scholarly journals Monstrous animal siblings in Europe

2022 ◽  
pp. 1-114
Author(s):  
Davide Ermacora

Reports of women giving birth to a baby together with an animal (toad, mouse, bird, etc.), are documented in Europe from the 1100s onwards: the most important traditions of which are the frater Salernitanorum and the sooterkin. Throughout the centuries, authors have typically attempted to explain monstrous animal siblings in the light of contemporary medical knowledge. The present paper compares the medieval frater Salernitanorum with the later sooterkin and investigates both in historico-folklore terms. It argues that it is important to understand monstrous birth traditions not only in the light of medical history, but as beliefs and narratives actively shared through acts of communication. In so doing, this article is informed by both the history of medicine and folklore studies.

2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 561-581
Author(s):  
Aslıhan Gürbüzel

Abstract This article examines the translation, circulation, and adaptation of the medical opinion of Spanish physician Nicolas Monardes (d. 1588) on tobacco in the Ottoman Empire. In addition to medical and encyclopedist authors, the spread of new medical knowledge in learned and eventually popular registers was the result of the efforts of religious authorities. These latter authorities, namely jurists, Sufis, and preachers, took an interest in the bodily and mental effects of smoking for its moral implications. In forming their medical-moral discourse, they sought and studied contemporary medical works of both Ottoman and European provenance. Challenging the strict division between learned and popular medicine, this article argues that Ottoman religious authorities, while often excluded from the history of medicine, played significant roles in the circulation, adaptation, and localization of medical knowledge.


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