On Tue, 17 Sep 1996, Alasdair Mackintosh wrote:
>
> We know (well, probably) that a non-meat diet is healthier. But did the
> Carthusians?
Yes, Guillelmus de Yporegia, Prior of the Grande Chartreuse, in his "De
Origine et Veritate Perfecte Religionis" (1310), adduces a wide variety
of Biblical, ancient medical, and empirical evidence for the superiority
of a non-meat diet.
>
> To prove that your average Carthusian lived longer than your average
> Benedictine would surely require the kind of statistical mind that simply
> wasn't there in the Middle Ages. (After all, think how much you'd have to
> spend on ink and parchment if you simply wanted to keep the records, let
> alone do the analysis.)
> Are there any surviving Carthusian documents that make this defence? (I'm
> not doubting that the defence is valid - I'm simply wondering how (if at all)
> this conclusion was originally reached.)
Guillelmus de Ypogregia says that the Carthusians are "noted for their
longevity." He did not compile statistics but he appealed to common
knowledge. Carthusians were keenly aware of instances of longevity in
their ranks, precisely because of the accusations. A statistical
mentality was evident, of course, in monastic circles, with regard to
economic matters, at least in the later Middle Ages. No, they did not
keep statistics on longevity--impressions and anecdotal evidence served
their purpose. But my suggestion that a dissertation could be done on
this topic did not assume the statistics were ready to hand; rather, a
scholar would have to probe the surviving profession lists and other data
and assemble his own statistics. I think it would be doable, at least
for the later Middle Ages, with whatever extrapolative value one might
assign to it for the 12thc.
Dennis Martin
Loyola University Chicago
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|