Centre for the Study of Medicine and the Body in the Renaissance - CSMBR

04/06/2026

CSMBR ONLINE LECTURE SERIES
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We are happy to share the latest recorded lecture
𝐎𝐑𝐁𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐁𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝐈𝐍 𝟏𝟒𝐓𝐇-𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐘 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐈𝐀
𝐓𝐡𝐞 «𝐓ā𝐧𝐤𝐬ū𝐪𝐧ā𝐦𝐚𝐡» 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈𝐭𝐬 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐨𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐌𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐁𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝
Ben Kavouissi
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A 14th-century Persian medical manual on the Medicine of Cathay (Northern China) known as the "Tānksūqnāmah" explicitly states that blood “makes rounds” within the body, flowing from the liver to the heart, then to the lungs, and returning again to the liver. The book draws on Chinese cosmology and medicine as well as the Graeco-Arabic medical heritage, yet ultimately advances its own conception of blood movement, indicating deliberate reinterpretation rather than simple continuity.

In this lecture, Ben Kavoussi explores its medical and cosmological context, shedding light on one of the most fascinating medical texts of the Middle East. Enjoy!
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𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐢𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞: https://youtu.be/N-dX2I7mY7k
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A 14th-century Persian medical manual on the Medicine of Cathay (No...

03/06/2026

Epistemic Instruments 22:
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𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐧𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐃𝐢𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦, 𝐆𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲, 𝟏𝟓𝟐𝟒
from "Liber Quodlibetarius", H62/MS.B 200, f. 75v, Universitätsbibliothek Erlangen-Nürnberg, Nuremberg.
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The inscription over this coloured drawing is revealing:

GERMAN
[E]in Mensch zu erkennen ob er sterb oder genes; merck di[r] merck dir nach geschribenen Stücken alle"

ENGLISH
To determine whether a person will die or recover; observe all the signs written below.

A good deal of a doctor's job in the premodern period was to determine whether a person would die or recover. This part of medical learning, called prognosis, was in fact instrumental to the profession. A good prognosis meant that the diagnosis was correct and enhanced the prestige of the physician who foretold the outcome of the disease.

Early in the history of Western medicine, diagrams were created to help memorise the signs associated with favourable or unfavourable prognoses. The drawing above lists those associated with the predominance of the four humours (bile, phlegm, blood, and melancholy) and their associated symptoms.

This prognostication diagram is part of the "Liber Quodlibetarius", a German commonplace book created in or around 1524, probably in Passau. It appears to have been written by one Benedictus Rughalm, although there is no certainty about this attribution. The manuscript is a compilation of a variety of disparate texts and includes a brief series of medical, surgical, and physiognomic texts, as well as material on chiromancy. The medical section stands out as a clear testimony to the importance of signs in medicine: the essential interface through which physicians accessed the inner functioning of the human body.
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02/06/2026

CSMBR Elements:
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𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐌𝐒 𝐈𝐍 𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐍 𝐏𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐎𝐒𝐎𝐏𝐇𝐘
𝐒𝐢𝐱 𝐋𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐀𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐭𝐥𝐞'𝐬 "𝐃𝐞 𝐀𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐚"
Fabrizio Bigotti
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2 July — 6 August 2026, 4.30 pm (CEST)
𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: https://csmbr.fondazionecomel.org/events/conferences-webinars/life-forms-philosophy/
Registration Deadline: 𝟐𝟓𝐭𝐡 𝐉𝐮𝐧𝐞 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔
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Few texts in history have enjoyed the centrality of Aristotle’s De Anima. The work presupposes and at the same time coordinates the entire structure of Aristotle’s inquiry on the living world and remained vital long after other parts of Aristotle’s natural philosophy ceased to command obedience in the academic world. This vitality was due also to the fact that Aristotle posed a question that few others in history have tried to address: what is life?

His answer stirs a middle ground between vitalism and materialism. Condensed into six lectures, these encounters will explore the nuances and complexities of Aristotle’s theory of the soul. Participants will read selected passages of Aristotle in English. Knowledge of Greek is not mandatory, but it would be an advantage as some technical terms are introduced and explained.
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𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞? 𝐎𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫
2 July 2026
Aristotle, De anima, I.1-2
402a1-405b30.

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𝐒𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐈𝐧𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐲
9 July 2026
Aristotle, De anima, I. 3-5
405b31-411b30 (passim).

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𝐃𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐏𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐚
16 July 2026
Aristotle, De anima, II.1-3
412a3-415a13 (passim)

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𝐒𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞: 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐫𝐞
23 July 2026
Aristotle, De anima, II.12-III.1-2, 10
424a17-427a16; 433a9-433b10.

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𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞: 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧
30 July 2026
Aristotle, De anima, III.3-6
427a17-430b31 (passim).

