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Midwives and Medical Texts: Women's Healing Practices in the Crown of Aragón, 1300-1600
Harman, Alice Conner
Harman, Alice Conner
Abstract
Women provided important healing services in late medieval and early modern Aragon. They were rarely "professionals" in the sense that they had received a university education or had been licensed by a civil authority, but they were respected and employed by king and commoner. Their healing services were affordable, traditional and popular. Under humoral theory, food, drink and sexual activity were thought to regulate the body's health, so women were naturally considered to be healers. Evidence for their healing practices is found in law codes, medical texts, and women's own recipe collections. I analyze these medieval and early modern sources to show that women remained important providers of health care throughout this period. Because they were never "professional" healers, the move towards profesionalization did not affect them.
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Thesis is part of Honors ETD pilot project, 2008-2013. Migrated from Dspace in 2016.
Date
2009-05-01
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spain, Women, Medieval, Early modern, Midwives, Medianera, Recipe, Disease, Lovesickness, Medical text, Furs, Valencia, Aragon, Barcelona, Witchcraft, Healing, Medicine, Female medical practitioners, Humors, Humoral theory
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Modern Languages and Literatures