Vernacular surgery in the medieval and early modern Latin West: works, individuals, and research methodologies

Abstract

One of the most surprising aspects of the history of surgery in the medieval and early modern periods is the intense use of vernacular languages in the dissemination of treatises on the subject, via translations, and even in the writing of originals. This vernacularization of surgery began in the thirteenth century and is closely associated with the creation of a new medical system in the Latin West and with the birth of a rational “new surgery”, linked to Galenism, to school education, and to the transmission of knowledge in books. This article presents a summary of this interrelationship and the role played by the vernacularization of surgery in the success of these processes, and it upholds the need for an interdisciplinary research methodology in order to gain an overall understanding of it.