Ekou, Assoumou GilbertAssoumou GilbertEkou2023-09-042023-09-042023978-3-86309-930-5https://fis.uni-bamberg.de/handle/uniba/90287This contribution focuses on the link between religion and medicine in the Western epoch of the Middle Ages. The author describes the relation between the two cultural sectors of religion and medicine by analysing the medical practices of the pagan polytheistic societies dating from antiquity and those of the Christianised peoples of the West in their fight against diseases from the 5th to the 13th century CE. As can be seen some elements of the privileged relationship of pagan gods as healing authorities were integrated into the religious interpretation of disease and healing among the Christians. The church of the 5th century inherits from the cultic tradition of a religion-based medicine associated with healing gods like Asclepius. This heritage is combined with the religious values of Christianity – especially that of benevolence, hospitality, and charity. These values constituted the basis of the social doctrine of the church and lead to the creation of hospitals in monasteries and other religious institutions. All over the Christian West, the new hospitals became centres of medical studies and training. Under the control of the religious authorities, medicine became something exclusively monastic for a long time. However, in the 13th century it was more and more secularized by the powerful movements of independence, which led to the ascent of medical faculties at medieval universities.fraMiddle AgesMedieval medicinehealing cult5th–13th century CEhospitalsreligion and medicinemonasteriesmonasteries610bookpart