The Body of Evidence: Corpses and Proofs in Early Modern European Medicine

365 Pages·2020·2.698 MB·English

by  Francesco Paolo De Ceglia

The Body of Evidence
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Medieval and Early Modern
Philosophy and Science
Editors
C.H. Lüthy (Radboud University)
P.J.J.M. Bakker (Radboud University)
Editorial Consultants
Joel Biard (University of Tours)
Simo Knuuttila (University of Helsinki)
Jürgen Renn (Max-Planck-Institute for the History of Science)
Theo Verbeek (University of Utrecht)
volume 30
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/memps
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The Body of Evidence
Corpses and Proofs in Early Modern
European Medicine
Edited by
Francesco Paolo de Ceglia
LEIDEN | BOSTON
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Cover illustration: Vesalius dissecting a body in secret. Wellcome Collection. CC BY 4.0.
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available online at http://catalog.loc.gov
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2019050958
Typeface for the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts: “Brill”. See and download: brill.com/brill-typeface.
ISSN 2468-6808
ISBN 978-90-04-28481-4 (hardback)
ISBN 978-90-04-28482-1 (e-book)
Copyright 2020 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
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Contents
List of Figures vii
Contributors viii
Introduction: Corpses, Evidence and Medical Knowledge in the Late
Middle Ages and the Early Modern Age 1
Francesco Paolo de Ceglia
Part 1
From Divination to Autopsy
1 Saving the Phenomenon: Why Corpses Bled in the Presence of Their
Murderer in Early Modern Science 23
Francesco Paolo de Ceglia
2 Unfamiliar Faces: the Identification of Corpses in Late Medieval
Valencia 53
Carmel Ferragud
3 Reading the Corpse in the Late Middle Ages (Bologna, Mid-
13th Century–Early 16th Century) 71
Tommaso Duranti
Part 2
The Uncertainties of the Anatomical Gaze
4 Dissection Techniques, Forensics and Anatomy in the 16th Century 107
Allen Shotwell
5 Monstrous Exegesis: Opening Up Double Monsters in Early Modern
Europe 119
Alan W.H. Bates
6 Corpses, Contagion and Courage: Fear and the Inspection of Bodies in
17th-Century London 149
Kevin Siena
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vi Contents
7 Knowledge from Bodies and Resistance to Anatomical Discourse
(Padua, 16th–18th Centuries) 175
Massimo Galtarossa
Part 3
Corpses and Evidences
8 Reading Moral Conduct and Physical Characteristics: the Classification
of Suicide in Early Modern Europe 193
Alexander Kästner
9 Corpses and Confessions: Forensic Investigation and Infanticide in Early
Modern Germany 224
Margaret Brannan Lewis
10 Visum et Repertum: Medical Doctrine and Criminal Procedures in
France and Naples (17th–18th Centuries) 245
Diego Carnevale
11 Frightening Whirlpools: Drowning in France in the 18th Century 270
Lucia De Frenza and Caterina Tisci
Bibliography 295
Index 349
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Figures
1.1 Cruentation in the episode of Hans Spiess (Diebold Schilling, Luzerner Chronik,
16th century, Zentral- und Hochschulbibliothek of Lucerne) 33
5.1 Martin Luther’s monk-calf, allegedly born near Freiburg on 8 December, 1522
(Melanchthon and Luther, Deuttung) 123
5.2 The pope-ass found on the banks of the Tiber (Melanchthon and Luther,
Deuttung) 123
5.3 The monster of Ravenna, as illustrated in Batman’s Doome 125
5.4 A triple monster, from Batman’s Doome 128
5.5 A double monster born in Württemberg in 1511 (Anon., Monstrificus puer) 135
5.6 A double monster born near Oxford in 1552 (Anon., Thou shalte
understande) 137
5.7 The findings in Jean Riolan’s autopsy of a double monster in 1605 (Riolan,
De Monstro) 141
5.8 Everard Crynsz van der Maes. Conjoined twins born in the Low Countries in
1628 (detail) 143
6.1 “The Manner of Dissecting the Pestilential Body,” Frontispiece
(George Thomson, Loimotomia, or, The Pest Anatomized, London, 1666) 157
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Contributors
Alan W. Bates
is Honorary Senior Lecturer in Pathology at University College, London, a
consultant to the Royal Free Hospital, and a coroner’s pathologist for North
London and the City of London. He is the author of various books and articles
on the history of anatomy and embryology, including The Anatomy of Robert
Knox (Eastbourne, 2010).
Diego Carnevale
is a Researcher in Early Modern History at the University of Naples Federico II.
His principal works focus on the socioeconomic and political history of burial
practices in Naples from the 1650s to 1860. He has carried out further research
on the same topic in Paris and London. He is currently researching the subject
of the conflicts surrounding the administration of urban water supplies during
the early modern period, with a comparative approach between Southern Italy
and France.
Francesco Paolo de Ceglia
is a Professor of History of Science at the University of Bari, where he directs
the Interuniversity Research Center “Seminar of the History of Science.” His
