Cure, Community, and the Miraculous in Early Modern Florence

Abstract

Illness and impairment, like bodily and mental deviance, are fundamental aspects of human life and something that each society has to negotiate. 'Health' -or the lack of it -is a social construct, and it has varied from society to society over time. In early modern Europe, health largely referred to one's ability to fulfil one's social role; a 'full cure' in the sense a modern person would understand it was not necessarily even the main expectation of an infirm person. 1 Similarly, the favouring and acceptability of various curative methods and their usage was negotiated within families and communities. Medical pluralism was prevalent: various healing methods -be they based on university-trained medicine, religion, or so-called folk healing practices -were used simultaneously, and their borders overlapped.The medical pluralism of the Renaissance and early modern Europe has been well documented in many types of sources. Among the most fruitful are the witness depositions of canonisation inquiries, which record views on infirmity, healing, and the miraculous.Canonisation processes were initiated by the papacy in the early thirteenth century in order to gain more control of the veneration of saints, and over the following centuries, the procedure was established, strengthened, and renewed. 2 During the inquests, the life, merits, and deeds of a putative saint were investigated, and the records were evaluated by the auditori of the Rota. The witness inquiries were executed following propositions called the articuli.Produced by the procurator of the case, they recorded the saintly candidate's life and miracles, which the witnesses were asked to provide evidence of, and which therefore largely shaped the witness accounts. 3 Furthermore, the witnesses' views were influenced by culturally established ideas about sainthood and miracles. 4 Thus, the testimonies are an 1

Epistemologies of Touch in Early Modern Holy Autopsies

“…See, for instance, Bynum, 1991;Ditchfield, 2009;Bynum, 2011, 125-216;Boer and Göttler;Morrall et al;Carrillo-Rangel et al 27 Boer and Göttler, 5. 28 Christofani, 28;Kuuliala, 2019;Ciappelli. 29 Burke;Duffin, 2009;Gentilcore;Kuuliala, 2019;Vauchez.…”

“…28 Christofani, 28;Kuuliala, 2019;Ciappelli. 29 Burke;Duffin, 2009;Gentilcore;Kuuliala, 2019;Vauchez. 30 Copeland, 225.…”