Books by Charles Savona-Ventura

The Order of Saint Lazarus saw its origins as an institution established outside the walls of Jerusalem to care for the victims of leprosy assuming the organization of a Crusader Monastic Order after the First Crusade of 1099. Little is known about its early administration except that the Jerusalem establishment de St Ladre des Mesisus was managed by a maistre who was dependent on the Patriarche de Jérusalem (presumably the newly established Latin Patriarch in 1099). The earliest information about the administration of the hospitalis infirmorum Sancti Lazari de Jerusalem dates from the early fourteenth century in the form of a manuscript Rule Book held at the Benedictine Nunnery at Seedorf in the Canton of Uri in modern-day Switzerland. This has sections outlining the regulations dating from the twelfth century (before 1187) while the Order was still established in the motherhouse in Jerusalem. Further regulations were promulgated for the local management of the nunnery in the early 15th century.

The medicine of the ancient Egyptians is some of the oldest documented. From the beginnings of the civilization in the late fourth millennium BC until the Persian invasion of 525 BC, Egyptian medical practice went largely unchanged but was highly advanced for its time, including simple non-invasive surgery, setting of bones, dentistry, and an extensive set of pharmacopoeia. Egyptian medical thought influenced later traditions, including the Greeks. Until the 19th century, the main sources of information about ancient Egyptian medicine were writings from later in antiquity. The Greek historian Herodotus visited Egypt around 440 BC and wrote extensively of his observations of their medicinal practice. Pliny the Elder also wrote favourably of them in historical review. Hippocrates (the "father of medicine"), Herophilos, Erasistratus and later Galen studied at the temple of Amenhotep, and acknowledged the contribution of ancient Egyptian medicine to Greek medicine.