research focuses on the history of corporeality. He has published monographs
and articles on the relationship between the history of science and theology,
including Storia della definizione di morte (Milan, 2014) and Il segreto di san
Gennaro. Storia naturale di un miracolo napoletano (Milan, 2016).
Lucia De Frenza
received her PhD in History of Science and is currently working at the Seminar
of History of Science of the University of Bari. Her main research interests focus
on the history of electrical theories in XVIII and XIX centuries, the history of
medicine, the history of institutions and medical communication between the
XVIII and XX centuries. She is the author of several articles and monographs
including I sonnambuli delle miniere: Amoretti, Fortis, Spallanzani e il dibattito
sull’elettrometria organica e minerale in Italia (1790–1816) (Florence, 2005).
Tommaso Duranti
is a Senior Assistant Professor (tenured) at the Department of History and
Cultures (DiSCi) of the University of Bologna. His research concerns the
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Contributors ix
political institutions of the late Middle Ages and the history of university med-
icine; regarding the latter, in particular, he has dealt with the origins, develop-
ment and organization of the medical Studium of Bologna; the delineation of
the role of medical experts and the process of professionalization of medical
men during the late Middle Ages; and the doctor-patient relationship in the
Middle Ages.
Carmel Ferragud
is a Researcher of the Interuniversity Institute López Piñero and a Professor of
History of Science at the University of Valencia. He is a member of the research
team Sciència.cat. His research has focused on medical practitioners and the
practice of medicine during the Middle Ages in the Crown of Aragon. He is
currently interested in the topic of medicine in the sermons of Saint Vincent
Ferrer, as well as forensic medicine and astrology. He is the author of: Medicina
i promoció social a la Baixa Edat Mitjana (Corona d’Aragó, 1350–1410) (Madrid,
2005) and La cura dels animals: menescals i menescalia a la València medieval
(Catarroja, 2009).
Massimo Galtarossa
has a PhD in History at the University of Verona and is an independent scholar.
He published a volume entitled Medicina Repubblicana. Scelte politiche e ben-
essere del corpo nello Studio di Padova fra ‘500 e ‘700 (Rome, 2012).
Alexander Kästner
is a Post-Doc in Early Modern History at the Institute of History at TU Dresden
and a Principal Investigator at the Collaborative Research Center 1285 “Invec-
tivity.” His research and numerous publications explore various aspects of the
history of death, with a particular focus on the histories of suicide, anatomy
and lifesaving programs from c. 1600 onwards. He is the author of Tödliche
Geschichte(n). Selbsttötungen und Suizidversuche in Kursachsen 1547–1815
(Konstanz 2012). His current research deals with the social history of the con-
cept of cold in the 18th century as well as with the invective mode of commu-
nication and the emergence of a public sphere during the early Reformation.
Margaret Brannan Lewis
is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Tennessee at Martin.
Her research focuses on early modern crime, sex, reproduction, medicine, and
obstetrics, in particular in Central Europe. Her publications include Infanticide
and Abortion in Early Modern Germany (London, 2016).
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x Contributors
R. Allen Shotwell
is a Professor of Humanities and Director of the Center for Humanities and
Medicine at Ivy Tech Community College. A long-time teacher of science
and technology and an academic administrator, he more recently received
his PhD in the History and Philosophy of Science and Medicine from Indiana
University with a dissertation on the practices and techniques of dissection
in the 16th century. His research and writing currently focus on Renaissance
anatomy and its connections to medical practice.
Kevin Siena
is Associate Professor of History at Trent University (Canada). He is the author
of Venereal Disease, Hospitals and the Urban Poor: London’s ‘Foul Wards’ 1600–
1800 (Rochester NY, 2004), the editor of Sins of the Flesh: Responding to Sexual
Disease in Early Modern Europe (Toronto, 2005) and (with Jonathan Reinarz)
A Medical History of Skin: Scratching the Surface (Abingdon and New York,
2010). He recently published Rotten Bodies: Class and Contagion in Eighteenth-
Century Britain (New Haven, 2019).
Caterina Tisci
received her PhD in History of Science and is a teacher of philosophy and his-
tory in high schools. She is currently collaborating with the Universities of
Bari and Lecce on research about the history of medicine and healthcare be-
tween the XVIII and XX centuries. Her publications include original essays for
academic journals and collective volumes. The book Lo scudo contro il vaiolo.
Antonio Miglietta e la profilassi nel Regno di Napoli (1801–1826) (Cavallino, 2015)
was honored with the “Massimo Piccinini” award by the Academy of History of
Healthcare Art (Italy).
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