medicine 483MUHAMMADbecause of its shrine of the KABA. That occu-
pied an enclosed space or basin which rain-fed torrents
often submerged. Not based on an oasis, it occupied an
important spot halfway because of its reliable wells on the
caravan routes between the Syrian and Palestinian north
and the Yemeni south. It was central to the rise of ISLAM,
the place where Muhammad began his preaching. Mus-
lims are supposed to make a PILGRIMAGEthere at least
once during their life. A HAJJwas to take place during the
second week of the last month of the Muslim year.
See also ISLAMIC CONQUESTS AND EARLY EMPIRE;
MEDINA.
Further reading:Emel Esin, Mecca, the Blessed; Mad-
inah, the Radiant (London: Elek Books, 1963); F. E.
Peters, Mecca (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University
Press, 1994); W. Montgomery Watt, Muhammad at Mecca
(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1953); W. Montgomery Watt,
A. J. Wensinck, C. E. Bosworth, and R. B. Winder,
“Makka” in Encyclopedia of Islam6:144–187.
Mechthild von Magdeburg (ca. 1207–ca. 1282/1301)
German Beguine
There are only bits of biographical information in
Mechthild’s book, The Flowing Light of the Godhead.Prob-
ably of noble origin, she was born about 1207 in a family
in the diocese of Magdeburg, as was apparent in her style
and local vocabulary. She seemed to have had a secular
education marked by CHIVALRYand court life. She claimed
that she was challenged at 12 years of age by VISIONSthat
changed her life. From then on she took little joy of things
of this world, sensual pleasure, or mundane honors. In
about 1230, she left her family and friends and moved to
Magdeburg to lead a life of poverty and penitence. At the
encouragement of her DOMINICANconfessor, she recorded
her spiritual experiences in the VERNACULARin six books.
In 1260, at an advanced age, she moved in with the CIS-
TERCIAN NUNSof Helfta and devoted herself to a spiritual
life and study. She died at Helfta after 1282, much vener-
ated. Mechthild was an exceptional figure among women
mystics of the Middle Ages because of her independence
as well as the beauty and vigor of her writing in German.
See also BEGUINES AND BEGHARDS; MYSTICISM,
CHRISTIAN.
Further reading:Mechthild of Magdeburg, Flowing
Light of the Divinity,trans. Christiane Mesch Galvani and
ed. Susan Clark (New York: Garland, 1991); Frank Tobin,
Mechthild von Magdeburg: A Medieval Mystic in Modern
Eyes(Columbia, S.C.: Camden House, 1995); James C.
Franklin, Mystical Transformations: The Imagery of Liquids
in the Work of Mechthild von Magdeburg(Rutherford, N.J.:
Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1978); Amy M.
Hollywood, The Soul as Virgin Wife: Mechthild of Magde-
burg, Marguerite Porete, and Meister Eckhart(Notre Dame,
Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1995); Bernard
McGinn, ed., Meister Eckhart and the Beguine Mystics:
Hadewijch of Brabant, Mechthild of Magdeburg, and Mar-
guerite Porete (New York: Continuum, 1994); Ulrike
Wiethaus, Ecstatic Transformation: Transpersonal Psychol-
ogy in the Work of Mechthild of Magdeburg(Syracuse, N.Y.:
Syracuse University Press, 1996).Medici family The Medici family, resident in FLORENCE
from 1216, was originally from the Mugello, an area north
of the city of Florence. At the end of the 14th century, with
the success of the banker Giovanni de Bicci (1360–1429),
the Medici were among the richest Florentine families.
Cosimo the Elder (1389–1464); his son, Piero (1416–69);
and his grandson, Lorenzo the Magnificent (1449–92),
consolidated the Medicis’ supremacy in Florence. The
Medici ruled the city in a precarious balance of power with
the other families of the Florentine patriciate. They were
chosen by Pope Martin V (r. 1417–31) as treasures of the
papal treasury, a lucrative office that provided access to a
wider political and diplomatic role.POLITICS AND CULTURE
The cultural life of 15th-century Florence was shaped by
the political power of the Medici and their court. Lorenzo
the Magnificent was one of the foremost patrons of litera-
ture and culture, having perceived the importance of both
as instruments of political propaganda. The Medici domi-
nated Florence from the 1430s to the 1490s through a
skillful manipulation of political traditions and office-
holding. There was opposition to their domination, but
their wealth and shrewd politics kept them in charge.
See alsoBANKS AND BANKING; TRADE AND COMMERCE.
Further reading:John Hale, Florence and the Medici:
The Pattern of Control(London: Thames and Hudson,
1977); Dale Kent, The Rise of the Medici: Faction in Flo-
rence, 1426–1434 (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1978); Dale Kent, Cosimo de’ Medici and the Florentine
Renaissance(New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press,
2000); Raymond de Roover, The Rise and Decline of the
Medici Bank, 1397–1494 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard
University Press, 1963); Nicolai Rubinstein, The Govern-
ment of Florence under the Medici (1434 to 1494)(Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1966).medicine Though the Middle Ages did not make and
leave behind spectacular discoveries in medicine, impor-
tant advances were made in the intellectual history of the
discipline and in terms of professionalization and institu-
tionalization. Arabic practices and ideas were an impor-
tant influence and precedent.
The study of medicine in the Middle Ages was an
extension of developments begun in classical times. In
the West medical traditions, such as they were, were first
based on the encyclopedic works of ISIDORE OFSEVILLE.
In ISLAM the writings of Greek physicians, such as
Hippocrates, were translated into Arabic. Greek, Arabic,