[alexandrerond]

12th century person talking about Syphilis in a tavern? Very hard to picture that scene indeed...

[dbuder]

Impossible since it came from the new world.

[Archelaos]

According to Wikipedia, the first known use of the term "syphilis" is from 1530. In this respect the story is off by four centuries. The origin of the disease, however, is still debated. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_syphilis