Note 798 — Chapter VII

William of Malmesbury (iv. 333) describes the process with some pomp of words; “Pridie quam excederet vita, vidit per quietem se phlebotomi ictu sanguinem emittere, radium cruoris in cælum usque protentum lucem obnubilare, diem interpolare.” But the common word for being bled is “minuere” (see Ducange in voc.), and the many monastic rules which forbid the practice of bleeding except at stated times would seem to imply that the process, if not liked in itself, was at least made use of as an excuse for idleness.