Medieval Worship,Medicine and Education

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It seems an odd Grouping of subjects but as we look we are going to find that all these subjects are interrelated. First we look at the the mysterious British Isles very own religion The Druids . Really little is known about them ,because they left no written records . All we do know about them for certain comes from the small mentions of them given by contemporary witnesses from Greek and Roman Authors that faced the Celts in battle, and various authors and stories. A merging image of the accounts has the Druids performing animal and human sacrifices. They believed in a form of reincarnation. . Pliny the Elder wrote of their ritual of “Oak and Mistletoe” . Many of the accounts agree that The Druids held very high status in Celtic society. The oldest record of them comes from Julius Caesar’s The Gallic wars. Later Medieval Irish writers wrote stories about the Druids and it is from these accounts that today’s few modern Druids base their religious practices. Nothing unearthed , not even Stone Henge can be for certain attributed to the Druids because of the lack of records on them.
Of course then you have the growing Population of Roman Celtic mix society in England withe their Roman gods. Christianity does have some record of being in Briton at this time but remember it is still small and persecuted religion until the early 4th century. When The Anglos’ Saxons and Jutes start Invading/migrating into England they bring with them their very Norse like religious beliefs . In 597 there is a very concerted effort to evangelize Briton for Christianity and it really does take hold That is not to say others completely disappeared or that some people didn’t try to practiced multiple beliefs. As we shall see in Medicine They also incorperate astrology .
In Medieval Medicine Very little of what we know today is known then by the doctors of the time . Most practitioners were in monasteries and among the highly educated. Poor people had to usually go to folk practitioners who were sometimes accused of being witches. Among the upper crust Medieval medicine was based idealogically on Hippocrates (460 to 370BC) and Galen(AD 129-216)
The Human body relating to the 4 elements Earth ,Air,Fire and Water) and the 4 bodily humors Blood,Phlegm,Yellow Bile, and Black Bile. Health could be maintained by the regulation of these and Air ,Diet ,Sleep,Evacuation and Emotion. They sometimes also advised the risky procedure of Blood letting .
Which by the way is what Barbers used to do that is why the Barber Pole is a red and white swirly stripe. They would examine Urine in glass jars to judge what was wrong and would also carry around forms of astrological charts to make diagnosis. This was also taught at Medieval Universities. Which started out a bit more simple than today’s academics .

History of Briton

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After the Romans had left Briton in 448 AD. The Celts and Latin Briton Mix population was left to fend for itself already during the Roman period Viking raiders had been a problem from time to time. That the Romans dealt with. After a call to the Emperor for help ,since He had left a Governor but no legion ,was rejected by the Emperor ,the Britons ejected the Roman Governor . All of the 5th and 6th Century Thousands of Anglos, Saxons and Jutes came from Germanic Viking lands . Archeaological evidence taken from grave sites and ancient cities tells us that indeed many waves were of military types and their families but some waves were poor malnourished farmer types as it seems there was some sort of food shortage in their original viking lands. The proof is found in weapons or lack of found in the graves ,and also the evidence of the bones as to how healthy the dead were during life. DNA evidence cannot put us at an exact area where these Anglos Saxons and Jutes came from they do show us how they began to mix with the local Britons.
Unlike D-Day a concerted military push to occupy a land or unlike Attila the Hun raiding in lightning fast raids . This was more of a Immigration push and land grab very much like The Westward expansion of European background people into North America . Some were military some were farmers always taking choice land and Strategic locations . Often building over the ruins of Roman time lands such as forts or villas in order to prove dominance . The Estimates of population mixes at the 6th century are about 20% Anglo Saxon and Jute to 80% Britons . Yet much like all of The Americas and South Africa Linguistic development and Law prove that the Powerful Minority ruled all.Very few words from the original language make their way into the developing language and only a few sites retain some form of their original name . Historical Evidence shows how the Laws of the land without a doubt favored the minority new comers.
As regionalism was still a very big part of how people identified themselves eventually even the Britons living in an area would identify themselves as part of a Anglo ,Saxon region that they were living in when questions of law were brought up.
During the early Dark Ages Their laws ,economy and cities grew like most of Europe then came the Normans from France and this was very military.
Harold Godwin or King Harold who lost the Battle of Hastings in the 11th century had just had great victories against even more viking raiders and then nearly wins the battle of Hastings against the Normans but in an unfortunate moment Harold looks up over his shield and gets an arrow in his eye killing him and sending his troops into disarray and then loss.
Like the Anglos,Saxons and Jutes before them The Norman conquerors Now build their Forts and Manors over Saxon ruins to prove Dominance . Over 150 years later the Normans are still in charge as Prince John becomes King John and gets into all of trouble with His subjects, the Roman Church and His nobles all this foreshadow a Revolt that comes 150 years later(in 1383) When a young King Richard levies a Pole tax (Meaning everyone rich or poor has to pay the same tax) in order to fund the 100 year war with France and Spain. When some districts come up short Tax collectors come in and rough up the people .This Sparks a Revolt against such rough treatment and a few other grudges against the Feudal way of life fuel a Revolt that sees thousands of English surfs and some nobles march on London and besiege the King and his men in the Tower of London. On their way there the free other revolutionaries from prisons including the one that is run by none other than the Arch Bishop of Canterbury, who along with a few other tax officials will be beheaded by the rioters. Londoners get in on the act as they have some grievances against Dutch businesses there they round them up and kill a number of them . The King Promises to reform things so that Surfs will now have much greater freedom . Unfortunately  One Revolutionary leader sticks around with his group after the others have left He demands even more reforms and acts quite threatening in front of the king, He is killed his group taken captive and then King Richard seeks out retribution on those that had revolted . Lessons were learned on both sides . How to organize for the future revolutionaries and for the Kings they started to learn that the people can be pushed too far , and that their rule is only as solid as the people willing to be ruled .

Eventually The Kings of England separate themselves from the Roman Church and form the Church of England This will open up a new can of worms that lead to many wars between Roman Catholic believers and Protestants .  Rome wishing to reassert dominance over the region plays spy games and other tricks to get back in charge and agents of the English court also play their games it’s really quite sad because it always muddies up the water for the idea of religious freedom. We go no further because we would be getting into the time of the Reformation which is next year.