Have World Historical Events Influenced the History of Phytotherapy?

the of Abstract Background: A synchronoptic display is intended to illustrate the extent to which events in world history have influenced the development of phytotherapy. Methodology: The upper part of the exhibit shows the central historical events. The lower part shows the history of naturopathy and the middle part the history of phytotherapy. Results: The synchronoptic representation made it possible to identify two periods, “historical gaps”, in which the development of phytotherapy stagnated due to world history: 1st gap: 14th century, 2nd gap: c. 1640 - c. 1800. Discussion: The reasons for the 1st gap were the process of deserted Medieval villages and the plague epidemic and for the 2nd gap, the Little Ice Age, the Thirty Years’ War and a lack of convincing theory about medical healing. Summary: Medicinal plants are among the oldest remedies and were used according to the principle of “trial and error”. What proved successful was passed on, and otherwise, discarded. What is often forgotten here is that certain events in world history and also in the naturopathic movement have had a decisive influence on the development of phytotherapy. The synchronoptic representation of the exhibit has now made it possible for the first time to identify “historical gaps” where phytotherapy development stagnated.


Introduction
It is important to establish to what extent events in world history have had an influence on the development of phytotherapy. This is better illustrated by means of a synchronoptic representation. We have borrowed spiritually from Unschuld [1]. In his book Was ist of the 12th century.
In addition to monastery gardens, medicinal plants were also cultivated in royal gardens and the gardens of medical schools in the early Middle Ages. The choice of plants was guided by a decree of Charlemagne (747-814). He specified in his crown estates decree [4] "capitulare de villis" exactly which types of plants (fruit trees, vegetables, spices and medicinal plants) were to be cultivated on his crown estates. This decree can be dated as the official beginning of Western European phytotherapy. Accordingly, the timeline of the exhibit begins with this dating (figure 2). A group of healers, the civitas salernitatis, in the Italian port city of Salerno, founded the first medical school (995-1087), in which an independent occidental medicine was developed in the 11th century. The medical school in Salerno also flourished due to the crusader ships that docked here (Crusades from 1095 to the 13th century), whose sick required treatment. In addition to treating the sick, early medieval healers revised traditional writings and produced medical manuals and books on pharmacology. Plants were considered the most important raw materials for the production of medicines and the urban apothecary gardens were modelled on the monastery gardens.

Processes of deserted medieval villages
So-called processes of deserted Medieval villages occurred in Europe from the 14th century onwards (c. 1310). Deserted is the term for a settlement or economic area that has been abandoned but which is still evidenced by documents or oral traditions.
There was a population decline in the countryside due mainly to a restructuring of rural social and economic systems and as a consequence of the increasing founding of towns in the 13th century, but also due to crop failures, wars and the plague epidemic.
As a result, a large number of monasteries and the lower nobility could no longer exist in the customary form. One reason for this was the lack of tithes, so that other means of subsistence had to be sought. The spiritual work in the monasteries could, therefore, not be continued in the usual form. There were radical methods of exploitation of the remaining rural population or, popular with the nobility, raids. The severe economic hardship and social misery of the "dependent population" led to frequent regional uprisings, which finally culminated in the peasant revolts (Great Peasants' War) of 1524/1525. During this time, an increasing number of hospices were founded in the towns and cities by the rich bourgeoisie, which took in those people who had become social cases due to their migration from the countryside. Charitable works were performed there: feeding, sheltering and clothing the poor, and caring for and treating the sick and elderly. In addition, the orders of the Friars Minor (Franciscans, Capuchins, etc.) were increasingly established in order to care for the rural population stranded in the cities. However, this did not lead to a further development of phytotherapy.

Plague epidemic
The plague epidemics (beginning in 1348/49) caused a further upheaval in the middle of the 14th century. The Middle Ages had not known a major epidemic before and the medical profession could only explain the rapid spread of the disease, which initially mainly affected the port cities, by an effect of the planets or by "harmful vapours" according to the miasma doctrine [5]. At that time, penitential practices, masses, and processions to propitiate God, bloodletting, burning of aromatic substances and surgical opening of plague sores were used as remedies. People did not yet know that with every unloaded shipload of grain, rats also came off the ship, bringing the plague with their parasites, the rat fleas, into the densely populated city, which was believed to be safe.  Experiential knowledge that has been preserved and passed down over centuries has been verified with scientific methods.

Development of different medical theories
Today, phytotherapy combines traditional folk medicine with the scientifically proven findings of modern medicine as never before in history [9].

The Modern era
Nowadays, classical naturopathic treatments are firmly In accordance with the further education guidelines of 2020, the proportion of teaching hours on phytotherapy was reduced from