I don’t think it was an era when there was much significant advance in medical knowledge. The 17th century was a time when there were some significant discoveries, like William Harvey discovering the circulation of the blood for instance. But I think the 17th century is generally considered to be after the Renaissance, which I have always understood to be thought of as being mainly a 15th-16th century movement.
Real advances in medical knowledge seem to have been more occuring in the 18th-19th centuries, the 19th century in particular being a time of major medical discoveries. As far as I can tell, there wasn’t a lot going on on the medical front during the Renaissance.
In medicine, Belgian physician Andreas Vesalius dissected cadavers and made numerous discoveries about human anatomy. His dissections of the human body and description of his findings helped to correct misconceptions prevailing since ancient times and to lay the foundations of the modern science of anatomy.
The practice of midwifery has a long and distinguished history. The Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote of the wisdom and intelligence of Greek midwives. In the 16th century, French midwives were instrumental in advancing the field of obstetrics. The French midwife Louise Bourgeois, a noted teacher and author, was midwife to the French Royal Court for 27 years, delivering Louis XIII and six children of Henry IV.
In early medieval Europe, religious groups established hospitals and infirmaries in monasteries and later developed charitable institutions designed to care for the victims of vast epidemics of bubonic plague, leprosy, smallpox, and other diseases that swept Europe during the Middle Ages. The Benedictines were especially active in this work, collecting and studying ancient medical texts in their library at Monte Cassino near Salerno, Italy. St. Benedict of Nursia, the founder of the order, obligated its members to study the sciences, especially medicine. The abbot of Monte Cassino, Bertharius, was himself a famous physician.
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November 7th, 2009 at 7:03 am
I don’t think it was an era when there was much significant advance in medical knowledge. The 17th century was a time when there were some significant discoveries, like William Harvey discovering the circulation of the blood for instance. But I think the 17th century is generally considered to be after the Renaissance, which I have always understood to be thought of as being mainly a 15th-16th century movement.
Real advances in medical knowledge seem to have been more occuring in the 18th-19th centuries, the 19th century in particular being a time of major medical discoveries. As far as I can tell, there wasn’t a lot going on on the medical front during the Renaissance.
November 7th, 2009 at 7:36 am
A few…
In medicine, Belgian physician Andreas Vesalius dissected cadavers and made numerous discoveries about human anatomy. His dissections of the human body and description of his findings helped to correct misconceptions prevailing since ancient times and to lay the foundations of the modern science of anatomy.
The practice of midwifery has a long and distinguished history. The Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote of the wisdom and intelligence of Greek midwives. In the 16th century, French midwives were instrumental in advancing the field of obstetrics. The French midwife Louise Bourgeois, a noted teacher and author, was midwife to the French Royal Court for 27 years, delivering Louis XIII and six children of Henry IV.
In early medieval Europe, religious groups established hospitals and infirmaries in monasteries and later developed charitable institutions designed to care for the victims of vast epidemics of bubonic plague, leprosy, smallpox, and other diseases that swept Europe during the Middle Ages. The Benedictines were especially active in this work, collecting and studying ancient medical texts in their library at Monte Cassino near Salerno, Italy. St. Benedict of Nursia, the founder of the order, obligated its members to study the sciences, especially medicine. The abbot of Monte Cassino, Bertharius, was himself a famous physician.