Discovery of the first recorded use of "gout" as a medical term in history before AD 1000

Here we trace what, to the best of our knowledge, is the first mention of gutta. It can be found in the Vita Wiboradae virginis et martyris, “The Life of Saint Wiborada”, describ ing a member of the Swabian nobility, anchoress and Benedictine nun (Fig. 1) at the Abbey of St. Gall (Switzerland), who suffered martyrdom during the Hungarian invasion of St Gall in 926. Her two biographies (Vitae) [4, 5] were both written by monks at the same Abbey: the former was begun by Hartmannus around 960 and finished by Ekkeard the Elder (died 973), and the latter composed around 1075 by Herimannus (or following the St. Gall manuscript, Hepidan nus)—in the literature the two authors appear sometimes to be confused or even identified with each other.