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𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞: 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐌𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧
6 August 2026
Aristotle, De anima, III.6-7; 10-11
430a26-431b19; 433a9-434a21 (passim).
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01/06/2026

History of Anatomy and Surgery 36:
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𝐓𝐡𝐞 '𝐕𝐞𝐢𝐧 𝐌𝐚𝐧' ("𝐇𝐨𝐦𝐨 𝐕𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐮𝐦") 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐒𝐤𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐨𝐧, 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝, 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝟏𝟓𝐭𝐡 𝐂𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐲
from Medical Miscellany, Royal MS 18 A V, ff. 33r, 34v, the British Library, London.
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Visualising the inner parts of the human body has always been essential in medicine, even at times when human anatomy was little understood and even less practised.

These two anatomical illustrations are part of the so-called “Fünfbilderserie”, or “five-figure series”, which illustrates five essential systems of the human body: bones, muscles, veins, arteries, and nerves.

They are best understood against the Galenic rationale of bloodletting, as showing the places (“loci anatomici”) where it was safe to make openings in order to reduce the superabundance of humours (“plethora”). While the rendition is not generally accurate, it works as a reminder for both trainees and expert masters to locate the veins before bloodletting and to memorise the parts of the skeleton before surgery.

Royal MS 18 A VI is a miscellaneous codex containing medical, herbal, obstetrical, and gynaecological treatises, as well as recipes in a variety of hands, dating from the beginning of the fifteenth century to the sixteenth century, predominantly in Middle English.

It was probably created by a doctor for his own local practice. The manuscript is also notable for the inclusion of three large urine diagrams and six full-page anatomical and bloodletting figures.
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29/05/2026

Folk Medicine 15:
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𝐃ü𝐫𝐞𝐫'𝐬 𝐒𝐞𝐥𝐟-𝐏𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐈𝐥𝐥, 𝟏𝟓𝟎𝟗-𝟏𝟓𝟏𝟏
Pen and ink with watercolour on paper (118 x 108 mm) by Albrecht Dürer, Accession Number: 99-1851/50, Kunsthalle, Bremen.
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Self-diagnosis is not really new. In the past, it was not uncommon for sick people to seek medical advice from afar, often through "consilia", written recommendations concerning the best way to treat a given disease.

These requests were frequently prompted by local practitioners and addressed to celebrated university physicians. They required a preliminary assessment of the patient's condition and supposed ailment. At times, as in this case, such consilia could also be requested directly by patients, who had already diagnosed their own illness.

This drawing by Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) stands among the earliest records of this practice. The image was sent to the Town physician, whom Dürer had consulted regarding a persistent illness.

Although its exact date remains uncertain, scholars generally place it between 1509 and 1521. Some have suggested that the drawing is connected with the prolonged disorder that afflicted him after his journey to the Low Countries in 1520. In a diary entry written the following year, Dürer recalled being struck by a violent fever accompanied by exhaustion, nausea, and headaches.

Writing to his physician, Dürer notes at the top of the sheet: "Do der gelb fleck ist ond mit dem finger drawff dewt do ist mir we" ("There, where the yellow spot is located, and where I point my finger, there it hurts"). Here, the patient himself performs the first stage of diagnosis, translating bodily sensation into visual evidence as the body becomes a map for locating disease, a practice common in learned medicine and closely associated with Galen's "De locis affectis", a treatise devoted to the identification and treatment of localised disorders.

Modern attempts at retrospective diagnosis have produced a remarkable range of suggestions, including malaria, disorders of the liver or spleen, tuberculosis, syphilis, psychological conditions, and even poisoning.
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28/05/2026

CSMBR Online Lecture Series
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𝐘𝐈𝐃𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐇 𝐌𝐄𝐃𝐈𝐂𝐈𝐍𝐄 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐌𝐈𝐂𝐒
𝐅𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐡, 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐄𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐌𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐄𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞
Daniella Zaidman-Mauer

11 June 2026 - 5pm CEST
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𝐓𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞: https://csmbr.fondazionecomel.org/events/online-lectures/yiddish-medicine-in-times-of-epidemics/
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When epidemics struck early modern Europe, people reached for every remedy available — practical and spiritual, natural and supernatural. This lecture explores how Jewish communities in central and western Europe responded to epidemic disease, through vivid examples drawn from books and pamphlets written in Yiddish, the everyday language of European Jews.

Long before modern medicine, healing was never purely physical. Across religions, illness was understood as both a bodily and a moral event — a disruption of the order between humanity and God. Jewish healers and rabbis navigated this world with remarkable creativity, combining herbal recipes, dietary advice, quarantine rules, and prayer into a single, practical system of care.

