Conserving health in early modern culture
Bodies and environments in Italy and England
Series edited by Dr David Cantor. Edited by Sandra Cavallo, Tessa Storey. Contributions by Leah Astbury, Hannah Newton.
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Conserving health in early modern culture explores the impact of ideas about healthy living in early modern England and Italy. The attention of medical historians has largely been absorbed by the study of illness and medical treatment, yet prevention was one of the cornerstones of early modern medicine. According to Galenic-Hippocratic thought the preservation of health depended on the careful management of the so-called six 'non-naturals': the air one breathed; food and drink; excretions; sleep; movement and rest and the passions of the soul. Drawing on visual, material and textual sources, and considering the role of preventive ideas and practices in a variety of specific contexts, our contributors reveal the pervasiveness of the doctrine of the non-naturals in early modern culture and societies. The preventive paradigm did not just inform daily routines but stimulated innovation in material culture and paintings, and influenced contemporary discourses in fields as diverse as geology, natural philosophy and religion. At the same time the volume challenges the notion that health advice was a uniform and stable body of knowledge, showing instead that it was tailored to gender and age, and varied in specific intellectual and political contexts. In particular, the comparative perspective on England and Italy enables authors to highlight significant differences between what was regarded as beneficial or harmful to health in the two countries. The volume will be of interest to a wide readership, interested not just in health practices in Renaissance and early modern Europe but in art, material culture, gender and cultural history in general.
Author Biography
Sandra Cavallo is Professor of Early Modern History at Royal Holloway, University of London Tessa Storey is Honorary Research Associate in Early Modern History at Royal Holloway, University of London
Manchester University Press
Manchester University Press is a leading UK publisher known for excellent research in the humanities and social sciences.
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Bibliographic Information
- Publisher Manchester University Press
- Publication Date July 2017
- Orginal LanguageEnglish
- ISBN/Identifier 9781526113474 / 1526113473
- Publication Country or regionUnited Kingdom
- FormatHardback
- Primary Price 70 GBP
- Pages328
- ReadershipCollege/Tertiary Education
- Publish StatusPublished
- Dimensions216 x 138 mm
- Illustration12 colour illustrations, 12 black & white illustrations
- Biblio NotesIntroduction Conserving health: the Non-Naturals in early modern culture and society - Sandra Cavallo Part I: A comparative perspective on preventive literature 1 Regimens, authors and readers: Italy and England compared - Sandra Cavallo and Tessa Storey Part II: The Non-Naturals and the vulnerable body 2 'What to expect when you're always expecting': frequent childbirth and female health in late Renaissance Italy - Caroline Castiglione 3 'Ordering the infant': caring for newborns in early modern England - Leah Astbury 4 'She sleeps well and eats an egg': convalescent care in early modern England - Hannah Newton Part III: Airs and places 5 Neapolitan airs: health advice and medical culture on the edge of a volcano - Maria Conforti 6 The afterlife of the Non-Naturals in early eighteenth-century Hippocratism: from the healthy individual to a healthy population - Maria Pia Donato Part IV: Spiritual health and bodily health 7 Sleep-piety and healthy sleep in early modern English households - Sasha Handley 8 English and Italian health advice: Protestant and Catholic bodies - Tessa Storey Part V: Spaces, paintings and objects: performing and portraying health 9 Chasing 'good air' and viewing beautiful perspectives: painting and health preservation in seventeenth-century Rome - Frances Gage 10 Hot drinking practices in the late-Renaissance Italian household: a case-study around an enigmatic pouring vessel in the pre-modern home - Marta Ajmar Index
- SeriesSocial Histories of Medicine
- Series Part8
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