CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2017
| Author | Savinetskaya, Irina Aleksandrovna |
|---|---|
| Title | The Politics and Poetics of Morbus Gallicus in the German Lands (1495 - 1520) |
| Summary | In the mid-1490s, following the expedition of the King of France, Charles VIII to Naples an unknown disease spread across the German lands. Immediately associated with the French and their Neapolitan campaign, it became known as morbus gallicus and its various vernacular synonyms. These names maintained their popularity all throughout the period under study. “The Politics and Poetics of Morbus Gallicus in the German Lands (1495 – 1520)” examines various narratives of origins and causes of morbus gallicus in German medical and non-medical sources. It argues that in the German lands morbus gallicus was seen as a disease intrinsic to the French and foreign to the "Germans" and was a composite of various inter-connected narratives of German-ness and French-ness. The first chapter is dedicated to the discussions of the nomenclature of the disease in medical treatises. In medieval medical epistemology, names had a special role to play in the identification of new diseases, and the correctness of morbus gallicus was subject to dispute. The majority of authors, however, accepted it as the new disease’s correct name, reasoning either that this affliction had in fact originated among the French people or that it was the disease’s most popular appellation. The second chapter examines discussions of the causes of the French pox in medical treatises. It demonstrates that medical authors, assuming that the French people were the first to be infected with morbus gallicus during the Neapolitan campaign of Charles VIII, tried to devise explanatory schemes of its French origins based on various medical theories. Thus, some argued that the French had angered God with their proverbial pride and disregard for the German emperor, others that the punishment was sent upon the Germans for their disobedience to the emperor and their lack of support for his campaigns against the French and the Turks. Astrological explanations also pointed to the French-ness of the disease. Some authors alleged that the French were the first to contract the disease, since their ruling planet had been present at the time of the conjunction, which had given rise to this disease. Finally, humoral causes were also presented as pointing to the disease’s French-ness. Thus, in framing the disease as “French” the medical authors relied on a variety of religious, astrological, political, and medical ideas of French-ness. The third chapter studies the incorporation of morbus gallicus into the discussions of what it meant to be “German,” which were thriving under the aegis of northern humanism. These narratives of German-ness were constructed in antithesis to the notions of French-ness and foreignness. Over time, morbus gallicus was integrated into the discussions of German national identities. It was presented as a consequence of the use of French goods and habits, considered in essence foreign to the German healthy moral and physical climate. As this dissertation shows, morbus gallicus was much more than a matter of the body natural. Religion, politics, medicine, astrology, notions of “self” and “other” all absorbed morbus gallicus as an inherently French disease. Once morbus gallicus was recognized as the disease of the French, it became inseparable from the inter-reflexive perceptions of German-ness and French-ness. |
| Supervisor | Jaritz, Gerhard |
| Department | Medieval Studies PhD |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2017/savinetskaya_irina.pdf |
Visit the CEU Library.
© 2007-2021, Central European University