We will encounter amulets prepared by Jewish mystics — rooted in ancient Greek medicine and shared across Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions. A Yiddish plague treatise that offered rules for surviving an outbreak, weaving hygiene, community solidarity, and spiritual discipline into one coherent guide. And a Jewish physician’s war against smallpox, in a frightened early modern European community struggling to see that protecting life was not a challenge to faith — it was its fulfilment.

Together, these stories reveal a world in which prayer and medicine, faith and science, were not opposites — but partners in the urgent, deeply human work of survival.
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28/05/2026

𝐂𝐒𝐌𝐁𝐑 𝐎𝐏𝐄𝐍 𝐀𝐂𝐂𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐋𝐈𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐑𝐘

We are glad to share two OA contributions

Francesca Elizabeth Richards, "𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐮𝐦 𝐑𝐮𝐛𝐫𝐮𝐦. 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐆𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐜 𝐒𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐄𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐌𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝"
PSMEMM 2026

𝐃𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-032-00725-4_13

Fabrizio Bigotti, 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐚: 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐢’𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐢 (𝟏𝟓𝟒𝟒)
Notes and Records of the Royal Society, April 2026

𝐃𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/rsnr/article/doi/10.1098/rsnr.2025.0061/481537/Revealing-marginalia-Mattioli-s-annotated-copy-of

27/05/2026

Medical Humanism Series 14:
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𝐀𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐆𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐌𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬, 𝐈𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐲, 𝐜. 𝟏𝟒𝟓𝟎

from Giovanni Cadamosto, "Herbario", Cod. 5264, f. IVv, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna.
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Avicenna sits in a chair in the midst of a rather crowded and noisy gathering: from Hippocrates to al-Kindī, Democritus, Rufus, Dioscorides, Mesue, Serapion, and many others. They all discuss the properties of herbs, poisons, antidotes, and, more generally, how to grade and dose them.

The scene belongs to the so-called "Cadamosto Herbal", which has been studied by the Italian historian Sergio Toresella ('Il Codice di Giovanni Cadamosto', L'Esopo, 1985). The codex is an herbal which depicts officinal herbs, modes of preparation, and everyday life as associated with the six non-naturals: air, water, food and drink, sleep and waking, motion and rest, evacuation and retention, and the passions of the soul.

The frontispiece bears a description by Cadamosto himself, in which the scene is presented and justified: he had to gather knowledge from all the authors, apparently with a preference for Avicenna, and then, with great difficulty, digest it for the use of Venetian nobility.

The Vienna copy is probably the oldest. Other copies are those kept at the British Library, Harley MS 3736, and the BnF, MS it. 1108.
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26/05/2026

Registration Now Open:
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𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐌𝐒 𝐈𝐍 𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐍 𝐏𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐎𝐒𝐎𝐏𝐇𝐘
𝐒𝐢𝐱 𝐋𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐀𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐭𝐥𝐞'𝐬 "𝐃𝐞 𝐀𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐚"
Fabrizio Bigotti
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2 July - 6 August 2026
𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞: https://csmbr.fondazionecomel.org/events/conferences-webinars/life-forms-philosophy/
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Few texts in history have enjoyed the centrality of Aristotle’s "De Anima". The work presupposes and at the same time coordinates the entire structure of Aristotle’s inquiry on the living world and remained vital long after other parts of Aristotle’s natural philosophy ceased to command obedience in the academic world. This vitality was due also to the fact that Aristotle posed a question that few others in history have tried to address: what is life?

His answer stirs a middle ground between vitalism and materialism. Condensed into six lectures, these encounters will explore the nuances and complexities of Aristotle’s theory of the soul. Participants will read selected passages of Aristotle in English. Knowledge of Greek is not mandatory, but it would be an advantage as some technical terms are introduced and explained.
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Few texts in history have enjoyed the centrality of Aristotle’s De Anima. The work presupposes and at the same time coordinates the entire structure of Aristotle’s inquiry on the living world and remained vital long after other parts of Aristotle’s natural philosophy ceased to command obedienc...

26/05/2026

CSMBR Newsletter
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𝐀𝐑𝐁𝐎𝐑: 𝐊𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐬
May-June 2026
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Applications open for the 2027 Santorio Residential Fellowship in Koper, offering a funded residency tied to archival and Mediterranean research. You will also find the newly announced Santorio Awardees, alongside VivaMente grant recipients. The upcoming lectures focus on the Tānksūqnāmah and theories of blood motion in Mongol-era Persia, Yiddish responses to epidemic disease, and the physiology of dreams across Greek, Arabic, and Latin traditions.

In short, everything you need to stay up to date with the events and activities of the CSMBR community.

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𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐰: https://csmbr.fondazionecomel.org/arbor-newsletter/
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𝐒𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐞: https://csmbr.fondazionecomel.org/
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