Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/2123/7112

Title: Order and meaning from the chaos of plague: doctors writing about the plague in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Italy
Authors: Lähteelä, Heli Maria Mirjami
Keywords: plague
Black Death
early modern medicine
humoural medicine
Renaissance
Issue Date: 3-Mar-2010
Publisher: University of Sydney.
Arts. School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry/Department of History
Abstract: This thesis discusses in detail four Italian vernacular plague tracts written by doctors in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. These doctors used the popular genre of plague tracts to promote their views on how to improve the physical and spiritual well-being of the people in their communities. The plague tracts illustrate their concerns about the expertise and status of doctors, apprehensions about the behaviour of communities during plague epidemics, and the ever-present fears that the plague was both a symptom of and a catalyst for immoral behaviour. This thesis particularly focuses on the connections early modern doctors perceived between spiritual and physical health and the varied solutions they suggested for the improvement of the societies the lived in.
Description: Master of Arts (Research)
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2123/7112
Appears in Collections:Sydney Digital Theses (Open Access)

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