 years it increased another 40%. After the cessation of the Viking raids, the economic recovery of Europe was dramatic as new land was cleared, there was an increase in local trade and local "fairs" made their appearance. The use of iron plows may have made food more abundant, although intermittently famines still occurred in France and England. (Ref. 8 , 222 )

Germany

In 1002 Henry of Bavaria, became Henry II, King of all Germany and in 1014 he was crowned Holy Roman Emperor. Conrad II followed in 1024 as the first Salic Frank emperor and he added parts of the Kingdom of Burgundy and present day Switzerland to the empire. Henry III (Salian or Franconian), crowned in 1039, brought the empire to its zenith and Germany was the most prosperous region of Europe. The church was the educator Germany and in essence its administrator, also. Following Henry IlI's death, however, internal troubles developed, including a civil war with the opposition led by Rudolf of Swabia. Henry IV became the German king at age 6 years and his mother Agnes was regent for 9 years. During this time nobles and clerical magnates appropriated the royal resources and sovereign rights freely, dealing the final blow to the monarchy. This was also the time when Pope Gregory VII, Hildebrand, challenged the right of kings to appoint bishops and demanded that the emperor give up this power of appointment. The pope aligned the church with feudal estates and city-states, which led eventually to the collapse of the empire. When Rudolf died some of the civil strife ceased and the Franconian ruler again became temporarily more powerful, although the struggle with the papacy continued with the pope alternately excommunicating the emperor and the emperor appointing an anti-pope - activities which carried well into the next century. (Ref. 222 ) To return for a moment to Bavaria, in 1070 the now Emperor Henry IV gave the Bavarian fief to Guelph (also Welf) d'Este IV, who began the Guelph Dynasty.