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Historical analysis of the interdependence of science in medieval and modern society. Specifically, the degree of penetration, popularization and influence of medicine, astronomy and natural history in many areas, and between the different social groups, from very diverse sources such as archives, scientific texts and non-scientific or technical literature (sermons, theatre, poetry and other literary sources) full of images related to scientific activity. Medicine based on Galenism, and its particular way of understanding practice and its practitioners, was popular and widespread. That’s why medicine was considered an invaluable and indispensable benefit for society. The same happened with two scientific disciplines directly related to medicine: astronomy and medical history. The research of this group focuses on:

  • Modern medicine in its socioeconomic and political context: medical practice and healthcare during the Spanish Catholic Monarchy, particularly in the self-governing Kingdom of Valencia; the presence of extra academic forms of medicine in the 16th and 17th centuries.
  • The public and scientific activity: the circulation and popularization of scientific ideas within the intellectual categories of this period, the Baroque representations of medicine and natural history in sermons and creative literature during the Spanish Catholic Monarchy.
  • The scientific ideas of astronomers, cosmographers and doctors in the Modern Age: considering specifically the role of astrology, as well as the changes in the content and limits of disciplines in the knowledge map of the 16th and 17th centuries.
  • Study of the role of doctors as experts in various fields: such as in the different early medieval or modern Valencian courts or in municipal councils, through sources from archives, religious literature (sermons) and poetry literature (Ausiàs March) of the time.
  • Development of a complete catalogue of the collection from the legacy of doctor and medical historian José Rodrigo Pertegás, located in different Valencian and Catalan libraries and archives.
  • Baroque images and representations of the sick and disease in the Spanish Catholic Monarchy through two non-medical sources: one the one hand, a collection of letters from the late 17th century exchanged between a doctor who worked for the king and his patients and, on the other hand, Baroque literature (plays and novels), to know about social attitudes.
  • The process of understanding American nature and land, and the introduction of American plants in Europe: in particular the dissemination of scientific knowledge in herbaria, medical texts and the Chronicles of the Indies during the 16th and 17th centuries.

Members

Name Category Contact E-mail and website
Ferragud Domingo, Carmel
Associate Professor
PhD in Geography and History
Tel. 963864931
Lanuza Navarro, Tayra María Carmen
Contracted JAE-Doc, CSIC
PhD in History
Tel. 963926283
López Terrada, María Luz Senior Research Fellow, CSIC
PhD in History
Tel. 963926250
Morales Padilla, Jesús Assistant technician
Tel. 963926259
Schmitz, Carolin
Grant holder JAE-Predoc, CSIC
Lic. en Historia (M. A.)
Tel. 963926283