La «Scuola» medica salernitana, gli ebrei e la Cronica Elini

Abstract

The Salerno “School” of Medicine, the Jews and the Cronica Elini

The Salerno “School” of Medicine was the most representative institution in medieval Salerno and for a long time historians have been involved in the complex task of reconstructing its origins and development. As far as its origins are concerned, research is objectively limited due to a lack of sources until the 11^th century, while more information is available at a later date. However, medicine in Salerno appears to have been characterized since its origins by a strong multiculturalism, as a synthesis and expression of multiple cultural components. In this paper we propose a reconstruction of the “School”’s history and show how it is a reflection of the very history of the city. Therefore it is no coincidence that the heyday of the “School” corresponds to the period when Salerno reached the acme of its political prestige and economic development. The article then focuses on the history of the Jewish community, which reflects as well the general history of the city, and also that of the whole of Southern Italy in the late Middle Ages, much more than has previously been brought to light in historical studies. Moreover, the size and the wealth of the Jewish community – not unlike that of other similar communities in the South – was affected by the progressive crisis of Salerno especially in the 14^th and 15^th centuries, when the Jews gradually tended to move to places that could offer them greater possibilities. An interesting point of interconnection between the history of the “School” and that of the Jews of Salerno is the Cronica Elini, a text that narrates the legendary origins of the city and its “School”, in which the Jewish component plays an important role. In the final part of the paper we propose an interpretation of the work, arguing for a relatively late date of composition, as the result of an attempt to enhance the prestigious history of medicine in Salerno and its multiculturalism, when the “School” – and all at once, the Jewish community – had consumed their crisis.