Het verloop van evenwicht. Mens en samenleving in laatmiddeleeuwse humoraaltheorieën

Abstract

The development of balance. Man and society in late medieval humoral theories. Medieval humoral theories reflected a view on both man and society. The theories clearly defined the worst and the best physical balance possible, and these ideas could be linked to judgments on society. The popular theory of temperaments envisaged the sanguine man as the perfect human being. He was a merry, wealthy, courteous nobleman; a powerful secular ideal. Learned medicine used a humoral theory in which health was described as the right proportion between the different quantities. In the fit body, every humour knew its correct place, and would not thread beyond its proper measure. This notion was used to define the body politic: the humours of the healthy state accepted their position without ambitious quarrelling. These views on man and his body differ from the ones defined by Galen in his influential tract De complexionibus, which make them even more telling. In addition to an analysis of Galen's tract, this article describes the most important developments of humoral theory from Antiquity to the Middle Ages.