History, medicine, and the traditions of Renaissance learning

Abstract

The first book in a new series and a groundbreaking study of connections, parallels, and mutual interaction between two critical disciplines - medicine and history - in 15th- to 17th-century Europe. A major, path-breaking work, History, Medicine, and the Traditions of Renaissance Learning is Nancy G. Siraisi's examination into the intersections of medically trained authors and history, in the period 1450 to 1650. Rather than studying medicine and history as separate disciplinary traditions, Siraisi calls attention to their mutual interaction in the rapidly changing world of Renaissance erudition. Far from their contributions being a mere footnote in the historical record, medical writers had extensive involvement in the reading, production, and shaping of historical knowledge. With remarkably detailed scholarship, Siraisi investigates doctors' efforts to explore the legacies handed down to them from ancient medical and anatomical writings, and the difficult reconciliations this required between the authority of the ancient world and the discoveries of the modern. This will be required reading for anyone engaged in the study of humanism, medicine, history, natural philosophy, or the history of knowledge in general.

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