June 19th, 2010
I try searching about witch doctors, but all I seem to get is info about modern day witch doctors…
I need to get some info on midieval witch doctors, so any info out there?
Links and/or info will be appreciated.
According to the OED (Oxford English Dictionary) the term "witch doctor" was first used in English in 1718, in a book by Francis Hutchinson. That’s good two centuries after the end of the middle ages.
It’s my feeling that if a word didn’t exist to describe something at a particular time, it’s because that something didn’t exist. You aren’t going to find references to rocket scientists in the middle ages either!
Charles Mackay wrote a book called "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds" in 1841 which mentions witch doctors in England. It think it’s probable that the existence of witch doctors in England in the 18th and 19th centuries may have been something of a backlash against the more de-humanizing aspects of the Industrial Revolution.
**However***
It is possible that by "witch doctor" you may just mean "healer." If that’s the case, just use that word as your search term.
Bear in mind that the middle ages were 1000 years long and covered more than a dozens cultures. During that time there doctors, surgeons, midwives, alchemists, healers and (in some corners like Finland) shamans, any of which might be what you are actually looking for. Also try using the terms "physician" or "chiurgeon" (a medieval spelling of "surgeon"; often used generically for any doctor).
Also be careful of ahistorial bias. The methods of medieval chiurgeons might seem a little "hocus-pocus-y" to us (balancing humors, bloodletting, etc.), but they were based on what was understood (and widely accepted) about the human body at the time. Also, much of it was based on the writings of the Roman physician Galen, who’s writing remained the standard medical text for a millenium.
EDIT: I came across something else that might help you: the term "cunning folk". These men and women were part of the rural British and Welsh scene from the 16th to the 19th century. The term "witch doctor" could well apply to them. However, it should be noted that they didn’t claim they were curing physical ailments by magic; they claimed they were curing *magical ailments* – that is to say, if someone though they had been cursed, they went to a cunning man or cunning woman for a cure – to undo the curse.
It’s notable that they only arise after the Protestant Reformation in England. It is thought that they filled a niche in the popular psyche previously filled by Catholic priests who practiced both routine blessings and, when deemed necessary, exorcisms.
These "cunning folk" did not exist in the middle ages either. The 16th century is post-medieval.
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