Sudden Death: Medicine and Religion in Eighteenth-Century Rome PDF
Preview Sudden Death: Medicine and Religion in Eighteenth-Century Rome
Sudden death: Medicine and Religion in eighteenth-centuRy RoMe The history of Medicine in context Series editors: andrew cunningham and ole Peter grell department of history and Philosophy of Science university of cambridge department of history open university titles in the series include Suzanne Noël: Cosmetic Surgery, Feminism and Beauty in Early Twentieth-Century France Paula J. Martin Wounds in the Middle Ages edited by anne Kirkham and cordelia Warr The One-Sex Body on Trial: The Classical and Early Modern Evidence helen King Ritual and Conflict: The Social Relations of Childbirth in Early Modern England adrian Wilson Medical Consulting by Letter in France, 1665–1789 Robert Weston Sudden death: Medicine and Religion in eighteenth-century Rome MaRia Pia donato C.N.R.S. Institut d’Histoire Moderne et Contemporaine, Paris, France and University of Cagliari, Italy translated by Valentina Mazzei © Maria Pia donato 2014 © 2010 by carocci editore S.p.a., Roma all rights reserved. no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. Maria Pia donato has asserted her right under the copyright, designs and Patents act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work. Published by ashgate Publishing limited ashgate Publishing company Wey court east 110 cherry Street union Road Suite 3-1 Farnham Burlington, Vt 05401-3818 Surrey, gu9 7Pt uSa england www.ashgate.com British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data a catalogue record for this book is available from the British library The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows: donato, Maria Pia. [Morti improvvise. english] Sudden death : medicine and religion in eighteenth-century Rome / by Maria Pia donato. pages cm. – (The history of medicine in context) Revised translation of: Morti improvvise / Maria Pia donato. Roma : carocci, c2010. includes bibliographical references and index. iSBn 978-1-4724-1873-9 (hardcover) – iSBn 978-1-4724-1874-6 (ebook) – iSBn 978-1-4724-1875-3 (epub) 1. Sudden death–history–18th century. 2. death–Religious aspects–catholic church–history of doctrines–18th century. 3. Medicine–Religious aspects–history–18th century. 4. Medicine–italy–Rome– history–18th century. 5. lancisi, giovanni Maria, 1654-1720. de subitaneis mortibus. i. title. RB150.S84d6613 2014 618.92'026–dc23 2014012045 iSBn 9781472418739 (hbk) iSBn 9781472418746 (ebk – PdF) iSBn 9781472418753 (ebk _ eVPuB) Printed in the united Kingdom by henry ling limited, at the dorset Press, dorchester, dt1 1hd Contents Acknowledgements vii Abbreviations and Translator’s Notes ix Introduction 1 PART I: Sudden deATh And The PhySIcIAn’S Role In SocIeTy 1 Fears 13 2 The Medico-legal Enquiry on Sudden Death, or: The Truth of the Body and the Public Role of Physicians 41 3 From the Dead to the Living: Medicine and Public Health in the Early Eighteenth Century 67 PART II: Sudden deATh In MedIcAl TheoRy And PRAcTIce 4 A New Stance on Death: The Mechanical Medicine of Lancisi’s De subitaneis mortibus (1707) 87 5 The Pathological Gaze: The Problematic Status of Post-mortem Evidence in Early Eighteenth-Century Medicine 111 PART III: The loST And The SAved: Sudden deATh AS An eThIcAl And RelIgIouS ISSue 6 Death and the Doctors: Scientific Queries and Ethical Dilemmas 143 7 In the Hour of Death 167 8 Looking for a Heavenly Protector: Saint Andrew Avellino, the ‘Apoplectic Saint’ 187 vi Sudden Death: Medicine and Religion in Eighteenth-Century Rome Epilogue: Was there Ever a Sudden Death ‘Epidemic’ in Rome? 209 Index 217 Acknowledgements I have contracted many debts of gratitude in the course of research for this book, which I am now glad to pay back. First of all, I thank Massimo Bucciantini, who gave me the idea for this volume during a joint seminar in early modern history and history of science at the University of Cagliari in 2007. I also would like to thank Michele Camerota, the best scholar, colleague and friend I have had the pleasure to work with at the University of Cagliari. Alessandro Pastore, Biagio Salvemini, Marcello Verga and Maria Antonietta Visceglia read the final draft and gave me valuable suggestions, for which I am grateful. I am indebted to the many scholars and friends who offered advice and help: Federico Barbierato and Erminia Irace first of all, Elisa Andretta, David Armando, Elena Brambilla, Marina Caffiero, Giovanna Capitelli, Massimo Cattaneo, Sandra Cavallo, Harold J. Cook, Filippo de Vivo, Guido Giglioni, Ottavia Niccoli, Marilyn Nicoud, Domenico Rocciolo. My gratitude also goes to Bradford Bouley, Jill Kraye, Robert Sayre and Tessa Storey for their invaluable help with the English translation. I would like to thank, in addition, colleagues and friends at the Warburg Institute and the former Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at UCL in London for assisting me with their knowledge and kindness over the years, especially Anita Pollard and Natalie Clarke. The Wellcome Library for the History and Understanding of Medicine proved an invaluable resource, and I am grateful to the Library staff. I would also like to thank the Organisers Committee of the History of Pre-modern Medicine seminars at the Wellcome Library for inviting me to discuss my research in March 2014. The research for this book has benefited from the support of several institutions – the University of Cagliari, the University of Milan, École française de Rome – which all deserve a mention. I am, moreover, grateful to Andrew Cunningham and Ole P. Grell for agreeing to publish the English translation in the ‘History of Medicine in Context’ series, which they edit, to Emily Yates, of Ashgate, who supervised the publication, and to Tricia Craggs and Lindsey Brake for their help with the copy-editing. Finally, as always, I wish to thank my family and, especially, Luc Berlivet, if only for the happy days we spent in the libraries of London, Paris and Rome and for all the cups of coffee (a great cephalic, as Lancisi and Baglivi would have said) he made me. This page has been left blank intentionally Abbreviations and Translator’s Notes ACDF Archive of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Vatican City ASR Archivio di Stato, Rome ASV Archivio Segreto Vaticano ASVR Archivio Storico del Vicariato, Rome BLR Biblioteca Lancisiana, Rome BNF Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris BNR Biblioteca Nazionale Vittorio Emanuele II, Rome DBI Dizionario biografico degli italiani, Rome, 1961– Diario di Clemente XI Ms ASV, Archivio Borghese I 578, Diario del pontificato di Clemente XI SM G.M. Lancisi, De subitaneis mortibus, Rome, 1707 Valesio F. Valesio, Diario di Roma, ed. G. Scano, Milan 1977–79 VL Vatican Library Translations are the translator’s unless stated otherwise. Quotations from Lancisi’s De subitaneis mortibus refer to the first Roman edition of 1707 by Buagni. A modern English translation of the book is also available, namely Translation of De subitaneis mortibus (On Sudden Death), trans. P.D. White and A.V. Boursy, New York, 1971.
The list of books you might like
